Imperfectly Real (A Series of Imperfections) (15 page)

Smiling he turned to look over his shoulder. “Hey. Sorry. Felix get you?”

“Yeah.” I stood and stretched while yawning. “Kid’s got an arm on him.”

“I know. I’m afraid he won’t be a soccer player like we’ve been hoping.” Shane replicated one of Emma’s infamous pouts before directing his attention back to the countertop where he was attempting to make baby food. Emma insisted that Felix eat only organic food, and that all his food be by prepared by hand. I had to hand it to Shane for trying—I think I’d just grab a jar of processed shit and call it a day.

We chuckled as I made my way and starting prepping a cup of coffee in the Keurig. “Girls gone already?” I asked, hopefully.

Shane sat at the kitchen table and fumbled for the sports section. “Yeah, they left early. Emma’s going to take Liz and Emily to the airport after her appointment.”

I did my best to hide my disappointment. I didn’t need Shane picking up on my emotions. If I let anything show, his freakish spider senses would surely out me, and I didn’t need that. I sipped on my coffee as inconspicuously as possible while I nodded with understanding. What I was pretending I understood, I wasn’t really sure.

“What’s up with you, Ty?”

Well, that worked well.
Fuckin’ Shane and his freakish ability to read emotions. Seriously, the guy was parallel to that dude in those vampire movies. It was freaky.

I slammed my fist onto the countertop. I was angry with myself, with Elizabeth, and most importantly with Shane for being so damn observant. I guess I was just angry in general these days.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you lately, dude, but you have got to let someone in,” Shane scolded, pouring his pureed creation into a baby bowl.

I grabbed my cup and headed to the kitchen table. Shane brushed past me before grabbing Felix and securing him into his high chair. Shane wasn’t stupid. He may have sucked when it came to figuring out his own love life, but when it came to us, he knew it all—whether we wanted him to or not.

“Yeah, tried that. Look where that got me,” I muttered under my breath. “Fuckin’ Half-Pint.”

I watched as Shane slowly pieced things together in his head. Had he heard my stupid comment? Fuck. I could see things clicking with him as he paired the timing of certain events. His face became a combination of thoughtfulness and disgust, and in an instant I knew he knew. He sucked air in between his teeth as he scooped a spoonful of puree into Felix’s mouth. “Holy shit. Tyler, what have you done?”

Defeated I slumped in my chair and put my head down onto the table. “F-U-C-K.” Even though I was kinda mortified that my secret was out, I was thankful to have someone besides Rob to talk to about it. Not only that, but I was pleased with myself that I’d remembered to spell out my cussword, despite the heat of the moment. Emma would have been proud.

“I don’t want, or need, to know exactly what’s going on with you. But I do know one thing, Tyler. You need to stop whatever it is you’re doing. Now. I’m guessing that you’re a little too interested in Liz, and you know just as well as I do that Elizabeth Sloan is
nothing
but trouble.”

For some unfathomable reason I felt defensive, despite the fact that I knew he spoke the truth. Actually, those
exact
words had escaped my mouth a time or two before, but things were different now. “You don’t know her,” I spat defensively … again.
Why did I feel the need to continuously stick up for her?

“And you do?” he quipped back. “I’ll tell you what she is, Tyler. She is an attention whore that’s currently being ignored, and if you ask me that’s nothing but a deadly combination. What’s going to happen when Mason’s around more, Ty? You think she’s going to leave him? Give up all that money? I doubt it, and if you think she is then you’re stupider than I thought.”

As if on queue, the door flung open, and in walked the biggest pain in my ass.

“You miss me?” Rob asked throwing his bags onto the floor. He looked between Shane and I—assessing the tension that had filled the room.

“Just fuckin’ great,” I said as I rolled my eyes. Shit was about to get real interesting.

Shane gestured towards me. “Please tell me you didn’t know about this.”

A combination of realization and smugness swept across his face, it didn’t take too much to figure out—besides, he’d probably been able to hear us from the hallway. “Look’s like the secret’s out huh, Ty-Ty?” He scooted into the seat next to me and propped his chin up on his fist in an annoying fashion. “So fill me in. What the fuck have you done now?”

They were both agitated with me, and truly they had every right to be. But I didn’t want them to be right. I wanted nothing more than to prove them wrong.

“Fuck you, Rob,” I spat.

“No, Tyler, fuck you, and that little whore who is slowly ruining your life!”

I saw red. I stood so quickly that the chair I had been sitting in toppled over. Before I had time to calm down, I slugged Rob in the face, hitting him with such a force that the chair he was sitting in skidded back a bit. He scrambled to his feet, rubbing his cheek furiously.

“What the hell, Tyler!” Shane yelled, as he finally had time to react and placed his body in between ours to prevent any further altercation. “Felix is here!” he scolded, as if it would have been okay if he wasn’t.

Truth was, there was no situation where my actions would have been acceptable. I’d never hit any of my friends. Ever. Elizabeth was making me fuckin’ crazy.

I backed away from the table with the sudden realization of what I had done. I looked over onto the rug, thankful that Felix was still captivated by his blocks. I continued to back away from my friends, unsure of what had become of me.

“Seriously, Tyler”—Rob flexed his jaw back and forth—”what the fuck is your problem?”

Without saying anything I moved further away from two people that truly cared about me. My trance broke when I stepped on one of Felix’s toys and it squeaked in protest. I knew I had reached the end of my rope. I wasn’t sure what I wanted anymore, but I knew that they weren’t helping the situation and I needed to escape it all.

Without hesitation, I grabbed my keys from the counter. Shane and Rob pleaded for me to stay and talk it out but my mind was made up and before I knew it, I was running. I heard Rob telling Shane to let me go. I wasn’t sure where I was going or where I would end up, I just knew I needed to get away.

I ran … and ran … then I ran some more. I didn’t think, I just followed my feet. I’d become a hot mess. I’d vowed to never let someone control me like this, but I couldn’t fight my feelings. I had fallen for Elizabeth—whether I liked it or not—and it killed me knowing that I wasn’t her first choice. Running was the best stress relief that I could get at the moment. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, I was just waiting for that familiar burn in my legs when I turned a corner and ran right into a woman. Stunned, I stopped as she fell backwards.

“Shit,” I said, bending down to help her up. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. Are you alright?”

Her dark hair curtained around her face as she looked down at the sidewalk. She sighed before she slowly lifted her eyes to meet mine. You could only imagine my shock when I recognized the gray eyes gazing back up at me.

“Holy shit,” I muttered. Talk about a blast from the past—it was borderline crazy. “Christy?” I mean seriously, what were the chances? I’d run right into Shane’s high school sweetheart, right here in the middle of New York City.

I grabbed her hand and helped her get up, her mouth still slightly agape. “Tyler?” She smiled as she dusted off her butt. “Tyler freakin’ Johnston?” She threw her arms around my neck and we shared an awkward—but familiar—embrace.

I was still dumbfounded. “What are you doing here, Chris? It’s been ages.” I couldn’t help myself as I gave her a once over. She looked just the same as she had in high school. Christy still had it going on.

She’d been the ‘it’ girl—every girl wanted to be her, and every guy wanted to be on her. She’d been crazy over Shane since they met freshman year. What wasn’t to love? He was the All-American, boy next door. They stayed together for a long time but, well, you know the rest. It’s history.

“I’m here on business. It’s been what …” She paused while doing mental calculations—most likely trying to figure out when she and Shane had broken up. “Crap, it’s been at least eight years.”

“Wow. So do you have a minute?” I asked, not really thinking about the repercussions … again. I really needed to work on that. “We should go grab a cup of coffee and catch up.”

She smiled and with the flash of her perfect white teeth, the memories of all the times I spent with her came flooding back. Christy had been in the background of many of my memories—the times at the lake, her trying to set me up with some of her hot friends, me fucking it up. She’d confided in me numerous times about her and Shane’s relationship. I would always reassure her that Shane and Emma’s relationship was totally platonic—little did I know, huh?

We’d been friends since she and Shane had started dating, and she’d been there with us through the whole of high school. Yeah, they’d broken up and it had been messy, but you just don’t forget all those times you shared.

Hopeful, I offered her my arm and she immediately linked hers with mine. “That would be nice.”

I sipped my coffee, welcoming the distraction Christy had given me. I found it relaxing to get lost in conversation with a good friend, and for the first time in months I found myself not going crazy thinking about Elizabeth.

“So tell me what you’re up to these days, Chris?”

“I’m still living in Maine, but I don’t teach anymore.” She paused to blow on her hot coffee. “I just started to work as the curriculum coordinator for the school district. They pay for me to go to these fancy conferences all across the country in order to bring back the latest and greatest innovations for curriculum. I implement them and ultimately help the teachers perform their jobs better.”

I smiled. “That’s great.” It was great, but it was just another example of someone being able to further their own career while I continued maintaining status quo. Shit.

“What about you, Ty?” She smiled. “What are you up to these days?”

“Same old,” I said, hoping that would suffice and that she wouldn’t press further. Not just about my job, but about my personal life as well. I sensed that she was digging, and I didn’t like it. At all.

Suddenly I didn’t feel like this was a conversation I wanted to be having. I didn’t really want to go there with Christy. I didn’t really want to open that can of worms.

“Which is?” she prodded. In fact, by this point I was pretty sure that she was looking for information about Shane. She’d been beyond head over heels with him, and had wanted him to move back to Maine after NYU. But Shane … well, you all already know what Shane wanted.

I let out a sigh. “Well, I’m still living with Shane, Em and Rob …” I stopped, hoping that would be enough, but she gave me a look that said she wanted more. I felt uneasy under her gaze and I quickly shifted my eyes away. I hesitated as I contemplated my words. I somehow needed to figure out a way to skirt around the fact that Shane had ended up with Emma after all—that Christy had been right about his feelings for her all those years ago. I hated that he’d gone and proved her right.

Christy had loved Shane desperately. She’d held onto him for years, despite knowing that he’d never quite felt the same. I remember all the times she’d berated him for spending time with Emma. Eventually the jealousy got the better of her, and they split. Well, that, paired with the fact that they both wanted to live in different places.

I immediately began planning my escape, because right then all I wanted to do was continue my run—I didn’t do tension very well.

“Tyler,” she smiled, “it’s fine. I know.”

Surprised, I moved my eyes back to hers. “You do?”

She laughed as she shifted in her seat. “Yeah. Didn’t Emma ever mention that I occasionally hang out with Liz?”

I vaguely remembered Em saying something about that before. Yep, she had. It had been the reason Shane hadn’t gone to Maine for her parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary. “Oh yeah, she did,” I finally stammered.

“Yeah. Liz and I … well, our families go to the same country club. So, yeah.” She frowned and sighed again. “I know.”

Our conversation suddenly stalled, and the atmosphere was uncomfortable to say the least. It had to bother her that she’d been right all along.

“I truly am just glad he’s happy,” she finally muttered before taking another sip from her coffee. “I know you guys thought I was crazy, but I knew all along. I hoped I was wrong, but deep down I knew. A girl can tell when a guy loves someone else.” She frowned again, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. I wondered if she still suffered from a broken heart. “But what about you, Ty? That’s what I care about right now. I want to know how
you
are.” Her eyes burned onto mine as she grabbed my hand and squeezed. Without thinking I rolled my eyes knowing that she could tell I was in a less than happy place. She’d spent enough time with me through the years to get a good read on me and my damned emotions.