Warnings: Profanity, some angst

Word Count: 2035

Author's Note: I don't really have much to say other than I hope you like this chapter! :)

*     *     *

"Come on, Y/N. It's either call him or not talk to him ever again," you said.

Your phone was sitting on the bed in front of you, just waiting for the moment when you finally mustered up the courage to call Tyler. It had been a couple days since your huge fight and you felt awful for how you had handled it. You had come to terms with the whole situation in your own head, but you still had to sort things out with Tyler before you could really let the whole thing go.

"This is your best friend we're talking about," you reminded yourself. "He's going to pick up."

You took a deep breath and grabbed your phone, dialing his number and hitting call before you even had a chance to second guess what you were doing. The first ring made you jump. The second one only made your heart start to beat faster. The third filled you with disappointment.

You were about to give up when the fourth ring stopped right in the middle. There was a bit of static before Tyler's voice rang through your phone, clear as day.

"Hello?"

"Tyler?" you asked, still not entirely convinced that he hadn't sent you straight to voicemail.

"Yeah. Hi."

"Hi."

"Why are you calling?" His tone wasn't angry, as you had expected it to be.

"I wanted to talk to you. In person."

"Oh, um, yeah. That would be good."

"Are you free right now?"

"I'm with Zack, but I should be home in an hour. Does that work?"

"Yeah. Do you want me to come over?"

"Um, sure," he answered. He seemed hesitant.

"Are you sure?"

"No. I'll just drop Zack off and then come over. My family lives pretty close to yours, anyway."

"Ok, that's fine."

"I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah."

"Bye, Y/N."

"Later, Ty."

You ended the call and tossed your phone down on the bed. That had gone much better than you anticipated, although you still had to have the actual conversation about your fight. It wasn't something you were particularly looking forward to.

"Carter!" you yelled as you got off your bed.

"What?"

"Are you decent?"

"Yeah."

You walked down the hall to Carter's room and practically threw his door open. It crashed into his wall and made his entire desk rattle, which hadn't been your intention.

"Y/N! What the hell?"

"Sorry! I'm nervous."

"About?"

"Tyler is coming over in an hour."

"He is?" Carter asked. He seemed genuinely surprised.

"Yeah."

"To talk about," he waved a hand in the air, "that?"

"Uh huh."

Carter waved a hand at you, silently inviting you into his room. You walked inside and took a seat on the edge of his bed, across from where he was sitting at his desk.

"You're going to be fine, you know that, right?"

"Yeah. I'm just afraid that I might lose Tyler in this whole process."

"It's just one fight. Even if it was a big one, you and Tyler have been friends for like six years. I don't think it's going to end your entire friendship."

"Yeah, you're right."

"You've got this, Y/N."

"Thanks," you smiled. "Hey, can I, uh, hang out in here until he gets here? I don't really want to be alone."

"Sure thing."

"Thanks, Car."

"No problem."

*     *     *

Tyler's hair was a mess. That was the first thing you noticed, followed quickly by the deep bags under his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping.

"My room?" was the first thing out of your mouth. Tyler nodded and stepped inside. He kicked his shoes off by the door.

You silently walked up the stairs and into your room. The sound of Carter practicing guitar in his room was barely audible, but it was just about the only sound in the house. Tyler walked in and sat down on your bed, but you decided to stay standing. It wouldn't be long before you needed to start pacing.

"So, um-" Tyler started.

"Wait," you interrupted. "I just want to start by saying that I'm so sorry, Tyler."

"It's fine."

"No, it isn't. I shouldn't have snapped at you the way I did. I mean, yes, I was hurt, but it's not fair of me to scream at you because you don't share my feelings. That was rude and you didn't deserve that. I really am sorry, Tyler."

"I accept your apology," he said. There was the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

You took a deep breath, "Thank you."

"And I want to apologize because I shouldn't have led you on the way that I did. It wasn't my place to flirt with you because I felt bad. You were right about me only making things harder on you and I should have thought about that."

"Thank you. That means a lot."

"I just wish I felt the same, you know?"

You took a seat next to Tyler on the bed, "No, Tyler. It's ok. Really. There's nothing for you to feel sorry about. Feelings can't be controlled, no matter what they are. I can't force myself to not like you and you can't force yourself to like me. It's like you always say, it's just another aspect of the friendship that we have."

"Yeah, exactly," he smiled.

You leaned back on your bed so that you could stare at the ceiling.

"Sometimes I just wish I didn't have such a hard time moving past all of this as I do. It sucks to - I don't know, just not be able to have a normal friendship."

Tyler fell back onto the bed next to you.

"What makes you think our friendship isn't normal?"

"Because I have feelings! Normal friends are just supposed to be... well, friends. Isn't that on your mind every time we're together?"

"Would you believe me if I said no?"

"Depends on how convincingly you said it," you laughed.

"Ok, how about this?" Tyler cleared his throat, then with all the sincerity that he could muster, stated a simple, "No."

"I would give it an eight out of ten for being convincing, but ten out of ten for delivery."

"An eighteen out of twenty isn't bad at all."

You smiled and shook your head. Apparently, you had gotten yourself worked up over this conversation for nothing.

"So are we ok?" you asked.

"You mean, like with the fight?"

"No," you answered sarcastically. "Yes with the fight, what else?"

"Yeah, we're ok. And again, I'm sorry for what I did."

"It's fine, Tyler. We were both worked up and said things that we shouldn't have."

"Yeah," he sighed.

The two of you stayed quiet for a little while. You felt surprisingly good about the whole thing, even if deep down you were still a little hurt by Tyler flirting with you for fun. At least now you knew that he felt bad about it and you could forget it all happened.

"Do you think I'll ever get over you, Ty?" you asked.

"Do you want to?"

You both turned to look at one another.

"I don't know if I have an answer for that."

His eyes glanced down at your lips for a split second again, but they were quick to move back up to meet yours. You bit down on your bottom lip and pulled it between your teeth. Your heart was pounding in your chest and you were too afraid to break eye contact with him.

"Hey, Y/N!" you sat up at the sound of your brother's voice just outside the door.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you real quick?"

"Sure thing."

You rubbed at your temple as you walked towards your bedroom door. Hadn't Tyler just told you that he didn't feel the same? That look... it was the same one from the other night when the fight happened. Friends didn't look at each other like - well - like that.

You opened the door just enough for you to slide through before closing it behind you again. Carter raised an eyebrow at you.

"What's going on in there?" he asked, nodding his head towards the door.

"I'm not entirely sure," you said. "We can talk about it later. What do you need?"

"I was about to make some dinner, and I was just wondering if you and Tyler wanted some."

"You? Making dinner? Are you feeling ok?" you laughed, pressing the back of your hand to his forehead.

"Shut up," he laughed, swatting your hand away. "Do you want any or not?"

"Let me ask."

You opened the door and popped your head in. Tyler was sitting upright on the bed, now looking at his phone.

"Ty, do you want dinner?"

"Yeah, that would be great."

You turned back to Carter, "There's your answer."

"Great. Thanks, Y/N."

"Good luck, Car."

"I'll need it."

You walked back into your room. This time, you left the door open a crack just so that Carter wouldn't be on your case about it later. It's not like you and Tyler were up to anything, but he always liked to assume the worst. It was just part of him being a protective older brother.

"Now what?" you asked.

"I would suggest Mario Kart, but I feel like that's all we do now," Tyler laughed.

"There are worse ways to spend a day."

Tyler was quiet for a moment, "Yeah."

You took a seat on the ground, right in the patch of sunlight that was coming in from the window. It was warm, and you felt like you should give Tyler some space.

"Are you doing ok, Ty? You seem," you paused, "tired."

He slid down from the bed so that he was on the ground with you, "I'm ok. I am tired."

"Is something going on with... you know?"

You pointed to your own forehead and tapped it a couple times for emphasis. Tyler wasn't one to openly talk about his struggles, so you often found yourself pulling the information out of him in whatever creative way you could think of.

He shrugged, rolling his eyes as he did so, "I guess so."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Tyler pressed his lips together. His expression faltered for a moment, but it slowly returned to normal.

"Not really. Not today, at least."

"Ok. I'm still here, if you need me."

"I know."

"Shit! Damn it! Y/N!"

Once again, you found yourself turning to the open door at the sound of Carter yelling from downstairs. In an instant, you were on your feet and taking the stairs down to the first floor two at a time. Carter was in the kitchen, standing in front of a pot that was boiling over.

"How do I make it stop?" he asked frantically. Dozens of paper towels were bunched up in his hands, half of which were soaked.

"Carter! You idiot," you laughed as you shoved him out of the way and turned the heat down.

His hands dropped to his sides as he watched the water instantly drop back to a normal level, "Was it really that easy?"

"Yes! God, Car, are you sure you're really 22?"

"Sometimes I don't know."

When you turned around, you noticed Tyler leaned against the island. He was smiling, an actual genuine smile. It was the first one that you had seen on his face all day.

"Why don't we stay down here for awhile?" you asked. "I don't think Carter should be left alone in the kitchen."

"That sounds good," Tyler nodded.

"I swear I can take care of myself!"

"I'm sure you can, bud."

You grabbed some fruit from the fridge so that you and Tyler could actually do something productive while you were in the kitchen. Besides, it seemed like Carter needed to put all of his focus into whatever he was making.

"I'm glad we got this worked out," Tyler said quietly as he threw some grapes into the bowl.

You turned to look at him, only to realize that he was already looking at you. He was smiling again. After a moment of staring, you broke eye contact and started to cut up another strawberry.

"Yeah. Me too."