Just Come Running

I woke up blearily in Tyler’s arms, smiling at him stroking my hair softly, his other arm wrapped around my waist.

“Morning,” I murmured.

Tyler stopped stroking my hair in favour of pressing a slow deep kiss to my lips, and I found myself arching my back into him without even thinking. Fuck, I’ve missed this.

“Last night was amazing, huh?” Tyler said softly, brushing my fringe out of my eyes.

I blushed lightly, thinking about he made me come over and over again, harder and harder than I ever had before, even with him.

“Beyond amazing. I’ve missed you, Ty,” I admitted.

Tyler smiled. “I’ve missed you too. I’ve missed calling you my boyfriend,”

“So I’m your boyfriend again, huh?” I teased.

“I don’t fuck just anyone for 8 hours straight,” Tyler retorted, although he was grinning.

I laughed softly and pressed another slow kiss to his lips. Boyfriend. I’ve missed that word rolling off his tongue. As I broke the kiss, my eyes fell to something I didn’t notice in our frenzy of passion last night. Tyler has a tattoo.

“Ty, when did you get this done?” I asked, surprised.

Tyler smiled sadly, his finger tracing the ‘iloveyou’ scrawl just underneath his collarbone. It was tiny script, delicately done, but it was beautiful.

“Do you remember the day not long after we broke up that I saw you in the mall, when you were with Beth and Johnny in the diner, and I was just outside the tattoo shop with Hayley and Lee?” Tyler asked.

I nodded. How could I forget that day? The first day I’d left the apartment after our break-up and I saw him, looking just as miserable as I was. Fuck, I thought it was only Hayley that got a tattoo.

“You got this because of me?” I asked quietly.

Tyler nodded. “I wanted to remind myself of how much I loved you while I healed. I made a lot of mistakes and I wanted to remember that you were the reason I was once happy. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I can get it laser removed if you don’t like it,”

I immediately shook my head. No, I don’t want him to get rid of it. I like it.

“No, keep it. Every time I look at it, I’ll remember that I love you as much you love me,” I smiled.

Tyler chuckled and pressed a slow kiss to my lips, squeezing my hip gently before pulling away.

“We’d better get to class. I’ll meet you by the big oak tree to eat lunch?” Tyler suggested.

“Sound like a plan,” I smiled.

*

Lunch arrived, and Tyler was already waiting under the tree when I got there.

“Beth and Johnny said they were just grabbing some hot food before they joined us,” Tyler told me, sitting down when I did.

I nodded. That was fair enough. I glanced around the other students, my eyes widening when I saw Sean sitting alone. Fuck, I forgot he didn’t have any friends before me. And fuck, he looks so broken. I did that. I broke him. And I couldn’t feel worse.

“What’s wrong?” Tyler frowned.

I looked back at him, smiling weakly.

“I just saw Sean. He’s sitting right near us, actually. I guess…I guess I didn’t expect to see him again so soon, especially looking so miserable,” I sighed.

Tyler chewed his bottom lip briefly.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Tyler asked softly.

“Yeah, I do. But I’m with you now, and that’s what matters most,” I replied.

Tyler smiled slightly, pecking my lips gently.

“So you’re Andrew Colm’s ex,”

I snapped my head over to look at Sean, seeing two blonde boys standing over him. I recognise them from the parties Tyler and I used to go to, the homosexuals only party that I took Sean to that one time. Fuck, what do they want with Sean?

“Uh, y-yeah, I am,” Sean stammered.

“Guess you must feel pretty pathetic that he’s back dating Tyler Jenkins now, huh?” the taller blonde sneered.

Sean just chewed his bottom lip, looking down at his lap. Fuck. How dare they speak to Sean like that?! I know I’m not with him any more, but I’ll be damned if I let anyone bully him because of me.

“How did you ever think you had even the slightest chance with someone like Andrew?”

“A nobody like you, a weak pathetic nobody like you,”

“Guess you just weren’t good enough in bed, huh?”

“I bet you were just a pity fuck,”

Sean just sat there silent, taking all their shit, my anger rising higher and higher. I didn’t notice that Tyler wasn’t by my side until I saw him walking over to Sean. Shit. This can’t end well.

“I don’t think you two have the rights to say this shit to Sean when neither of you have even had a sniff of Drew and I,” Tyler mocked, cocking his head to the side.

Sean’s eyes widened at Tyler defending him. I have no words. What the fuck is he doing?!

“J-Jenkins, we…”

“Save it. Sean had what you two will never have, and I think you should fuck off before I make you,” Tyler interrupted, folding his arms over his chest.

The two blondes opened and closed their mouth, clearly searching for an answer, before Tyler got bored and grabbed Sean by the shoulder, hauling him to his feet. I stared in shock as he dragged Sean over to me, pushing him to sit down on the ground as he did too.

“Uh, Ty?” I prompted.

“I know Sean means a lot to you, even though we’re back together. I know you miss his friendship and I’m not going to stand in the way of that. So, if Sean and you want, you can still hang out,” Tyler said.

“Y-You really mean that?” Sean said nervously.

“Yeah, just remember that I’m the only one that kisses him, touches him and fucks him,” Tyler shrugged.

Sean blushed and I rolled my eyes. It was almost a nice moment.

“I’d like it if we could still be friends, even if I do only have two months left of college,” Sean said shyly.

“What do you want to do after you graduate?” Tyler asked.

Sean glanced at me and I nodded in encouragement. If Tyler wants to make the effort to get to know Sean, I’m not going to stop that.

“Well, I want to do something with art. I’m not sure what yet. I don’t know if I actually want to be an artist, or if I want to work in a gallery, or if I want to go into animation or something like that. Just art,” Sean explained.

“You’ll have to show me your work some time. My father owns an art gallery to make himself seem more ‘cultured’, so it’ll be interesting to compare your work to the stuff I’ve seen in there,” Tyler mused.

“I guess I could do that,” Sean smiled.

I smiled gratefully at Tyler, who just nodded to me before returning his attention to Sean. He’s doing this for me. Tyler is making friends with someone that I care about to make me happy. How much more perfect could he be?