Tyler

I hadn't even managed to get all the way back home before my phone buzzed in my pocket. I smiled, knowing sad lonely girl was at it again.

I was feeling terrible because Piper had blown me off, and the feeling of rejection wasn't something I was used to with women.

Women threw themselves at me daily, yet the one that I wanted didn't even want to see me again. I shouldn't even care, there was plenty more to bed, but I found myself only wanting her. And I found the rejection stinging deep as my past wounds opened yet again.

I quickly pulled to the side of the road, pulling my phone out and swiping the screen on. As I read over the text about her first kiss, I thought back to my very first kiss.

It had been before my mom left. Life, while not exactly easy, had been simpler then. I was ecstatic when I leaned in for that kiss and Kelly had returned it. I had expected her to slap me away, but instead she fisted her hands in my hair and pulled me closer. It was the first time I even considered being friendly with a girl, the first time since Nina.

Nina. Don't think about Nina.

It was a week later my mom left. Kelly didn't know what the hell happened when I started to ignore her, but everything was just too hard for me then. I didn't need some silly girl complicating my life more. So I had ignored her. In reality, that was the last thing I should have done.

Sad lonely girl's kiss seemed much more magical than mine had, and I found myself wishing that I had been her first kiss.

It was stupid, because I didn't even know her. For all I knew she was ugly and I wouldn't even want her when I laid eyes on her, but I couldn't help thinking that we had some kind of connection due to the nature of our fucked up lives. I couldn't help thinking that if I ever were to meet her, the attraction would be instantaneous.

I hadn't even said one single word to her, yet I yearned to wrap my arms around her and tell her everything would be okay. That's what I wanted someone to do for me, to assure me that everything would be okay.

I wanted someone to hold me through the night, someone to take the nightmares away. I wanted someone to love me in a way I had never known, someone to show me an ounce of compassion, but I was too damn stubborn to let anyone in to the real me. More so, I was afraid.

Sad lonely girl had let someone in, and look where it got her.

I tucked my phone back in my pocket, pulling back on the street and heading for home. I could only hope that she would text me again. That I would have one more message to read before I tried to sleep. After all, my plan for tonight was now void after receiving that message.

I walked into the penthouse, throwing my keys on the counter and falling across my bed. I pulled my phone back out and swiped to the message thread, re-reading them all.

When I got to the bottom, I noticed a new message. My eyes scanned across the words and I felt my heart break for her.

So her asking him to get her a burger had driven him away? I would gladly buy the girl a hundred burgers. Hell maybe a million. Any fucking time- day or night.

This Jack guy was an idiot. It seemed like she wouldn't allow herself to hate him, so I would do it for her. What an idiot. I didn't understand why she would feel guilty for asking for a burger. It wasn't like it cost too much money.

Maybe it's a good thing Piper doesn't like burgers. Piper... Was it a coincidence that sad lonely girl was talking about this right now? Piper couldn't be her. She couldn't. It just wasn't possible.

I stared down at the phone, hoping for another message. Hoping she would say something more that would help me to understand this better. As if I had magical powers, my phone buzzed again.

Drowning. One simple word that held so much. I was drowning too. Drowning in the nightmares that plagued me every single night. Drowning in the loneliness and self pity. Drowning in self hatred. It was pathetic, yet I couldn't stop.

Three times now I had tried to kill myself, yet all three times the universe laughed in my face. Each time had been unsuccessful. Somehow I woke up every time. Somehow life refused to leave my body. I was too much of a chicken to shoot myself, or to even hang myself. Instead I had taken as many pills as I could get my hands on, telling myself to just close my eyes and it would all be over. Yet every time when I woke up, I only felt worse. I tried taking more the third time, knowing that the first two I hadn't taken enough, but the third time I woke in a hospital. I had no recollection of how I had gotten there, and no one would tell me who brought me in, only that my stomach had to be pumped and I would be held for observation. I felt like complete shit, like I had been run over repeatedly with a truck, and I wondered if it was worth it.

When I had gotten home after that third time I ran for my hiding spot, relief washing over me as I found the two bottles still there. Whoever had found me had thrown away some of them, but they didn't find them all.

I couldn't do anything right. I couldn't even kill myself right. Sad lonely girl was the only reason I hadn't tried again yet. Knowing there was someone else out there who hurt like I did, gave me the strength to carry on just a little longer.

Sure I had all these materialistic things. Sure I had all the money I could ever need, all the girls I could ever need, but it wasn't enough. I still felt empty inside. I was still lonely. Money couldn't cure loneliness. Money couldn't cure deeply rooted pain.

The day those messages came through my phone, I had felt alive for the first time in a long time. I had felt for the first time that I wasn't alone.

Sure, looking into Pipers eyes had given me a sense of wanting and a need to try just a little harder, but her rejection only sufficed to make me weaker. To make me want to give up again. I had even had a plan. I was going to take more pills when I got home, but as soon as that text came through, I remembered I still had sad lonely girl. And for now, that was enough.

I closed my eyes, telling myself that tonight I wouldn't need to feel numb to sleep. That tonight I could rest with a smile on my face just thinking of her.

"Tyler, why can't you just be a normal boy? Why do you always insist on pushing my limits?" My father said.

I cringed, knowing the slap was coming. Knowing that he was going to hit me again. He always hit me, telling me how horrible I was had become a normal thing in my home.

I didn't even understand what I had done wrong. I glanced over to my mother, who sat unmoving on the couch watching it all unfold.

She never came to my rescue, instead she just watched and cringed the moment his hand made contact. I wondered if he hit her too.

Dad always found ways to hurt me. Whether it was burning me with his cigarettes, or slapping me silly, he always seemed to take everything out on me.

I was just a boy. I tried to be everything he wanted, but I never measured up. No matter how hard I tried, it was never good enough.

"I'm sorry!" I choked, as his slap stung my skin. "I'll try harder."

"You say that every time, yet every time you disappoint me." He screamed.

He was so close that his spit covered my face with every word. I cringed, backing away and cowering underneath him. I wanted to wipe my face, but I didn't dare. It would only make him more angry. More anger meant more pain.

"You're a sorry excuse of a son. I wish you were dead."

Tears pooled in my eyes, and I forced them back, knowing if I cried it would only get worse. When I cried he told me I was a pussy and I needed to grow a pair. Still no matter how hard I tried to hold them back, they still fell.

"Don't be a sissy." He yelled. "Only little girls cry."

I looked to my mother, begging her with my eyes to do something. To stop this madness. I was only fourteen. I didn't know how to stop it if I tried. Yet she sat there staring, her lips sealed in a frown.

I knew what was coming the moment he lit his cigarette. I could already feel the burn before it even touched my skin. As he pressed it down to my wrist, I screamed.

I woke in a cold sweat, screaming at the top of my lungs. I could still feel the burns that had healed long ago. My fingers traced over the scars absentmindedly, just like I always did when I woke like this. I had thought tonight would be different, but it was just the same as the others.

I couldn't escape the nightmares no matter how hard I tried. And these weren't even the real bad ones. These were mild compared to what I normally dreamt about.

I grasped my phone in my hands, scrolling through the numbers to find someone. Anyone who could take my mind off it.

I stopped on Piper's number. My teammate Johnny had given it to me, along with her dorm info. It wouldn't have been hard to figure out the latter, considering the number was for the phone in her dorm. I wished I had her cell number, but I hoped against hope she would be home to answer my call. My finger hovered over the call button, scared that she would reject me again.

I took a deep breath and picked up the room phone, quickly dialing the number from my cells screen and placing the phone to my ear. I didn't want her to have my cell number yet, because I wasn't sure how she was going to react to my calling. Plus I wanted to hold all the cards in my hand. I did that whenever I wasn't sure about a girl. Piper was a girl I was definitely unsure about.

"Hello?" She said, sniffling.

"Piper?" I asked.

"Yes? Who is this?" I could tell she had been crying and instantly I wanted to make it better. As if somehow I even could.

I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me, but there was just something about her that changed me into everything I tried to hide away from the world. Everything I wanted to be but never could.

"It's Ty." I said quietly.

"How did you get my room number?" She asked, skepticism in her voice.

"Johnny." I said. "He gave me your number when he gave me your dorm."

She was silent for a moment, only the sounds of her breathing filling the air.

"I'm gonna kill him." She finally said.

I felt the stab at my heart, tearing me apart inside all over again. Why did it hurt so bad? She was just a stupid girl.

"Listen I know you said you didn't want a friend, but I just-" I stopped, not knowing where I was even going to go with this anymore.

"It's fine." She said when she realized I wasn't going to continue. "What's going on? You sound weird."

"Do you wanna maybe meet me at the coffee shop on the corner of eighth?" I asked. It was pathetic how much my voice trembled.

"Ty it's after midnight." She said.

"I know. I can't sleep. I just want some company."

She was silent again for a while, and I knew the rejection was coming before she even spoke. I was a glutton for misery, yet I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop wanting her in any way I could have her.

"I can't be what you want from me." She said quietly. "I'm not who you think I am. I'm broken."

I'm broken too.

"It's just coffee. It's not like I'm proposing marriage. Please, I just don't want to be alone right now." I had resorted to begging, and that was so unlike me. I did not beg.

I should have just hung up the phone and called someone else. Instead I waited with bated breath for her to answer.

"One cup." She said. "I'll meet you there in fifteen."

I didn't even get a chance to respond before she hung up.

My eyes widened as I realized she had accepted my offer and I quickly jumped up and ran for the shower. I had maybe five minutes to shower and change if I wasn't going to be late.

Without even waiting for the water to warm, I jumped in and started scrubbing away the sweat. I was desensitized to physical pain after having gone through everything I did as a child. The cold was nothing compared to the torture my dad had inflicted. And it was definitely nothing compared to the emotional torture Nina had inflicted.

Nina. Don't think about Nina.

I jumped out, wringing the towel through my hair and wiping my face as I jumped into clean pants and threw a t-shirt on. I ran my fingers through my wet hair, satisfied I looked fine and ran out the door.

I made it to the coffee shop a minute late, and Piper was already sitting in a booth with a coffee between her hands. She was looking around nervously, probably wondering if she had gotten stood up.

As her eyes landed on me standing at the door staring, I smiled and walked to the counter to place an order.

I was surprised this place was even open, but it seemed to be an all night establishment. I felt sorry for the sad sap who had to run it through the night. No doubt he or she had seen things. Things that couldn't be unseen.

A coffee was slid across the counter, and I slapped down a five and walked to the booth, sliding in across from Piper.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey."

"I'm sorry I called so late." I said.

"It's fine. I was up."

I looked up and into her eyes, seeing something there that surprised me. Hurt, anger, denial. None of those were foreign to me. I felt them daily.

I reached across the table and brushed my fingers against her hand but she quickly jerked away.

"Don't." She said with gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry. I can see you are hurting, I just wanted you to know that you're not alone." I didn't even know why I said that, and the shock that crossed her face told me I had went too far too soon.

"This was a bad idea." She said, quickly getting up.

"Please stay." I said, strain and a little bit of desperation tinging my voice.

She stopped, turning to look at me.

"Why didn't you want to be alone?" She asked.

"No one ever wants to be alone Piper." I said.

She sat back down, and looked across the table to me. She was searching my eyes for something, anything, to tell her what I was feeling. I had become so good at masking my pain over the years, I was certain she would find nothing.

"You're popular, surely there's someone else you can hang with besides me." She said.

"I thought you could use a friend too. It seems we might have something in common."

She stared at me for several moments, blinking as if she wasn't sure what I had just said.

"Somehow I don't believe that." She finally said.

I stared back at her, surprised that she called me out like that. People around here didn't do that, for fear of what I would do in retaliation.

"I don't open up to people easily. I'd rather listen to their problems than spill my own. I know you were crying when I called, so tell me whose ass do I need to kick?" I smiled, hoping she would catch that I was half kidding, but knowing if she asked me to I would ruin someone for her.

"Don't change the subject Ty." She said, reaching across the table and pushing my coffee towards me. "Drink up, this was your idea anyways."

I was in awe of this girl. She wasn't at all afraid of me or what I could do to her. She wasn't like any other girl I had ever met. Maybe that's why my mind refused to let her go.

The door jingled and a group of loud guys came in. I turned as soon as I recognized the voice, groaning at the thought of him.

"Yo Ty!" Matt shouted. "Whose the lucky lady tonight?"

I rolled my eyes, turning back to Piper.

This isn't what I need right now.

Piper stared at me, waiting for me to answer, so I stood and walked over to Matt.

"Cut it out." I said, almost growling.

"What? It's not like she is special or anything. Everyone around here knows your reputation." His words were slurred and I knew he was drunk.

I could smell the cheap alcohol on his breath. The kind of shit that gave you rot gut. Ugh. I hated that shit.

"Shut up if you know what's good for you." I said, careful that my words weren't heard by anyone but him.

"You threatening me man?" He said, loud and obnoxious. "Tyler fucking Scott is threatening me, what do you know?"

"No. Just fucking leave me alone."

I turned to head back to the booth, but Piper was already gone.

Ohh, this is deliciously tragic. I think I love this story even more now that I've gotten into it. While I have more chapters already written, don't expect daily updates. I'll post them up at random. The more I re-read, the more I love it. Ty is such a messed up guy. Can Piper save him? Can Piper even save herself? I can't wait to find out.