Warnings: Minor angst

Word Count: 1169

January 29th, 2005

You knocked on the door before taking a step back. Not long after, you could hear footsteps inside, most likely Tyler. You hoped that he wouldn't be too upset that you were a few minutes late, even though the movie didn't start for another hour and the bike ride was only twenty minutes.

To your surprise, Tyler's mom was the one to open the door. She looked a bit shocked to see you, but you didn't think anything of it. More often than not, Tyler forgot to mention that you were coming over to his family.

"Y/N, I didn't expect to see you," she smiled. "Do you want to come in?"

"Sure," you said, walking into the entryway of the house. "I won't be here long, Tyler and I are going to see a movie tonight."

"What time?" she asked.

"Well it starts in about an hour, but we were going to leave in a little bit."

"That's odd, Tyler said that he was going out with teammates until late tonight."

"Oh," you said, your heart sinking. "I didn't realize, I'm sorry to bother you."

"You're never a bother, dear. Do you want me to let Tyler know that you stopped by?"

"That would be great, thank you."

Mrs. Joseph gave you a pat on the shoulder as you walked back outside. You grabbed your bike from where it was leaned against the garage and started off for the movie theatre.

You opened the front door and tossed your stuff next to the staircase. The movie had been good, although you had gotten quite a few weird stares for being there alone. You had tried to brush it off, but you couldn't help but feel a bit awkward the entire time.

"Y/N! Is that you?" your mom asked, poking her head out from the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's me," you sighed.

"Tyler has been calling for you. I told him you were at the movies and you would call him back as soon as you got home."

"I'm not going to call him back," you grumbled before stomping up the stairs.

Your mom called after you, but you ignored her and continued up to your room. You had been around enough people, you just needed to be alone for awhile.

Twenty minutes later, something kept tapping at your window. You thought it might be a bird until you saw the unmistakable shape of a rock hit the glass pane. If it was Tyler, he wasn't going to stop until he got your attention, and you really weren't in a mood to listen to an incessant tapping sound for half an hour.

You forced the window open and stuck your head out. As expected, Tyler was down in the yard searching for more pebbles to throw at your window.

"Would you stop throwing rocks at my window? You're going to scratch it and my dad is not going to be very happy with me."

"Y/N!" he smiled happily. "I'm glad I got your attention. Can we talk?"

"What? Did your teammates have to go home and you don't have any other options?"

"See? This is exactly why we need to talk."

You rolled your eyes, "I'll be down in a second." You shut the window and grabbed a blanket off your bed before walking down the stairs. "I'm going outside to talk to Tyler for a bit."

"Ok, but don't stay out too long! I don't want you to get sick," your mom called.

"I have a blanket," you said before closing the front door behind you.

Tyler was standing at the bottom of the steps. His jacket sleeves were pulled down over his hands, and he looked cold. You walked forward and sat down on the top step before holding a blanket-covered arm out. As mad as you were, you didn't want him to freeze either.

"I just want to start by saying I'm so sorry that I forgot about our plans today. The guys called and I said ok without thinking."

"I understand being forgetful, Ty, but this is the third time that you've forgotten about our plans and hung out with the basketball team instead."

Tyler sighed, "I know it is. I'm just having such a hard time fitting in with those guys so I don't want to say no when they ask me to hang out. I haven't been thinking about how that's impacting you, and I'm sorry."

"I don't want an apology. I want you to change this behavior, because lately it feels like you don't care about me anymore."

"Of course I care about you! You're the one person that I can always count on to be there for me and pick me up when I'm down. I wouldn't trade you for anyone else in the world."

"It doesn't feel like it," you repeated, trying to mask the fact that you were about to cry. "At school you're always with the guys and the only time we really get to talk is in history class. We only walk home together on Wednesdays because you have practice all the time, which I know you can't control, but then half the time you end up hanging out with the guys anyway. It feels like I'm still trying to put effort into our friendship but you've pushed it aside for your cool new friends."

"I had no idea you felt this way, Y/N."

You shrugged, "I felt bad because I know you're so happy that you're on the team and you like the guys so I didn't want to demand all your attention, but you canceling our plans for a third time is kind of ridiculous."

"I know it is," Tyler said, reaching up and running a hand through his hair. "And I'm going to do better. I'm not about to lose you forever just because I made a dumb mistake."

"Promise?" you asked, holding out a pinky.

"Promise," Tyler smiled, linking pinkies with you. You expected Tyler to get up and walk away, but to your surprise he stayed under the blanket with you. "How was the movie?"

"Really good, you would have liked it. I got a lot of weird stares for being there alone though."

"Yeah, I've noticed that a lot when I go to the movies. You kind of get used to it after awhile."

"It wasn't so bad once the movie started."

Tyler nodded and the conversation came to a stop. You were getting colder, and a shiver ran down your spine.

"You know, there's still plenty of time for us to hang out," Tyler said.

"Do you want to come inside?" you asked. "There's probably enough extra dinner that we could all eat together and then we could hang out in my room and play video games."

"That sounds awesome."

The two of you stood up and headed inside. It felt nice for you to have your friend back, even if you were worried it was only temporary.