Page 97 of Trick or Treat Nurse at My Feet
The room spins around me, and I have to sit down on the bench before my legs give way. I recognize the setting immediately, it's the '90s throwback party the frat hosted a couple of weeks ago.
I'd gone with Tyler to my first frat party as his official boyfriend. I can see the decorations in the background, and I even spot myself in the blurry distance of one photo,talking to Gavin, utterly oblivious to what was happening across the room.
This doesn't make sense. We talked till dawn that night. He told me about his engineering dreams, and I confessed my irrational fear of automatic flush toilets. We spent an hour ranking breakfast cereals by how quickly they get soggy.
He showed me embarrassing photos from his high school emo phase, for god's sake. That's not something you share with someone you're planning to betray. But these photos…
My brain doesn't comprehend I'm crying until a tear splashes onto one of the photos, blurring Cher's smug smile. I wipe my face roughly with my sleeve, feeling sick to my stomach. Everything Cher said to me in that hallway, everything I feared about being Tyler's experiment, everything I had feared, was all true.
And the worst part? I'd just decided to trust him completely. To go all in.
My phone rings, startling me in the silent locker room. Sylas's name flashes on the screen. With a trembling hand, I answer.
"Hey, where are you?" he asks cheerfully. "I thought you were having dinner with Tyler tonight."
"Sylas." His name comes out choked, barely recognizable.
"What's wrong?" His tone shifts immediately to concern. "Ethan, what happened?"
"He—" I can't get the words out past the tightness in my throat. "Tyler and Cher?—"
"What? Slow down, I can't understand you."
"Pictures," I manage. "Someone left pictures in my locker. Of Tyler and Cher. Kissing. At the 90's party."
"What? That can't be right," Sylas says firmly. "Where are you?"
"The locker room," My reply is mechanical.
"Stay there. I'm coming to get you."
Twenty minutes later, Sylas finds me sitting in the same position, staring at the photos spread out on the bench beside me. He looks at my face and sits down, picking up the stack of pictures.
"Holy shit," he mutters, flipping through them. "This doesn't make sense. This can't be real."
"It's real," my voice is dull. "Look at the decorations. It's from that night. That's the shirt I was wearing." I point to a blurry figure in the background. "That's me, talking to Gavin while Tyler was..." I can't finish the sentence.
Sylas examines the photos more carefully. "But you said that's the night you two stayed up till dawn. Why would he kiss her, then disappear with you for hours?"
"I don't know.” The sick feeling in my stomach is intensifying. "Maybe he was with both of us. Maybe it was all some kind of game."
"I can't believe it," Sylas says, shaking his head. "I mean, I know I was skeptical at first, but Tyler seemed genuinely into you. And after that call Thursday night..." He looks at the photos again, anger replacing his initial shock. "Those lying bastards. Was this all some kind of prank? Get the gay kid to fall for the straight frat boy, then laugh about it later?"
The thought is so painful, nausea rises in waves. "I don't know." The words barely make it past my lips.
"Come on," Sylas stands up and starts to gather the photos. "Let's get you home."
"No," As I stand up, a strange calm settles over me, the kind that comes after grief has burned through everything else. "I need to talk to Tyler."
"Are you sure that's a good idea right now?"
"No. But I need to hear him say it." taking the photos from Sylas's hand. "I need to see his face when he explains these."
Sylas studies me for a moment, then nods. "Okay. But I'm coming with you."
The walk to the fraternity house is a blur. I'm aware of Sylas beside me, occasionally shooting concerned glances my way, but I'm too focused on what I need to say to Tyler to respond. The photos are clutched in my hand, the edges digging into my palm.
As we approach the DPO house, several guys are lounging on the front porch. Tyler is among them, laughing at something Drew said, a beer in his hand. He looks happy and carefree, as if he hadn’t just blown up my world.
