"Comfort Crowd" by Conan Gray is attached above because I think it fits the vibe of this chapter, so give it a listen if you want to

***
I'd managed to pull myself to my feet after a few moments sitting on the floor. In those seconds, minutes, and possible hours that passed by, my questions had remained unanswered, which made me anxious.

When I walked back into my bedroom Tyler was sitting on my bed, fully clothed. He had an apologetic look on his face that made my heart ache. None of this was his fault. It was mine.

"Hey," I softly said as I closed the door behind me, making sure to lock it behind me.

"Hey." His voice didn't carry its usual lightness and joy.

I walked over to him and planted myself on his lap, my legs wrapped around his waist and my face mere inches from his. Following what had just happened, the wise choice would've been to sit next to him and do the least gay thing possible. But the way one hand gently pressed against my lower back for support and cupped my cheek told me he didn't mind. The look in his eyes told me what he was about to say before his lips did. "I'm sorry, Addi," he whispered. "I messed things up between you and Kyra."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Tyler you didn't mess anything up. No one forced me to kiss you or to climb on you or do anything else that I did. So, all the blame falls on me."

The corners of Tyler's lips turned upward, but there was a weary look in his eyes as his hand dropped from my cheek. He broke eye contact. "If you want to break this off, I understand. I don't want to make things complicated."

"No," I quickly said as I brought his hand back to my cheek and kissed his palm.

He cocked his head to the side like an adorable puppy, making my chest warm. "But Kyra–"

"–and I are done," I finished. "We're done. That decision was made and I've moved on. Look, I know things are a bit complicated right now, especially with our standing, but I really wanna see where this goes. Maybe we'll be boyfriends one day, maybe we'll get married and have like a million children. Maybe we'll stay like this. I don't care. I just want to keep going...I mean if you want to. What just happened didn't just affect me, you're a part of it too." Suddenly it hit me and I had to resist the urge to face palm. I'd been so absorbed in me that I'd forgotten that I wasn't kissing the air when Kyra walked in. I'd been kissing him. Even though Kyra had mainly been focused on me, she'd seen him as well. He could be freaking out on the inside and holding it in for my sake.

I cupped his cheeks in my palms, running my thumbs gently across his jaw. "How are you? I know it was sudden, I didn't even expect her to come, I swear."

He bit his bottom lip. "I don't know. I think my mind is still trying to process it. I mainly feel guilty. I know you said that you two were separated before we got together or whatever, but the look on her face makes me feel bad for even liking you when you and she were together."

I felt guilt bloom in my chest. I felt guilty for having feelings about him while she and I were together, too.

"You shouldn't, Ty. As I said, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one who kissed you first after all. I mean, I would understand if you wanted to take a step back after what happened. I know you're not really out and I kinda indirectly outed you. Sorry."

He shook his head. "You didn't know, Addison. It's not like we had any warning or anything. Even if we did, I don't believe that you would do anything like this on purpose."

"Of course not," I confirmed as my eyes searched for my phone. It didn't make sense. Why did she just show up unannounced and how did she get up here with so little resistance from Papa or Padre? Unless Azzy opened the door, but she usually yelled up at me if someone was here for me.

Then it clicked.

Her voice was the voice calling for me while I was stuck in a lust-fueled trance. A guilt of a new kind tied itself to my ankles and pulled me down. I should've been paying more attention. I shouldn't have put us in this position and locked the door as soon as we walked in.

After a few moments, I found my phone on the floor where it'd fallen during all of the excitement. A barrage of text messages appeared on my screen as I turned it on.

Kyra (19:04): hey, I don't kno y, but ive found myself on a train to ur place. Ill be there in 10. If its not ok, lmk and ill head back.

Kyra (19:17): im heading up

Papa (19:19): Kyra's at the door. If anything's happening, stop it.

Papa (19:19): she's heading upstairs. Be careful!

I let out a breath as I eyed the "do not disturb" icon at the top of my screen and I mentally yelled every curse word I knew in English and Italian. It was a rule at our house that we had to turn our phones to "do not disturb" during family dinners in order to minimize distractions and maximize our bonding time. Usually, I turned it off as soon as I came back to my room, but I was so consumed by the want for Tyler that I'd completely forgotten. It was all my fault.

Every aspect of this was my fault.

"What?" Tyler's voice was soft, wrapping around me and calming me down in a way that only he could. It wasn't demanding or accusatory. I could tell that he genuinely meant it when he said that he didn't blame me.

And it pissed me off.

He should be fuming. I got us in this mess. Why wasn't he more upset?

"My phone was still on 'do not disturb' from dinner. I was so busy trying to get up here that I missed the texts that she sent."

"Ok."

I felt a blush creep on my cheeks as I broke eye contact. Everything usually goes downhill after someone just says "ok" and nothing else.

I heard Tyler chuckle as he laced his fingers behind my neck. I looked up at him with a raised brow. "What's funny?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." He put his forehead on my bare shoulder as his hands dropped to his sides. "I think that laughing is my natural coping mechanism."

I wrapped my arms around him in a hug, gently running my fingers up and down his spine. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said as his soft fingertips gripped my bare sides, warmth moving through me as he moved his head into the groove in my neck.

We stayed like that in silence for a few minutes. A million thoughts were fighting for dominance in my mind as I absentmindedly continued rubbing his back.

"I want to keep doing this too, whatever it is," Tyler said so softly that I was afraid I'd imagined it.

"What?" I breathed in disbelief.

He pulled away so we were face to face. "I mean...I like this. You said you'd want to continue on if I wanted to, right? So, I want to."

I couldn't keep the grin that was tugging at the edge of my lips at bay. "Really?"

"Yes, Addi, do I need to spell it out for you, idiot?" He asked with a chuckle that wasn't a thin layer over concern and fear like his last one had been. It was genuine. It was real. He cupped my cheek again as he looked me in the eyes. "I like you, Addison Bruno-Williams."

"I like you too, Tyler Barnett." My voice was soft as I said it, but each letter had conviction pulsing through it.

I couldn't tell who initiated it, but within seconds our lips were pressed against one another's. Hunger nor horniness controlled our lips as they moved against one another. It didn't control the way he gripped my hips or the way I desperately held his face between my fingertips. Or the pool of fervor that filled my chest like helium in a balloon. The unknown puppeteer behind our movements was something more gentle. Something pure. Perhaps it was the untainted, unlabeled feeling of "like" that we both shared.

"I meant what I said earlier," he said as we pulled apart.

"Which part?"

"That I like you in gray sweatpants." To prove his point he ran his hands up and down my thighs, grinning at me like an idiot. His single dimple made my heart jump, seeing that it only showed when he was truly happy.

"Dude, that's like, really gay," I said as I pulled the hood of the black hoodie he was wearing and tugged it over his head.

"Really?"

"Really," I confirmed with a grin before I used the hood to pull him closer and kissed him. Laughter flowed from his lips as he kissed me back. A scream was pulled from my throat as he fell backward onto the bed, effectively pulling me down with him. The high pitched noise that I hadn't even known I could make reduced us to a mess of laughter with our bodies tangled within one another.

As we calmed down, I rolled off of him, concluding that if I stayed on top of him any longer, I'd never get off. I didn't fully detangle our legs though.

We laid there looking at each other, enjoying our own pocket of peace frozen in time. I brushed his hair from his forehead, my fingertips skimming his forehead as I did so. "I'll fix everything with Kyra, okay? I promise."

"I believe you," he instantly replied as he slid his hands under his head to support it. "You also promise to tell me if you can't, right?"

I stuck out my pinkie. Tyler rolled his eyes at my childish antics but linked his pinkie with mine. I kissed the back of my thumb, sealing it.

"Lo prometto (I promise)."

***

Hey y'all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if so, feel free to comment and vote! Addi is kinda in a tough place, huh? Even though I'm the one who writes this, I'm happy that my boys are persevering through this, or at least trying to in order to save their "relationship". Speaking of my boys, which relationship do you like better so far: Madison and Noah's relationship in the original book "Tear In My Heart" aka the prequel to this book, or Addi and Tyler's relationship? I can't choose. Let me know what you think and I'll see you next update :) As always, the next chapter is already available on Inkitt so if you wanna read the next chapter a week before I post it here, click to Inkitt link in my bio!!

Stay safe and healthy– Jordan