The Tide Began to Rise
Chapter 33

 

[Tyler’s POV]

 

“I’m not going home. He’s going to be there and is going to want to talk.”

“You can come to my house if you want.”

“What am I going to do tonight? I’m going to need a place to sleep.”

“Babe, you can stay with me.”

“What about you parents? I don’t think they will like a boy staying with you.”

“Babe, you’re gay. You’re not going to try anything. So they don’t have to worry.”

I know she was trying to be funny, but I didn’t feel like smiling.

“What should I do?”

“About Brent?”

“Yeah.”
“I don’t think I can tell you what to do there.  It has to be what you think you should do.”

“If I leave it up to how I feel, then I will forgive him and go back to him. It would be different if Collin had made the move. But I saw Brent do it. I don’t want this anymore. I can’t. I guess I don’t make him happy enough. He has to go after someone he just met.”

“Are you saying what I think your saying?”

“Yeah.”

“When are you going to tell him?”

“When I stop crying, and after I call Peter.”

“Why do you need to call him?”

“To see if he will me get a place to live. I won’t be able to stay in the same house as Brent.”

“Take your time babe. You can stay with me as long as you need to.”

 

[Brent’s POV]

~I don’t want to talk. I’m done~

I kept rereading that text. When I didn’t have my phone out, I thought about and pictured it in my head. What did he mean by it? It was in the back of my mind. I knew what he meant. I just don’t want to believe it.

I pulled out my phone. I typed in ~I’m so sorry. There is no excuse for what I did. I hope you can forgive me~ I pressed send.

I waited for 15 minutes for my phone to vibrate, but I never did. I fucked up big time. Nobody will talk to me. I’ve tried texting James, Brad, and everyone, but nobody will respond.

Collin rode home with me. It was a silent, unsettling ride. A few times I heard him take a breath to say something, but the words never left his mouth. About halfway home, he put his hand on my shoulder. I think it was an attempt to comfort me. It kind of worked.

I pulled up in front of Collins house to drop him off. He looked over at me.

“If you need someone to talk to tonight, give me a call. I know school starts for me tomorrow, but call me anytime.”

“Thanks”

He sat there for a few seconds. I guess he was waiting for a hug. I just sat there with my hands on the wheel. I saw the look on his face from the corner of my eye. I couldn’t bring myself to give him what he wanted. I was to hurt. I was too ashamed about what I did.

Collin got out and walked to the front door. I waited until he was inside before I slowly began to drive away. Tears started to fall from my eyes. I drove to the lake that was in town. I didn’t want to go home. I knew Tyler wouldn’t be there.

I sat there, for what seemed like 20 minutes. I got a text from my mom asking me when I was coming home. I looked at the time and realized that is was 10pm. I had been sitting there, staring at the water for 9 hours. So much had gone through my mind, all the things that Tyler had been through and shared; all the good and all the bad. I wouldn’t trade any of it, except for what happened today. Yeah, sure, we had our problems but we worked through it. By going through those things, I believe our relationship became stronger. But there is nothing that we could have gone through to make our relationship strong enough to withstand what I did today.

I sent a text back to my mom, saying ~IDK~

~What’s wrong honey~

~ I don’t want to talk about it~

~OK. Don’t stay out to late, ok?~

~ I won’t~

I checked my phone and saw that I had missed 14 texts. I checked them. 4 were from my friend Cody. He wanted to hangout. The others were from people that were just saying hi. A single tear fell as I check the last message. That tear fell, because none of the messages were from Tyler.

I got in my car and went home. I saw another car in the driveway. I didn’t recognize it. It might be mom’s mystery man. If that’s the case, I don’t want to go inside. I’m not in the mood to meet him.

Reluctantly, I got out of the car and went inside. My mom must have seen me pull up, because she was waiting inside the door for me.

“Hey honey. Glad your home. I want you to meet someone.”

“Mom, can it wait. I’m not in a great mood.”

“He has to leave soon.”

“Fine.”

“Tony……. This is my son Brent. And this is……………Oh where’s Tyler?”

“I………….. Don’t ………………Know” tears started to fill my eyes again. “I’m sorry. It was nice to meet you, but I have to go.”

I ran up stairs. I fell on my bed. That just made me feel worse. The bed still smelt like Tyler.

I heard the front door shut, and I knew Tony left. A minute later my mom knocked on the door.

“I don’t want to talk. It’s just going to make me feel worse.”

“Ok, then just let me lie with you.”

“Mom………Please.

“Ok………ok……… Just trying to help you. You can tell me anything

I rolled over.

“I don’t know what to do?”

“What’s wrong?”

I told her the story. The entire time, I had tears flowing out of my eyes.

“You’re not going to want to hear this but I don’t think there is not too much you can do.  You can’t force Tyler to stay with you. If he doesn’t, then you have to accept that.”

I don’t want to accept that. I love him. That kiss was a mistake.”

“Do you really think that? You made that move Brent. There was something to that.”

She’s right. I made that move, and I did it on purpose. But I’m not ready for this to be over yet. There is a talent show next week at school. I will sing him a song. Hopefully that will show him that I love him.

 

[Collin’s POV]

I walked in the front door and went straight up to my mom. What a day it had been so far. I wasn’t going take that Brad kids advice. I was going to let my feelings go. But then Brent kissed me. That changed everything. That showed me that Brent had feelings for me. The hard part is going to be leaving Brent alone until he realizes that Tyler is done with him. But I won’t wait too long.