In the end, Tyler decided it was better to just pick a few different ones and let her decide when she got there. Friday had seemed an age away when she’d agreed, but it had also arrived far sooner than he would have thought. He moved around the bowls on the table, shooting a gnce towards the door.

  His parents were on a work trip and wouldn’t be home until after the weekend so they had the house to themselves. A good thing too because he didn’t need feel like dodging their questions at the moment. He slumped into the couch with sigh.

  Sometimes he wished they weren’t so busy. They hadn’t always been. He could remember a time where they were mostly home, but the older he grew the more they stayed away. It got a little lonely being at the house without them.

  But that didn’t matter right now. He shook away the strangely gloomy thoughts. Vicky was going to be here any minute.

  A smile curled at his lips remembering Zach’s face when he mentioned it. The asshole had had the audacity to look surprised. Tyler sighed again, annoyance building at the thought of his friend. More specifically his insistence on annoying him.

  The ringing of the doorbell had him jolting to his feet, all thoughts of Zach forgotten. He had to force himself to slow down so he didn’t seem to eager, but couldn’t resist checking himself in the hallway mirror before he moved to open the door. Be cool, he reminded himself.

  However that thought was soon forgotten when the door swung open. His heart skipping a beat at the sight of her standing there. She was wearing a cute white dress with red roses. It looks great, but it was her smile that had his mouth turning dry. A wide grin that reached her eyes.

  “Hi,” she says when he stays quiet a little too long, “Am I te?”

  “Not at all,” he manages to say, breaking from his stupor, “Hi.”

  “Tyler,” she says, amusementcolouringher features.

  He blinks, “Yes?”

  “You’ll need to move if you want me to come in.” Ah. Right.

  Tyler tries very hard to control the blush rushing to his face, and even then he doesn’t think he fully succeeds. “Come on in,” He tells her as he moves to the side, “I couldn’t pick a movie, so you’ll just have to do that for me.”

  “Sure,” she smiles. Then her head tilts to the side, “You look great by the way.”

  “You too,” he whispers past the blush breaking through as she walks in without further ado. It seems she’s intent on making him flustered today. Great.

  When he manages to pull himself together, she’s already taking a seat on the couch, scanning through the DVDs in consideration. They could have probably watched something on Netflix, but she’d mentioned before that it would be more fun this way. He had a feeling she just wanted a chance to judge his collection, but it didn’t really matter.

  “How about this?” She holds up How to Train Your Dragon.

  His brows furrow as he walks forward, “Sure. But haven’t you already watched this?”

  “I have,” she tells him with a grin when he puts it into the pyer, “I want to watch it again. Besides,” she raises a brow, “it doesn’t really matter what movie we watch does it?”

  Somehow that sounds a lot like a test to him. It doesn’t of course, and honestly he’d love to watch this movie again. “No it doesn’t,” he tells her, plopping himself on the couch beside her. “I love this movie.”

  “I figured,” she says with another of those expressions he can’t quite pce. But the movie starts to py before he gets to think too deeply about it.

  A comfortable silence descends on them all of a sudden. So much so that Tyler feels his earlier nerves face away in an instant. Something about her simply being here, ughing at something that happens on screen and telling him to pass the popcorn is comforting. But, it’s also not exactly what he had in mind.

  Sometime during Hiccup meeting Toothless, it occurs to him that maybe this type of date wasn’t the best idea. It’s nice yes, but it also didn’t leave any time for them to actually talk. Shit. He internally curses at the realisation that maybe Zach’s jab about not having much experience with these things may hold some truth after all.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Tyler jolts at the sound of her voice, turning to meet concerned blue eyes. “Nothing,” he says, forcing a smile, “What makes you think something’s wrong?”

  “Well. That forced smile isn’t doing anything to disprove it, but you’re all tense too.” Suddenly, she moves forward and lifts a hand to his forehead, lips thinning. “Did I somehow pass my sickness to you? I thought it would be fine but…”

  “No,” he quickly says before she can overthink that, “It’s nothing like that. My immune system is pretty strong anyway.” He grins teasingly toemphasisethe point then blinks. “Wait. Are you alright? You’re not still feeling sick are you?”

  “No,” she says on a ugh. “I’m feeling much better thanks to my nurse.” She nudges him teasingly. “And I have my doubts on that strong immune system.”

  “What is it with you and the nicknames?” His lips curl up in amusement nevertheless, “and I’ll have you know I don’t get sick much at all.”

  “Really?” She tilts her head, moving forward, “Because Zach said-”

  “Zach’s a liar,” he says. Maybe a little too quickly judging by her ugh.

  “Sure, sure.” She shakes her head, pulling another cushion on to her p. “We’ve gone off-track. Do you want to tell me what’s wrong now or should I guess?”

  Tyler chooses to remain silent. He doesn’t want to admit it aloud. What if she…Nah. She wouldn’t do that. But she might think he’s silly for thinking that way, so he decides it’s for the best anyway. He has already embarrassed himself with the scene at the door. No more.

  Vicky shakes her head with a smile, leaning her head on her hand as she turns to sit cross legged on the couch, cushions staying in pce. “Hmm. If I were to guess, this isn’t going the way you thought. Perhaps, you’ve noticed this isn’t conducive to conversation. Am I wrong?”

  His silence is probably answer enough because she gives a huffed ugh. Tyler frowns, not really understanding her amusement. Sure it’s silly, but he doesn’t think it’s that-

  “Then isn’t it a good thing, we already know that’ll happen in the movie?” Acheshirecat grins spreads over her face at his widened eyes. Wait…Did that mean…“Oh yes, ” she nods, “I was wondering how long it would take you to pick up on it.”

  “Is that why you picked this movie?” A smile of his own spreads at therealisation. There’s really no need for an answer, but Tyler would appreciate a confirmation nonetheless. She’d predicted this.

  A movie they’ve already watched, so they could talk as much as they wanted. It was probably why she had basically told him she wanted to come over as well. He sighed, a fondly exasperated sound as he shook his head with a smile.

  “You could have said something.”

  “I could,” she agrees, “but where’s the fun in that?”

  This time it’s Tyler who rolls his eyes, flopping down on his back and covering his face with his arm. He sighs. “This isn’t going all that well, is it?” Even with all that fretting.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say that.” Tyler moves his arm of his face to peer up at her. She’s grinning. “This date has just begun and,” a smile as she pops some popcorn in her mouth. “The night is young.”

  The night is young…It’s true, but that isn’t what has Tyler jolting upright with a confused expression. It’s that tone, always nudging at his mind in strange familiarity, just out of reach. He decides not to dwell on it any longer, already feeling a little silly.

  “What do you want to do instead?”

  “Well, I want to watch the movie,” she smiles slightly, “but twenty questions seems like a good idea for now.”

  “Twenty questions?” He blinks in surprise. It isn’t a bad idea, but…No. He shrugs instead of questioning it further. “Alright.”

  Vicky cps her hands together, adjusting her position to get more comfortable. “Do you want to start or shall I?”

  Hmm. “You start.” Tyler’s head is currently inconveniently empty.

  “Alright,” she shrugs. “Hmm. Let me think,” her head turns in consideration. “What do you pn to do after we graduate?”

  “I thought you’d start with something a little more easy,” he murmurs, absentmindedly.

  “Like what?” She raises her eyebrows, “Your favourite colour?” She rolls her eyes. “Just answer the question.”

  His lips twitch as he fights a smile. “Rude.” The word’s without heat, so she just grins again.

  “Anytime now,” she says in a singsong voice before munching on some popcorn.

  “I…” He sighs. It’s not that he doesn’t want to answer the question. It’s just… “I don’t know. I haven’t really given it much thought.”

  Vicky freezes, blinking at him slowly in bewilderment. “You don’t know? We’re not that far from graduating…” She sighs. “No,” she holds a hand up to stop him from speaking, “That’s fair enough I suppose. Not ideal, but understandable just the same.”

  “But,” she gives him a pointed gnce, “I expect a different answer the next time I ask.”

  “Okay,” he shrugs. Tyler hadn’t really wanted to go into the whole not knowing what wants thing, so this works. “My turn. Why did you and Jade move here?”

  She pauses, lips pursing in consideration. Or at least he thinks that’s consideration, he can’t really be sure of anything right now. “I threw a dart on a map.”

  Tyler’s brain screeches to a halt and he gives her a deadpan look. “That wasn’t an answer.”

  “Neither was yours,” she shrugs and smilesmischeviously, “you’ll just have to deal, savior.”

  Alright fair enough. “Fine,” he sighs, “Next question.” This really isn’t the best start to anything.

  “What’s your favourite book right now?”

  “What?” That was unexpected.

  “I thought I’d ask a more cssic question since it’s obvious the first one is a no-go.” She shrugs. “But if you can’t-”

  “The Odyssey.”

  “Because of the musical?”

  Tyler smiles, “Yep. Lina talked us into into listening to the songs the other day and now I can’t get them out of my head.”

  “Neither can I,” she smiles and he finds himself returning it once again.

  “That was two questions, by the way.” And yes there’s a shit eating grin on his face when he says it.

  “Whatever,” she smothers a ugh. “Ask away.”

  He stifles a ugh at the mock offense in her tone. “What’s yourfavouritesong from the musical?”

  “Hard to say,” she scrunches up her face a little. “It’s a close tie between Done for and There are other ways.”

  He’s tempted to question whether she just prefers that particur section of the py, but decides against it. That would be a waste of a question. “What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?”

  “Moving on to the hard questions I see.”

  “Does that mean you’re not going to answer?”

  “No. Just give me a sec.” Vicky searches the room before her eyes snap back to his with a grin. “I think it was the time my friend and I ended up stuck in a tree.” She smiles. “They had to call the fire brigade to get us down because we were so high up that neither of us wanted to get down.”

  “That doesn’t sound very embarrassing,” he notes.

  “Oh it was mortifying,” she tells him in a deadpan, “especially if you consider that the entire street had been looking for us for hours and we were asleep up there. Or that no-one would let us live it down. In fact,” she grins wryly, “I’m almost certain he’s blocked it out.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “I just am.”

  Tyler huffs in amusement. “That can hardly be your most embarrassing memory.”

  “I don’t embarrass myself often.” He somehow doubts that, but he’s also distracted by the grin pulling at her lips. “And just so you know, that was three questions.”

  “Petty,” he huffs on a ugh.

  “Of course,” she grins, an amused light in her eyes. “What made you think otherwise?”

  “Nothing at all,” he sighs. Then realises she’s burnt a question on that and feels a little better. He manages to stifle the smile before it forms. He’ll wait to point it out.

  “What-” Except she never gets to finish the question before her phone starts ringing. Tyler watches as she frowns and pulls it out of her purse, eyeing it for a moment before her eyes widen. She gives him a gnce that conveys her feelings clearly enough. A mix of confusion and dread. “I have to take this.”

  “Of course,” he tells her reassuringly.

  She shoots him a quick smile before picking up, “George?”

  Who? Tyler feels a little bit of unease go through him before his mind reminds him that’s probably Jade’s husband. She’d certainly mentioned him enough in their st conversation. Then he feels like an idiot for the irrational tension.

  However, he doesn’t get half-way to rexed before Vicky’s eyes are widening. “What do you mean you can’t get there in time!?”

  Tyler finds his curiosity rear its head before it’s squashed by concern. That wasn’t a good tone. That was a panicked, ‘what the hell do you mean’ tone. Nothing good caused that tone in his experience. His mind went to worse. What if…

  “Alright fine!” She huffs, “Where is she?” She waits just long enough to listen to the rest before hanging up. Then, she’s hurriedly stuffing her phone back in the purse and making to stand up.

  “What’s wrong?” Tyler’s own heart starts to pick up speed. The rush in her actions doesn’t help. She freezes, as if she’d forgotten he was there and was just now remembering. And he would be a little offended by that if she wasn’t so pale.

  He knows then, without needing to be told that this is the end for the night. And it’s a little disappointing considering this wasn’t at all what he wanted to happen. But it’s an afterthought to his concern when her hand trembles as she picks up the purse.

  “Jade’s in bour.” Oh. Well then.

  “Which hospital?” Now he’s standing as well.

  Vicky blinks. “What?”

  “Which hospital,” he asks again, turning off the TV as he moves over to the kitchen counter. “Come on, I’ll drive you.” He gives her a pointed look when she starts to protest. “It might be over by the time you get there if you walk oruberor something.”

  “I don’t think that’s how it works,” she tells him. He simply stares in silence, twirling the keys on his fingers. “Fine,” she cracks first, running her hand through her hair in frustration. Then sighs, “Thank you.”

  “No prob,” he smiles, feeling satisfied, then hands her his phone. “Just put into the map.” He can’t say he’s ever been in this situation before, but well…There’s a first time for everything.

  Besides, something told him letting her be by herself right now would be a terrible idea. So he’d make sure she wasn’t.