Chapter 4.35 – Deal

When Blake called Tyler and told him they were taking Diamond to the hospital he’d been excited for him. Blake was crazy happy but nervous too. He had told Tyler he was afraid of screwing up his kid. But Tyler knew he’d be a good dad. Blake was laid back, but when he’d been in trouble, he had his back.

Tyler promised he come to meet his little boy as soon as they got home and settled in.

He thought about the promise he made to Veronica three months ago – that he’d visit her when he went to see Blake. After that night out, he’d looked her up in SimsBook. He saw the picture of her and with Sam and Levon. It made him smile.

But then he saw another picture of her at a party, and she was with another guy. He was wrapped around her. She hadn’t mentioned a boyfriend. But he knew he couldn’t compete with a guy like that.

But then, she did tell him to call her. And she made sure he had her phone number. So she must’ve been serious, but maybe in a friends only way. But she let him buy her a drink. Maybe that was because of Cris. He wasn’t sure. But he wound up dancing with Keira instead of Veronica.

As soon as they finished dancing, Samson and Grayson had been ready to leave. Keira pulled him to her and kissed him goodbye, right there on the dance floor. It wasn’t a romantic kiss just a big smack right on the lips. Samson teased him about it all the way home.

A week later, he got a text from an unknown person. It was from Keira. She’d evidently gotten his number from Veronica. He figured it didn’t matter anyway, Veronica was seeing someone else.

“Hi Tyler! This is Keira. 😉 Thanks for the dance the other night. I had fun. Be sure to call if you come to San Myshuno to see your friend. We’d love to see you again.” 😘

He had texted her back. “Sure, I’ll be in touch.”

Tyler decided he’d see if Samson wanted to go too, so it wouldn’t look like he was trying to hook up with Keira. He secretly hoped he’d see Veronica too. That way if she was seeing someone, it wouldn’t be weird. Just old friends coming to visit.

He called Samson. Samson asked if Lyric could come along. He should’ve known that was coming. How could he possibly say no? Those two were attached at the hip. Only, now it would look like he did want to hook up with Keira. He’d just have to ask both girls to meet them for dinner.

Then he had a better idea. If they went early in the day, then Cassie could go too. And instead of dinner, they could have lunch.

The next morning, he worked up the nerve to call Veronica to see if she and Keira would be around this weekend. He knew he should’ve called Keira, but he really wanted to hear Veronica’s voice.

“Hi Ty!” she answered cheerfully. “How are you?”

“I’m good. So Veronica, remember the friend I told you about. Well his wife had her baby so I’m gonna be coming to San Myshuno this weekend. Samson, Lyric and Cassie and coming with me. If it’s okay, I thought we could maybe stop by and have lunch with you and Keira before we go back.”

“Of course! That sounds amazing. So, what have you been doing the past three months?”

She sounded excited and it made him happy. “Studying. Summer classes really suck. Thank goodness we are done for a couple of weeks. I’m ready to be finished with school.”

“I understand. I’ve been doing that too, so this coming semester will be my last. I’m soooo excited.”

“You’re such an overachiever. I still have two semesters left before I’m done. Well, I guess we’ll see you this weekend then.”

“I’m glad you called Ty. It was really good to see you, sorry we didn’t get to talk very long. You know, Keira couldn’t stop talking about you. She really likes you. I know she’ll be excited to get to see you again.”

Crap. “She only liked me because of Sam.” Shit – he shouldn’t have said that. Then he heard Veronica laugh and relaxed.

“Well, she is a big fan of the show. But I think she likes you.”

But what about you? thought Tyler. “Okay. Well, bye Veronica, and say hi to Keira for me.”

**************************************

Blake and Barb moved to Barb’s apartment when they got married and kicked out all of her roommates. With her new management job and adding Blake’s income, they didn’t need help with the rent.

Blake answered the door and drew Tyler into a warm huge hug. “I’m a Daddy!” he said excitedly, “I think I’m gonna change my name to BlackShadowBabyDaddy!”

Tyler laughed and handed him the gift Taysia picked out for him. “Congrats Blake. My stepmother picked it out. I wouldn’t have a clue. It’s from all of us. I have it on good authority there might be some gift cards in there along with some other stuff, so be careful.”

“Taysia? Right. I really like her. She’s so cool. Tell her thanks.”

“I will. So I brought the crew with me. This is Cassie, my cousin, and Samson, who you already know, and his girlfriend Lyric.”

“Nice to meet you. So, Tyler, your brought your cousin, not your girlfriend? No offense Cassie. He talks about you a lot.”

“Yeah, well he needs a girlfriend,” said Cassie, “know anyone?”

“Actually,” said Tyler, “we are having lunch with a couple of our friends after we leave here.”

“Well, I know you’re really here to see BabyShadow. Barb is changing him. God, he’s sooo cool. A little gamer. Already has a grip.”

Barb walked in carrying the baby. Cassie and Lyric made a beeline to her and cooed at the little boy in her arms.

While the girls talked, Samson went over to Blake’s set up. “Wow Dark, this is bad ass!”

Blake looked at Barb’s side of the room. “Yes, we upgraded, but Barb hasn’t been able to play much. Once BabyShadow starts sleeping all night, maybe she’ll have a little more time. Between the baby and managing the restaurant, she’s really busy.”

“How’s the programming job going?” asked Tyler.

“Great!” replied Blake and puffed out his chest. “I actually got a promotion. I lead a team now. And … once you graduate, I bet I can hook you up with a job. If you’re interested.”

“Uh, yes, of course,” stammered Tyler. “That’s really nice of you Blake.

“Oh crap,” said Samson looking at the women through he door. Lyric was holding the baby.

Tyler started laughing. “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Samson pushin’ a baby carriage.”

“Shut the fuck up Ty,” grumbled Samson. “I love her, but I’m not getting married anytime soon, and certainly not having a baby.”

The baby started to cry so Barb took him back into his room and the guys went back where the girls were waiting. “I mean it,” said Samson under his breath.

“Sam!” cooed Lyric, “Did you see that sweet little boy. Bryce is absolutely adorable.”

Tyler nudged Samson but spoke to Blake. “Bryce, huh? I was wondering if you actually named him Black Shadow. Keeping with the “B” names I guess.”

Barb walked out babyless. “Would you guys like to stay for lunch, I can have something delivered.”

“No thank you,” said Cassie, “we promised some friends of ours that live here we’d join them for lunch. Congratulations. You have a sweet baby.”

“Can I go peek?” asked Tyler? “I promise I won’t wake him up. I remember how it was when Paige was little.”

“Of course,” said Barb beaming. Everyone walked into the nursery and gathered around. Tyler looked at Lyric and she was looking weirdly at Samson. He was in big time trouble. He knew he’d be married way before he even found a girlfriend.

*********************************

They decided to meet Veronica and Keira at the restaurant since it would be a tight squeeze to get everyone in the car. Tyler regretted not bringing his dad’s SUV.

As soon as they walked in Keira made a beeline to Tyler and threw her arms around him. “It’s so good to see you again. I’m so glad you called. I saved a seat for you.”

“Yes. Sure,” he said as he peeled her off of him.

Cassie pulled Tyler’s arm holding him back and whispered in his ear. “Ty, Keira has it baaaad for you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? Ty. You need to ask her out. Seriously. She’s cute and so into you.”

“But, I would rather…” He stopped short when he saw the guy sitting next to Veronica lean into her and kiss her cheek. He was pretty sure it was the guy from her Facebook picture. Crap. They were obviously a couple.

“Ohhh….” said Cassie when she saw what was going on and grabbed him again. “Down Tiger. You should stick with Keira. Veronica’s taken. Hmmmm. Maybe I’ll give her a taste of what it’s like to have someone steal your boyfriend.

“Hi!” said Cassie when they walked up, “who’s this?” She promplty sat in the empty chair next to Mark.

“It’s good to see all of you again,” said Veronica, not addressing Cassie specifically. “I hope you don’t mind, but I asked Mark to join us. Mark, this is Cassie, Tyler, Samson and Lyric. Friends of mine from back in Newcrest.”

“Nice to meet you Mark,” said Cassie and smiled sweetly.

No Cassie, said Tyler to himself.

“Tyler,” said Keira, “The spagetti is really good.”

Tyler was trying to watch the threesome across the table and listen to Keira at the same time. He just realized she was waiting on him to respond. “Oh, spaghetti is fine,” he said without looking at her.

“Good choice. So Tyler, I was kinda hoping you would’ve come to San Myshuno sooner,” she said.

He figured he better pay attention to her. He was being rude. “I was busy with school.”

“Even on the weekends?”

“Down time I guess. Didn’t want to go anywhere.”

Keira pouted. “Not even to see me?”

“I … didn’t know …” stammered Tyler.

“Awww, you’re embarrassed. That’s so cute. I really do like you. Most guys are all handsy. You’re sweet.”

“Thank you? I think?”

Keira laughed and it made him laugh too. “Of course. It was a compliment. You’re a genuinely nice guy.”

“Or boring.”

“Not at all. What do you do in your free time?”

“Workout and play online video game tournaments. The guy we came here to see is a good friend that I met through gaming.”

“Wow. You actually met someone that you made friends with online? Weren’t you afraid?”

“I was too dumb to be afraid. I was just 16.”

“Oh, dang. At least he turned out to be a stand up guy.”

“The best. We’re really good friends now. He’s a little older though, married now and they just had their first kid.”

“You’re old enough to be married with children.”

“Not ready for that. At all.”

Keira smirked at him. “Who said you had to be married to have some fun?”

Is she propositioning me? Before he had time to react to her question, he saw Cassie whispering something in Mark’s ear then they both laughed. “Have Mark and Veronica been together long?” he asked instead.

He watched her check them out for a second. Veronica looked like she was sitting all alone in a sea of people. Keira turned back to him. “For about six months,” she said. “But seriously, what’s up with your cousin? Flirting with him like that? That’s not cool.”

Tyler’s head jerked around and looked at Keira. She’d been doing nothing short of asking him to have sex with her and she was complaining about Cassie? But really, maybe he should put a stop to it. “Excuse me. Let me see if maybe I can get her under control.”

He stood up and walked around the table to Cassie. “I need to talk a minute, privately.”

She looked up at Tyler and rolled her eyes. Then she leaned into Mark, “hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”

Tyler pulled her around the corner. He didn’t want anyone to hear. “What are you doing? Veronica is dating him!”

“Exactly. And your issue is?”

“That’s wrong Cassie. I know you want revenge, but damn, that was years ago before….”

Cassie’s eyes suddenly got hard and she tried to pull away from him. “Before when Tyler? Before Alex died?”

Tyler felt awful. She hated when things were measured as before and after Alex died. “I’m sorry Cassie.”

She got tears in her eyes. “It’s okay Ty. I’m sorry. You really do care about her, don’t you?”

“She was new in town Cassie. And she wanted to have more with me, but I was too immature and terrified to do anything about it when the opportunity presented itself. Just because it’s too late for me and Veronica doesn’t mean you need to be mean to her.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I’ll let it go. But promise me, you’ll see how things go with Keira, even if it’s just to get experience.” She put finger quotes around experience.

Tyler swallowed hard. “Okay. Deal.” He would much rather be planning a date with Veronica, but if it would make Cassie leave her alone, he would ask out Keira.

They walked back to the table and Cassie was true to her word. She stopped coming on to Mark and Veronica visibly relaxed.

Tyler owed Cassie, so he held up his end of their deal and turned to Keira. “I have two more weeks before classes start up again. Would you like to have dinner with me next weekend? I’ll come here and pick you up.”

The smile that covered Keira’s face made Tyler feel happy for the first time in a long time. She wanted to spend time with him. Maybe Cassie was right – at least about how much Keira liked him. He found himself actually getting a little excited for the upcoming weekend.

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