Trying to... - 9. Trying to Fit in

Thank God for Eli. Scott didn’t know how he could thank the little girl that brought him closer to Ty. He was ecstatic that Tyler liked his idea of buying his daughter a camera, and he’d even let Scott have a say in which one to buy for her.

Right then, Scott was sitting on the edge of his bed, clothes scattered all around, trying to figure out what to wear to the date. God, it had been so long since he’d taken someone out on a date; a real date and not just a customary dinner to decide whose house is closer to the restaurant so that they just could get the shagging over with and end the precarious dance.

Scott looked around at the discarded clothes around him; the one’s he’s tossed aside after just a moment’s consideration and sighed.

‘I need help.’ He said to his reflection, shaking his head.

He could hear his sister moving about the apartment, and he contemplated asking her for help, but he wasnt ready to answer all of his sister's questions yet. Instead he started picking out clothes at random and tried to find the one with the least amout of wrinkles on them.

After half an hour when his door bell rang, Scott was dressed in a plain black shirt and a pair of jeans, trying to tame his unruly hair and cursing himself for not having taken a shower before getting ready. When he heard Tyler laugh in the living room, no doubt about something that his sister said, Scott ran his fingers though his mop one last time and gave up trying to look classy; Ty had said casual, so casual he was.

* * *

The dinner could have gone smoother: But, thanks to Tyler’s already strained nerves and Scott’s lack of attention to anything but Tyler’s face, they managed to laugh quite a bit. The clumsiness broke the awkward barrier pretty easily and Scott was almost thankful that his shirt drank more of his drink than he did. And, by the time Tyler pulled up in Scott’s parking lot, Scott felt comfortable enough to pull him in for a goodnight kiss, invisible coffee stained shirt and all.

He fell asleep with a smile on his face a half an hour later, thinking about how Tyler had dragged him back inside the car for a second one.

* * *

‘Hello,’ Scott said irritably into the phone. It had been a long morning; he was almost buried neck deep in the slack of the incompetent staff.

‘Is it a bad time?’

‘Ty,’ Scott smiled in spite of himself. ‘Hi!’

‘Hi to you too. Are you very busy right now?’

‘I was,’ Scott said, leaning back on the chair and pinching the bridge of his nose. He could feel the onset of a headache. His voice softened, ‘But, I am really thankful for the pleasant break.’

‘Wait till you hear what I have to say,’ Ty laughed. ‘You’d probably prefer whatever it was that was bothering you till now.’

‘Hah, you saved me the trouble of having to go down and strangle the floor manager.’ Scott smiled, relaxing further in his chair. ‘So, until you ask me to do something that will guarantee a harsher punishment, I think I’ll pick yours.’

‘I need a favour.’

‘What is it?’ Scott could hear the hesitation in Tyler’s voice.

‘How busy are you this weekend?’

‘Not at all. Actually, I have the weekend free.’ Was Ty asking what he thought he was asking? Did he really...

‘I have a function to attend, almost cross country,’ Ty hesitated.

‘Yes?’ Scott prompted. If Ty asked, he’d gladly accompany him to whichever end of the earth he was going to.

‘Would you...’

‘Just spit it out, Ty.’ Scott was almost bouncing in his seat.

‘Would it be okay if Eli was in your care for a couple of days?’

Wait... what?

‘My care?’

‘Mel said she’d be home most of the weekend, but since Gary is off too, I didn’t really want to... you know,’ Tyler trailed off, his voice even lower.

‘Yeah,’ Scott tried to ease Ty’s discomfort that he could feel from his end of the phone. ‘Newlyweds and all.’

‘Yeah, so. Would you mind?’

‘Sure,’ Scott said. ‘She can stay with me for the weekend.’ If Tyler trusted him that much to leave his daughter in his care, there was no way he was giving up on that. ‘I love spending time with her,’ he said sincerely.

‘Thank you.’ Tyler let out a huge breath. ‘She said that too, you know.’

‘Really?’ Scott sat up again. This was good news indeed, it was his biggest fear: that Ty’s daughter wouldn’t be able to accept him.

‘Yes, she said she’d get her camera and take a lot of pictures of the two of you having fun,’ Scott heard Tyler laugh. ‘Apparently, her dad’s not fun enough.’

‘That’s not true,’ Scott smiled. ‘Her dad’s just too tensed about everything!’

‘You can be the fun dad,’ Ty jibed.

Both of them fell silent at the slip.

‘I... Scott...’

‘Ty, don’t worry about it, I know what you meant.’ Scott raked his brains to pick a topic as far as he could from the one they were on. ‘What do you think about that hike I’d promised her, would it be okay if I took her on Saturday?’

‘I don’t see why not! Bet she would love that.’

‘Great, I should talk to her then.’

‘I’ll call you later, once she’s home.’

‘Ty, you could call me just to say hi, you know.’

‘I will, soon,’ Tyler’s voice was low, soft and as it sounded to Scott, sincere.

Scott could see he was making a genuine effort. Now it was his turn to step up.

‘Take care, Ty.’

His headache already forgotten, his mind was running a mile a minute, trying to plan the weekend. This was a huge test for him; and he was determined to pass with flying colours. He had to admit that it felt pretty good when the “dad” had slipped; he sure hoped to be in those shoes one day.

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