I sigh softly, facing him slightly while still picking at my hair tie. “I was homeschooled for three years.” There’s a tiny bit of hesitation in my voice, but something inside me urges me to continue. “I never got to live my life.”
“We’re still in high school, though. We’re only eighteen, we still have more ahead of us.” Tyler says with a casual smile that shouldn’t make my palms clammy, but it does anyway.
“Yeah, no, you’re right. It’s just…” I reposition myself to face him, “everyone our age goes out to the lake every summer, goes to parties, Friday night games, and then there’s me. I’ve worked for most of my teenage years and rarely go out.”
“I’ve seen Alli at a couple of parties, though.” He suggests doubtfully.
“I mean, she’s invited me but,” I shrug, resting my head against my hand, as my elbow props up on my knee. “I think I grew to be comfortable. I’ll have movie nights in my backyard, and I work at the shop. I’m practically nobody here.”
Tyler laughs softly and shakes his head in a relaxed way, and I do the same.
“That’s why,” I emphasize, pointing my finger for an extra oof in my sentence, “I enrolled at Skyline… so I can live my life.”
Tyler stays quiet.Crap, maybe I said too much. I said too much, shared too much, it was too intense. Way to go.
“What’s the first thing you want to do?” He finally asks.
I whip my head to him, a little shocked he said something. I shake my head slightly and think back to the list I made earlier this summer. Should I tell him about my list? But what if hereallyjudges me about that? Then again, I’ve told him a few embarrassing things at this point and mentioned things I haven’t opened up to others about. So, I gamble and lay out my cards for him.
I admit softly, “I have a list.”
“Like a bucket list?”
I nod.
“Can I see it?”
“Excuse me?” I gape at him. He’s not saying what I think he’s saying, right?
Tyler gazes at me, his summer blue eyes casting a spell on me. “Come on,” he raises his brows, “I can help you cross a few things. I’m sure.”
“Tyler, I can’t just ask you to help me.”
“The fuck you can.”
“Tyler,” I say sternly.
“Serena.”
My brows inch up at the sound of my name rolling off his tongue. I scratch my head and sigh heavily. “Tyler, you can’t. You have a life and responsibilities outside of this.”
“Think of it like this, sunshine,” he shrugs like it’s nothing, “you’re helping me out with trigonometry and the extra lessons on the weekend. This can be my way of repayment for you going out of your way to help me.”
The logic makes sense, but I can’t bring myself to agree. The unknown scares me and if I agree to this, I don’t know what will come out of it. But there’s another side of me who’s done living her life in the shadows, so I take the risk and say, “Okay.”
“Okay,” Tyler responds and we shake on it.
Traffic starts to die down and we’re finally picking up speed and the exit sign is in sight. I open Spotify on my phone and change the song to Thick and Thin by LANY.
“You really should share that playlist with me.”
I scoff, “Why should I?”
“I like anything you like. Thai green tea, our favorite food is pizza and we like it from the same restaurant and now thisplaylist.” He glances over, that gaze I swear is piercing through the walls I built between us. “I think we’re meant to be.”
Chapter 16
Serena
