The First Rule

Chapter 12b: Tom and Jerry

That most dangerous thing. Because now.. seeing his grin annoyingly just fades all of his annoyance away. And seeing his grin gradually fade.. you thought that maybe—maybe, he feels it too. Almost feel familiar, that unknown.. weird.. yet strangely comfortable feeling.

However, that faded grin transforms into a gentle smile. He releases you for a moment, initially leaving you confused. But then he nods and taps the straps of your bag, helping in removing your backpack off you.

"Why run around with this turtle backpack, Winny?" he chuckles, all while maintaining a soft smirk. Your stare turns into puppy eyes as you heave a sigh, then you rest your head on his chest. You're tired. So so tired for these past few weeks.

Maintaining a broad grin, he mocks, "Ew get away you're sweaty," and hearing them swiftly causes you to retract your head with knitting eyebrows. But before you can even make another move, he drops your bag on the ground and pulls you close.

The sudden rush of heat surges through you. Thank God he can't see you right now. But catching the way his rapid heartbeat slowly decreases calms you. Both of you let out a small sigh in this embrace. Closing your eyes, the thought of the two of you resting together leaves you with a smile. "Ew you're sweaty too, Tyty," you sulk, your tone contradicting the way you're truly feeling.

Letting out a low chuckle, he pulls away slightly to check on you, only to find your fake pouting. A hearty laugh escapes his mouth as he playfully shakes your body and chuckles, "Come onnn, stop pouting like that."

You both pause for a second. He gazes at you in amusement—until suddenly, Cavill jolts in excitement. He then reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. With a mischievous grin, he taps a few buttons.. and suddenly, a song starts playing from the speaker. Jogging a few steps back in delight, his fluffy hair bounces as he moves his head like a hen while bouncing his eyebrows humorously. He grins as he sees your pout transform into a loud giggle.

"In that case—!" he shouts, extending a hand towards you with a playful glint in his eye. Grinning, you take his hand. Soon enough, both of you are dancing to the upbeat tempo, laughing as you both sing while shouting at each other faces,

"NOW I'M SHAKING, DRINKING ALL THIS COFFEE! THIS PAST FEW WEEKS HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTING! I'M LOST IN MY IMAGINATION! AND THERE'S ONE THING THAT I NEED FROM YOU—"

Heh. This is Tyler. Always has his way to shift the atmosphere. Comethru? Our song? Yeah, I admit. That was smooth. So.. yeah, it's always been like this. Even when I'm mad.. he can always manage to alter the moment. Just by giving me his antics, his.. grin.. his smile.. his..

"CAN YOU COME THrough uuh u uh.. u uh—"

However, at the last line, he finds himself singing alone. Lost in your own thoughts.. you wear a frown again. Much like his grin, the background song fades as he lowers the volume on his phone, all without taking away his eyes from you.

Cavill observes you looking away, his faded grin now transforms into a more.. calculating. His thumbs stroke your wrists gently, as if wanting you to look him in the eye again. Crooking his head slightly to the side, observing your face beneath his eyelids, he lets out a slight smile. Despite watching you from below, his eyes are gentle, conveying the words he's been wanting to say—

"Sorry..."

He gently pinches your right cheek, a small gesture to make you look at him. And it works. Staring at him with a weary expression, you sigh as he bids an explanation, "I've been busy, I know—"

With someone else.

...

Wait what the f**k who cares—Em you shouldn't be like this! Who're you to even think like this you're not his—

"I miss you."

fuck.

There goes my pride.

His eyes widened in genuine surprise upon hearing your impromptu words. However, despite maintaining his composure, a brief warmth flickers in his gaze.. and your frown slightly turns into a sheepish lopsided smile as you witness a subtle blush graces his cheeks. Letting out a nervous cackle, he hesitantly goes to ruffle your hair despite knowing how you hate it. As he senses how you flinch a little, he quickly retracts his hand, murmuring, "Right.. sorry,"

Wow, that's a first. It's usually a gesture to annoy me.. why—

Placing his hands firmly on your arms, he gazes at you tenderly for a while. Suddenly, a spark of inspiration lights up his hazel eyes as a smile slowly graces his face. Then, shaking you in excitement, he whispers,

"I have an idea."

"Hey Baby—"

Taylor joyfully opens the car door to the passenger seat, but as her hand touches the headrest, her excitement abruptly cuts short as she sees...

You.

Lounging in the back passenger seat of Mr. Cavill’s car. However, judging by Taylor's reaction, it seems that she definitely hasn't been informed, as there's a hint of surprise—followed by a slightly annoyed expression. You respond by an uncomfortable grin as you make war with yourself internally—

You know, I even asked him how! I mean—he rides his Ducati to school right? It wouldn't fit three people? Yet he insisted, saying—how he always borrows his dad's car to school anyway now—plus, Taylor doesn't want to go to school on a motorcycle.

Yeah you know what I did when I heard that. I rolled my eyes pretty hard.

Ok I. know. In the same room as her was not a great idea—but yeah, I accepted anyway. After all, Tyler's here.

..right?

But her reaction.. Hey, whatever. I know Tyler first, we started this habit first too.

Showing his contagious grin with hands on the wheel, Cavill enthusiastically reveals to his girlfriend, "Sorry I haven't told you, Tay. But, cool if we go to school together?" Turning his head in your direction, he shoots you a smug look while playfully taunts you, "She practically looks like a lost puppy these past few weeks. Can't stand it."

Rolling your eyes, you immediately cut in, "Geez chill out, Ty—I don't need you, ew? I can drive a car if I want to anyway. Sorry Taylor, if it's bothering you I could—"

But unexpectedly, Taylor smiles like an angel, responding to you with 'joy and sincerity' as she says, "Oh no, it's super fine! You're his best friend since forever too anyway!" At his girlfriend's approval, Tyler flashes a grin to the both of you and bounces his eyebrows in relief before turning his attention to locking the door.

However, from your filmgoer perspective, wedged between the two seats and gripping the edge of your seat, you sense that something's coming. As expected, as if a brilliant idea crosses her mind, she scoots closer to Tyler's seat, nudging his shoulder. As he turns to her, Taylor grabs her boyfriend's face..

and kisses him.

You watch him let out a grin and gradually close his eyes.. deepening the kiss.

Kiss? Huh. They're basically making out in front of me. This is so lame! What did I ever do to deserve this scene in front of me—

Internally, you feel something boiling up inside of you. But gradually.. it turns into a.. strange feeling. Resulting with you hesitantly moving your gaze down to the carpet. Brows start furrowing, you slowly shift your eyes back to them.. to find Tyler abruptly opening his eyes like he's eventually realized something—you immediately draw out your phone, scrolling through the apps in panic—

Fuckfuckfuck! Where'sTwitterwhere'sTwitterwhere'sTwitter—

"Love you baby."

Before you, both of them had already pulled away. You don't know who did it first—heck you don't give a damn. All you want to do, is bury yourself in your phone and get this over with—

"Love.. you.."

But then you hear his voice. In the corner of your eye, you notice Tyler shuffling to face the steering wheel, gripping it so tightly, squeezing it back and forth that his knuckles' bones are visibly protruding. Quickly, he snaps out of it, shifts the gear to D, and gets his foot ready to press the gas pedal. However, instead of hitting it, he turns to you, forcing a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"Ready to hit some logs?!" he asks in a slightly high-pitched tone, attempting to maintain the 'joyful' vibes that have been happening in the car. His gaze remains fixed on you, waiting for a reply. Any answer would be fine at this point. Anything. Just—anything..

"Yeah."

You respond by moving your gaze in a quick motion to him, offering a fake smile. However, within a split second, you switch your focus back to your phone and scoot to the far right, to be directly behind the passenger's seat.

In front of you, Taylor enthusiastically yells, "Let’s go babe!" The difference of enthusiasm between your responses catches Cavill's attention for the worse. He gives a little smile to her before shifting his gaze to the rearview mirror, causing his smile to fade. After a slight sigh, he finally presses the gas pedal. The car moves forward, but a subconscious unease lingers as it leaves you in wonder..

It's not like I've never seen this before though.. but why does this time.. it feels..

Suffocating.