Trying to... - 7. Trying to Get There

Scott walked into the room to see Tyler and Mel having a laugh; his heart all but broke when he saw Tyler, his Ty, sign I love you to his sister. His only consolation: it wasn’t quite meant the same way he’d want it from the man he was almost standing right behind.

‘Having fun?’ Scott plopped down on the plush sofa, just beside Mel, who turned and smiled at him, nodding enthusiastically.

‘Plenty!’ Echoed Ty. And Scott could see the truth in his sparkling eyes.

‘Room for one more?’

‘Some other time? I have to get going soon.’ Ty smiled at him, ‘Eli gets home in an hour. I have to be home by then.’

Mel nodded and her hands flew, ‘Take him home, Scotty. He didn’t bring his car.’

‘Sure!’

‘No, no! Thanks Scott, but I can just take a taxi. You don’t have to, I have plenty of time.’

‘Nonsense,’ Mel swatted Ty’s arm. ‘I would have taken you, but I have to get to the therapist.’

‘Mel, don’t worry! I’ll take him, besides,’ Scott smiled at her and turned to Ty, ‘I will be going that way, anyway.’

Tyler nodded curtly; Scott thought his eyes narrowed, but only for a moment, before smiling warmly at Mel.

‘I’ll see you soon then, Mel,’ Ty signed and kissed her before standing up. ‘Ready to go, Scott?’

‘Just give me five,’ Scott got up from his seat, ‘I’ll just grab a jacket, and then we can go.’

‘Don’t be mad, Ty. He isn’t going to bite! You two are good for one another,’ she held up her hands as she saw his hands moving; trying to protest. ‘Stop! You know you are, you know you like him, you’re just too stubborn too admit it and too much of a chicken to do anything about it!’ She shrugged nonchalantly and switched the TV on, carelessly flipping through the channels.

Scott shook his head, thankful that neither of them saw him near the door.

‘Ready, Ty?’

‘A school bus leaving the St. Stephen’s School overturned because of the ill maintained roads in the area. The contractors that have been given the responsibility...’

The rest of the sentence was drowned out in Tyler’s strangled cry. Scott turned to see a pale faced man, fumbling through his pockets.

‘What’s wrong?’ No answer.

‘Ty?’ Scott reached out and touched Tyler’s shoulder. ‘What happened?’

‘St. Stephen’s... Eli...’ He managed to gasp put while still looking for his phone.

‘Shit! Here,’ Scott thrust his own phone in Tyler’s hands, ‘make the call! Who are you going to call, by the way?’

Tyler had already begun dialling. ‘I thought I would call the school, but...’ he stopped midway to pay attention to the call.

‘Hello, yes, I just saw on the news that a school bus just overturned, would you please be able to help me with the information?’

‘St. Stephen’s... Sure!’ Tyler sat on one of the chairs, near the window, and leaned on the counter in front of him.

Scott moved back towards Mel who was flipping through channels again, trying to find if any other news channels were covering the accident.

‘Don’t know? How can you not KNOW?’

Tyler rarely ever raised his voice, so his shriek almost made Scott fly to his side. He looked angry and, what tugged at Scott more, lost. Scott placed a gentle hand on Tyler’s clenched fist, and was almost immediately rewarded with the loosening of the grip.

Scott kept rubbing soothing circles at the back of Tyler’s palm as he finished up the call.

‘Scott, we need to go!’ Tyler stood up, almost jerking the smaller man up with him thanks to their linked fingers.

“We!” Scott thought gleefully and then chastised himself immediately.

‘Come on,’ with a quick wave at Mel, the two of them hurried out.

‘Where to?’ Scott asked once they were on their way towards the school, ‘Do you know any details?’

‘No. The police said it was one bus, and only a few were injured. They didn’t have any names,’ Tyler shut his eyes breathing fast, and leaned back against the seat. ‘Yet!’

‘Breathe, babe!’ Scott placed his left hand on Tyler’s knee, wincing slightly at his slip. ‘We’ll know soon.’

‘What if she’s in the hospital already?’ Tyler sat up again, ‘What if she is injured?’

‘Ty,’ Ignored.

‘What if she needs blood?’

‘Ty!’ Scott needed to get through to him, but –

‘What if we’re too late?’ Tyler’s voice was getting raspier by the minute and the last sentence was barely audible.

‘Tyler! Listen to me!’ Scott swerved to a stop, despite being on a road with heavy traffic. It wasn’t going to do either of them any good if Tyler was a mess already before they reached the school. ‘We don’t know what’s happened yet! And, if it was that severe, they’d have called you. The police said that there were no serious injuries, didn’t they?’ He pulled the shaking man into his arms and tried to calm him down.

Tyler took a few deep breaths, nodding. ‘Thank you!’

‘Feel better?’ At Tyler’s nod, Scott restarted the car. ‘Let’s just get to the school, okay? She probably wasn’t even on that bus.’

‘But-’

‘No, no buts, we’ll deal with the situation as we face it, okay?’ Scott squeezed Tyler’s hand, the hand that Ty refused to let go of.

‘Thank you, Scotty!’ Tyler squeezed back Scott’s hand, letting out a sigh and relaxing a little.

“Scotty, he called me Scotty!”

Tyler jumped out of the car even before Scott had a chance to cut the ignition, but Scott’s heart soared when the worried dad waited for him, lacing their fingers together before darting off towards the school in search of his daughter.

Scott spotted the curly blond head first, and when he pointed her out to Tyler, he was shocked as Tyler sagged in relief, hugging him and whispering, ‘Thank you!’

There seemed to be hope for them, after all!

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