The Tide Began to Rise - Repost - 21. Chapter 21

< Brie's POV >

Driving to the mall was very quiet. It gave me time to think and reflect on everything that has been happening. Tyler is gay. I have known for years, but we never talked about it much. You would never be able to tell unless you really hung out with him. He hides it so well. Now, I guess, he doesn’t need to around our friends.

Brent is gay as well. Until Tyler got hurt, I didn’t know that much about him. All I knew was that he is the star soccer player at school. That means he’s a jock. I thought he was the stereotypical jock. Stuck up, thinking he’s better than everyone else, friends with only other jocks, and bullies all the nerds and outcasts. Now that I’ve gotten to know him, he is the opposite of what I thought. He only has a few friends that are jocks. He is a complete sweet heart. Tyler is a lucky guy to have snagged him up.

That’s another thing, Tyler and Brent are dating. Knowing now the kind of person Brent is, I can’t believe that he fell for Tyler, mostly because who Tyler was. Even though I didn’t know what was going on at his home, I could tell that he was depressed. Watching him walk, anyone could see that. You could see the sad, hurt, and defeated look on his face; the sorrow in his eyes. If anyone would have taken the time to actually look at him, things would never have gotten as bad as they did. He did put on a front though. To most, he made it seem that the world he lived in and the life he lived was great. I knew it was just a mask. I just never asked him about it.

Brad……. I couldn’t in a million years picture him being gay. He’s one of the schools biggest flirts. He’s been on so many dates, I lost count. He did a hell of a job coving up. I can’t help but worry about him. He came out and told us that he was crushing on Tyler, but he found out that he is with Brent. I can’t even imagine the mental state he is in. I can’t help but wonder what he might do. To have a crush turn out the way it did might make him do something rash.

“Hello……….Hello……………..Brie……….Are you still with us?” James asked

I looked around and saw that we were in the mall parking lot.

“Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking.”

“Yeah, I guess so. We tried getting your attention the entire drive out here. You just stared out the window.”

“I’m sorry. Guess there is a lot on my mind. Let’s go inside and shop.”

“Yay, that’s the Brie that I know and love.” Tyler said “What store do you want to go to first?”

“Von Mar. I love the clothes there.”

“It is so expensive.” Jennifer said.

“Yeah, but they last so long.” I said.

“Ok, but I think you are going to be the only one buying anything.” Jennifer replied.

“Hey, what if I want something?” Tyler asked.

Everyone laughed as we all entered Von Mar’s doors. It is such a beautiful store. At the center is a guy playing a piano. The sound carry’s all through the store. All the way up to the 3rd floor.

We walked through. I found a few things I wanted. Tyler found a couple things. Once we paid for the items we went out into the mall. For the most part we stayed together. There were a few stores not everyone wanted to go in.

< Tyler's POV >

As we walked from store to store, I couldn’t help but feel like something bad is going to happen. I couldn’t shake the feeling. I was also feeling eyes on me. I kept looking around for someone that I recognized, but I didn’t know anyone here. Maybe I am just paranoid.

When we were walking into Spencer’s, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I knew I wasn’t just being paranoid. This was the bad thing. Who is grabbing me? What does he or she want? What is going to happen? So many thoughts are running through my head. I slowly started to turn around to see who the person is.

When my eyes first saw his face, nothing registered. It took me a second or two to recover and focus on the face. Before I could even say a word, I threw his hand off my shoulder.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Wow, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“What do you want?” I asked again, this time gritting my teeth.

“I wanted to say Hi.”

Brent must have heard the way I asked the question for the second time, because he was in front of me and had Tristan by the collar of his shirt.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I wanted to say hi to my brother. I would appreciate it if you took your hands off me.”

“Brent let him go.” I said. Brent slowly released him. “What do you want Tristan. There is something more than “Hi, how are doing”, so what is it?”

“Can we sit somewhere and talk? Alone?”

“Yes to the first and fat chance in hell for the second.”

We walked over and sat down on one of the benches that are all around the mall.

“Now tell me what you really want.”

“I wanted to see how you were doing. I hadn’t seen you since…….. Well since Dad’s trial.”

“And I wanted it that way.”

“Ok, I know that I was an ass….I’ sor…. Sor…… Sorry.” As he said the word he cringed.

“Oh, I bet that hurt. You better not do that too many more times. You could cause some permanent damage.”

“I’m trying to be serious Tyler.”

“Whatever dude. I can see through the pathetic act you’re putting on. You don’t care. So do me a favor and go and crawl back under your rock. I hate you for what you and your father did to me.”

“He’s your dad too.”

“No, my dad died the day your sorry ass became a part of your lives. When you moved in, my life was ruined. You made it so that every second that I was in that house, was Hell. So Tristan, you can go drop dead, just like your mom.”

“How about like yours”

I lost it. My hands were around his throat in a second.

Brent was trying to pull me off. The harder he pulled, the tighter I made my grip. He’s face started to turn red. Somehow we ended up on the floor. We were rolling around. Now James joined Brent in his struggle to pull me off Tristan. Eventually they did. James went and grabbed Tristan so that he didn’t come back to get me.

“Get off me you fucking peace of shit……. I’m going to fucking kill you Tyler.”

“Let go Brent…….. Let me go.”

Brent pulled me down the corridor. We made it to the food court before he let me go.

“What was that Tyler?”

“Did you not hear what he said? I’m not going to take that.”

“But you did the same thing.”

I wasn’t in the mood to listen. I’m pissed off. I walked away. Brent tried to stop me; I just kept bating his hands away. I wanted to be alone.

< Brent's POV >

I tried to stop Tyler. I know he was mad, but I also know that he had done the exact same thing. I know the hatred that he has toward Tristan. I hate him to, but I don’t think he handled that very well. Tyler went down to Tristan’s level. In all honesty I think that Tristan wanted him to do that.

I stopped chasing after him and went back and sat down in the food court. I sent everyone texts telling them where I was. About 5 minutes later, everyone shows up at my table.

“Where’s Tyler at?” Brie asked.

“He walked away from me. He was mad that I pulled him off Tristan. When we finally got here, we had a little fight and he walked away. I tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

By the time I finished talking; she had her phone out and had dialed Tyler’s number.

“Where are you? ............... OK, I will be there in a few……………….. OK, I’ll come alone.”

She hung up, put her phone back into her purse and walked away. She didn’t even tell us where he was. We didn’t follow her.

About 45 minutes later, Brie and Tyler came back. Tyler walked straight towards me, gave me a hug and said that he was sorry for freaking out on me.

“Don’t worry about it. I should have known why you were so angry. You have you reasons. I’m the one that should be sorry.”

“Yeah you should be………” Tyler said.

There was a long pause.

“Let’s head out to Nobbies to get our costumes.”

We headed out to the car. We drove to Nobbies. It was about 10 miles from the mall. The store had rows and rows of costumes. Brie picked out a witch one. Jennifer and James got and Adam and Eve pair. Brent picked out a body builder and I went with a vampire.

Once we had our costumes and accessories, we paid and went back to my house. The party is next weekend. It is going to be great.