The Start

His pov

The clink of Tyler’s fork against her plate snapped me out of my own head.

I looked across the small, sunlit table at her. She was mid-sentence, gesturing with her free hand, her eyes bright with that specific energy she got whenever she was talking about something she loved. Today, it was a piece of local history she’d stumbled upon in the archives.

I smiled, leaning my chin on my hand, pretending to be fully tracked into the conversation. In reality, I was just tracking her. The way the afternoon light hit the amber flecks in her eyes, the slight furrow in her brow when she was trying to find the exact right word, the way she hadn't even touched her sandwich because she was too busy explaining the plot twist of a 1920s zoning law.

"...and so the mayor actually had to hide the documents in a flour mill! Can you believe that?" She finally paused, taking a quick breath and looking at me expectantly, waiting for my reaction.

"A flour mill," I repeated, letting the amusement show in my voice. "The perfect crime. Honestly, Tyler, you make municipal bureaucracy sound like a spy thriller."

She laughed, a quick, genuine sound that made the tight knot of stress I’d been carrying in my shoulders all morning finally loosen. "It is a spy thriller, Steven. You just lack vision."

She reached across the table, her fingers brushing against mine. Her hand was warm, grounding me. For the past week, my mind had been a chaotic mess of work deadlines and background anxiety, but sitting here in this noisy, crowded cafe, everything felt remarkably quiet.

"Okay, your turn," she said, taking a deliberate bite of her food. "You've been quiet today. What's going on in that head of yours?"

I looked down at our joined hands, then back up at her. I didn't want to drag the ghost of my workday into our lunch, but looking into her eyes, I knew I couldn't really hide it anyway. She knew my tells too well.

"Just thinking about how lucky I am," I said, offering a small, honest smile. "And wondering if you're going to finish those fries."

Tyler rolled her eyes, but slid the plate toward me. "Smooth deflection. But I'll let it slide, just this once."

Her phone buzzed against the wooden table, a sharp, vibrating rattle that cut right through the quiet moment we were having.

Tyler winced slightly, pulling her hand away from mine to check the screen. Her eyes scanned the text, and her expression instantly shifted from relaxed to urgent.

"Oh, shoot," she said, looking up at me. "We need to go."

"Right now?" I asked, a fry hovering halfway to my mouth. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it’s my bestie," she said, already grabbing her purse. "But first we need to go to pick one of my friends first."

I blinked, trying to follow the sudden change in logistics. "Wait, pick up who?"

"Chloe," Tyler said, sliding her phone into her pocket and standing up. "She's stranded near the library."

"Chloe? I thought we were meeting Sarah later."

"No, Sarah is the bestie who texted. Chloe is the friend we need to pick up for the thing with Sarah."

"The thing with Sarah," I repeated, standing up and grabbing my jacket. "The one that wasn't supposed to start for another two hours?"

"Plans changed. Sarah got off work early."

"Okay, so let me get this straight," I said, tossing a few bills onto the table to cover lunch. "We're rescuing Chloe, to go see Sarah, right now?"

"Exactly. Speed is of the essence, Steven."

"Clearly. Lead the way, Captain."

We hurried out of the cafe and into the bright afternoon heat. As I unlocked the car, my mind was still spinning from the sudden shift in gears, but seeing the determined look on Tyler's face, I couldn't help but smile. Our quiet lunch was officially over, and the whirlwind had begun.

Tyler rattled off the address, and five minutes later, I pulled the car up to the curb outside a beige, two-story house.

"I'll be right back," Tyler said, already unbuckling. "Keep the engine running."

She jogged up the walkway and disappeared through the front door. I leaned back against the headrest, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, expecting Tyler and Chloe to walk out together in a minute or two.

Instead, barely three minutes passed before the front door flung open again. A girl I had never seen before in my life marched down the steps. She had a sharp bob, heavy eyeliner, and an aura of pure, unadulterated chaos. Before I could even process who she was, she yanked the front passenger door open, slid into the seat, and slammed it shut.

"Step on it," she commanded, not even looking at me as she adjusted the visor mirror. "We're on a tight schedule."

I froze, my hand hovering over the gear shift. "Uh..."

Slowly, the girl turned her head. She looked at the dashboard, looked at the fuzzy dice hanging from my rearview mirror, and then finally looked at me. She blinked, her eyes narrowing as she took in my face.

"Wait a minute," she said, staring hard. "Who the hell are you?"

"I was about to ask you the exact same thing," I said, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.

Before she could interrogate me further, the back door flew open. Tyler scrambled into the backseat, breathless and holding three different bags.

"Tyler!" I turned around in my seat, looking at her wide-eyed. "A little help here?"

"Oh, good, you guys are bonding," Tyler panted, tossing her purse onto the floorboard.

"Tyler, who is this guy?" the stranger demanded, waving a hand toward me. "And why is he in the driver's seat of your car?"

"It's his car, Chloe," Tyler said from the back. "Steven, this is Chloe. Chloe, Steven. I told you Steven was driving us!"

Chloe looked back at me, her expression shifting from suspicion to mild embarrassment, though she tried hard to hide it. "You said your boyfriend was driving. I thought your boyfriend drove a Honda."

"That was my ex, Chloe. Two years ago."

"Right. Well." Chloe cleared her throat, quickly buckling her seatbelt and looking straight ahead. "Nice to meet you, Steven. Now, seriously, drive. We have a crisis to manage."

I put the car in drive and followed Chloe’s rapid-fire directions, weaving through the afternoon traffic until we pulled up outside a trendy, brick-faced building with a minimalist sign that read Sarah’s Design Studio.

Before the car had even fully come to a halt, Tyler was unbuckling. "I'll go grab Sarah and see what the emergency is," she said, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to my cheek. "Be right back!"

She bounced out of the backseat and sprinted into the studio, leaving a sudden, heavy silence in the car.

I kept my hands on the steering wheel, letting the engine idle. Feeling a gaze on me, I turned my head.

Chloe hadn't moved. She was sitting completely still in the passenger seat, staring right at me. The aggressive, drill-sergeant energy she had walked in with was entirely gone. Instead, she was looking at me with wide, slightly parted eyes, as if she were seeing me in proper lighting for the very first time. Her eyes tracked from my jawline down to my shoulders, and then lingered on my hands gripping the wheel.

I shifted uncomfortably under the intense scrutiny. "Everything okay?"

"Wow," Chloe murmured, her voice a complete contrast to her earlier sharp tone. It was softer, almost breathless.

"What?"

"Nothing, just..." She shook her head slightly, a faint blush creeping up her neck. She didn't look away. "Tyler completely buried the lede. She just said she was dating a guy named Steven. She didn't mention you look like that."

"Like what?" I asked, a bit thrown off.

"Like you belong on a billboard," she said, her voice dripping with an appreciation that was hard to miss. She leaned a little closer, entirely captivated. "Seriously, Steven. Where has she been hiding you?"

I stared at her, my hands tightening on the steering wheel. The playful, confident look on Chloe’s face didn't match the sudden spike of awkwardness flaring up in my chest.

"Forty minutes?" I asked, completely bypassing her final question. "Why would it take forty minutes?"

"Because Sarah's 'emergencies' always involve a meltdown, a spreadsheet, and at least two cups of coffee," Chloe said, leaning back into her seat but keeping her eyes locked on mine. "So, I'm serious. Forty minutes. What do you say? You and me? And this car? Actually closed car?"

I let out a short, dry laugh, shifting in my seat to create a bit of distance. "I say that if this car gets any more closed, we’re going to run out of oxygen. Look, Chloe, you’re Tyler’s friend, so I’m going to assume you're just joking around to pass the time."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, a small, amused smirk playing on her lips. "Am I?"

"Yeah," I said, my voice dropping into a firmer, more grounded tone. "You are. Because Tyler is inside that building, she’s my girlfriend, and I'm really not interested in anything other than waiting for her to come back out."

The smirk faded from Chloe’s face, replaced by a momentary look of surprise before she quickly masked it with a shrug. "Hey, can't blame a girl for asking. You're a catch, Steven. Tyler's lucky."

"I'm the lucky one," I corrected quietly, turning my attention back to the studio entrance, watching the glass doors and waiting for Tyler to reappear.

Chloe leaned in closer, the scent of her perfume suddenly overpowering the scent of my car's air freshener. She reached out, her fingers hovering just an inch away from my arm.

"Hey," she said, her voice dropping into a low, persuasive murmur. "She will never get to know. We can enjoy together, and I am clearly serious. We have time too."

A cold spike of annoyance replaced the awkwardness I’d felt a second ago. I looked directly into her eyes, making sure my expression was completely blank, devoid of any of the amusement she was trying to play off of.

I didn't answer right away. I just let the silence stretch between us until she started to look a little uncomfortable.

"Chloe," I said, my voice steady and completely devoid of warmth. "Let me be incredibly clear. First of all, the idea that 'she will never know' is a garbage excuse for doing something terrible to someone you supposedly care about. Tyler is your friend."

Chloe opened her mouth to interrupt, but I held up a hand.

"Second of all," I continued, "even if Tyler weren't in the picture, I'm not interested. At all. I love my girlfriend, and I'm not the kind of guy who cheats. So you can stop the act, roll down your window, and we can sit here in silence until she gets back."

Chloe’s face flushed a deep, embarrassed crimson. She pulled back into her corner of the passenger seat, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. The confident, flirtatious smirk was entirely gone, replaced by a defensive scowl as she looked out the side window.

"Fine," she muttered, snapping her jaw shut. "Whatever."

I turned my keys in the ignition, shutting off the engine to save gas, and leaned back against my headrest. I stared straight ahead at the glass doors of Sarah's studio, counting down the minutes until Tyler walked back out.

Chloe shifted in her seat, the defensive scowl suddenly melting away. She let out a long breath, and then, to my absolute bewilderment, she smiled. It wasn’t the flirtatious smirk from before, but a soft, relieved expression.

"Actually," Chloe said, turning to face me fully, "I was testing you."

I kept my hands on the wheel, not moving a muscle. "Testing me?"

"I know my act became too awkward," she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck with a sheepish laugh. "But I wanted to test if my friend is with the right partner or not. I clearly have no intentions like you think about me, and thank you for being too loyal in your relationship. And... sorry for my act to test your loyalty."

I stared at her for a long beat, letting her words hang in the quiet car. Part of me wanted to relax, but the sudden whiplash of the situation left a sour taste in my mouth.

"A test," I repeated slowly.

"Yeah," she said, nodding earnestly. "Tyler has been through a lot in the past, and she deserves the absolute best. I had to know for myself if you were the real deal."

I took a deep breath, turning my gaze back toward the studio doors. "Look, Chloe, I get that you care about Tyler. I really do. But that was a pretty messed up thing to do. Loyalty shouldn't be a trap you set for someone five minutes after meeting them."

"I know, I know," she said, her tone genuinely apologetic now. "It was extreme. But you passed with flying colors, Steven. Seriously. She’s safe with you."

Before I could reply, the glass doors of the studio swung open. Tyler walked out, laughing as she waved goodbye to someone inside, and began walking back toward the car.

"Just... don't tell her about this?" Chloe pleaded quickly, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Please? She’d be furious at me."

I watched Tyler walk closer, her smile instantly brightening my mood. I looked back at Chloe. "I won't ruin her day. But don't ever play games with me again."

"Deal," Chloe breathed, looking immensely relieved just as Tyler opened the back door and slid inside.