"Don't you think you're a bit early?"

Great. Just great.

"Yes, I do." I mumbled, walking as fast as I can.

My head was messed up. Mom says a few words and I got derailed from my schedule. It took a long time to fall asleep yesterday and the morning wasn't great either. I called Janet and said I wouldn't be coming today. Instead, I thought peaceful silence in the library would do some magic to my mood.

And I get Tyler.

"Oh, someone's feisty."

"Please, let me have some peace." I said through gritted teeth as I took quick steps. But his long strides were enough to keep up with me.

"That rhymes." Even though I didn't look at him, I knew he was smirking. I don't know how, I just do.

"Seriously? Library?" He mumbled when I took a turn. "You don't know how to just live, do you?"

This time, I did look at his face and what I saw surprised me. A smile. Not the usual smug smirk, but a tiny smile.

He should ditch the smirking habit and start smiling more. Tyler with a smile on his face looks more human-ish and kind.

"What're you smiling at?" He quirked bus eyebrow, smirking this time.

Ah, there comes the smirk.

"I'm not smiling." I frowned and took a step forward only to see him go back.

Library: The non-Tyler area.

And why's he so nice nowadays?
The actual Tyler thing to do was dump a soda on me. Or say something that'll make me uncomfortable.

Something's definitely wrong. First mom, and now Tyler? What kind of alternate dimension is this?

And that bugged me the whole day. Not Tyler, but mom's teary eyes.

"You're grumpy today." Sasha said with a frown.

"I'm not... grumpy."

"As grumpy as your polite self can get, yes." She smiled."Anyways, I was thinking about taking Noel and Theo to park today."

"Are you busy today? Don't worry about it then, I'll leave them at Brandon's." I smiled, assuring her.

"Come on, Eve. You are my bestie now, If I had plans, I would've said it to your face. I just want to take them out."

Oh.

"I bet I'm gonna strangle her to death if she doesn't take her hands off him." The sharpness in her tone came out of the blue and I followed her gaze to find Zack.

Zack, who was sitting at another table with his friends here. A girl, sitting right next to him, was clinging onto his arm like Noel did when they watched the movie.

"Look at his face, that douche bag. He's not even aware of her physical flirting." She mumbled. "Or he's okay with it."

My eyes also found Tyler, who had his glare aimed at them.

"Is she Tyler's girlfriend?" I asked Sasha.

I knew nothing that happened here except Tyler and his pranks.

"Natalie? No! I mean not a girlfriend. She's not available for commitments and that's the point. I don't want someone fooling around with my brother."

"Well, Tyler's glaring at them."

"Girl, just look around. It's not only Tyler, most of the good-looking guys are glaring at them."

"You can stop glaring. Maybe Zack's okay with fooling around." I shrugged, even though I knew what she meant.

The touching, the leaning in and the ogling were...too much.

"The hell he is. He's a romantic and she's at the opposite side of that spectrum."

Hm.

"The first week we moved here, she told me she'd like to try him as soon as we're done." She muttered. "Thanks to no resemblance between us, she thought we were a couple."

She gagged. I laughed.

Sasha had a major role in uplifting my mood. And by the time I reached the cafe, I had conveniently forgotten mom's teary eyes.

Jake was thrilled to know someone else was joining us. I wasn't. The fact that this person's related to Tyler's friend made me pessimistic.

And when eight o'clock struck and I was ready to leave, Jake looked annoyed.

"It hurts when you're leaving first. I wanna go home too."

"Oh, hello? your shift started two hours ago and mine started at three in the evening." I argued.

Fitting a new person in made subtle changes in our shifts. Jake had to work from six in the evening till eleven and Marissa, being a full-time employee, wasn't affected by any of this.

"Oh hello? You were an hour late. Marissa was working for you." He said, mimicking my posture.

"But Tyler said I could leave at eight." I smirked at him. For the first time, I was glad about something Tyler said.

"But-"

"Can't hear anything, I'm leaving!" I walked out.

"Well, it's good anyway. The new girl and I would get some privacy from nosy you." He shouted and my grin grew wider.

I vividly remember Tyler saying new guy, so... Dream on, Jake.

Back at home, the whole time during dinner, I had to hear both of them complain about each other.

How did my brothers go from loving each other to fighting each other all the time?

I had to study something for the calculus test and their complaints were holding me back. So, I bribed them to sleep.

After a long stretch of math problems, I peeked at my phone to see 12:32 shining on its screen. That sight alone made me yawn.

Water. I need water to survive calculus.

I grabbed the bottle, heading towards the kitchen and stopped in front of Noel's room to make sure they were asleep.

They were.

I was about to enter the kitchen when I saw the window to our living room open slowly. A second later, I saw a faint shadow of a hand on the window sill.

A chill ran down my spine and I was frozen.

After a moment of hesitation, I frantically looked around for something that I could throw at the figure.

I hope it's a thief. I'll let him search for money gladly if he won't hurt us.

But what if he's some drunkard or a drug addict mom had dealt with?
What if he's that guy, who tried to barge in last time?

Sweat pooled under my arms as stress started building inside me. Block by block, it made way to anxiety and I still couldn't move.

He was now halfway inside, sitting on the window sill.

A minute more of doing nothing and he'd be inside. Noel and Theo. Oh, my god.

That got me moving. I swallowed my fear for a second and searched with my hands. The first thing I got a hold of was an unopened oil can and I threw it at the silhouette, aiming right at his head.
  
It hit him on his shoulder and I heard a groan. Without waiting for anything, I ran to switch on the light and cursed when I realised my phone was upstairs.

How am I going to call 911 now?

There wasn't time to think. When I saw Noel's baseball bat right next to me, I gripped it tightly and turned, ready to swing it right at his head, with the perfect aim this time.

But it wasn't a thief. Or a drunk pervert.

"Zack?"

*******

Again thanks a lot for reading 🤗❤️
Nothing special nothing interesting, but still 😊

I was thinking about writing a chapter from Zack's view. And that thought quickly vanished😂
I missed writing about Noel and Theo today😇

Thank you!

Stay safe, stay blessed ❤️