Unlikeable You

Chapter Five

Trigger Warning: implied micro-aggressions & referenced abuse

    “Tyler? Where are you? Why aren’t you home?”

    Tyler had finally given in and answered his phone after thirty-seven consecutive miss calls from Mr. Whitley. He had put the phone on speaker for Daniel to hear. Even if the man’s worry was justified, Daniel could tell Tyler could care less. He had landed Tyler’s closest friend in the hospital. Daniel knew that to Tyler, Mr. Whitley didn’t even begin to know what worrying was.

    “What. I’m at the hospital. You know, where Daniel is after you smashed his head with a beer bottle?” Tyler sneered. He was deadpanned all until the latter half. He looked to Daniel, who sat on his bed across the room. He was given an empathetic smile. Tyler continued to pace the room.

    “That’s because”—Mr. Whitley paused with a sigh—“you need to come home. Now.”

    “No.”

    “Tyler Whitley—”

    “Tyler,” Daniel cut in, silencing the father and son.

    Tyler put his phone on mute. Mr. Whitley continued to grumble something about Daniel but both boys chose to ignore it. 

    “What is it, Daniel?” Tyler snapped. Realizing, he softened immediately. “Sorry.”

    Daniel gave a gentle smile. “It’s okay.” He beckoned Tyler over with a wave. “Let me talk to him.”

    Tyler sighed, handing the phone over. Daniel swore he could see the trace of a smile as Tyler warned,     “Don’t do anything stupid.”

    “I won’t,” Daniel replied. There was a beat of silence. “Can you step out for a second?” Tyler looked at Daniel with a skeptical stare, but it faded quickly. He gave a small nod.

    “You have forty-two seconds.”

    “Forty-two seconds?”

    “Don’t question me.” Tyler’s lips tilted. Daniel chuckled at the boy’s antics. Tyler stepped out seconds later, pointing at his wrist to emphasize his non-existent watch.

    Once the door was closed, Daniel clicked unmute. “Mr. Whitley?” The other end of the line was silent. As seconds passed, Daniel wondered if the man was even there.

    Mr. Whitley finally spoke, “What do you want, Daniel? I called Tyler’s phone so I could talk to him, not you.” Daniel held in a groan of annoyance.

    “Tyler isn’t fit to have a productive conversation with you, considering what happened. How about—”

    “Don’t tell me how to parent my son, boy,” Mr. Whitley cut in. Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. He was trying his hardest to be civil. Be nice, be nice…

    “Tyler is going to be with me until he’s okay to see you without flipping his s**t or until he wants to, alright? If you pressure him like this he’s never going to—”

    “Never going to what, Daniel Barnes? Are you trying to threaten me? Again?”

    Daniel let out a sigh. He couldn’t hold in his irritation anymore. “No, Mr. Whitley. This isn’t a threat, it’s the truth.” He paused. “If you keep using these f*****g scare tactics on your son to try and get him to stay with you, it’s not going to work. All you’re doing is pushing him away. Tyler doesn’t want to see you right now, alright? I’m trying to compromise with you right now. I know somewhere down in your f****d up f*****g heart you care. I know you don’t want to lose him. Stop taking out your f*****g anger on him when he’s all you f*****g have left. Matter of fact, I’m all he has left thanks to you being an unreliable, abusive, sad excuse for a piece of s**t human, alright? Take a f*****g hint, man. Like…” Daniel paused to collect himself, releasing an exasperated breath. “Jesus Christ.”

    He probably shouldn’t have said so much, but there was no use regretting now.

    There was an aggravated breath on the other side, then a short silence. “Don’t you dare think you have the upper hand here, Barnes.” Now that seemed like a threat.

    “I do have it, Mr. Whitley, I’m sure we both know that,” Daniel dismissed, suddenly tired of the conversation. Tyler’s head popped in the room with curiosity just as Daniel’s eyes wandered to the door. Daniel gave him a small smile. It dropped as he returned to the uneventful conversation, ending it quickly.     “Think about it. Please, for his sake at least.” He paused. “I’m hanging up now.”

    Tyler looked at Daniel for a moment then looked at his phone. “What’d you say to him?”

    “Too much, probably.”

    Tyler let out a breath, plopping on the bed with a smile on his face. “Thank you.”

    “For…?”

    “Always taking care of me when I don’t know what to do.” Tyler turned his head to Daniel. “I mean it.”

    Daniel returned the smile. ”I just told you I said too much and you’re thanking me?” He chuckled.

    “Correct.”

    Daniel tilted his head in confusion.

    “It means that you care.” He sighed. Daniel hummed in response. The two fell into a comfortable silence, a slight shiver running down Tyler’s spine as Daniel ran a hand through his hair.

    “I do,” Daniel said resolutely. More silence followed after. Tyler could only smile.

    “Yeah, I know.”

    A few screenings and monitoring days later and Daniel had finally been released from the hospital. Tyler stayed for most days, practically refusing to leave Daniel’s side despite the latter’s demands for him to rest at Daniel’s house. Tyler hadn’t even gone to school, the fear that his father may show up unexpectedly constantly whirling in the back of his mind. Now, the two were in Daniel’s bedroom. Daniel laid fast asleep on his bed as Tyler typed away on his laptop doing his make-up work. Despite the decent supply of pillows, Daniel’s head rested on Tyler’s leg, making it start to go numb. Tyler wasn’t complaining, though. Finally being able to rest in his own bed with his friend by his side must’ve been comforting.

    As Tyler was working on his essay draft, his phone buzzed. The only people who really messaged him were Daniel, Tyler’s father, and his mother. The last option, though, was on rare occasions. Tyler felt his stomach churn as he reluctantly picked up his phone.

    1 New Message

    Dad: Call me.

    Tyler’s heart began to race. He hadn’t spoken to his father since the call at the hospital and didn’t want to break that silence now. He glanced over at Daniel, who was still sleeping, and held a breath. His father could wait. His father would wait.

    1 New Message

    Dad: Now.

    Fear began to crawl up Tyler’s spine as he looked at the messages. They were straightforward, but Tyler knew the weight they held. He slowly closed his laptop and slipped away from Daniel’s side. He walked out the bedroom door, phone-in-hand, quietly closing the door behind him. The last thing he wanted was for Daniel to deal with his mess... again. 

    Daniel’s mother resided in her own room, so Tyler went out to the back porch. With shaky fingers, he unlocked his phone and pressed call.

    “Hello?”

    “Tyler, you’re coming home, now,” the man said, bypassing any greeting.

    Tyler felt a mix of annoyance and fear. He tried to focus on the former. “Didn’t we talk about this? I thought I made myself clear,” he responded. His voice had a slight shake to it that he knew his father would pick up on. He chose to ignore it and paused for a response. When he didn’t get one, Tyler continued, “I don’t want—”

    “I won’t press charges if you do,” his father cut him off. Tyler stilled.

    “So if I don’t you will?” he asked.

    “It’s on the table,” his father responded passively. It was as if he was discussing the weather.

    Tyler held in a scoff, giving himself a wave of faux-confidence. “Nothing will happen. You won’t get anywhere. The cops told us that. I trust them more than I trust you.” 

    “Maybe not legally, but it’ll get him kicked out of his scholarship, right? Especially a boy like him.” His father paused. “What does he play again? Baseball? I heard he has a recovering hand. Instead, I could—”

    Tyler felt bile rise in his throat. He clenched the phone harder. “Stop. This isn’t funny.”

    “I never said this was a  joke, Tyler. You need to come home. Plus, isn’t his mother a teacher? How would it look if her son was going around attacking—”

    “I told you to stop,” Tyler said, raising his voice. He looked back into the house to see if he had drawn any attention, pressing the phone closer to his ear. “You can mess with me all you want but do not mess with Daniel to get to me.”

    His father paused. “Don’t tell me what to do, Tyler. I’m the adult here.”

    “Yeah, well, you aren’t acting like it.” Tyler scoffed. The slip of the tongue made a wave of fear wash over him. He knew the repercussions of saying something like that all too well. “I’m sorry.” 

    There was a small chuckle on the other side and a brief silence. “See? It’s okay. I know you’re a good kid,” the words were laced with faux-solace, “Now come home, alright? It’s safer this way.” The statement made tears of fear prickle Tyler’s eyes. He blinked them away.

    “...Okay.”

    Tyler could practically hear the smile from the other side. “Good boy. I’ll see you soon, kid.” The call ended and Tyler’s legs began to fail him. He leaned against the wall behind him, letting out a shaky breath. He felt like he was going to throw up, cry, anything to try and get the imprinted fear out of him. Nothing would shake it, though, and he knew that. Tyler took a few moments to collect himself. After a few tears were shed and the sad use of a fly-filled trash can later, he went back inside.

    As Tyler filled a cup with sink water, his mind wandered elsewhere. To his father’s threats, to his father committing said threats, and everything in between. Tyler’s father wasn’t a man to back from his word. Tyler had seen it played out one too many times. There was no choice but to go home. Even if Tyler didn’t want to—even if Daniel didn’t want him to… there were no other options. When Tyler’s mind wandered to how things would be at home, he suppressed a shudder. Anything was better than letting his father get to Daniel. Anything.

    “Sweetie, is everything okay?” Ms. Barne’s voice chimed in, shaking Tyler from his thoughts. When Tyler looked at her, he felt a cold liquid running over his hand. Looking down, he noticed the cup he had been filling had long since been filled. It had been overflowing. 

    Tyler dumped out the excess water. “Yeah, sorry. I got distracted,” he dismissed with a smile, hoping she didn’t notice the red around his eyes. 

    He went to Daniel’s room. When Tyler opened the door, Daniel sat awake on his bed. “Good morning, sleepyhead.” He smiled as Daniel rubbed his eyes.

    “Tyler, it’s literally”—Daniel paused to look at the clock—“two in the afternoon.” He let out a chuckle.

    Tyler shrugged. “All the same.” The room fell into silence, and Tyler’s smile faded. “Daniel?”

    Daniel sobered as well. “Yeah, what’s up?” Tyler struggled to respond and began to fiddle with his fingers. Daniel picked up on it immediately. “Hey,” he said softly, “what’s on your mind? Is it because of what happened when you were out?” Daniel had always managed to read Tyler like a book. It was all too frightening and calming at the same time. When he looked at Tyler his gaze changed. Daniel knew he had cried.

    Tyler felt his throat grow tight. He didn’t want to cry now—he didn’t need to cry now. It would make everything so much worse. He was collateral damage, he accepted it. Every time he wanted something to go his way it wouldn’t, and it was always his fault. Daniel had already been the victim of Tyler’s faults. Now, it was about to happen again. If he could just stop—

    “Tyler,” Daniel called gently. He looked at Tyler, analyzing him. Tyler released a shaky breath.

    “I need to go back home, Daniel,” Tyler stated. The room fell silent. Not the comfortable silence they’d been spending together, the silence that made Tyler feel warm and safe. It was a silence that could break through skin—the kind that made Tyler’s blood run cold. Tyler knew why he had to go. He also knew Daniel wouldn’t understand. Daniel wouldn’t care. He didn’t see Tyler as collateral. Daniel didn’t care how many times he had to take the blow for Tyler. In contrast, Tyler cared all too much.