Chapter 15
2000 Words
“Okay, I have a proposition,” Tyler said, bracing his palms on the kiosk counter like he was about to pitch a startup.
It’s been two weeks since the pregnancy scare and her trying-but-failing resolve to stay away from Professor Big d**k. Yep, that’s the new nickname Mia coined for him in the last few days.
Aria narrowed her eyes over the rim of her cup. “If this is about you smuggling me extra syrup again, I’m listening.”
He laughed. “That was one time. And no, this is bigger. So… I’m hosting an open mic tonight at The Nook, the little cafe-bar thing off campus. I was wondering if you’d like to come.”
“The Nook?” she repeated. “Is that the place with the fairy lights and the sticky floors?”
“Exactly,” he said. “Cozy vibe, slightly questionable cleanliness, but excellent fries. I’m doing sound and set.”
She hesitated. “I don’t know. I have readings. Grading.”
“So bring them,” he said. “You can annotate while some guy plays sad indie covers. It’s multitasking. Very academic of you.”
“Hm... Can I bring some friends with me?”
“Sure, why not?” Tyler said. “The more, the heckling. Respectfully, of course. Besides, I’d love to meet your friends, especially the infamous Lena you always talk about.”
Aria laughed. “You’re sure we won’t cramp your vibe?”
Tyler snorted. “Y'all showing up would improve my vibe by like a thousand percent. So…?”
She hesitated only a second longer. “Alright, alright. We’ll come.”
“Good,” he said, satisfaction warm in his voice. “I’ll save you a table with minimal gum under it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Such a gentleman.”
“Wait till you see me with a mic,” he said. “Very sexy. Almost as sexy as my milk steaming technique.”
She snorted. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Thank you,” he said, like it was a compliment.
Once school was over for the day, Aria waited for Tyler to close before they left the campus together, laughing and bumping into each other as they walked.
-
Behind them, unnoticed, a car pulled away from the curb. Jason’s grip on the steering wheel tightened.
He had been on his way out of a class when he first saw them earlier, standing a little too close in the kiosk, laughing. Now, he’s just seen them walk past his car through the rear-view mirror.
“Don’t do it, Jason,” he told himself. “Just go home.”
But his jealousy and curiosity to see where they were going was stronger. And he followed them discreetly. He had seen Aria meet up with some friends and then saw them turn off toward a strip of small bars and cafés, their neon signs flickering to life.
Jason parked a block away, his jaw clenched so hard that it hurt.
This is insane, he told himself. But he sat there anyway.
- - -
Aria had met up with Lena, Mia, and Jade at the café shortly after leaving school with Tyler.
“I can’t believe we’re going to an open mic,” Mia said, flicking ash from her imaginary cigarette. “I feel like we’re about to meet three guys with guitars and feelings.”
“That’s the point,” Jade said. “I wanna hear someone murder a Taylor Swift song.”
Lena bumped Aria’s shoulder. “You look cute,” she said. “Is this a ‘friend cute’ outfit or a ‘more-than-friends’ outfit?”
Aria glanced down. She’d worn black jeans that hugged her legs and a soft sweater that slipped off one shoulder.
“Comfortable,” Aria said. “I believe that’s the word you’re looking for.”
“Mm-hm,” Lena said. “Comfortably hot.”
“Shut up,” Aria muttered, but her cheeks turned red.
They started toward the edge of campus, boots crunching on stray leaves. Aria tucked her chin into her scarf, the cold air biting at her nose.
- - -
Inside, The Nook was all mismatched chairs and scarred wooden tables, a bar at the back, and a tiny platform up front that counted as a stage. Strings of fairy lights cast everything in a forgiving glow. The place smelled like beer, fryer oil, and cinnamon.
“This is cute,” Jade said, scanning the room. “Like, date-night cute. Aria.”
“Don’t start,” Aria said, rolling her eyes.
Tyler spotted them from the side of the stage, where he was fiddling with a mic stand. He grinned, lifting a hand in a wave, and jogged over.
“You made it,” he said, slightly breathless. “I was about to send a search party.”
“I told you we'd come,” Aria said, then started pointing at her friends. “This is Lena, Mia, and Jade. Guys, this is Tyler, the coffee wizard I told you.”
They all greeted and hugged each other.
Then, Tyler pointed toward a table near the middle, in clear view of the stage.
“I saved that one for you guys,” he said. “Best acoustics, minimal sticky substance.”
“Wow, VIP treatment,” Mia said. “Are we on a list?”
“You’re on my list,” he said. “Drinks first?”
They ordered: beers for Mia and Jade, cider for Lena, something non-alcoholic and citrusy for Aria because her brain needed to stay sharp. She still had grading to do.
As they settled at the table, Tyler brushed his fingers lightly against Aria’s as he handed her glass.
“Hey,” he said, voice low enough that the others couldn’t easily hear. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Her pulse skipped. “Me too.”
“Okay,” he said, straightening. “I have to go pretend I know what I’m doing with sound. If the speakers explode, just pretend you don’t know me.”
“Not possible,” Lena laughed.
He shot Aria one more smile and headed back to the front.
On stage, he adjusted the mic, did the usual testing “Check, check, this thing on?” and the room’s chatter softened. He looked almost like a different person up there: still Tyler, but bigger somehow. He cracked a couple of jokes, introduced the first act, and the night started.
In between, Tyler kept the energy up, easy and charming. He knew people’s names. He ribbed the regulars and encouraged the shy ones.
“He’s good at this,” Lena said quietly, watching him.
“Yeah,” Aria said. Her chest felt warm. “He is.”
“You like him,” Jade sing-songed under her breath.
“No,” Aria replied too quickly.
Outside, Jason sat in his car, the windows cracked just enough to let the sound leak through when the door opened for smokers and latecomers. He could see the edge of the stage through the front window, just a little bit of Tyler’s profile, and the flash of Aria’s hair when she laughed.
He told himself he was only staying for a minute.
One performer.
Two.
Inside, as the night rolled on, Aria found herself relaxing. She laughed at Tyler’s interludes, clapped for strangers, let the beer-and-fries smell soak into her clothes. The low light made everything feel softer around the edges.
When Tyler finally took the stage with a guitar, the room cheered louder than it had all night.
“Alright,” he said into the mic. “Last torture of the evening. Then you can all go home and pretend you don’t have early classes tomorrow.”
He played something simple and melodic, his voice low and warm. His blond hair, with just a strand over his eyes under the dim light, made him almost angelic, and as he sang, his dimples were obvious.
His song wasn’t about heartbreak, exactly. More about trying again. Getting it wrong and still showing up.
Lena nudged her under the table. “He’s singing for you,” she whispered.
“No, he's not,” Aria said, but her fingers were curled tight around her glass. “He's… just singing a random tune.”
“I don't think he is,” Mia chimed in.
Aria’s throat tightened.
When he finished, Tyler caught her eye for half a second over the applause, and it caused a flurry of butterflies in her tummy.
After the last act, people lingered, talking in clusters. Chairs scraped. Someone cranked up a playlist, lower now, just background noise.
“I need air,” Aria said, standing.
Mia raised a brow. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Aria said. “Just hot.”
“Okayyyy,” Jade muttered, clearly not convinced.
Aria rolled her eyes and headed toward the door, weaving through bodies. The night outside was cooler, the air sharp in her lungs.
She stepped a little away from the entrance, toward a strip of brick wall half-lit by a streetlamp. The sounds from inside dulled to a muffled thrum.
A moment later, footsteps approached.
“Hey.”
She turned. Tyler was shrugging his hands into his jacket, his guitar case slung over one shoulder, blond hair damp at the temples from heat and nerves.
“You were great out there,” she said. “I mean, don’t let it go to your head, but… you were.”
He smiled, a little sheepish. “Thanks. I was terrified though.”
“Really? You didn’t look it.”
“That’s the trick,” he said. “Fake it till your hands stop shaking.”
He leaned against the wall beside her.
“Thanks again for coming,” he said quietly. “It meant a lot having you there.”
Her heart thudded. “You had a whole room cheering for you.”
“Yeah,” he said. “But I kept looking at you.”
The words landed heavy between them.
“Tyler…” she started.
He turned and held her hands. “I know you’ve got a lot going on,” he said. “I’m not… I don’t want to make it heavier. I just—” He broke off, shrugging one shoulder. “I care. I like being around you. I like making you laugh. And I’m okay going as slow as you need. Or staying in the ‘friend who sends memes’ lane if that’s all you can handle.”
She swallowed. “You’re… kind of unreal, you know that?”
“Don’t spread that around,” he said softly. “Ruins my street cred.”
She laughed. The honesty in his eyes made it hard to breathe.
“I don’t know what I can promise,” she said. “My life is… complicated.”
“I figured,” he said. “I’m not asking for a five-year plan. Just… permission to keep showing up. And maybe to do this.”
He paused, giving her space to say no. When she didn’t move, he leaned in slowly and kissed her, soft and careful.
The kiss was exploratory, like a question asked in the press of lips, the warmth of his hand hovering, but not quite touching her waist until she stepped closer.
She kissed him back, her fingers curling lightly in the fabric of his jacket. It was nothing like Jason, no edge of danger, no sense of a cliff under her feet. Just warmth. A quiet, steady burn.
Across the street, in the shadowed interior of his car, Jason’s hands clenched around the steering wheel.
He watched Aria’s silhouette lean into Tyler, watched their mouths meet in the soft halo of the streetlamp. His jaw was locked, something hot and ugly twisting in his gut.
“You wanted distance, right?” he told himself savagely. “Well, this is what it looks like.”
- Writer
