Timing Is Everything

“I think I’m gonna need another shot before we get to the phone call.” Tyler slowly pours some more liquor into his shot glass. A look of concentration on his face as he poured. “You want another.”

I take a deep breath and mull it over in my head. “Maybe, not right now. I may take you up on that offer later on. What are you drin-Ewww Cash! Did you just fart on me?” I yell.

Cash quickly gets up and scurries to somewhere behind the couch. Tyler almost chokes on his drink, he’s laughing so hard. Marshall roles on the couch to face us, oblivious to what just happened.

“Gross! Where’s the Febreeze?” I ran to the kitchen, grab the Febreeze and start spraying everywhere as Tyler covers our drinks. “Oh that smells awful!”

“Bad dog!” Tyler laughs pointing at Cash.

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“Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up.” I chanted into my phone. I was alone, pacing in my backyard, waiting for Tyler to answer my call.

“Hello?” His voice flowed through the phone. I released the breath that I was holding.

“Hey, how are you? How’s the party going?”

“It’s going well, hanging out with everyone here and drinking.”

“I just heard the news.” I bit my lip, not sure if I should’ve been as abrupt.

He paused before replying, “Yeah, it’s not something I was expecting. I’m doing my best to not think about it too much.”

“I know,” I paused, “But if you ever wanna talk about it, just know that I’m here alright?” A silence fell over the both of us and I waited for any response from him.

“You aren’t here.”

I furrowed my brows. “What do you mean ‘You aren’t here?’ I’m here on the phone with you right now.”

“You should be here, like physically here. I-” He sighed. “I need you here, Audrey. My world has just flipped upside down and the only person I wanna talk to about it isn’t here. You’re not here, Aud. Instead, I’m here trying to forget about the trade by drowning my sorrows in booze and girls; partying it up like everyone expects me to.” I could hear the anger rising in his voice.

“Ty, how much have you had to drink?”

“You should be here. All my friends are here right now. Hell, even Stud is here! You know, some friend you are,” He scoffed, “You claim to be my 'best friend' but if you were really my best friend then you would be here, yet you’re not. You’re just talk and no show. You don’t truly care about me, you’re not there for me when I need you.”

“Look, I understand that you’re upset but I can’t just up and leave my house, where I’m spending time with my family, to go to another state in the middle of the night!” I told him, my anger beginning to rise. “I’m really sorry that I can’t be there for you right now but don’t tell me that I’m not there for you, that I don’t do enough for you!”

“But you’re not here for me now.” He reiterated with his voice raising slightly. "Of all the times, now is when I need you the most!"

“You've got to be kidding me! I’m always there for you, putting up with just about all of your shit. Most people wouldn't deal with half of the stuff that I deal with. Who’s the one that knows your schedule better than anyone and reminds you of 90% of your events? You know I still blame myself for forgetting to send a wake up text that day you missed your team breakfast! Who’s the person that listens to your constant rambling when you get frustrated or excited even when I have 3 tests and 2 papers to do? Who do you use as an excuse for just about everything when it comes to your mother? Hmm? Whether you realize it or not Ty, I’ve done so much for you, like taking time out of my schedule to visit you. Every time we see each other, who’s the one going to who? Hmm? I’m always the one to go visit you!”

“I visited you!”

“Yeah, once! Compared to all the times I came to Boston to see you! And let's not forget the last time I came to visit, you spent more time with some brunette in your bed!”

“I’m busy with hockey! I just can’t leave when I want and take a trip down to see you!” He said ignoring my last statement.

“Oh and I’m not busy? I’m taking 6 classes next semester and I work as a tutor! I have homework, projects, papers and tutoring lessons that I have to do. Just because I’m not some hotshot, famous hockey player doesn’t mean I just sit on my ass all day! I do the best that I can to be there for you when you need me!”

“But I need you now Audrey! And you’re not here for me! Do you not get that?” He yelled into the phone.

“Really? You’re gonna pull this on me now?” I asked him, tears starting to well up in my eyes. “Fine, I can play the guilt card too and just as well.” I sniffled. “You call me a shitty friend for not being there for you during your trade? Well where the hell were you when I needed you when my Lola passed away?” My voice cracked at the end.

Tyler was silent on the other end, all I could hear was the faint sounds of the party happening around him. “That’s not fair Aud.”

“Not fair? Not fair? I needed you then just like you need me now, so don’t tell me that it’s not fair. You can’t come out and attack me and blame me for not being there for you when you weren’t there for me either!” I sniffled and tried to blink away the tears that were welling in my eyes. “It can’t always be about you, Ty. There are other people in my life that I have to think about and give my attention to.”

“So now I’m taking up too much of your time?”

“That’s not what I said Tyler.”

“No, but it's what you meant. You made it pretty clear, I take up too much of your time. You wanna spend your time with someone else.” He paused. “It’s that Michael guy isn’t it? The one from before? You’d rather spend your time with him than with me. I don’t get what makes him so much better than me, huh?” The slight crack in his voice pulled at my heart. “Is it because he’s at Penn State with you? You two must live close on campus, perfect opportunity to see each other and spend all your free time together. I get it. I take up too much of your attention. I’m all the way in Boston and then in Toronto. I’m not around enough for you.” I heard some shuffling across on the other side of the phone.

“Ty-”

“Why focus all your time on me when you have someone else who’s closer? I mean I would do that exact thing if I was you.” He paused. “Well, if that’s how you feel then just stop thinking about me. I won’t think about you. Don't worry about me in Dallas, we'll be far apart, further than Penn was to Boston, and you won't have to think about me. We'll just forget about each other and move on. I'm sure I'll do just fine without you.”

The finality of his tone scared me. I heard some more shuffling and then I heard a feminine giggle. “Tyler! We’re not don-”

He hung up on me, he fucking hung up on me! That fucking asshole! I mentally cursed him as I quickly dialed a number into my phone.

“Audi? Baby girl, what’s up?”

“Studsy,” I paused to control myself, “Keep an eye on Ty tonight will you? Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“Wait, what? Audi, what’s wrong? Why do I have to keep an eye of Ty? What happened? Is everything alright?” Mike’s confused questions came through the phone.

“I don’t know, Studsy. Everything just happened so quickly and I’m afraid…” I took a deep breath. “I think I just lost one of my best friends.” I whispered.

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My call with Mike ended and buried my face in my hands. After taking a few deep breaths, I wiped at my face and my gaze fell on to my house. I gained my composure and made my way back to the house. The house was empty for the most part when I entered. I made my way to the stairs when someone called out my name.

“You okay Aud?” Mason asked, I nodded my head. “You were out there a while, is everything okay?”

I opened my mouth to come up with an excuse, but closed, opting to just tell him the truth. “Tyler and I got into a fight.”

“A fight over what?” Mason asked as he walked towards me. “Let’s go sit down in the living room alright?” He led me to the living and sat down next to me on the couch. “What happened?”

“After dinner, I got bombarded with messages in my group text with Chloe, Olivia, and Viv. They were going on and on about something that related to Tyler. When I checked online, I-” I paused to fidget with my hands a bit, “I found out he got traded to Dallas.”

Mason sent me a weak smile and placed one of his hands on top of my own.

“So I called him and within minutes, we got into a fight.” I continued to tell him about the phone call between Tyler and myself. By the time I was done telling him, I took a deep breath before I told him what I told Mike earlier. “I think I just lost one of my best friends Mason and I don’t know what to do.”

“He has a lot on his plate right now. The trade definitely turned his life around and it wasn’t something that he expected. No one expected it. When something like that happens, you panic. It’s unfamiliar and it’s scary. When Lola passed, what did you do?” He looked me in the eyes. “You spent 3, almost 4, days in complete solitude. You wouldn’t talk to anyone unless you absolutely had to. And while you didn’t cry in front of people, I could hear your sobs through your bedroom door.” He pulled me into his side. “But over time, you moved on. Tyler was traded hours ago, he’s still in shock of it all, he’s still trying to comprehend everything that just happened. He’s not thinking clearly right now. You’re gonna have to give him some time Aud. Once that happens, the two of you will talk again. You didn’t lose him as a friend, he’s just a little lost in his own mind. It’ll all be okay.”

He wrapped his arms around me in a hug and I buried my head into his shoulder.

I hope everything will work out alright in the end.

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“Regrets, I’ve had a few.” Tyler sang to his cup as he swirled around its contents.