Who: Tyler and Caroline What: Tyler meets Caroline's new boyfriend Where: Caroline's doorstep When: About a week and a half agoish Warning/Rating: Low/none Status: Complete
After their night at the club, Tyler had decided to give Caroline some space. She had told him that she was still in love with him, and while he didn’t know whether she truly felt that way or of it was the alcohol speaking, he knew it wouldn’t be fair to her to keep leading her on. He cared about Caroline, loved her even, but he was still in love with Blossom and it wasn’t fair to either of the women he’d loved to let Caroline keep mooning after him.
Still, he missed her. She was the one thing that was making this break-up with Blossom tolerable, and after nearly a week of not seeing her, he decided that that was probably enough space. He hadn’t called Caroline before he’d shown up at her house, and as he rang the doorbell, he hoped that she and Liz were free.
After the night with Tyler Caroline knew she needed to move on. He clearly didn’t feel the same way about her. Not that she expected him to. He had just broken up with the woman he was thinking of proposing to. But still, Caroline couldn’t help but a hope there was a small part of Tyler that still had feelings for her. Now that hope was gone. Caroline was doing her best to move on from Tyler. Not only had she been keeping her distance she had also gone out the next night. Met a guy. An older man - in his thirties. She ended up sleeping with him that night, expecting to never see him again. However somehow numbers had been exchanged and now she was going on a date with him.
Liz was in the living room watching TV as her daughter finished getting ready when the doorbell rang. “Don’t get up. Mom!” Caroline called wanting her mom to rest as much as possible. Even if answering the door wasn’t a huge deal.
Ethan was early, but luckily Caroline was pretty much ready. In a blue dress that brought out the blue in her eyes. Her hair down in it’s usual waves. “You’re-” early she was going to say as she opened the door. However when she saw it was Tyler on the other side and not Ethan. Her heart stopped. Why was he here? And why did he have to look so damn hot? How was she supposed to move on like this? “Hi,” she finally said.
Tyler was a little surprised at the way that Caroline had answered the door, but it only took him a moment to realize that she wasn’t dressed up for a night in with her mother. He frowned a little. Maybe he should have called ahead after all. “Hey,” he said, a smile falling into place. “Were you expecting someone else?”
“What?” Where had that question come from? How did Tyler know? Oh right. She was dressed up. But she didn’t want to tell Tyler that. Not yet anyway. Sure she had already slept with Ethan but this was still just a first day. If it didn’t work out and Tyler knew? Well Caroline might just be more embarrassed than she already was around her ex-boyfriend.
“Oh, no. I was just…” her voice trailed off as she tried to think of an excuse. “Had an event a work.” That worked. She was an event coordinator after all. “I’m actually pretty tired,” she added faking a yawn. She was mostly just saying that so Tyler would leave before Ethan showed up. However, Caroline was curious about why exactly Tyler had shown up. “What’s up?”
That, and she had answered the door as if she had been expecting it to ring. But he’d buy that it was a work function. Maybe she’d ordered in take-out for her mother before leaving. “I was just around and I thought I’d see if you and your mom wanted to come to dinner,” he said. “Don’t suppose you’ve got time before your work thing?”
Her and her mom. Caroline was torn. Part of her thought it was incredibly sweet that he wanted to include her mother. But another part of her was worried that he was scared to be alone with her. None of that mattered though since either way she already had plans.
“Maybe another time?” Caroline asked. “I actually have to get go-” Before she could finish her sentence a man walked up behind Tyler. About ten years older than Tyler, tall, dark and handsome - dressed in a suit and carrying flowers for Caroline no less. Well, this was going to be one hell of a first date.
Caroline’s smile widened as the man approached. “I’m sorry,” Ethan said from his awkward position behind Caroline. “I thought we had plans?”
“Oh, we do,” Caroline replied giving her date a reassuring smile. “Tyler was just leaving. Those for me?” she asked referring to the flowers. “You really shouldn’t have.”
Tyler stared as the other man walked up with a bouquet of flowers. Who the hell was this guy? And who actually brought someone flowers? At first he thought that they must’ve been for Liz, at least until Caroline asked if they were for her. What a smug little asshole. Tyler wanted to rip out his throat.
He quickly reeled his mind back from that somewhat dark thought. He must have been getting hungry. He didn’t even know who this guy was, or what his relationship to Caroline was. He was obviously too old to be picking her up for a date. “I’m Tyler,” Tyler clarified, as if it wasn’t completely obvious who Caroline was referring to when she mentioned his name. “Who the hell are you?”
What the hell was with Tyler’s reaction? He was in love with someone else. So why would he care who the hell Ethan was? Caroline’s mind was reeling. There was a small dash of hope that maybe Tyler did still have feelings for her. But she pushed that aside. She couldn’t let herself hope. She would never move on that way. And there was a perfectly good guy standing right in front of her.
“Of course,” Ethan replied maneuvering around Tyler to hand Caroline the flowers before answering the man’s rather abrupt question. “Ethan,” he replied. “I take it you’re a friend of Caroline’s?”
“Yeah,” Tyler said, biting back the urge to mention that he was Caroline’s ex. Caroline probably wouldn’t appreciate that very much. “Tyler,” he said, holding out a hand for Ethan to shake. And, well, if he squeezed a little harder than necessary, who could blame him?
Ethan grimaced slightly at Tyler’s handshake. That was a little rough. But he did his best to hide it, wanting to make a good impression on the young, pretty, blonde. “Nice to meet you,” he said before turning his gaze back to Caroline. “We should get going. We don’t want to miss our reservation.”
Caroline was greatful Ethan had provided an out. As much as she loved seeing Tyler the whole situation was a bit awkward. “Of course!” Caroline replied. “Let me just get these in water. Come in,” she told Ethan before turning her attention back to Tyler. “Thanks for stopping by! We’ll take a raincheck on that dinner.” The we being Caroline and her mom.
It was petty, but Tyler took a great deal of pleasure in the grimace on Ethan’s face, but his pleasure was short-lived when Caroline all but slammed the door in his face. Metaphorically speaking, at least.
“Nice to meet you too,” he said to Ethan, in a tone that implied that he didn’t mean a word of it. “Text me later and we’ll make a plan,” he said to Caroline, and then turned to leave before Caroline really could close the door in his face.