Warnings: None

Word Count: 1615

"She what?"

"She called me! She wants to talk. I can't believe it, Y/N. Maybe she wants to get back together, do you think?"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Ty. I just don't want to see you get hurt again. Things have been really good for the last few weeks."

"I know, I know, you're right. Still, though, there's obviously something important she wants to talk about. I'm meeting her for lunch on Saturday."

"I thought we were getting lunch on Saturday?"

"Oh man, you're right. Do you mind if we push it back to dinner? You know this is important."

You could feel your stomach sinking, "I can't. I'm meeting friends for drinks."

"Rain check, then? You know I hate to cancel on you, Y/N, but I'm sure you understand."

You bit down on your lip, "Yeah, a rain check is fine. Just don't forget about it."

Tyler laughed, even though you had only half meant it as a joke. As much as you wanted to be excited for him possibly getting back with his ex, you couldn't find it within you. When he was dating someone, his time immediately become a 70/30 split. Not to mention your feelings had only grown stronger since the hand holding incident.

Maybe you had been reading too much into it. After all, he was going through a breakup and he was probably pretending you were his ex the entire time. It was stupid of you to even get your hopes up in the first place. Even if he did have feelings for you, you didn't want to be the rebound.

"Alright, I'll call you after I meet up with her to let you know how it goes."

"Please do," you said, trying to sound excited.

"Bye, Y/N."

"Later, Ty."

You hung up the call and immediately buried your face into your hands. Just when you thought something was going to happen between you and Tyler, she came in and ruined it all.

All you could do was wait and see what happened.

Your stomach had been upset all day. Today was the day that Tyler and his ex were meeting up, and you had spent the entire morning running over every possible outcome. Rocket had sensed your distress and had been following you around, resting his head on you at every moment that he could.

You were anxiously awaiting Tyler's call so that you would know what happened. No matter what it was, it would be better than worrying about all the possibilities. Today had the potential to be one of the best or one of the worst days of your life.

You practically jumped when your phone began to ring. Tyler's contact photo was on your screen so you hit the green call button without a second thought.

"Hello?"

"Woah, that was fast," he laughed. "I'm still walking to my car."

Walking to his car alone, that was a good sign.

"I was already on my phone. My finger only had to move a couple centimeters," you lied with a laugh.

"Alright, let me get in my car and then I'll give you the full rundown."

"Ok."

Your hands were shaking as you walked over to the couch and wrapped yourself in a blanket. Rocket came over and laid down next to you, resting half of his body on your legs.

You heard Tyler's car door slam and his keys jingled as he stuck them in the ignition. Your leg was bouncing to release all the nerves.

"Ok, you ready for this?" he said. You could practically see him smiling. That wasn't a good sign.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright, so I got there way too early so I sat outside and then she got there and, wow, Y/N she looked so pretty."

Oh yeah, this wasn't going to end with you being happy.

"And so I gave her a hug and we got inside. We just made small talk while we ordered and then once we got our drinks I asked her what she wanted to talk to me about. Long story short, she said that the split was a mistake and she wanted to get back together, if I was interested. I told her that I thought that was a good idea without trying to seem too eager. But yeah, we're together again and I couldn't be happier."

"That's fantastic," you said, trying to keep your voice from cracking. "I'm really happy for you, Ty."

"I even asked her about the interview and she said that it was just a lie to come across like she was doing ok. Man, the relief I felt when I heard that."

"Yeah, that's awesome."

"Are you ok? You aren't talking much."

"Yeah, I'm good. Just speechless because I'm so happy for you."

"Yeah, I can hardly believe it."

"Mmm hmm."

"Ok, I should get home now before people start to think I'm weird for sitting in my car. And I'm sorry again about the cancellation today, but hey, look where I am now!"

"Yeah, I'm beyond happy for you."

"Ok. I'll talk to you later. Have fun at drinks tonight."

"I will. And drive safe."

"Always do."

"Bye."

"Bye."

You ended the call and threw your phone into the chair at the opposite side of the room. Tears were already streaming down your face, dripping onto Rocket and the blanket.

You had put up with Tyler and his ex once, and it had been hell on earth. The amount of time he spent with you dropped significantly, and whenever he did find time all he talked about was her. Sure, you were happy that he was so in love, but you just couldn't handle that with the way you felt about him.

You hadn't known what you were getting into last time. The relationship was new and you had no idea how Tyler was going to act. But that wasn't the case this time, you knew exactly what you were getting into.

And you weren't sure that you could handle it again.

Tyler had called you three times in the last week and each one of them had gone unanswered. You would sit there and watch it ring, wondering if you should answer this time. He would start to get worried if you stopped answering his calls, but still you would let it go to voicemail and text him with some excuse later that day.

You hated what you were doing, but you knew that in the end it was for the best. Tyler was your best friend, you loved him, but you couldn't keep lying to his face about being happy when you were being torn apart inside.

Your phone started ringing again. It was Tyler, probably calling to tell you about his day. Not wanting to blow him off for a fourth time, you decided that it was time to bite the bullet and answer his call.

"Hello?"

"Hey! You answered!"

"Yeah, sorry, been a busy week," you lied.

"Have you been doing ok? I mean, obviously you've been busy, but you just haven't seemed like yourself when we've talked."

"I'm just, uh, adjusting to stuff. It's been rough."

"Why didn't you tell me? You know I would be over in an instant."

"Would you? Because lately it's seemed to be all about your girlfriend."

You regretted saying that immediately. Tyler was going to jump into defense mode and if you weren't careful this would end up as a full blown fight. Then again, maybe subconsciously that's what you had wanted.

"We got back together a week ago. Sorry if I've been a bit excited," he snapped.

"It's not just this week, Ty," you sighed. "It was before the breakup too. It's like I'm only your best friend when you don't have a girlfriend to put above me. I've been there for you through everything, and I'm not going to allow myself to get thrown to the side after all the time that I've sunk into our relationship. It just isn't fair to me."

"Y/N, I had no idea-"

"I know you didn't, Ty. And it's fine. You're happy and that's great. Be happy. I can take care of myself. But when it all comes crashing down, don't expect me to be there to pick up the pieces again because I just can't do that to myself."

"I understand," he sighed. "I just wish you had told me that earlier. I could have been better."

"It's fine. I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Ok. I'm sorry."

You shook your head, "No. You're not."

You hung up the call before he could get another word in. You had said everything that you needed to say and you weren't about to go back on it because Tyler started being apologetic.

Bzzt.

You really needed to start silencing your phone when you went to bed since people obviously didn't understand that you weren't supposed to text people in the middle of the night. Luckily, you were having troubles sleeping so you were awake anyway.

You grabbed your phone from the night table and read the name. It was a text from Tyler, which seemed odd. It had been a month since you blew up at him over the phone, and conversation between you two had been minimal since then. You had gone out to lunch a few times, but it was tense since neither of you really knew what to talk about.

Your eyes moved to the actual message and you felt your heart practically drop. Five words that could have a million meanings.

I've made a huge mistake.