Lost & Found

The Family

                  

In general, Tyler never made plans on Friday nights, preferring to relax at home before having to get up at the crack of dawn for training the next morning. So it confused Lucy just a little when he practically dragged her out of school and towards his car after the last bell rang. It wasn't as though she still had things to do at school. She had finished all of her work for the school paper earlier in the week because it was the first time in ages that the entirely family would be home and she intended to enjoy every minute of it.

Still, Tyler's eagerness to get home was a bit eyebrow raising.

"What's going on with you?" she asked when they reached his dark blue SUV and she tossed her bag in the trunk.

"Nothing," he shook his head as he closed the trunk door, realizing he probably seemed a bit too eager. "I'm just excited that Jessa is coming home today."

She would have accepted that response due to Jessa and Ty's closeness had it not been for the fact that his jaw was sharp with tension which wasn't coming from his concentration as he reversed his car out of the parking spot. "You know you can tell me anything, right Ty?"

Of course he knew that. Lucy knew all of his deep dark secrets and he had never had a problem telling her things that he had a hard time telling his parents, so why was he so reluctant to tell her about Cassie? Perhaps because nothing had actually happened, so he wasn't sure how much there was to tell.

"I'm just kinda anxious, I guess," he admitted, keeping his eyes on the road as he exited the school car park. "Because Jessa is bringing her roommate down with her."

Lucy parted her lips to ask why he would be nervous to see Jessa's roommate before her eyes widened with misinformed realization and she smacked Tyler's arm as she gasped. "Did you hook up with Jessa's roommate?"

"No," Tyler scoffed honestly, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel. "Nothing happened between us."

His response was genuine, she could tell because there was a hint of sadness in his eyes, so her next words came out softly. "But you wanted something to happen?"

"Yeah," he sighed heavily. "And therein lies the problem."

It took her a few seconds to realize what that meant. "Because Jessa would kill you."

He nodded, pressing his lips together, but didn't speak, so Lucy continued slowly, sensing she was in murky waters. "You have to admit that makes sense, Ty. I mean, your sister has to live with this girl. The last thing she needs is for things to be awkward because you hooked up with her roommate and then got bored and broke her heart."

"Why does everyone think I'm gonna break her heart?" he asked, his tone sounding hurt, which immediately made Lucy feel guilty.

She supposed it was unfair to assume that things between Tyler and Jessamine's roommate would end badly. It wasn't as though Tyler was a bad guy: he was just sweet and funny and made you feel like you were the most special human being on earth, which made him easy to fall for. The trouble came in that whenever girls showed the first sign of wanting something more serious, he got scared of that level of commitment and broke things off, leaving at least one person who had been in the relationship a little scarred.

"Look, Ty," Lucy sighed softly. "I don't think Jessamine doesn't want you getting involved because she doesn't trust you, but no matter how things between you and the roommate play out, Jessa is gonna get caught in the middle."

He hadn't really thought of it that way. He'd been so focused on keeping his promise to Jessamine that it hadn't occurred to him why she'd asked him to do so in the first place.