“Talkative,” he says, turning to me.
“You have no idea.”
“I can hear you, you know,” Skylar whines.
“I meant for you to hear me,” Tyler shoots back.
Now we’re having fun.
“Tell me your name, again?”
“Tyler,” he says, smiling.
“Well, Tyler, why don’t you go and fu—”
“Dinner’s ready!” My mother’s voice floats in from the dining room. “Come on, everyone sit down!” she calls, but we pay no attention.
“What an attitude,” Tyler comments, amused. “Reminds me of someone.”
“She’s nothing like me,” I say, defensively.
“I wasn’t talking about you.”
“Who, then?” I ask him. Tyler has never met Skylar’s mother.
“Hey! Where’s that useless dickhead?” Her voice rings out from the hallway, turning everything around me to shit. “Here he is! The loser himself.” Rian is standing in the kitchen doorway, her hands on her hips and a victorious smile playing at her lips. “Come crawling back to Mummy with your tail between your legs, have you?”
“Always good to see you, Rian.”
“Cut the bullshit. You’re not fooling anyone.”
“Wasn’t all that New Age hippie stuff supposed to make you more peaceful?”
“I’m definitely more at peace with myself – but that doesn’t mean I have to put up with arseholes like you.”
“See?” Tyler interjects. I have to admit that, alongside always being right, he seems to have grown wiser and more perceptive with age.
“Well, look who it is! How come you’re here? Are Mummy and Daddy out dancing tonight, and you didn’t want to be all on your own?”
Tyler laughs; nothing ever fazes him.
“I’ve come for a playdate with Niall.”
“Are you having a sleepover, too?”
“Please don’t give her any more ammo,” I moan.
“You can shove your ammo up yo… Who’s this?” she asks as her eyes land on Skylar. “Is this some sort of joke?”
Skylar watches her alertly, scrutinising.
“Maybe I should stop being so hard on you,” she says, turning back to me. “You’ve dropped yourself in the shit all on your own.”
“Wow, thanks.”
“You’re all here!” My mother steps back into the kitchen after no one appeared in the dining room.
“Oh, Rian, you’re here. Let’s all sit down, then.”
