Here Comes The Sun

It was one of the most inexplicable experiences of Tyler’s life that the most intimate night he had yet to experience involved him lying there, fully clothed, sand ruining a pair of jeans that retailed for a small car payment. She lay next to him, black hair with the hint of a natural curl hanging over exposed shoulders, uncaring that her black Bardot was certainly full of sand, an oddly formal choice to sneak out in that Tyler failed to notice until years after the fact.

“I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed in myself,” Alexis said, reaching forward and cradling her legs.

“A bit rude don’t you think?”

“A bit pretentious to think I was talking about you, pretty boy.” She smiled, and any indignation he may have held deflated. “But like, I always got the impression staying up until the sunrise was supposed to be, ya know, adventurous. I’m just tired now.”

She yawned and he stifled his own.

“Again, a bit rude don’t you think? The last text I expected to receive at eleven was ‘hey do you want to sneak out?’ What’s it been, two months since you said anything to me? And how long before that?”

“Yeah, probably something like that. I figured you’d have no problem sneaking out of that big ole house of yours. You know, the one you never invited me over to. Not like we didn’t talk every day for two years or anything. I thought you might need an adventure.”

They may have been the same age, but Tyler’s mom insisted on advancing him a year in school for reasons he still didn’t understand. One of the many questions he’d love to ask her. “It’s not like I didn’t want to. It wasn’t like that.”

“I never said it was.”

“You could just say it. I’m a piece of shit.”

“Nothing to be said. People grow apart. Life sucks like that. It’s the only subject that could unite Taylor Swift, Tool, John Mayer, and Eddie Vedder. Though now that I mention it, at least two of those fucked, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that number was higher.”

“Don’t slut shame Taylor.”

“Who the fuck said I was talking about Taylor, Tyler. John will probably stick it in anything that moves and yet still somehow be a gentleman about it. You’re many things Tyler, but you’re not a piece of shit.”

He sighed and shook his head, the corner of his lips relenting into a smile. She had that way about her, a way of drawing out the truth without saying a single word. “I know I sucked, still suck. Whatever you want to call it. College and soccer and all this bullshit they heap on us got in the way.”

“Not to mention, ya know, the unmentionable scandal. I get it.”

“Yeah apparently you’re the only one who does around here.”

She covered her mouth in faux shock. “You’re telling me that the psycho you tried dating was clearly psycho but it was okay because daddy drove a Bentley?! Anyone with anything between their ears could see it.”

Tyler playfully flipped some sand at her. “Again, rude! I have a brain.”

“That you weren’t thinking with obviously…classic men always thinking with a different brain. But like she was really pretty so I get it.”

“She’s still alive, you know. And apparently that Bentley was worth a hell of a lot more than I thought for what people did for it.”

“She’s dead to me. And I think a few other people. So is your mom though–it’s okay I’ll hate them both for you.”

“Is it wrong that I don’t hate them?”

“Uhh yeah. It is. It’s okay to hate them.” Alexis bowed her head dramatically and signed a cross between the two of them, “go my child, I absolve thee.”

He laughed. She really did have that way about her. Tyler folded his hands. “Forgive me shewitch, for it’s been, what did you say, two months since my last confession.”

“You are forgiven.”

The waves lapped slowly, rolling and receding while clouds drifted across the ever-lightening morning sky.

“It’s crazy. When I think about her, Megan, fuck it I’ll say her name, it’s…kind of blank? Like I know exactly what she did, what she said, what she shared, but it’s all a big blur. I don’t really remember what I felt when the cops showed up. Maybe because I knew it was all bullshit, it all felt like a dream…It all felt fake.”

“When did it feel real?” Alexis said, resting her head on her knuckle as she looked at him.

“When I got the call from Dartmouth. I thought up until that point that if I just survived a few more months, I’d be out of here. Like it would all stay here.”

“Crazy does crazy things. More at eleven!”

“Yeah but calling Dartmouth directly? Especially when she knew it was all bullshit? That’s fucked. Like beyond fucked. And it’s even more fucked that now I just have to do what, sit around this summer? For fall hoping that they might accept me for Spring?”

“Maybe get out of dodge for a bit. I think you need a change of scenery.”

“Or I could have just listened to you.”

“True…Yes, you could have done the smart thing but again, boys are dumb.” The look he gave her killed her smile. “I could have done more. A couple of warning texts doesn’t exactly constitute top friendship services.”

“You called her a crazy bitch in front of literally the entire senior class.”

“Okay one: it was like half the class, two-thirds at most. Two: I was very clearly vindicated in that outburst. Three: it felt really fucking good. We’re friends. I should have kept trying.”

He looked out over the waves for a few moments, silent. “It still sucked when you did it. I didn’t ask you to protect me. Kinda made a lot worse there for a bit.”

“I…” Words didn’t come. They didn’t need to.

Tyler continued, “you could have tried every single day, and it wouldn’t have stopped my mother being bat-shit. I lied. You want to know when I knew it was real? Her on that stand. Lie after lie after lie. For what? So she might keep fucking some doctor?”

“Think about it this way. All this Freudian shit is going to make at least three shrinks very wealthy.”

“I wish, I fucking wish I could look her in the eyes and ask my fucking mother if the money was worth it. It’s funny. She’s probably on some beach in Doha or some shit. Fuck they’re probably all sitting there together while here I am…” Tyler skipped a shell into the waves.

“Did you know about the affair then?”

“Would be pretty fucked up if I did and kept dating Megan while my mom fucked around with her dad huh?”

“Shit’s not fair, is it? She accuses you of vile shit, and your mom lies, and what? A slap on the wrist?” Alexis knew she had no real right to be mad, all things considered. It wasn’t her life that got ruined. To the contrary, it was almost vindicating watching every belief, every judgement, she felt in her bones get played out in real time. But she hated that it was at her friend's expense. “I wish it was fair. I wish it was.”

“Comeon, you secretly love it. I was in AP US with you. I remember that look in your eye when you ripped John D. Rockfeller off his pedestal during that debate role play.” He laughed a genuine laugh, his first in a long time. It felt good to laugh.

“Someone’s got to be a rebel in this town.”

“Who can be a rebel in Bayview? Whole place reeks of Versace and I swear every car is a compensation. I was so ready to leave. So fucking ready to leave.”

“You know, you’ve never asked what my dad did before we moved here. Never once.”

“Don’t make me feel even worse…”

“Pops made it doing sound design for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tony still gets a Christmas card every year.”

”You’re fucking with me…”

”Tyler you deserve someone to not fuck with you. I’m dead serious! He’s probably smoked more weed than I ever will. I’m serious!” She said, laughing at his dumb slack jawed face. ”Not everything has to be Fin Tech bros and scummy lawyers.”

“Now I’m really mad at you…”

“Okay now that’s rich.”

“RHCP is my favorite band!”

“Hmm well this is indeed very awkward then. Guess you’ll have to come over for once and meet the old man.”

”Maybe I will. Looks like I got at least a few months on my hands. Think he’ll teach me how to play guitar.”

“Bitch, I’ll teach you. But again that means you have to actually hang out with me. A hard task, I know.”

“It’s really not. It’s really not.” Tyler smiled. He didn’t say it, but he couldn’t remember the last time he had something to look forward to. They sat there for a while, listening to the waves, saying nothing but that was alright. A little silence had its uses. “Ohh look, here comes the sun.”

The first light of morning broke through the clouds. Rays of orange, red, and gold dancing across the white clouds, a peaceful painting worthy of the Romantic masters.

Alexis laughed, right in his face. “Didn’t take you for a modern George Harrison. I’d say I’d have taken you for more of a Ringo type, but that would be an insult to Ringo.”

Despite everything, he rested his head on her chest. It was enough for that moment to not watch the sun rise on a new day alone.

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A/N:

Wanted to do a little dialogue work and L.C. provided the perfect backdrop:

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