I turn the door handle, my nerves intensifying. I don't know why, my dad's car isn't in the driveway anymore. The first thing I see is my mom sitting on the couch watching TV. Once she hears the door, she turns to face me.

"Hi sweetie, how was the beach?" She asks in her usual upbeat tone. I am a bit taken aback due to her showing no sign of hurt. She really isn't planning on telling me about my dad stopping by..

"It was good. I'm going to go up to bed now." I inform her as I run up the stairs. I felt somewhat angry that she was just acting as though nothing happened. As though my dad who I haven't seen in forever, didn't stop by.

I put my head on my pillow and quickly drift off to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about my almost kiss with Tyler today. I hope I didn't totally ruin whatever friendship we had.

————-

"Rough night?" Chris asks, filling up a fountain drink that was recently ordered.

"What?"

"You just seem zoned out and tired." He states. I guess he was right. All I can think about is Tyler. I need to talk to him.

"Maybe just a bit." I say.

"Drink some coffee." He suggests.

"Eww I hate coffee." I say as I make a fake gagging noise.

"You're crazy.." I don't even pay attention to what Chris says in return because all I'm doing is looking out the window, hoping to see Tyler. And sure enough, there he is. He's talking with that Trina girl again. They look like they're ready to do more than talk. I felt some unknown feeling in my chest. A negative feeling but I couldn't locate what it was. It annoyed me how he was being all flirty with her. But why.... Why do I care what he does or who he does it with?

I finally decide that I can't stand it any longer, so I begin walking up to Tyler.

"Hello?" He asks, confused.

"What does this bitch want?" Tina asks, giving me a glare. I don't even care at this point, I just need to talk to him.

"Tina." Tyler says, looking at her.

"Can I talk to you Tyler." I say, only looking at him.

"Uh sure." He responds. We walk to the area behind the pool where there isn't any people around.

"Look I'm sorry about yesterday." I begin, finally getting it off my chest. Tyler definitely doesn't respond the way I expected or well wanted him to..

"Yeah me too. Let's just forget it happened, it meant nothing." Tyler suggests. My heart sank at his words. Why? Why am I so upset by this? He definitely caught me off guard.

"Yeah-uh totally." I reply awkwardly, trying to force out a smile.

"Okay well I'll see you." Tyler says before walking away. I wait a while before walking back to the register.

After work, I drive home right away. I haven't been in the best mood since my chat with Tyler. I wish I knew why.

"Hey mom." I say, entering my front door. She is wiping down the kitchen counter.

"Why are you cleaning all of a sudden?" I ask, confused.

"Because I met a really kind lady today." She tells me.

"How does this have anything to do with you cleaning?"

"Well she has a son your age and he goes to Ridgewood as well. They live in our neighborhood too so I met her when I was walking around. Her son and her are going to be coming over for dinner tonight." She states. Great, now I have to socialize.

"Who's her son?" I ask.

"I don't remember his name but I'm sure you two will get along." I internally sigh, I am not in the mood for this.

"Now go upstairs and get ready, they will be here in an hour." My mom commands as she goes back to cleaning up.

I begin looking through my closet for something semi decent to wear. I am not wearing a dress so jean shorts will have to do:

"Lana!" My mom shouts, "They're here."

Once I finish getting changed, I begin to head downstairs. I can hear muffled talking coming from the living room. I look down at the bottom of the stairs to see Tyler and his mom standing there. What the hell!???

"Oh here is my daughter Lana." My mom begins. They all look up at me. Tyler looks at me with a grin plastered over his face.

"Tyler?" I say, still surprised.

"You two know each other?" His mom asks.

"Yeah a bit." He answers.

"That's great. And I'm sorry about my husband not being here. He just got back from a huge meeting today so he is extremely tired." She states.

"No need to apologize. I look forward to meeting him another time." My mom responds.

"And here, let me take these." My mom says in response to the bottles of wine that Tyler's mom brought over. They both head into the kitchen, leaving just Tyler and I. Tyler begins to head upstairs, not saying a word.

"Uh what are you doing?" I ask.

"Going to see your room." He says simply. The second he walks in, he begins to look around, especially at the things on my walls.

"Sorry, it's kind of messy." I say.

"You call this messy? You should see my room." He says, which causes me to laugh.

"You paint?" He asks, pointing to all of the art on my wall. He begins to walk over to my newest painting that I am still in the middle of.

"Yeah but don't look at that one, it isn't very good yet. I haven't finished." I explain, fidgeting with the hair tie on my wrist.

"What? This is amazing." He says, looking over at me.

"Thank you."

"Are you serious about art?" He asks.

"Yes very. I plan on going into some type of art major." I say. He's still looking at the paintings and pictures on my walls.

"Do you know your plan for college?" I ask.

"Football. I'm committed to playing at USC." He states. I can't help my eyes from widening in response. I knew he was good at football but I didn't know he was that good.

"That's amazing, congrats." I say.

"Yeah thanks."

It's awkward for a bit before he says something else..

"Who's this?" He asks, pointing to a photo on my wall of me and my friend from Virginia. Well old friend. I don't know why I keep the photo up, I guess it kind of hurts to take it down.

"My friend from Virginia, Grace. But we don't talk anymore." I say. I miss her.

"Oh I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to bring up any bad memories." He says, apologetically.

"No it's fine. She just didn't reach out to me at all when I moved. I tried to reach out to her but it wasn't reciprocated. It sucks because we were so close and she just easily gave up our friendship, just like that." I rant, maybe more than I should have. The same thing happened with my other friends in Virginia.

"I'm sorry. Well screw her." Tyler says which causes me to laugh. Why is he being so nice right now?

"Is this Tyler Clark?" I ask surprised.

"Hey well I can be nice when I want to." He says with a smile, showcasing his dimples. He is so hot.

"You're staring." He says, laughing. That definitely catches me off guard.

"You should be careful, that ego of yours might burst soon." I respond.

"Dinner!" I hear my mom call from downstairs.

—-

"So how did you two meet?" Mrs. Clark asks, taking a bite of the pork that my mom made for dinner.

"She works at the country club, mom." Tyler answers.

"Did you guys meet when Tyler had to work there for a day?" She asks. I almost laugh at the memory... I forgot about that.

"No, I saw him around before then." I answer.

"Lana's cousins, Vicki and Michael, go to Ridgewood as well. I'm not sure if you know them." My mom now says as she takes a sip of her wine glass.

"Yeah I've seen them around before. Michael plays golf right?" He asks.

"Yes. He always practices at the country club." I reply. After the conversation dies down, I go back to eating my dinner. I suddenly feel a kick from under the dinner table, which almost makes me jump a mile. I look over to Tyler to see he is looking at me with a grin on his face. I am so getting him back. But not now, I have to do it when he doesn't expect it.

After waiting a good amount of time, I finally decide to kick Tyler back.

"Shit." He says, flinching.

"What?" My mom asks.

"Honey are you alright. Is it those leg cramps again?" Mrs. Clark asks with concern. I couldn't help but laugh in response.

"Lana." My mom says, trying to control her temper but I could tell that she was frustrated with me. She was shooting me daggers with her eyes.

"You don't laugh when someone gets leg cramps." My mom says to me.

"Sorry." I say, putting my arms up in surrender.

An hour later...

"Well we should be heading out now. Mr. Clark is wondering where we are." Tyler's mom states, getting up from the couch. Tyler's jaw tenses in response. What the hell.

"We're leaving because dad is telling you to?" He asks. I can sense the anger in his tone. I could tell that Tyler didn't have a good relationship with his father based off of things he has said before but I didn't realize completely.

"Yes honey. Your father has had a long work day." She replies. Tyler doesn't respond as he gets up from the couch.

"Thank you so much for dinner. It was lovely." His mom says.

"We will have to get together again soon." My mom says before closing the door. She looks over to me.

"How lovely are they?" She asks, smiling.

"So lovely." I reply before deciding to head upstairs. I'm tired.