Lost Boy

Chapter Six

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

-Dr Seuss.

...

"I'm telling you h-h-he can talk. I d-d-don't understand why y-you won't believe me." I groaned, frustrated when my shaky hands couldn't get the key into the slot.

Dean moved past me to the front door, grabbing my keys from me and unlocking it on the first try. Before he opened it he sighed and pulled me over by my shoulders, much like how Tyler had done before. "Look, I don't like the guy one bit but him being mute isn't something to mess with. I almost feel sorry for the guy sometimes. He's had a tough few years. And he can't even control it. You of all people should understand that."

What was that supposed to mean?

"Oh, and y-you do?" I said. "He can t-t-talk! I've seen and h-heard it myself. Were you even listening to me? I said he just pretends to be mute a-around everyone so that they treat him s-special and l-l-leave him a-alone. That way he gets out of things e-easily and doesn't have to interact with a-anyone! That in itself is disrespectful to the p-people who actually are m-mute." I pleaded for him to believe me.

"He gets special treatment because his Mom started the company. If it wasn't for her there would be nothing. You're not taking things seriously." He continued to ignore me, taking his shoes off by the door and shutting my blinds so that onlookers couldn't see inside my living room. 

"Neither are you!" I pointed at him. "After all this t-t-time I would h-have thought that you would know me well enough to u-understand that I'm not lying. But I guess I was w-w-wrong." I felt tears spring to my eyes so I left before he could notice. "Thank you f-f-f-for everything b-but I think you should go."

I was a grown woman, I could handle myself just fine.

"Fawn I'm sorry!" Dean called as I closed the front door and pulled my blinds shut.

I took a deep breath before pulling off my coat. It had been another long day.

...

After spending a few hours drafting my project idea I decided to have a shower to help relax my aching muscles. Once I started to rub shampoo into my scalp, I heard a tapping sound coming from outside the room. I froze and tried to remember if I had locked the door; panicking when I realised I hadn't.

If someone was in the house with me and I tried to close it, they might see me naked. Crap.

Nothing happened for a few moments, so I went back to showering feeling paranoid. I had just about calmed down when I heard it again. 'Tap Tap '. Twice this time.

"Dean is that you? W-w-who's there?" I called in a high-pitched squeak, hoping it was my just my father coming back to grab something he forgot. But in return, I got no reply. "H-h-hello?" I started to shake slightly, half from the cold water cascading down my back and half from fear. What do I do now? Shit- is this how I die?

A few moments passed without any more sounds, so I risked it and ended my shower to get dressed. Once I was changed into jeans and a t-shirt I went down the stairs to make breakfast but dropped my glass of milk when I saw the shadow standing by the door. I screamed in fright and clutched my chest.

"T-Tyler!" I yelled. "Holy crap." I rubbed my forehead. "D-do you realise how much of a stalker you are? What the h-hell are you doing here? And how d-d-do you know where I live?" I questioned as I tried to catch my breath.

"I needed to see you. The door was open." he started with a shrug of his hood as if he were talking about the weather, pointing towards the front door which I must have forgotten to shut properly. I was too busy shoving Dean out the door. I was such an idiot, anything could have happened to me. I shivered at the thought.  

"Huh r-really?" I asked. "That's funny because I don't w-w-want to see you."

"It's not up to you sweetheart." He brushed past me and moved further into the room. "Last I checked you threw me under the bus anyway."

I shook my head and started to clean the mess that I had made. There was no point in kicking him out seeing as he was much bigger than me. I made sure to put some space between us, using the couch as a blockade.

"I need to talk to you about what happened." He tried again.

"Well you're g-gonna have to be a bit m-m-more specific." I shrugged.

"Back at the store. What you saw wasn't what you thought it was. I'm here to clear things up and then i'll be out of your hair princess." he began, looking at me intently.

"Really? So you weren't t-trying to s-sneak alcohol o-out of the store illegally? Because that's exactly what it l-looked like. You're lying t-t-to everyone at work!" I explained.

His jaw clenched. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly like a fish out of water, like he would try and form a word but little puffs of air would come out instead. "Shit. You saw more than I thought." He rubbed at his face and bit his lip. "Fuck."

I shrugged. "L-luckily for you, I don't care enough to s-snitch. It's not like anyone would believe me anyway. " Besides, I had other things to be worried about, like that promotion.

"Wait- so you won't tell?" He stared at me, probably worried about his stupid job. 

"On one c-condition." I held my finger out, glad to have the upper hand for once.

"What do you want?" He groaned, looking me up and down and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. I felt myself blush.

"Stop that!" I scolded. "I want a t-truce," I stated, with a plan in mind.

"What does that mean?" he asked, bored.

"I want a s-sort of alliance, " I explained. "A 'partnership'. That way we can finish the project together and Michael will leave us alone." I concluded. If we could work as a team to finish the project, it would take a ton of pressure off my back. I needed to focus. Tyler being mad at me would only be another distraction. And I really wanted that promotion.

He scoffed. "You wanna be my friend to get the client. How desperate are you?"

Was that an Italian accent? Damn.

"That's none of y-your concern. Look, the w-way I see it, Michael loves m-m-midcentury modern which immidately puts us in his r-radar. Secondly, you get your B-B-Brooke's privaledge as the owner's son. We can use both to our advantage if we work together, and hopefully s-s-s-score the c-client." I said, basically sacrificing my dignity. "Now do w-we have a d-deal?" I came to stand infront of him and held my shaky hand out to shake.

"I don't understand you." He chuckled, his husky voice echoing throughout the room.

I looked him up and down. "W-well I don't understand y-y-you e-either."

Tyler hesitated for a minute and then shook my hand. "You've got yourself a deal. Now what have you got to eat around here?" He walked up to the cabinets and started rummaging through them.

"P-Pardon? I thought y-y-y-you said you'd be out of m-m-my hair?" I did a double take at the sight of the delinquent rummaging through my fridge.

"This will have to do." Tyler grabbed the leftover takeout we had in the fridge and put it on a plate in the microwave. I watched him do this in stunned silence. "Don't just stand there." He sighed. "What? Have you never had one of your little friends over before?" he chuckled to himself, nearly halfway done with the plate already.

"U-um, well.." I stumbled over my words, feeling tired now that my confidence seemed to have disappeared. I didn't typically invite people over. Dean being here earlier had already stressed me out enough.

"Wait seriously?" His eyebrows rose to the roof.

"D-don't look at me like that." I mumbled, grabbing a plate for myself. "It's none of your b-b-business a-anyways."

"Well lucky for you princess, there's a first for everything." He grinned at me from across the kitchen table and stole some of my rice. "Do you have Netflix?"

What the hell was happening?