Price Check On Monogamy

"Tiger!"

I laughed and shook my head a little. Ever since that first date, Tyler never knocked when he was at my house; only ever shouted to get my attention.

"You're early," I said, opening the door and letting him into the house. Tyler just shrugged and wrapped an arm around my waist.

"I had the time," he said happily. "Besides, we only ever get to see each other on the weekends, so I figured I'd start the weekend early. Want to take Abby to the park with me?"

"Abby's here?" I almost squealed; I loved that dog so much. She was the sweetest, most beautiful dog I'd ever seen, and she loved me. Tyler always made sure to bring her along-- unless we were going to a movie-- so I could play with her.

And that was Tyler. Considerate and sweet.

I kissed him on the cheek, which made him laugh. "Thanks, Tyler."

"Of course, sweetheart," he pulled me closer and nuzzled my neck with his nose a little, which almost made me drop the Coke I had in my hand. When my cell rang, I broke away fast to pick it up; Tyler rarely ever touched me like that, and when he did, he always pulled away after a little while and wouldn't look at me, like he was embarrassed. At least this time I got to pull away first.

"Hello?" I answered without looking at the caller I.D.

"Darling, it's me."

And that was a voice I hadn't heard in a while.

"Mom?" I asked, baffled. Tyler grabbed my hand and looked at me curiously; he knew I wasn't on the best terms with my mom. Or my dad. Or life.

"Yes, Tiger, it's me," The line was crackly, but I could tell that she was getting ready to do something important. It made me want to laugh; for once, she'd learned to make time of me. In God knows what state. Before God knows what charity event or lecture. "Well... it's been a long time, hasn't it, sweety?"

I laughed, but mostly to keep from swearing at her. It's been in a long time? The last time they were home with us for more than a couple days was Christmas. Sophomore year.

Yeah. It'd been a long time.

"What did you need, mom?" I asked, unamused. I wanted to get the conversation over with. I wanted to hang out with my boyfriend and play with his dog. I wanted to have a good time, and obviously, talking to my mother wasn't going to give me that.

"Well, I got a call from Mrs. Plum..." Oh, that was something that was never good to hear. "She says you haven't been in to see Mrs. Calehay in a long, long time, dear."

"I've been busy." Simple, honest. It really didn't get much better than that.

"Well, you have an appointment. Now." And that was about as commanding as my mother ever got. Her voice softened considerably, however, as she added, "You know she's only there to help."

I feel now is a good time to mention that I do care about my mother. She isn't cruel or anything; she's just constantly off the ground. She doesn't care about much-- and that, usually, includes us. When I first started having to see Mrs. Calehay, she was the only person in the family that didn't think I was insane. She barely remembered that I had issues.

"I'll get going, then, mom," I shoved my hand in my pockets as she hung up without a goodbye. Sighing and putting my phone away, I I looked apologetically at Tyler.

"What's wrong?" He asked carefully.

"I, err, have to go to an appointment," I said awkwardly. For some reason, I didn't want to tell him that I had to see a therapist. I didn't want to explain it.

Tyler's worried face eased up. "Okay, then. Sorry, I probably shouldn't have come so early," Tyler laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he winked at me. "Want a ride?"

I hesitated for a second, before nodding and following him out to his truck. It wasn't like the place was labeled or anything, and Tyler wasn't from around here. He wouldn't know what sort of appointment it was.

Or, at least, I didn't think he would.

"You need to see a shrink?" Tyler asked as he pulled into a parking stall. All the laughter in him was gone as he turned to look at me with wide eyes. "Is there... is there something I should know?"

The silence in the truck was deafening. The space between us was astronomical.

And I wanted to scream at the look on his face. Like I was diseased.

"I had PTSD," I said curtly, opening the door. "Don't worry, it's not contagious." Without another word to him, I was out of the car and snapped my door shut.

- - -

"Tiger, I'm so sorry."

I blinked a few times in surprise. Apparently, Tyler had waited for me through the appointment-- the hour long appointment. Usually, they were only about half an hour long, but she'd spent half an hour alone lecturing me on why I still needed to show up for sessions.

"It's alright, Tyler," I mumbled, shoving my hands in my pockets. Truth be told, I was a little embarrassed about snapping at him, too. I hated it when people treated me like I was a freak for having to see a therapist, yeah, but I probably should have told him earlier where we were going-- maybe he wouldn't have freaked out so badly. Apparently, he felt the embarrassed, too.

"I want to make it up to you, though," he said, still slightly pink. It made me smile, though a little wearily.

"You don't need to make anything up to me, Tyler," I said, hugging him. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. It's not like seeing a shrink is normal, so I guess I should've expected the reaction." Thinking for a second, I made a fast decision. "Do you want to see something?" I asked carefully.

Tyler smiled, his eyebrows knit. "And what would that be?"

I grabbed his hand and tugged it toward the door. "C'mon, there's somewhere special I want you to see. Think of it as an apology."

Tyler laughed and followed me out the door and to his truck. Once we were in and he'd started it, he backed out of the parking lot and looked over at me. "So where are we going?"

"Just take a left here," I said, winking at him. "It's a surprise."

"I wanna know," he whined, half kidding and laughing. Tyler followed my directions-- which, I'll admit, I made a little weird just to confuse him-- and pulled up on the side of the road with one of the most confused faces I'd ever seen him make.

"Where are we?" He asked, looking over at me. "It looks like a dilapidated forest out here," Tyler laughed, which kind of pissed me off, but I swallowed it fast. He didn't know where we were, much less how important it was to me, so I had to give him at least a little leeway here.

"Just get out," I stuck my tongue out at him and got out of the car, walking through the brush slowly to make sure that Tyler didn't lose me.

"Are we going on a hike?"

I laughed and shook my head. Turning through some trees, I spread my arms out wide and smiled at him. "Welcome to my creek, young one."

Tyler's smile was forced, and even that started to waver. He looked around a little and came over to hug me. "You have a creek?"

I shook my head and laughed. "No, man. It's just a creek that me, Tawny, Lexy, and..." I trailed off, swallowing Kip's name. I still wasn't talking to her, and I didn't want her memory here. Clearing my throat, I pressed on, "Uhh, it's just a special place to me, you know?"

Tyler looked down at me and smiled, but I could see it in his eyes that he didn't really like being here. It pulled at something in my heart-- like his rejection of the creek was a rejection of a part of me, almost. Like his freak out over my having to see a therapist-- or the fact that he hadn't asked my what'd caused my PTSD. Granted, I wouldn't have told him the truth, but it didn't escape me that, when anything that scratched deeper than the surface came up, Tyler wasn't interested. It made me sad.

And a little pissed.

"Do you want to go?" I asked, awkward all of a sudden. It took everything I had not to pull away from him.

Tyler chewed his lip. "I'm really sorry, Tiger. It's just, I'm... I'm allergic to mosquitos. And, uhh, being here kind of makes me uncomfortable."

Well. That makes me feel like a huge bitch.

"I'm sorry," I squeaked, pulling away and grabbing his hand. "Holy crap, you should have told me earlier, I wouldn't have put you in--"

Tyler pulled back on me and laughed. "Hold on, Tiger, I wanted to ask you something." I stopped, my sudden freak out calming down. Tyler smiled down at me as he fished something out of his pocket. "I was gonna save it for tonight, but since you shared, it's my turn, right?" Tyler dropped to a bent knee and winked at me. "So, Tiger Sparks, would you go to prom with me?"

He held out the tickets, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course I would," I said happily, bending to hug him around the neck. Taking a ticket and looking at it, though, I crinkled my brow in confusion. "Umm, Tyler? How did you get senior prom tickets for my school?"

Tyler stood and shrugged, brushing himself off. "I asked your friend Eli if he could hook me up. I really wanted to take you to a prom, but my school's prom is during your finals, and I figured you should study for those. So, instead, I figured I'd get you tickets for your school's senior prom."

I laughed and shook my head, grabbing Tyler's hand and walking out of the creek as fast as I could. "Sometimes you're too thoughtful, you know that?"

Tyler shrugged, smiling as we got to the truck. "It doesn't take much to be, especially when I care about you as much as I do. So, where are we off to next?"