Just Come Running

“Holy shit, how many books are you carrying?”

I scowled at Johnny, kicking the front door shut behind me. It’s true, I have a stupid amount of books in my arms, but that’s only because I’ve got a stupid amount of work to do, including a lab prep that our professor forgot to tell us about, even though we’re doing that lab tomorrow. Guess what that means? A night of heavy work for Andrew!

“Yeah, yeah, at least I actually go into college,” I retorted playfully.

Johnny just stuck his tongue out at me, making me laugh. As I walked towards my room, Beth came out of her room in pyjamas with a towel around her head. Clearly she’s not going out tonight.

“Heavy workload again?” she asked sympathetically.

“Mm, I can’t believe how much it’s increased since last year! It’s crazy!”

“I know right? I have 20 outfits to design from four angles, annotate and layer, as well as fully making 5 of them by the end of next week! I don’t think I’ll be sleeping!” Beth agreed.

“Shit, good luck,” I grimaced.

Rather her than me. Beth laughed and wished me the same as she walked into the kitchen. With a groan I opened my bedroom door and dumped my books on my bed, kicking off my shoes. There, much better. Like I said to Beth, I can’t believe how much my workload has increased. Last year was manageable. This year I’m struggling already, and it’s only the end of September! I just hope my mentality doesn’t suffer again. I’m stronger than I was in Senior year, I’m stronger mentally, so I know how to calm my stress down if I can feel it rising – I just hope that I don’t reach the stage where I need to calm myself down. As long as I keep a level head, I’ll get my work done without problems. I hope.

I’d been working for 3 hours solid when my phone started ringing. Tyler. What does he want?

“Jello?”

“Where are you?” Tyler asked.

Uh, what?

“I’m in my apartment, why?” I frowned.

“Why are you there? You were meant to come around to mine tonight,” Tyler said, anger tinting his words slightly.

I was? Fuck, I must’ve forgotten over all the work I got today. Oh fuck, Tyler won’t be happy now. This isn’t the first time I’ve got caught up in my work and forgotten about our plans.

“Shit, sorry Ty! I’ve been completely distracted by the stupid amount of work I’ve got to do tonight,” I whined.

“You forgot me over work? Again?” Tyler growled.

And here comes the same old argument.

“I didn’t mean to, Tyler,” I mumbled.

“You didn’t mean to, but you did it anyway? Like you’ve been doing for the entire time I’ve ever known you?” Tyler accused.

“Ty, please! This is stressing me out enough as it is!” I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

And there’s the magic word: stress. Tyler inhaled sharply, and I knew immediately what he was thinking. I’m not that stressed. I’m never going to let myself go down that road again.

“I don’t want to stress you out,” Tyler said shortly.

“Tyler…” I whined.

“I’ll see you later,”

And with that he ended the call. I looked at my phone in disbelief and scowled before tossing it to the other end of my bed. If Tyler was going to be a jerk then I was just going to get on with my lab prep. I have enough on my mind to worry about my mood-swinging boyfriend.

“Hey, is everything okay?”

I looked up to see Beth standing in my bedroom doorway, a worried smile on her face.

“I don’t know. I was meant to go over Tyler’s tonight but I got so caught up with the lab prep we got set today for tomorrow’s session that I forgot. He just rang me and I don’t think he’s very happy with me right now. He pretty much hung up on me too,” I sighed.

Beth sighed too and walked into the room, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

“I’ll never understand why Tyler thinks he comes in first priority over your work,” Beth said.

“We’ve been through so much shit together, and he loves me just as much as I love him. Fuck, you know how much our promise rings mean to me!” I groaned.

“Yeah, I know. Doesn’t mean I like him,” Beth shrugged.

I rolled my eyes, laughing softly, and nudged her with my foot. Beth giggled and pressed a motherly kiss to the top of my head before leaving my room. I smiled weakly for a few seconds, not liking how one of my best friends dislikes the only man I’ve ever truly loved so much. But there’s nothing I can do, really. I’ll sort out this mini-argument with Tyler tomorrow, but right now I have to focus on this work.

Half an hour later, there was rapid knocking on our front door. Beth and Johnny are both in, so one of them can answer it.

“What do you want?”

Beth? Who is she talking to? I didn’t get the chance to hear a reply, because there wasn’t one. All I heard were footsteps coming down the corridor, until Tyler’s head popped into my room. What the fuck?!

“Since you couldn’t come to me, I figured I’d come over here. And I brought food, because I know you aren’t going to leave this room until your work is finished, even if it means you go to sleep without eating,” Tyler announced.

Saliva welled up in my mouth at the smell of the Chinese takeaway containers he walked in with, and my stomach growled loudly. Tyler laughed and pressed a slow kiss to my lips before sitting down opposite me, handing me a box. Sweet and sour chicken with sticky rice – my favorite. Fuck, I’m such an idiot for thinking so badly of Tyler earlier, especially now he’s done this for me.

“Thank you. I really appreciate this. And I’m sorry for being a twat earlier,” I apologized, smiling weakly.

“Don’t apologize, Drew. I know your work is important to you. I’m sorry for hanging up on you like that. But next time just warn me when you’ve got a huge workload so I don’t get into an argument with Hayley about not going out with them?”

“Fuck, she’s such a bitch,”

Tyler laughed. “Maybe, but she knows how to party,”

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. Hayley is a horrible human being, and that’s all there is to it. Tyler smiled and picked up my hands, running his thumb over my promise ring affectionately. I blushed and leant forward to kiss him again, savoring the feeling before pulling away completely and picking up my pen. Tyler chuckled and pulled a book out of his bag, opening it halfway while he put a mouthful of shredded beef in his mouth.

“Figured I might as well get some work done too,” Tyler explained when he’d swallowed.

Oh bless him. “I love you Tyler,”

Shit, that was kind of random. My bad. Tyler just blushed slightly and laughed.

“I love you too, Drew. Now eat up before your food goes cold,” Tyler said.

How romantic.