He wasn’t really sure what he had expected to see when he walked into the room, but this wasn’t it. The entire room was awash in pink and blue, streamers hanging on either side of the banner, Vicky was currently trying to wrangle into pce. There were boxes all over the floor, some full some empty.

  Tyler took in the entire scene with a hint of confusion. Not by the baby decor and banner, but because he could see some of them hanging from the ceiling. The streamers on the ceiling were obviously not done by Vicky. Not if the open boxes were any indication.

  “Isn’t she almost due,” Tyler found himself muttering aloud. How had Jade put them up there all by herself?

  “She is,” Vicky said over her shoulder, “but that doesn’t mean she’s invalid.”

  That brought a smile to his face, “her words?”

  “Of course,” she smiled, turning to tape the stubborn strings in pce. “But she really shouldn’t be doing any of it,” he could hear her murmur under her breath.

  Since it wasn’t something he was supposed to hear, he briefly considered pretending he hadn’t heard it. It’s just…He’s curious. “If she’s not supposed to then why is she doing it?”

  Her movements stop for a second, then, “According to the doctor and google, she’s nesting. I just wish she’d do so normally and not decorate the entire room.”

  “When is she due?” Tyler’s not sure why he asked the question aside from the foreign immutable curiosity that strikes him. He’s never been around a pregnant woman enough to experience this.

  “Not for another month or so.”

  He blinks. Wasn’t that a little soon for this? Sure those movies the girls had made them watch had given him a some idea of what that would entail, but the women usually gave birth not long after. Then he shrugged. If she said so, it must be true. It’s not like he would know all that much about pregnancy.

  “Do you need some help?” Tyler moves away from his spot at the doorway, rolling up his sleeves.

  “No, I’mfi-ah!” In the process of reaching over to fix the other end, she slips and the dder beneath her topples over.

  Running on pure instinct, Tyler can barely register his next actions. All he knows is one second he’s walking forward and the next his arms are full as he catches her midair. His breath feels strangely harsh, heart racing as the adrenaline fades. Brown eyes meet wide blue as they both register what just happened.

  Then the quiet is broken by a shaky ugh, her arms settling on his shoulders. “I guess saying I was fine was just as good as a jinx.” Another ugh, but he can hear her heartbeat under his hand. It’s racing.

  “Are youok?” He’s sure he caught her before she could be hurt, but his memories are too hazy to be sure. “How’s your foot?”

  “I’mfi…Um. I’m not hurt. It was just a slip and you caught me before I couldfacepnton the floor.” Another smile, but this one feels just a little more genuine. “You really are taking this savior role seriously huh?” A strange look enters her eyes as she moves out of his arms. “Thank you for catching me.”

  “No problem,” he tells her. His arms suddenly feel bereft as she moves to pick up the dder. He’s entirely certain she’s going to climb on it again, and barely stops himself from doing something stupid. Like telling her not to. Which had never worked forLiaor Nina, so he doubted it would here.

  Grimacing a little, he runs a hand through his hair, a shaky breath leaving him all at once. Fuck. That was so close. Too close. The floor was tiled, so she could havesmashed her head or worse. He doesn’t want to think about the worse.

  Maybe it would be good to find something to distract from it. Seeing her get back on the dder to fix the now crooked banner, Tyler walks over behind her, hands going to grip the sides. She of course, notices and throws him a questioning look.

  “You just fell off the dder,” he gestures with his head. “You probably wouldn’t listen if I told you to not get on it…So I thought this was the next best thing.”

  Vicky gives him a bnk look for a second, but seems to find the expnation satisfactory, shooting him an almost fond smile before turning back. “Alright.”

  “Jade was getting worried,” he remembers to tell her, “Is there anything else to put up?” Tyler moves back, but still maintains a hold on the dder as she gets down.

  “Nah,” she says, taking the dder and folding it before pcing it against the wall. “That was the st of it.”

  Thank god. “Cool,” he says instead of voicing the relief. It was maybe a tad dramatic to be relieved about such a thing. He didn’t want her to think he was dramatic or a worrywart.

  “Cool,” she repeats with a teasing smile. Tyler can’t stop his lips from twitching in answer even as he tries to gre. She huffs a ugh,”come on. I can hear the rain has gone down.”

  “You want me to leave so soon?” He teases, but he knows what she means. It’s getting too te for him to stay here. If he doesn’t get home soon, it might be dark out.

  She gives him a look as she sits back down on the couch. “Not exactly, but you probably should. I’m sure you’re parents are worried.”

  “Probably,” he mutters, taking a seat as well. He can hear Jade in the other room.

  “You don’t sound so sure,” she says with a frown.

  “No, it’s just that they’re…” probably not going to be there or notice, “busy.”

  Vicky looks like she wants to argue, but seems to think better of it. She sighs, eyes flickering over him. “I’ll consider it.”

  He blinks, “consider what?”

  “Sitting with you more, ” she says with a shrug. “Although, i won’t make any promises.”

  Well that was a sudden change of subject, but he doesn’t really mind that. This is better than talking about his parents anyway. “You mean it?” Tyler feels a spark of hope bloom within his chest as she nods with a smile.

  “So would now be a bad time to ask if you’d want to go on a date?” Ah shit. Tyler wanted to dig a hole and never come out. That was definitely too soon. He didn’t even know why his stupid brain had thought it was a good follow up.

  Fuck. His stomach drops. Heart threatening to jump out of his chest from the sudden rush of panic. She probably thought he was a weirdo now. She was never going to-

  “Don’t you think you’re moving a little fast?” She grins teasingly, “I’ve barely known you for a week, for all I know you could be a serial killer.” She shakes her head in mock disappointment as Tyler feels his heart settle back in his chest. “Tsk. You really-”

  “You’re right, I’m sorry,” he says in a rush, “It’s a little too soon for that.” A pause. “But that wasn’t a no.” He probably should have stopped talking before then, but he hadn’t. So now he was left to pray that she didn’t just kick him out now.

  As loathe as he was to admit it, maybe Zachwas right. He really didn’t know how he would react before he was actually in the situation. If someone had asked him a few weeks ago, he’d have said he’d have more grace than this. He would have certainly never expected so much stupid to come out of his mouth.

  That was more Zach’s thing.

  “It wasn’t,” Vicky smiles, “But it also is not a yes. Slow down.”

  “Okay,” he can’t quite hide the relief from that exhale and doesn’t really want to. Not when it earns him another of those smiles. One that reaches her eyes. “Can I at least have your number?”

  Saying the words makes him feel like he’s in the middle of a bad movie, using a equally bad pickup line, but it is what it is. Besides, it would be useful to have her number. “You can call me more easily that way,” he adds when the silence continues on, “You know if you ever need anything or…”

  “Alright,” she’s already reaching for his phone. He gives it over without a fight and watches as she puts her number in. Then her phone pings. He blinks. She smiles again. “Now I have yours as well.”

  Something about this feels odd, but he can’t quite pce his finger on what exactly it is. Oh well. He’s sure it will come to him eventually. “Okay.”

  Not long after Jade returns with a bag of food, which she insists he take with him when he leaves. And he gets another slice of cake as well. The rain has gone down enough that he doesn’t really have an excuse to linger, so after another thirty minutes, he’s waving them both goodbye with a bag of food in addition to his umbrel.

  “Thank you for having me,” he says as he untches the door.

  Tyler feels himself freeze when Jade moves to press a kiss to his cheek. “It was no trouble at all, visit again whenever you want.”

  “Ah…Um, sure.” He’s still a little dazed from it as he walks away, but he can hear Vicky saying something that sounds like a protest from behind.

  It’s not a bad feeling of course. It’s just…been a while since his mother has done anything simir. She’s normally too busy to do more than put stuff in his bag and wave him off. It’s nice, he decides, he could get used to a parental figure showing affection that way.

  But she’s not his mother so he won’t let himself get used to it. Not again. It had already caused more pain than necessary before. The memories alluded him, but he knew it was the case. With a certainty that he didn’t quite understand,

  When he got home, the lights weren’t on. It was expected, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed regardless. The house felt cold and empty as he put the containers of food in the fridge, taking off his bag as he moved to his room. His clothes followed it onto the floor not long after.

  It had started raining again as soon as he came to his road and he was too drenched to stay in them. He didn’t want to get sick and miss a week of school. Tyler huffed a ugh as he y back in bed after changing. That wasn’t something he ever thought he’d say. It was true regardless.

  Yawning, he felt his eyes growing heavy now that he wasn’t standing anymore. His stomach was full, creating a drowsy lull around him. Maybe he should take a small nap. There was still plenty of time until dinner.

  A beep from the side had him lifting his phone to check it casually, only to sit upright when he saw who it was from.

  ‘Vicky: You get home ok?’

  Suddenly the tiredness didn’t matter at all. He was wide awake now. He grinned, fingers moving rapidly to type a response.

  ’Tyler: Yep. Home safe and sound. Rain didn’t manage to kill me today.” It was a little joke since she’d told him to watch out for the rain while waving him of. He got a eye roll emoji in response, to which he sent a smiling one.

  ‘Vicky: Anyway…I’m gd you’re safe. See you tomorrow.’

  Briefly, he considered asking her if this meant she had decided to spend lunch with them tomorrow, but decided not to push his luck. He’d already done enough of that today. What if she changed her mind? Then he grimaced. When the hell had he started overthinking this much?

  ‘Tyler: See you tomorrow.’ There. Nice and simple.

  Waiting only a few seconds to make sure there weren’t any more messages, he pced the phone back on his nightstand. Giddiness buzzed under his skin in anticipation of the next day. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep like this.

  To make matters worse, his stomach growled not soon after. Ah well. He groaned, running a hand over his face before forcing himself out of bed again. Trekking to the fridge, he found his attention drawn to the curry and rice Jade had given him. It was certainly a better alternative than the leftover pasta they’d been eating the past few days.

  Putting it in the microwave, he set a timer for thirty seconds before pting some of the cake she’d added in as well. It didn’t matter that he’d already eaten two slices already, more wouldn’t hurt. But…He winced, rememberingLia’srant about portions and decided to make it a small piece instead.

  The food was delicious. He could barely believe he’d pte had been full a few minutes ago. Tyler couldn’t remember the st time he’d devoured a meal so fast. Thank the gods or whoever had made her make this today. His taste buds were blessed.

  Alright. So maybe that was more than a little dramatic. He bmed it on being tired. There was no way he’d say something so cringe otherwise. Nope. No way. He made sure to clean up after himself before heading back to his room.

  A quick look at his phone showed it was only about six thirty, so it might be too early to sleep, but a nap wasn’t out of the question. Maybe his parents would manage to get home before eight today. He wasn’t holding his breath.

  It was fine. He was used to it. But it would still be nice to see them now. He wasn’t sure how much time he had left with them before he moved away. Tyler didn’t want to have any regrets whenever he did. But like he said, it was fine regardless.

  His just wasn’t the type of family to worry about all that mushy stuff. However, he’d unfortunately spent too much time around the chaotic influence that were his friends and couldn’t forget what he knew now. Other families didn’t go so long without seeing each other, certainly not days.

  Which of course meant it had gotten better from then, but he was greedy and wanted more. He shook away the thought as soon as it formed. This wasn’t the time to have such depressing thoughts. His eyes felt heavier as he yawned, getting more comfortable and trying to think of something else. Something less complicated.

  Eventually it worked. He found himself drifting off to pns of the next day instead. But one thought seeped through just before he finally drifted away. Something he hoped he would remember when he awoke.

  Just how had Vicky opened his phone without being told the pin?