Two: Benches

"Do you have a reason as to why you have been on this bench for thirty minutes now just staring at people?" A raspy voice, definitely belonging to a man, says beside me.

I'm in shock at his words. It wasn't a cheery tone. It was a harsh one. A tone like he was annoyed at me for even being around him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize the street benches had laws to them now," I snap, my voice loaded with sarcasm and annoyance as I turn to look at the stranger.

Holy shit.

His voice was attractive. I don't know how to describe it. It had a rasp to it. It wasn't smooth and it wasn't extremely deep either, yet not high pitched. I could listen to him talk forever if it meant hearing the sounds.

But his voice isn't what shocked me. What shocked me was how beautiful this boy is. His hair is a dark brown, almost black. It's styled similar to Jace's with short sides and a longer top. His hair is styled and swept to the side on top, reminding me of early Zayn Malik. His eyes were green, contrasting from the dark of his hair and the darkness of his outfit. The light stumble on his face was shaven and cut perfectly. This boy definitely worked to maintain his looks, but made it look as if he just rolled out of bed. Or maybe he just naturally looks this good. Either way; this boy is fine.

His eyes study me for a moment, a scowl present on his face. I have to remind myself to be nice, but that's so hard when someone is being irrational for no reason.

"What's your name?" He asks me, still keeping the scowl on his face.

"Octavia Bradley."

"Octavia Bradley," he repeats. My name sounds much better coming from his mouth and I find myself wanting to hear him say it over and over again.

"Yours?" I ask him.

"Tyler Watson," he whispers, the scowl finally coming off his face as he looks ahead.

I study his from the side. He's dressed in all black. Black sneakers, black jeans, black hoodie. If I knew any better I would say he was probably going to rob me, but I don't like to judge before getting to know someone.

"Why are you here?" I ask him.

"I had some business I had to take care of in there," he says, pointing back at the bar where all my friends currently were.

Business? What possible business could he be doing at Joeli's? Especially business at almost midnight. The owner of Joeli's was a sweet, old man who's been running Joeli's for years and I have never seen any business men in there for actual business; only there to drink and cheat.

"What is your excuse for being here?" He asks me after the break in our conversation.

I let out a loud and deep sigh.

What was my reason? I told Jace I would be back in a few minutes, but it's been longer than a few and I still can not bring myself to step back in there and face Jace just yet.

Once again, this is Haley's fault.

"I just needed some space from someone," I say, not giving away the full details.

"You have a boyfriend?" He follows up, green eyes burning a hole in my head as he stares me down.

"No, I wish" I laugh. "He and I are coworkers."

I should feel a little uncomfortable sitting here with a stranger and telling him details about myself, but something about him made me want to open up. I think it might be me wanting him to open up to me. I don't know him, but based off his looks and voice I wanted to get to know him.

"Coworkers, huh?" he says, his tone laces with amusement. "Where do you work?"

"The police department."

His amusement is quickly replaced with shock as his eyes widen slightly. They don't stay that way, though as the scowl from earlier creeps back onto his face.

"A cop?"

"A forensic psychologist," I correct.

He nods as he realizes I'm not exactly allowed to make any arrests. It makes me wonder even more who he is and what business he had in there.

"What about you? Do you work?" I ask him as I turn my body in the bench to be able to look at him without hurting my neck.

Tyler turns on the bench as well, both of our backs again the arm rests at this point. My ankles are crossed while Tyler has one leg propped on the bench, his knee bent up to his chest.

"I run a business," he says to me.

"Doing what?" I ask, chewing on my bottoms lip as the curiosity takes over me.

"You wouldn't even want to know," he says, a smile finally coming into his face.

I nearly gasp at his smile. How is this man so beautiful with everything he does?

Silence takes over us once again. I could tell both of us wanted to keep talking, but neither of us knew what to say. He was a complete asshole when he first spoke to me, but now all I want to do is get to know him.

"To be honest, you come here a lot," he says, his green eyes studying me.

"You sound like a stalker," I comment playfully.

His tone didn't give me the vibe that he meant it in a creepy way. For some reason, I felt comfortable around him. I didn't feel as if he has a reason to hurt me or that he wanted to hurt me. He just seemed like a guy wanting a conversation.

"It's hard not to notice a girl like you. You're a local who comes here almost every Friday. It wasn't hard to start remembering you," he continues on

"Yet, for some reason I have not once seen you here," I spoke.

Tyler let's out a quiet chuckle and the dimples in his cheeks appear as the smile spreads across his face.

"That is definitely going to change," he vowed.

I don't know why but the way he said those words made me shiver and bumps begin to form on my arms. He was easily likeable and had charm, but some part of me wanted to be wary of him while the other wanted him to be in my life as a friend. It was an inward battle that I had yet to find the solution to.

I watch Tyler closely as his left hand moves from his lap towards my face. I can feel my heart beating faster as his hand comes in contact with my cheek, brushing the loose strand of brown hair out of my face. His fingers are ice cold, but still make my cheeks feel hot.

A simple gesture, but also an intimate one. A gesture that I could not figure out the motivation for.

I smile at Tyler and he smiles back, neither of us saying anything. The silence doesn't bother me. Usually I would hate the silence and think the worst of what it meant, but I didn't with him. My mind was too busy trying to figure him out.

Tyler clears his throat and turns in his seat, putting his back to the bench and his hands on his knees. His eyes don't meet mine as her utters his next words. His tone changed from sincerity to cold in a matter of seconds and I begin to wonder what I did to make him turn so quickly.

"I should go," he says, standing from the bench.

I stand as well. For what exactly? I don't know, but I stood.

I stare up at him, and he finally turns to look at me. He seems angry. His eyes are no longer light, but a dark green. His jaw is clenched right and I wonder how hard he is gritting his teeth.

A drama queen if you ask me.

But speaking of drama queens, stumbling out of the bar and towards Tyler's and me is a highly intoxicated Evan.

"Tavi!" Evan yells, his eyes lighting up as he sees me and rushes towards me.

I don't have time to react before Evan's arms around my waist and his body is practically on top of mine. Despite the fact that he is completely suffocating me, I still smile and wrap my arms around him.

"Get off me you fat ass," I say, a giggle escaping my lips.

Evan gets off me and stands in front of Tyler and I. It's the first time he's noticed Tyler's presence and his eyes immediately narrow in on him.

"Evan, this is Tyler," I say to Evan, motioning my hand to Tyler, who is looking at Evan with an unreadable expression.

"Nice to meet you," Evan boomed, jabbing his hand right in Tyler's face.

I wanted to scream at Evan for being annoying, but I couldn't. Evan didn't mean anything by it, he's just wasted. Besides, I doubt I would be seeing Tyler again. Just two strangers who shared a conversation on a park bench is all we will ever be.

Tyler shakes Evans hand and gives him a nod. He still wears the unreadable expression and I begin to grow frustrated with his lack of readability. Usually I was good at reading people, but Tyler was different.

"I have good news!" Evan slurs, his words followed by a laugh. "You, Tavi, get to drive me home tonight."

You've got to be kidding me.

"Where did everybody go?" I question, hoping someone may still be in there to take him off my hands.

"Haley left with some boy. Don't know who and don't know when," he recounts, rubbing his chin.

Not surprised one bit by Haley. She's beautiful and smart, but a bit promiscuous. Nothing wrong with that, I was the same way before Ryan.

"Anthony left next, saying he had to take Bethany out on her night walk."

Not surprised one bit by Anthony and his love for his dog. If there was any girl that Kaitlyn had to compete for Anthony's love with, it was their dog.

"Jace just left a few minutes ago. He's been a negative nancy all night," Evan says, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Did he refuse to be your wingman or tell you that you've had enough drinks again?" I laugh, knowing Evan hates being treated like a kid.

Evan not saying anything proves it to be true and I let out a laugh before standing up from the bench. Tyler does the same, and the three of us stand in an awkward silence.

"I'll see you around, I guess?" I say to Tyler, unsure of what really to say.

He sticks his hands in his pockets and nods at me.

Evan and I turn away and start walking down the block to where my car was parked, but I couldn't help but hear the words Tyler muttered as the distance between us grew.

"You definitely will."

*
I toss around in bed, trying to get in a good position to watch tv. It proves to be unsuccessful as I try just about ever postion there is, none getting rid of the aching feeling that has consumed my body.

It had been two days since my night out with my friends. I was somehow able to get Evan home in one piece and still kept most of my sanity with me. Haley didn't come home until the next day and she did not stop gushing about the boy she left with.

I was lucky to have the day off today, but not too lucky considering I wanted to talk to Jace today. We don't usually text each other unless it's about times and meeting up at the bar, but whenever we're together it's like we can't stop out conversations.

I groan as I sit up, pressing my back to the headboard and stretching my legs out in front of me. It's only minutes until the season finale of Riverdale, and somebody would have to be dying for me to miss it.

"Octavia!" I hear Haley shout from outside my door.

I ignore her, letting out a groan instead. It's Riverdale time, she knows this. Sweet Pea can get it.

"Octavia, come here!" She shouts again.

I want to ignore her, but it's rare Haley bothers me when I'm in my room. Our strict privacy rule has always stuck. Haley was good about that.

Despite my desperation to watch my show, I give in to Haley's calls and hop out of bed.

"Haley, I love you. Like, seriously. But what could be so important that you needed to interrupt me during Riverdale?" I groan, running my fingers through my hair.

Haley doesn't say anything. Instead, she points at the large tv screen we have in the living room.

My eyes follow to where she is pointing and my jaw drops at what's displayed on the screen in front of me.