Tyler's Gem: A Teen Romance

by Rua Hasan

  “Try not to get laid tonight okay. I don’t want to be an uncle yet,” he whispered.

  “Look, who’s talking?”

  We walked to the front door with Troy with the girls by our side. Matt rang the doorbell, thinking who would hear it over loud music, breaking my eardrums.

  The door opened with a hot looking guy smiling at us. He gave Troy a manly hug, and welcomed us in. To what I heard, this place belonged to his parents and I pity them. This place was going to be an utter mess after this party. It was as if a hurricane had just hit the place and dropped a bunch of horny drunk teenagers.

  Troy and Jasmine walked to the dance floor, while Eva and Sydney revised their plan, and went to look for Nick. I walked into the kitchen to get a drink with Matt, but I immediately turned around and grabbed Matt’s arm, yanking him back.

  “Whoa! Easy there, Clare,” he said. Tyler exited the kitchen, holding two glasses of drinks in his hand with a grin while Matt gave me warning look. He patted my shoulder, and I gave him a glare. Unaffected, he shrugged his shoulders, and pointed a group of girls who were eye raping him.

  “I’m going to get laid tonight,” he said, running his hand through his hair and showing me an apologetic smile. “Good luck.”

  He then turned around, and began walking to the group of girls. I tried to burn a hole into his head but sadly I wasn’t the Cyclops.

  “Traitor,” I muttered.

  I turned around when I felt someone poke my shoulder. Tyler was giving me a weird look as he held up the drink in his hand. I stared at it as if it was some kind of alien from outer space, then glared at him as I wrapped my arms under my chest.

  “You actually think I’m going to take that?” I said.

  “Why wouldn’t you?” he said, after gulping down his drink. He threw the plastic cup away, and shoved his empty hand in his pocket.

  “Because it could be poison for all I know! Or drugged,” I answered.

  Tyler shrugged his shoulders, and drank the second cup before giving me a glance. He then threw it away too, and turned to me.

  “Is it drugged now?” he asked. Rolling my eyes, I turned around with a huff, and walked to where Eva and Sydney were standing. As I got closer, Sydney, which I knew was her because of the dress she was wearing, was standing a couple of feet away from Eva and Nick, glaring at them with a grumpy, miserable look.

  I stopped in my tracks, and realized Tyler was behind me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “What?” he repeated.

  “I’m sorry, but do I have a sign on my back that says please disturb me?”

  “No.”

  “Then, are you following me because I’m your dream?”

  “Huh?”

  “You know, when you follow your dreams,” I said, placing a hand on my hip.

  “No.”

  “Then why the hell are you following me?” I asked, frustrated.

  “Because I want to.”

  I could only groan to myself, and decided to go to where Sydney was standing.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked.

  She glanced at me, and averted her eyes to Eva, who obviously looked uncomfortable with Nick.

  “That bastard knew the difference between us,” she muttered.

  “Really? I thought no one knew,” I said.

  “I did too, but it seems he does,” she said, noticing that Tyler was next to me. She narrowed her eyes and flickered them between us. She was about to say something but I interrupted her.

  “That’s a bummer,” I said, catching her attention.

  “I know. I can’t take this,” she whined as she ran her hands through her hair. I grabbed her hand and dragged her to a table surrounded by a bunch of people.

  “Wait, where are we going?” she asked.

  It didn’t go unnoticed when Tyler walked right behind us but I didn’t say anything. First, I didn’t want to deal with the drama he carried around wherever he went. It was like he was born in this world just to ruin my life. Second, Sydney was my number one priority at this very moment. She needed to let loose and forget about her boy problems.

  “We’re going to grab a drink,” I answered, making her eyes widened in surprise.

  What else would you do in a party besides to get drunk and dance? Of course, you could also make out with hot guys, break stuff you didn’t own, and start a fight because some dude hit on your girlfriend, but I doubt we’re going to do any of that.

  “You mean, get drunk?”

  I squeezed passed the drunk teenagers who were dancing to the beat of the music. Some were even grinding on each other. I felt my nose scrunch upwards in disgust and hoped that wouldn’t be me in my drunken state. It’s been a while since I was drunk. In fact, I haven’t drank much in my life since I recently turned eighteen. Anyway, I just hope I wouldn’t go making out with Tyler.

  Ugh! How horrible would that be? I’d rather kiss a frog.

  Okay, maybe I wouldn’t. That’s just disgusting. I’d rather eat more pizza and ice-cream, jump off a building, scratch the back of an old man, go on a scavenger hunt, give Matt a foot massage . . .

  Oh, just the thought of food made me hungry. I licked my lips as I tried to ignore the stares of Tyler sitting on the stool beside me, while Sydney sat on the other side. We both grabbed a drink and gulped it down our throats as if we haven’t had anything to drink in ages. I was expecting Tyler to grab a drink too since he was here but he just leaned against the table, and looked around the place as if he was a bodyguard.

  I averted my eyes and decided to forget about him as the drink settled in my stomach. I grabbed another cup, along with Sydney and gulped it down just like the previous one.

  On our third cup, Tyler took his phone out of his back pocket, looked at the screen with a serious face, then glanced at me as if he was trying to debate on whether he should answer the call or not. In the end, he got up and went out of the door since the music was too loud to actually have a conversation on the phone.

  I felt myself relax in relief. Finally having a moment to myself, I looked at Sydney to see that she was in her own little world. She was twirling in her stool while looking at the cup in her hand as if it was some kind of new creation made in a laboratory.

  I knew I shouldn’t have spoken too soon because not a moment later, I saw from the corner of my eye a muscular body sit right next to me. The same stool Tyler was on not too long ago. I turned my head to look at the stranger, to find out that he was not a stranger at all.

  It was Dan.

  He was smiling at me as he drank in my features from head to toe.

  “My my, look what we have here,” he said slowly.

  “Hey Dan,” I said as I grabbed another drink. By now I was starting to feel light-headed.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked. I turned my head slowly and lifted an eyebrow.

  “What else do you do at parties?” I asked making Dan roll his eyes then took a sip of my drink while glancing at Sydney, just to make sure she was still sitting in her seat beside me. I didn’t want to be that type of friend where I get distracted, then let my drunk friend wander off to potentially meet a strangely hot guy. You’d think you get to know him but actually you don’t. Then soon after, he drugs your drink and you wake up in a hotel room naked.

  “What I meant was that you don’t strike as the party girl? You seem like a goody two-shoes. Then again I did see you in detention only on the second day of school so . . . ” He trailed off.

  I nodded. “Yea looks can be deceiving huh?”

  Dan nodded his head then leaned over the table to grab a drink. He then glanced at Sydney and gave me a questioning look at the sight of her staring off into space while twirling in her stool. I was surprised she didn’t feel dizzy or barfed all her insides out by now.

  “Boy problems,” I said.

  Dan nodded his head understandingly then parted his lips to say something but was interrupted by a deep husky voice coming from behind him.
/>   “That’s my seat,” Tyler said as he glared at Dan. I turned around, confused to why Tyler’s mood was so down all of a sudden. Not too long ago he was smirking as he pissed me off.

  “I don’t see your name written on it,” Dan said.

  “That’s still my seat,” Tyler argued.

  “No it’s not.”

  “Just move,” he said in a deathly tone but Dan didn’t look like he would budge anytime soon.

  “What if I don’t want to?” he said

  “Get up or else.” I was taken aback by Tyler’s threat and was surprised at how dangerous he sounded but confused to why. Did he have anger issues or something? Maybe that was the case because I didn’t like the idea of him falling in love with the stool Dan had his butt on.

  It was just weird.

  Dan got off of the seat but didn’t move so that Tyler could sit on it. Instead he crossed his arms under his chest and glared at him.

  “Or else what?” Dan threatened him to continue but before Tyler could even open his mouth to speak, someone called Dan’s name. We all turned to look at the host of the party from earlier who opened the front door for us. He was smiling, clearly unaware of the tension going on and waved to Dan to come over to him.

  Dan narrowed his eyes at him then glanced back at Tyler and me. He groaned quietly to himself which didn’t go unnoticed then gave me a small smile before averting his gaze to Tyler, giving him an icy cold glare for the hundredth time today.

  “I’ll see you later Crystal,” he muttered under his breath before walking past Tyler with his hands in his pockets, purposely bumping into him with his shoulder.

  Geez, what has gotten into those two?

  Tyler sat back down beside me but I didn’t look at him. I stared at my cup just like Sydney did not too long ago.

  Speaking of Sydney, I whipped my head to look at the place she was sitting earlier to find it empty.

  Oh shit.

  I looked around my surroundings but saw no familiar faces. I then got off of my stool as I took a step forward. My heart was starting to pound against my chest in panic. Where could she be? She couldn’t have just wandered off somewhere far away that fast. She had to be here somewhere. And I had to find her fast before some creep does.

  We just got a freaking drunk brokenhearted girl on the loose.

  And her sister is going to kill me

  Chapter 14

  I rushed past the crowd of drunk and horny teens while Tyler stubbornly followed behind. I don’t know why. I was having enough stress as it was with Sydney on the loose to who knows where. And Tyler decided to tag along. I tried to tell him to leave me alone since his presence was freaking me out even more, but he didn’t listen. He didn’t even say a word and just shook his head as if he was a child getting told to go to his room.

  Right now, I was trying to find Eva all while silently praying to the lords that she wouldn’t take my head off when I told her that her drunken, heartbroken sister had disappeared. Who knew, she could be a room away. Or maybe she found an abandoned closet, opened it, and found herself in a place where animals and creatures could talk, also known as the strange world of Narnia. I felt myself panic at the thought. I didn’t want to die at this age. I mean, if I had an actual death wish, I would have just shaved Matt’s hair off while he was asleep.

  I snapped out of my thoughts when a rough hand grabbed my trembling wrist. Tyler was looking at me with a blank expression, but there was a bit of concern in his eyes that he couldn’t mask from me.

  “Relax. She couldn’t have wandered off too far away. She’s got to be here somewhere and we’ll find her.” He reassured me. I didn’t have time for bickering, so I simply nodded. Relief washed over my body when my eyes landed on Eva with Nick, but it wasn’t long before fear took over.

  What if she tried to bury me alive?

  Or killed my dog?

  Wait . . . I don’t have a dog.

  It took me a while to notice Tyler was leading me towards her with his hand on my back. I swatted it away before plastering on a calm face.

  “Eva, how’s my best friend doing?” I said as she turned around to look at me. Relief replaced her look of discomfort when she noticed it was me. She smiled and hugged me. I looked at Nick and gave him an apologetic smile.

  “Hey, I hope you don’t mind if I steal your date for a while,” I said as I yanked Eva away by her arm, not waiting for his answer. I led her to a corner of the room that wasn’t filled with strangers making out.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  I placed both my hands on her shoulder, looking into her eyes as if I was reaching out for her soul.

  “Well, you see . . . ” I trailed off.

  She lifted an eyebrow, looking at me curiously.

  “Yes?”

  “Funny story.” I removed my hand from her shoulder to scratch the back of my neck.

  She nodded her head, encouraging me to continue.

  “I . . . I-I kind of—”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Tyler interrupted me as he threw his hands in the air. I turned to glare at him for interrupting me but he just looked annoyed.

  “What Gem is trying to say is that your crazy drunk sister, who looks exactly like you, is missing in action,” he said.

  Well, talk about being blunt.

  Eva’s eyes widened as she whipped her head to look at me.

  “You lost my sister?” she asked.

  I nodded slowly, not wanting to anger the beast.

  “And she’s drunk?”

  I nodded again.

  “Well, you weren’t paying attention to her in the first place,” I defended myself as Eva ran her hands over her face and through her hair.

  “Oh, god,” she said under her breath. Then she nodded and apologized, “Yea, you’re right and I’m sorry.”

  “Let’s just go find my sister before she kills someone,” Eva said as she turned around, making me lift an eyebrow.

  “You mean if someone kills her?” Tyler pointed out, but she shook her head at us.

  “No, I mean if she kills someone. Have you met her?” she asked.

  Tyler and I rolled our eyes before following behind her. We scattered around the place, looking everywhere for a girl with the same face as Eva but saw nothing. Halfway through our futile mission, we ran into Troy and Jasmine making out in the middle of the crowd. Once I told Matt the issue, he went up to them and smacked the back of Troy’s head before filling him in. A couple minutes later I was starting to panic. What if something happened to her? What if she was kidnapped?

  My thoughts were cut off by the sound of Eva’s voice.

  “Wait, did Tyler just call you Gem not too long ago?” she asked curiously.

  I glared at her. “Your sister could be in the back of a dude’s car screaming for her life and that’s all that’s going through your head?”

  “Yea, you’re right. I’m just curious,” she said, swatting her hands up in the air.

  “Well, curiosity killed the cat,” I told her while looking around the place.

  “But satisfaction brought it back to life.”

  I rolled my eyes and was about to say something when I heard someone shouting from outside the house. It seemed as if no one heard it because of the blasting music, but I was able to since I was near the door. I ran out of the door with everyone following right behind me. Including Tyler.

  I was met with a sight I certainly didn’t expect. Dan was holding a donut in the air while Sydney clung to one of his legs as if she was a child.

  “Let go of me, you psychopath!” he shouted as he tried to break free, but she was whining and holding onto his leg as if her life depended on it.

  “Who let you out of the hospital, huh? Go back to where you came from,” he yelled, but she shook her head and glared at him.

  “Never!”

  “You’re crazy!” he shouted. “What the heck are you do—hey, that’s my donut you bit—”

  “Shut up and give me my
dessert!” She tripped him to the ground and grabbed the donut from his hand, then started running towards us as if she’d won the lottery.

  “Why you! Once I get my hand on you, you’re dead!” Dan shouted as he got off the ground and ran after her. Sydney ran past us while shoving the donut in her mouth without a care in the world.

  Dan shouted some colorful curse words. “That’s my donut! I bought it fair and square!”

  “Well, it’s mine now! Mwaha!” She laughed as she gave him the middle finger before running through the door.

  Once they were in the house, we all looked at each other in silence. I blinked a few times before realizing what just happened. And to think we were afraid for Sydney? It was as if she was a whole new different person when drunk. I turned to Eva with a confused expression. It increased even more when I saw her blank face, as if she was used to it. She then gave me a sheepish smile and shrugged her shoulders.

  “When we were looking for her, I wasn’t afraid something might happen to her. I was afraid for the person that crossed paths with her while drunk,” she explained. I noticed that Matt had disappeared through the door, probably to go get Sydney. Which was a good idea because leaving her alone probably wasn’t the best idea.

  What surprised me was when Tyler laughed.

  “Well, I like her,” he said.

  What, why was he still here?

  I was about to tell him to go away and that his presence wasn’t needed when Matt came back outside, looking annoyed as hell . . . while carrying a singing Sydney over his shoulders.

  “I’M GONNA SWING FROM THE CHANDELIERS! FROM THE CHANDELIERS!”

  I was surprised nobody inside heard all this.

  “Will you be quiet?” Matt said.

  “TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT, WHAT YOU REALLY, REALLY WANT!”

  “Shut up!” Matt hissed.

  “HELLO FROM THE OTHER SI—”

  “That’s it, I give up.” Matt handed Sydney to Troy and walked to his motorcycle.