Price Check On Monogamy

"So what did she--"

"Caleb, you have to talk to your sister yourself."

Caleb rolled his eyes and scowled. Jeremy, as always, was trying to give advice. And it would be good advice, too, if the fact of the matter wasn't that Tiger couldn't stand him. Even after all this time, Tiger refused to forgive him for everything that had happened-- and he knew more about what had happened than she knew he did. "It's not that simple, Jeremy. She likes you. She's always liked you."

Jeremy smiled broadly, his eyes bright. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

Caleb looked at him blandly. "You have a girlfriend now, you dick."

Jeremy laughed and shook his head, leaning against his counter. Jeremy's family lived in a loft further downtown than most people in his school; that fact, along with the fact that the place was hardly furnished and wide open, was the reason why Jeremy was rarely home, especially alone. Caleb loved his house, though; all through freshman and sophomore years, the two of them and Tandem chilling on the living room floor. Sometimes, Caleb missed the times back before they were partying every weekend-- and he could tell Jeremy did, too.

"Calm down, Caleb, I know. And I like my girlfriend, too," Jeremy winked at Caleb and made him laugh. "But still, knowing that your always-on-guard, crazy-as-hell, ready-to-brawl-at-any-second sister likes me is something that would have saved me a lot of time and trouble trying to dance around her safety zones." Jeremy raised his eyebrows pointedly. "Especially when I'm tap dancing for the benefit of you and Tandem."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "No, trust me, man, you still would've had to. Tiger liking you is the rough equivalent of her deciding that your existence in her life doesn't slowly take it apart at the seams. You two are friends specifically because she trusts you for some reason."

Jeremy shrugged, smiling. "What can I say? I have a trustworthy face."

Caleb rolled his eyes again and sat down-- instead of using the chair, however, he sat on the ground like he used to. Jeremy, after a second of staring at him, just barely smiled and sat down next to him. "So how are you using your trustworthy face to help us out?"

Jeremy sighed and shook his head. "Bro, I have no idea. It's like I said, man, she honest to God wants to try and make things work with Tyler."

Caleb scowled. "Why? What the hell is so special about the little British freak?"

Jeremy shrugged. "He's Bristish? He has a job? He has a weird accent?" Jeremy looked straight at Caleb. "He's nothing like someone she can't stand right now? Like, oh, say, Tandem?"

Caleb shook his head and glanced away from Jeremy. He knew his friend was right. He just didn't want to think that that was the only reason why she would date Tyler-- to spite Tandem. And, of course, to spite him, too. "That's not the right reason to date someone."

Jeremy snorted. "When did that start mattering to you, Caleb?" Caleb's head snapped up, but Jeremy cut him off before he could say anything. "You hated Heather. You hated Heather for a ridiculously long time, even after you decided you could tolerate her being a bitch for the chance to get in her pants. When did dating someone for the right reasons start to matter?"

"I love her!" Caleb said defensively.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "You love her now. You hated her before."

"Well, Tiger's not supposed to be like me!"

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "Well, at least you're telling me the truth now. Why don't you go and tell Tiger?"

- - -

After I decided to try and give it a try with Tyler, it was like everything got better overnight.

He started picking me up after school almost everyday after school, and we'd just lay in the park and talk. It was nice, and I finally learned the subjects to stay away from-- anything involving Tandem, anything involving Milo, and anything involving my parents. I still don't really know why he didn't want to talk about my parents, but I had a feeling it was because he didn't want it to accidentally lead into a conversation about why I see a therapist.

That was for damn sure a conversation topic I'd known better than to try and bring up.

But avoiding the topics wasn't a bad thing-- not by a long shot. It meant that me and Tyler weren't fighting. And it meant that we were having a good time whenever we were together which, as of late, had been a lot. Time just... flew; before I knew it, there was two weeks left in school, and we were talking about summer plans.

Which, of course, neither of us had even thought of yet. But that was okay-- because we both assumed we'd be spending it together.

Even though there were certain topics he avoided about my life, there was pretty much nothing I wasn't curious about in his. I'd learned so far that he'd moved from England for his father's job and, apparently, he'd moved back for a little bit when his mother and father had split up. It didn't last long, though; he was back in Louisiana and his parents were back together, but they broke up on a regular basis. I never would've guessed; his mother and father had looked so happy together. Everyone's got problems, I guess.

After their latest fight, his mother had gone back to England to take care of his grandmother; apparently, she was getting old, and she shouldn't have been alone for so long, anyway. Tyler was thoroughly convinced that his mom had picked the fight just so she could leave. He'd come over right after dropping her off at the airport, and we both just kind of sat on my porch in silence for a bit after he'd told me everything, his head on my shoulder staring off at the darkening sky. I wrapped my arm around him and kissed the top of his head.

"It's gonna be alright, Tyler."

Tyler didn't even speak or move for so long that I was worried he was just ignoring me. After a while, though, he said quietly, "I'm just tired, Tiger. I really tired."

I tightened my arm around him and squeezed him tight against me. "Being tired is okay. You can be tired here, with me. Just don't try and be tired by yourself."

Tyler laughed; there wasn't any sound, but I could feel him shaking for a second. "That didn't make any sense," he pointed out.

"Well, it made you laugh."

Tyler turned to look at me, his eyes puffy from crying. He was smiling, though-- just a little. "You always know how to make me laugh." He leaned in and kissed me, and we stayed that way, close like two little kids, until his phone went off and broke the silence.

Tyler pulled away, blushing a bit. "I-I'm sorry," he stuttered out, and made me laugh while he answered the phone. My laughter died, though, when his entire face distorted into the picture perfect representation of a storm cloud.

"What? ... why? I don't know where... fine, but I'm busy... why do I have to go now? ... fine, fine, whatever, I'll see you there." Tyler hung up fast and shook his head, his hair bouncing. He gave me a sheepish look.

"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked without even needing to ask what'd happened. Someone had called and asked him to go see them again. It happened a lot.

"It was my dad," he said quietly. That happened a lot, too; he always had to explain himself. "He wants me to go home and try to figure out when my mom's coming back."

"I understand," I said, smiling and standing up to help him get up. Tyler never understood that I honestly didn't mind anything as long as he told me what was going on-- especially now. Once he was up, I gave him a long hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Tyler smiled and kissed me on the cheek. "Okay, Tiger. I'll try and call you tonight if I have the time, alright?"

I nodded and smiled, waving to him as he walked down to his car and sped off down the road. Shoving a hand in my pocket, I sighed and opened the door-- and I was too busy worrying about what was going on with Tyler to notice Caleb creeping by the stairs until he grabbed my shoulder.

"Tiger--"

"Caleb, what the hell!" I shouted, jerking away from him. It was honestly just getting ridiculous. Didn't any of these people know how to say hello? Turn on a damn light instead of waiting around in the dark for me to get home?

Caleb scowled and crossed his arms. "Look, I want to--"

"Can't you at least turn on a damn light next time?" I hissed.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Tiger, shut the fuck up and listen to me!"

"Don't talk to me that way, you insignificant asshole!"

"Tiger!" Caleb grabbed both my shoulders and stared down at me. "Will you please shut the fuck up and listen to me? Dammit, I need to talk to you!"

"Talk about what?" I asked coldly. I would've tried to pull away from him, but I knew I couldn't. So, instead, I just stood there, staring up at him and daring him to do anything stupid. "What would you like to talk about, sweet brother of mine?"

Caleb's grip on my shoulder's tightened. "That's what I want to talk to you about."

"Me calling you my brother?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Caleb, if that's seriously what this is about, I'm really fucking tired--"

"SHUT UP." I thought he was going to crush my shoulders, the way he tightened his grip on me. His eyes were intense, and for once, he wasn't trying to look away. "Dammit, Tiger, will you just shut your fucking angry mouth and listen to me for a second? Just one fucking second, Tiger!"

My jaw dropped, but I had nothing to say. I think the way he was talking was shocking even him.

Caleb swallowed hard and his grip loosened just a little bit. "You... you never listen to me. Alright? You never fucking listen to me. I tried. I tried to tell you, but you never fucking listen to me. I... all I wanted was to fucking make sure you were going to be okay. Alright? I didn't mean for all of this shit to happen."

"Caleb," I cut him off, but for once kept my voice level. "You're babbling. I'm listening, alright, but I can't understand you. What are you trying to say?"

Caleb looked at me, and for the first time I saw his eyes brimming with tears-- and I felt something in me crack, just a little. "I'm..." Caleb pulled me close to him too fast for me to figure out what was going on until he was crushing him against me in a huge bear hug. "I'm so sorry, Tiger."