Bounce Back

Chapter 21

Ryan's POV

The next couple of tutoring sessions that I had with Tyler were the same. He worked well but he wouldn't talk and he looked really stuck in this own thoughts. After a week of this I was sick of it and decided I had to say something.

"Tyler, are you alright?" I asked after we had finished our maths work.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking up from his book.

"You've just been really quiet recently," I explained.

He sighed slightly before resting his head on the table. I let him stay like that for a minute so that he could collect his thoughts.

"I'm just confused," he mumbled.

"About this?"

"No, just other things and it's weighing on my mind."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

"Not yet but maybe some time," he said after a moment of thought.

"Ok, just remember that you can talk to me," I assured him.

He nodded and closed his book and leant back on his chair.

"Life is too hard at the moment," he complained.

"Tell me about it," I echoed.

We stopped working how and started talking about other things. He told me that he had been talking a bit more to UCLA and was hopeful that that was where he was going to be going next year.

"Have you thought more about next year?" he asked.

"Not really, I've been putting it off," I admitted.

"Fair enough. If I wasn't going to be on a scholarship I don't know what I would do," he said.

I sighed and stood up to pack up.

"I really don't feel like doing any more work so do you want to go out for food?" I asked.

"As long as it is ice cream," he bargained.

"I think that I can do that," I smiled.

We both packed up together and headed out. We had completed more maths works than usual so my friends had already left so we didn't stop to talk to them. Tyler knew an ice cream parlour nearby that he said was amazing so I followed him.

As we walked we made sure to not talk about next year or college and talk about other things. We stopped talking for the couple of minutes to order ice cream and settle in one of the booths.

I stared at the concoction that Tyler had made. It had so much on it and it made me laugh especially when I compared it to my plain chocolate ice cream.

"I may have gone slightly overboard," he admitted.

"Just slight," I mocked.

He laughed and tucked into his ice cream. We continued to talk as we ate and it was nice to talk somewhere more relaxed than when we talked while we studied in the library.

"Are you going to be doing anything over Winter break?" he asked.

"I don't know because my siblings can't come home. Mom was thinking about going to visit one of them but it probably won't happen. What about you?"

"We are probably just going to stay here. Mom has work a couple of days after Christmas so it will just be me and Lisa for most of it," he said.

"How is she?" I asked.

Tyler smiled brightly before starting to talk about this younger sister. I couldn't quite relate since I was the youngest but it was really cool to see how much he loved his sister.

I had finished my ice cream but we stayed there talking. It was easy to talk to Tyler and I was glad we had started talking again. It was clear that Tyler didn't want to talk about what he was struggling with and I didn't want to push him now.

We finally got kicked out since we weren't eating anymore and started to walk home. It was cold since it was getting further into winter and I was regretting not grabbing a thicker jacket.

"Do you want to study more tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think that we have a test coming up soon so I'd like to get some more studying done before then," he said.

I nodded and he smiled.

"You've been really helpful, you know that right?" he asked.

"Thanks. You're a good student too," I told him.

He nodded and we had to split to go home. Tyler paused for a moment so I stopped as well so that I could hear what he wanted to say.

"Thanks for talking to me," he said.

"We're friends so of course I'm going to be here for you," I told him.

He didn't say anything else and nodded before heading off towards his house. I stood there for a second longer before realising that I didn't have to spend any more time out in the cold. I almost ran home so I could get inside.

Mom was in the kitchen so I dumped my stuff by the door and joined her.

"Hey, how was your day?" she asked.

"Not too bad. What about you?"

She started talking about something that she did and I had to admit that I wasn't really listening.

"Ry, honey, are you listening?" Mom asked.

My head snapped up and she could see the truth on my face.

"Honey, you look tired. Go upstairs and rest. I'll bring you food later," she told me.

I didn't bother protesting and slowly walked up the stairs. I only managed to take my shoes off before I collapsed on the bed. I slowly drifted to sleep and I vaguely remember Mom coming in but I was still mostly asleep and didn't move.

I was able to relax a bit more as I talked to Tyler and I wasn't so worried about him anymore. Hopefully he would talk to me more about it but it was nice to talk to him again. I just wished I knew what I was going to do next year so I wasn't stressed about that.

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The Wise One