Blackout

“Your phone’s ringing,” groaned Tony. I buried my face in his chest trying to forget the fact that I heard the ringing, too. I wanted to just keep lying like this. My boyfriend wrapped his arms around me and held me against his chest still.

Then the ringer went off again.

He mumbled about it and reached across me to grab it. I groaned as he rolled over me to get it for me. Tony got off of me and sat up in my bed with the phone. He looked like he was contemplating answering it for me then handed me the phone.

“Answer it,” he commanded. I looked at the picture that popped up on the phone and sighed knowing that this wasn’t going to go well for me. He had to call again. It wasn’t enough to leave me a message the day before and accept that I wouldn’t call him back.

“Emily speaking. State your business, or go away,” I told him. I rolled my eyes at Tony as he laughed at the way I chose to answer my phone.

“Bad timing?” asked Tyler. I bit my tongue before I could answer him with anything that I could ever regret later on. Tony was mouthing that I should put him on speaker, but I hit him with the pillow that I had been using.

“Well, seeing as your calls woke my boyfriend and me up, yes,” I yawned. I made sure to emphasize the fact that it was my boyfriend who was laying here with me. Tony took the pillow I hit him with and put it in my lap curling up there.

Tyler stayed silent on the other end of the line. Should I hang up? I asked myself that question and tried to see what Tony wanted me to do. He was asleep again. I hated this. This situation was too much for me to handle. It was all his fault. I wanted nothing more to do with the boy on the other end. Why did he want anything to do with me now anyway?

“Meet me for lunch?” he asked finally as I opened my mouth to say goodbye. I stopped and looked down at Tony. This was the same request that led to everything going to hell with Adam. I didn’t want to do that this time. It had to be different.

“I’ll meet you for coffee now,” I told him.

We settled on a café and got off the phone. I ran a hand through my hair and finally decided to get off of the bed. I scribbled a note for Tony to leave when he woke up since I didn’t want to deal with my parents being mad that he was there and I wasn’t though it never bothered them before. People had seemed to drop in and out of our house whenever they wanted.

***

I almost didn’t go. I regretted it as soon as I was greeted by the smell of coffee and freshly baked goods. That was my mistake. I could have turned back then. I could have turned around halfway there. I could have decision to call and cancel plans. But I didn’t. Part of me cursed my decision making. Part of me was glad I was wrapping things up.

“Emily, hey,” he called from a corner. Two cups of coffee and a scone sat on the end table between the seats. I sighed. There was no getting out of it now. I was stuck here until we tied up our ends and went on our separate ways. If only it really was that easy.

I took the coffee that was closer to the empty chair and took a sip. It already had cream and sugar in it, and I was glad to see he at least was doing this for me. The regrets of having not spoken to him since Christmas piled up. I wanted to take a bulldozer to them, but sitting here with him alone made me want to actually stay. I hated what he did to me. I hated what he could do to my relationship.

“Thanks,” I said holding up the cup in my hand. “Say what you have to say. I don’t know if Tony’s awake yet and I’d rather like to be there when he woke up.”

Tyler rolled his eyes as I mentioned my boyfriend. He never seemed to have liked him in the first place despite the fact that there was no reason for the two of them not to like each other before the party and even then he had no right to be mad at anyone.

“Why do you hate me so much?” he asked. I bit my lip. He knew the answer to that was most reasonable to that, but in reality, I didn’t hate him as much as I told people I did. I missed him. I wanted to hug him again. I wanted to be the lucky girl who called him hers. I was lucky to have Tony, but I knew that there was the possibility he still had feelings for Rachel. I knew he still had all the pictures of the two of them together and the gifts that he had received from her during the length of their relationship.

“I don’t,” I admitted.