Just Consider It

On the day I was supposed to go out with Tyler, my sister called me, frantic and panicked. “I have to stay late tonight, can you watch Mason? Please? No one else is available!”

“Sorry,” I said, hunting around my dorm for a hairbrush. “I’m going on a date.”

That got her attention. “You are? Really?”

“Yup.”

“So your tutor finally wore you down, huh?”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Good for you,” Avery continued. “I always thought he was cute. Too bad you claimed him; he looked like he’d be a good stepdad . . .”

“No, no, no, no, no. I am not going out with my tutor. I’m going out with his roommate, Tyler. I hate Niall, remember? And anyways, Avery, he’s only nineteen. You can’t just marry him.” I shuddered at the mere thought of Niall being my brother-in-law and the stepdad to sweet Mason.

“Don’t get your underwear in a knot, Hero, I was just thinking out loud,” Avery scoffed. “Of course I’m not gonna marry him, stupid. Guys suck.”

“Well, of course to you they do.” I instantly regretted saying that. Avery was very sensitive whenever the topic of men came up. It wasn’t like she was ugly; boys had been attracted to her like moths to a flame all her life. But, obviously, they never stayed/proved themselves worthy. And lately, Noah had been the worst reminder of that. I wondered how she would feel when Mason got older and began to look more and more like him.

“Sorry,” I said after a minute of silence.

“Can you watch Mason or not?” she asked, her voice a little tight.

“Yeah. I’ll be right over.” I hung up, still feeling guilty. As much as I wished Maggie could take him off my hands, I knew it would just hang onto my conscience all night. So, whether I liked it or not, Mason was coming with me.

Maggie came in that moment, stretching out on her bed. “Is that what you’re wearing?”

I looked down at myself and nodded. “Yeah. Why, do I look bad?” I had put almost two hours of careful consideration into my outfit: a simple white tank top, a long knit white button-down cardigan, leggings, flats, and a white beanie. Hopefully I wouldn’t look too atrocious.

She shrugged. “No, you look fine. You nervous?”

“A little. I have to leave early, though, to get Mason.”

Her eyes bugged out. “What? Why?”

“My sister’s working late and needs me to watch him.”

“No!” Maggie almost shouted. “You can’t bring him! I’ll — I’ll watch him!”

I shook my head. “I accidentally insulted Avery about her lack of love life so now I have to or else my conscience will be eating away at me all night.”

“You have a conscience?”

“Sort of.”

Maggie sighed. “Well, I wish I could help you, but if you’re positive . . . at least let me know how it goes.”

I nodded and grabbed my cell phone and my keys. “See you later.” I shut the door to my room and left the dorm building, making the dreaded walk to Avery’s house. Hopefully Mason would be wearing something normal this time. My sister enjoyed dressing my nephew up in onesies or shirts that said things like MOMMY’S LITTLE MAN or I WAS MADE IN VEGAS (even though he wasn’t). Her favorite so far was one that said I SHARTED.

Thankfully, when Avery opened the door and handed me Mason and his diaper bag, he was wearing a jacket, pants, and his shoes with a little hat on his head. “What time will you be back?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “Around nine. Thanks for watching him.” I guess she was still sore about my little comment before, so I didn’t push it.

“Yup. See you then.” I hoisted Mason in my arms and said, “You ready to go with Aunt Hero?”

“Heggo,” he answered, whacking me on the arm with his little fist.

“Are you gonna cock-block me?” I asked as we walked.

“Heggo.” This was becoming the default answer to any question. As I was nearing the coffee shop, my phone rang. It was Tyler.

“Hey, Hero. I know I said we’d meet at the coffee shop, but I just got back and I was thinking, if you’re still here, maybe we could walk over together?” He sounded hopeful. I groaned inwardly.

“Sure, Tyler. I’ll be right there.” I shoved my phone back into my pocket and turned around, muttering under my breath. Mason, of course, was oblivious to all of this: he shrieked and screamed at everyone who we passed. Most of the people smiled at him and gave me a dirty look, probably assuming I was some type of teen mom.

When I finally got to Tyler and Niall’s dorm, I could hear loud voices coming from inside. I knocked, and after a few seconds the door opened and a boy with very short dark hair and brown eyes blinked back at me.

“Niall, there’s a girl at the door,” he called.

“Someone get a camera! That’s a first!” another voice shouted back.

Oh, goodie. I was wondering when Niall’s stupid bandmates would make an appearance. Niall himself appeared, looking at me curiously.

“Hero? What are you doing here? And . . . erm . . .”

“I’m here for Tyler,” I said haughtily. “And um, this is my nephew Mason.”

Three more boys came over. “Oh,” Niall said. “These are my friends. Liam,” he nodded at the boy with the shaved hair, “Zayn,” another boy with dark brown hair shook my hand, “Louis,” a boy with tousled brown hair and a boyish smirk did the same, “and Harry.”

The boy with curly brown hair and green eyes stepped up and kissed me on the cheek. “Hello,” he said in a voice that was surprisingly deep. He winked at me. “I’m Harry, and whoever you’re going out with is very lucky.”

It took me a second to collect myself. “Where’s Tyler?”

Tyler himself appeared, pushing Harry to the side. “Come on, Styles, I called dibs,” he said, laughing. Harry grinned honey-slow at me one more time before backing away. “Wow, Hero, you look great.”

“Thanks,” I said, blowing a strand of hair out of my face, which only made Mason grab it again. “Ow, Mace, don’t do that.” I removed my hair from his grip. “Oh, sorry. This is my nephew, Mason. Can you say hi?”

Mason responded by blowing a raspberry in my face and screaming something in his baby language.

“Aw, hey, little guy. How old is he?”

“He just turned a year old two weeks ago.”

“Cool.” Tyler got an awkward look on his face. “Is he, er, coming with us?”

I nodded apologetically. “My sister gave me some serious guilt and I always leave him with my roommate so —”

“We’ll watch him,” Niall piped up.

Tyler looked like he was about to agree, but I shook my head wildly. “No. You are not taking care of my nephew. You’ll probably just poison him or shave his head or show him porn.”

“Aw, come on!” Niall protested. “I would never poison a baby, and I, for one, appreciate good hair. Besides, I deleted all the porn from my history so I couldn’t get back to it if I tried.”

Before I could punch him, Tyler interrupted, “Come on, Hero. They really are great with kids; especially Liam, Niall, and Louis.”

“What, so we aren’t?” Zayn asked, motioning to him and Harry.

“Harry, whenever you help me babysit Daisy and Phoebe all you do is sit on your phone and text. And Zayn, you’ve been known to fall asleep on the job,” Louis pointed out.

Zayn stuck his tongue out. “Well, fine then.”

Niall gave me a puppy-dog look, widening his big blue eyes. The rest of the boys did the same, and suddenly I was faced with six pairs of eyes staring back at me. Finally, I sighed and gave in. “Okay, okay, fine. Here.” I kissed Mason on the head and handed him over to Niall. “If I come back and hear that you did something that will put him in therapy when he’s older, you’ll regret ever being born. Understood?”

He saluted me. “Aye, aye, captain.”

Harry bounded over. “Oh, goodie, a baby!”

“Let’s get one of those baby carrier things and strap him to you,” Liam offered. “Then it’ll be like there’s a mutant creature growing out of your chest.”

We all stared at him. He blushed a little. “Or . . . or not.”

“Okay,” Tyler seemed satisfied. “Ready to go now?” I nodded, and he said, “Okay. See you later, guys.”

I waved goodbye to Mason and the rest of the guys and followed Tyler out of the dorm. It was the end of October and the leaves were bloodred, pumpkin orange, and crusty yellow. The air was crisp and clear and in that moment, all seemed right with the world.

“So,” Tyler said to me as we walked. “Niall tells me you’re like a super genius.”

“He said that?”

He nodded. “He knows you don’t like being tutored by him and he said that you thought I thought you were stupid, so he told me you were like the smartest girl he knew.”

I had to admit, that was really nice of him. But it still didn’t make me hate him any less. “That’s weird,” I said finally. “Since Niall and I don’t exactly get along.”

We arrived at the coffee shop and decided to sit at a table outside to enjoy the weather. While we waited to be served, Tyler asked, “Oh, yeah, why is that? If you don’t mind me asking.”

I could feel myself getting a little uncomfortable. “I don’t like to be beaten at academic stuff, I guess . . . and Niall’s always getting the best grades in psychology or whatever, which is bad enough, but then the teacher suggested that he tutor me. I’ve never had a tutor before, either. We’re just . . . not a good match.”

“Ah. Have you ever tried talking to him?"

"Not really. We just sort of hated each other on sight."

"Yeah, that sort of thing usually does it," Tyler mused. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so I just nodded and stared down at my fingers. This is awkward.

Finally, Tyler said, "Hero? I'm kidding."

"Oh," I could feel my face getting a little red. Why was I such an idiot? Well, okay, I wasn't an idiot academically, but socially? Maybe I was a little rusty. "Sorry."

Tyler stared at me, so I busied myself with putting my napkin on my lap and adjusting my silverware. Finally, he laughed that weird British laugh of his said, “You’re one funny bird, Hero Bronwyn.”

Was that a good thing or a bad thing? The last guy I’d dated, Anthony, had just come right out with things: “You’re hot”, “You’re funny”, “You’re a freak”, the works. And what was a bird, anyways? Whenever someone said that to me, I always pictured like a humongous seagull or something.

“Um, thanks.”

Thankfully, things got less awkward as the waitress came and took our orders. I asked Tyler about what he was majoring in (he wanted to be a teacher), and he asked me about my family (which, admittedly, was still a touchy subject for me) and overall, I had a good time.

“So, Mason’s your sister’s kid?” Tyler asked.

I nodded, taking a small bite out of my apple strudel. “Yep. She had him a year ago.”

“Is that why you came to uni over here? To support her?”

I shrugged. “I guess so. More or less. I mean, I’d rather have gone to Yale or Harvard or maybe even Stanford like my mom and dad, but I thought it’d be interesting to be in a new place and stuff. Plus, someone had to look after Avery.”

Tyler laughed. “You’re a good sister.”

“You think so?” I asked, surprised. Avery was a pain in my ass, but I did love her. We needed each other in the way Tom needed Jerry: Without Jerry, Tom would have no one to chase; without Tom, Jerry would have no one to outwit.

He nodded. “Yeah. Niall said you cool, and he turned out to be right, of course.”

Niall said I was cool? How would he know? We couldn’t even go five minutes without fighting. I opened my mouth to say that, but then stopped. If it made Tyler like me more, then who was I to correct him? So instead, I just smiled.

"It's kind of funny," he continued, "I always thought the two of you hated each other, but from what he tells me, you don't seem like that type of person."

This was getting a little weird. "What, does he like me or something?" I snorted.

But Tyler looked at me seriously. "He'd better not."

I stopped laughing. "I mean . . . why would he? We're not exactly friends."

He smiled. "Good." Good indeed. If Niall Horan had a petty crush on me, then I'd probably either laugh in his face, kick him in the balls, or become too embarrassed and never show up to class again. Most likely the first two. I was taught to show up to class even if a killer tornado was happening.

"So . . . what's going on with your parents?"

I winced. "I have until Christmas to get rid of my 'issue.'" I made air quotes. "And if I don't, then I'll be getting on the next plane to the good ol' US of A."

"What about Avery? And Mason?"

"Apparently the two of them can handle themselves."

Tyler hesitated before he asked, "Do your parents like Mason?"

I was surprised. "Yeah, they do. I know, it's funny, you'd think my parents would be incapable of loving, but they can. They almost disowned Avery when she got pregnant, but in the end they eventually got used to him. They're hoping he'll turn out like me." I almost felt a little guilty about that. Poor Mason had no idea what a dysfunctional family he'd been born into.

Tyler paid for the bill and then we walked back to campus together, kicking aside leaves. At one point, I slipped on a pile of them, and he reached out and grabbed my hand, steadying me. He didn’t let go once I regained my balance, and I didn’t ask him to.

We were in front of his dorm and I was about to knock when he stopped me. “Can I do something?” he asked.

I nodded, and very slowly and deliberately, Tyler leaned in and kissed me. I felt a sharp shock on my lips the second they touched and wondered if that was the fireworks everyone in romance novels talked about.

When he pulled back, he asked, "Was that okay?"

"That was more than okay."

He grinned and leaned in to kiss me again. Suddenly, the door opened, and a loud catcall made me jump away from Tyler. Liam was standing there with Niall, Louis, Zayn, and Harry hovering behind him. Mason was strapped to Niall’s chest. He didn’t appear to be mentally or physically disturbed, thank God.

“Well,” Liam said, smiling, his brown eyes darting from me to Tyler, “looks like you two have been getting cozy, hmm?”

I wanted to hit him, but honestly, there was something so sweet and friendly about his face that I knew he wasn’t making fun of me to be a dick. So I just laughed and directed my attention towards Niall. “How was he?”

“Fine,” Niall said, his face actually serious for once. He removed Mason from his carrier and handed him to me. “Perfectly fine.”

“Yeah, he was awesome,” Harry added enthusiastically. “Bring him ‘round any time you and Tyler wanna go suck face, we’ll watch him!”

I forced another laugh. “Okay. Well, Mace, say bye to the boys!” Mason shrieked and waved his fist. I smiled awkwardly at Tyler. “Thanks for uh, everything, Tyler.”

He winked. “No problem.”

As I walked away, I knew I should’ve been happy. But for some reason, I felt oddly unsettled, and the only thing I could see whenever I blinked was the fact that all the boys had been grinning at me when they caught me and Tyler . . . except for Niall.