Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series, стр. 27
I wished I had taken Spanish at school instead of French, it would have helped to understand a little of their argument.
After many minutes, my stomach started rumbling with hunger and I reached for a plate to start eating my bagel. I accidentally chinked the plate on the island – the sudden sound drew both of their attention.
The argument stopped completely, sudden silence after a fast paced and eventful storm.
“Ivy,” Tye’s voice was surprisingly calm, despite the evident shock on his face that I was in the room at all. “Dad, this is Ivy.” He ran his hand up the back of his neck and into his hair again, closing his eyes as if to pray that this moment was in his imagination and not really happening.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have come. I felt my presence was as unwelcome as a spider the size of a lobster.
“Erm, it’s nice to meet you,” Tye’s dad looked between his son and me before stepping towards the island. He appeared just as awkward and uncomfortable as this strange moment warranted.
“You too,” I nodded, placing my plate down on the island. It was really quite horrible.
Tye’s dad stepped again towards the island and leaned on it. I watched his face – there were worry lines there, a man used to stress, with concern etched into his features.
“I am sorry,” his accent was thickly Spanish. “I am guessing you had plans with Tyler?”
“We did,” I nodded returning to my stool and then regretting the movement, thinking I should be leaving instead. My eyes drew over the man’s shoulder to Tye – he was stood awkwardly with his arms folded and his eyes trained on the floor, refusing to make further comment. “It can wait for another time. I don’t want to interrupt anything.” I stood again, picking up my handbag to show I was leaving.
“No, not at all,” Tye’s dad held out his hand, urging me to sit again. “I’m the one who’s interrupting. I dropped in rather… unexpectedly.” He had a kind face, even if it was used to the pressure of stress. “I insist you stay.” He turned back to Tye who kept his eyes still on the floor, his jaw set tight and his face lowered in a frown. “Well, I’m in town all weekend. We can see each other any time?”
Tye chewed this thought over for a minute before nodding reluctantly, moving his hands to his pockets and still not looking at his dad.
“It was good to meet you, Ivy,” his dad smiled at me before heading for the door. He was gone very quickly, leaving Tye stood in the centre of the room with his head bowed.
Once the door was shut, I finally felt I could speak again.
“Tye?”
He didn’t answer. He just stood there thinking, his jaw twitching in movement.
Thinking what a horrible day it was turning into, I wished it could all be over. I had seen my parents argue enough times to know that afterwards they were never in the mood to talk. Tye appeared just as disinterested. Usually my parents would lock themselves away on opposite sides of the house and stew in anger. I remembered sitting outside my mum’s door once, begging her to open it so we could still go shopping as we had planned. The door never opened. In the end, I had gone shopping by myself and bought a scarf covered in ladybugs. I’d never worn it, but it was somewhere in a drawer.
Deciding it was one of those moments, I picked up my plate and returned it to the cupboard then pulled out the bagel I’d bought for Tye and placed it in the fridge.
Tye continued to stare into space, refusing to speak or move.
I picked up my handbag and my bagel again, heading for the exit. As I swung the door open, he finally spoke.
“Where are you going?” His voice startled me – I spun back round, looking at him in confusion. He was staring at me, eyes wide and hands now buried in the sleeves of his t-shirt. It was so hard just to be his friend – I wanted so much more. Looking at me like that, with his cocoa eyes bright, I just wanted to throw my arms around him and make all the pain go away. There were many fun ways I could think of to dispel that pain. Each one sent a jolt of excitement through me. I planted my feet to the ground instead, resisting him.
“I thought maybe you wanted to be alone. There’s a bagel in the fridge if you’re hungry.”
“Alone? Fuck no.” It was so rare to hear him swear that it took me by surprise. “I want…” He looked away and this time ran both hands through his hair.
“What?” I prompted, waiting for him to answer.
“I want to get out of here. Let’s see somewhere. Anywhere! I don’t care where it is. I just need to be out of Exeter.” He was desperate, pleading. “Now he’s here, I have no desire to be.”
“Okay,” as strange as this was, I quickly thought through the options. “How about the beach? Exmouth?” The coast wasn’t far away and I hadn’t yet explored it.
“Perfect – pack the bagel, I’ll just get changed.” He disappeared in a flurry back into the bedroom.
I quickly retrieved the bagel, trying to ignore the flash of Tye’s back I saw as he pulled his t-shirt over his head. I kept my eyes down as my cheeks blushed. By the time I had poured out two bottles of water, Tye had re-emerged in his best jeans and a dark blue t-shirt, short sleeved and high necked, tight