“Then I guess I’m happy that Derrick can no longer come.” It was weird being here with just Olivia. It had always been the three of us. I’d never really had more than a few moments around her alone. And even then Derrick was always somewhere in the background.
“I’m glad he’s not staying, but I can’t believe it’s because he’s spending the night with trailer park Tiffany.”
“Now now, Olivia, be nice, if your brother likes her, you should at least give her a chance.”
“I know, I know.” She let out a deep sigh. “But it’s like really? You come to visit me and yet you’re spending most of your time with some girl that’s looking for her Mrs. Degree.”
“That’s an important degree in the South.”
“Well, she lives in California now.”
“Maybe she wants to leave.”
“Maybe.” She nodded. “Let’s not talk about her anymore. We’re nearly at my place. And I consider it my sanctuary, so, no negative vibes allowed.”
“Roger that.”
Chapter 5
Olivia
I was nervous about Tyler seeing my apartment. There'd never actually been a man inside it before, and for some reason I was worried about what he would think, not just as a man but also as my longtime friend. Would he like the way I'd furnished it? Would he like the fact that I had a photograph of himself, Derrick and me when we were kids at Disney, or would he think that I was living in the past, that I hadn't grown up and moved on past our friendship?
"This is it," I said, as we walked up the stairs. "Don't have too high expectations. It's really small."
"Hey, Olivia, you know I don't care about that sort of stuff. I'm just happy to see where you live and even more happy that you're letting me stay the night."
"Well, yeah, you had nowhere else to go, and I know San Francisco's expensive, so you know. My couch is open to you."
"Wow. I never thought I would ever hear you say that." He laughed. “I feel so special.”
Well, don't expect too much, because, you know, it’s small and I’m poor.” I was worried that he’d hate my space. “And also, it's not always open to you whenever you want, so don’t go getting any ideas."
"But you just said it was open to me," he said laughing.
"I know, I know. Come on, let's go inside." I was flustered and not making sense and I didn’t want to examine the reason for my own babbling.
I opened my front door and we walked into the apartment. I could see Tyler looking around taking in my white couch with the hot pink throw pillows. He walked over to my bookshelf and looked at the photos on the nightstand. I was pretty sure that I saw a smile on his face when he looked at the photo of the three of us, yet he didn't say anything. I closed the front door behind me, took off my shoes and walked over to him.
"If you want to have a shower, you can go in first," I offered him politely. "I think I'm going to make myself a cup of tea."
"Oh, I'd love a cup of tea as well, if you don't mind."
"Sure. I have green tea, jasmine tea, or earl gray."
"Oh, I'll have some earl gray. Do you have any milk?"
"Yeah, I've got milk. Want some sugar too?"
"No, I'm okay."
"Okay. So are you going to take that shower then, Tyler?"
"No, no. I think I'll come with you to the kitchen if that's okay. Check out your place."
"Sure. Um, follow me."
I walked to the little kitchen that was on the other side of the room and turned on the light. The light flooded through the kitchen and a moth flew down and made me scream. "Ah! Ah!" I screamed and went running into Tyler's arms.
"What is it?" he said. "What happened?"
"There's a bug. It's on me. It's on me." I pressed my face into his chest, and he just laughed.
"Olivia, that was just a moth. It must've been sleeping by the light. You woke it up when you turned it on."
"I guess, but you know I hate bugs. I hate them so much."
"But it was only a moth. Not even a spider, not even a snake."
"Ooh. Don't talk about snakes. You know I hate snakes as well."
"Oh, yeah. I remember." And it was then that I realized that I was still pressed up against his warm, hard body.
I let go and looked up at him. "Sorry about that." I gave him a small smile. "You know how I get sometimes."
"Yeah. I know." He gave me his crooked smile and his blue eyes twinkled as he looked down at me. "You always were a scaredy cat."
"I'm not a scaredy cat. Well, at least not as scared as Derrick. Do you remember that time we went camping and the cat came out of nowhere?"
"Oh, yeah," Tyler laughed.
"Derrick was screaming and screaming. You would have thought it was a lion or something. I thought it was a bear at least. I about had a laughing fit when I saw it was a wild cat."
"Yeah, and not even a bobcat either," Tyler laughed. "Oh, man. Those were some fun times, weren't they?"
"Yeah," I said softly. "They really were."
So how are you liking San Francisco then?"
"You asked me that already. It's cool."
"I know, but I was just wondering if you'd ever consider coming back to Florida?"
"I don't know. Not really."
"Aw, that sucks."
"Well, what do you care? You're moving to New York aren't you?"
"Yeah, maybe," he shrugged. "I don't know if I'm going to take them up on the offer. I like working, but I already work 80 hours a week at the firm. Going to New York, it will most probably go up to 120 hours a week."
"Oh, wow. That's a lot."
"Yeah. I mean, all work and no play makes Tyler a dull boy."
"You could never be dull, Tyler." I looked up at him and he laughed. Our eyes held each other's for the next few moments, and I wondered what he was thinking. I wondered if he could feel the chemistry that I could feel, but I dismissed it. It was most probably in my brain. I'd been without a man for far too long, and now here I was staring at Tyler, and he was looking like a snack. A real and delicious snack. Something juicy that I could gobble up. Oh my gosh, I needed to fan myself. I needed to take a cold shower. I could not be thinking about Tyler this way. I wasn't a teenager anymore, and these thoughts weren’t something I could act upon, especially knowing that he was so close to my brother still.
"What are you thinking, Olivia?" Tyler asked me softly, an intensity in his eyes that I've never seen before.
"Oh, I was just thinking that I should put the kettle on so I can boil the water for our tea." I walked away from him quickly and grabbed the pot, filling it up with water before placing it back down. "Do you want any cookies or anything? I think I also have some cake. I made a lemon cake last week. It wasn't the best, but it's okay."
"You made a lemon cake? He looked at me with a wry smile. "I thought you didn't like to cook."