Who: Forwood What: Just a couple of totally platonic friends watching the Notebook together When: Early April Where: Caroline's house Rating/Warning: Low/none Status: Complete
Tyler couldn’t exactly claim that he was looking forward to watching The Notebook, but he was looking forward to spending the afternoon with Caroline. Sure, they were just friends these days, and while Tyler wasn’t exactly okay with that he would accept it and respect that. And he’d still take whatever chances he could to spend time with Caroline. The time she hadn’t been talking to him seemed as though it had dragged forever.
He’d brought a case of beer and some microwavable popcorn, and rapped his knuckles against Caroline’s door.
Caroline knew she probably shouldn’t agree to hanging out with Tyler. But she missed having him in her life. A lot. Just because she could never date him again, didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends, right?
So when Tyler had suggested a movie night, Caroline insisted on The Notebook. She knew it wasn’t one of Tyler’s favorites but she loved the movie. And after everything Tyler put him through he could sit through The Notebook.
Caroline put more thought into her outfit than she probably should have, for a movie with a friend. She settled on some skinny jeans and a red v-neck top that showed a little too much cleavage for just a friend. Hair down in it’s usual golden waves. When Tyler knocked on the door her stomach did a little flip. Not something that should happen for just friends. Caroline had to remind herself again that that was all they could ever be, before going to answer the door.
“Hey,” she greeted with her usual smile. “Come on in.”
Damn, did Caroline look good. Of course, if Tyler was being honest, Caroline always looked good. Still, it was going to make this whole ‘just friends’ thing harder than it needed to be. But, he told Caroline that that’s what they would be, and he was planning on sticking to that. If that’s what it took to keep Caroline in his life, then he would just have to… try not to stare too hard at that v-neck shirt.
Tyler came in, and smiled, biting back his compliment on Caroline’s looks. “I brought beer,” he said, and then winked. “I think I’m going to need them if I’m going to survive this movie.”
“It’s not that bad,” Caroline insisted. “I think you’ll even like it.” And the fact that he was willing to sit through a total chick flick just to spend time with her? It made her heart melt slightly.
She grabbed the popcorn from him, letting her hand brush against his a moment longer than was needed. Eyes fell on his getting lost in the moment briefly. “I’ll just uh,” she began snapping herself back to reality. “Go put this in the microwave.”
Tyler was pretty sure that he wasn’t imagining things when he felt the spark between them, but he resisted the urge to grab her hand and hold it in his. “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Tyler said. “I’ll come with you. Put these in the fridge.” It definitely wasn’t the fact that, now that Caroline was in front of him, he didn’t want to let her out of his sight.
Caroline was about to protest that she was perfectly capable of putting them in the fridge but decided against. Even if it was only like two minutes it was still more time with Tyler - something she had been lacking lately and wanted to soak up every minute of.
“Leave two out,” she instructed as she put the popcorn in the microwave setting the timer. “So,” Caroline began as she waited for the popcorn to pop. “How has your week been?”
“I’m not an idiot,” Tyler snorted good-naturedly. Of course he’d leave a couple of them out. He opened the fridge and put the beers inside, and then cracked the top of two of them, handing one of them to Caroline.
“It’s been okay,” he said, and resisted the urge to say that it was better now that he was there with her. “It’s the off-season so work’s been sort too. Just going in to meetings with the other coaches to discuss plays for next season and things. What about you? It’s wedding season now, isn’t it?”
Once again Caroline let her fingers brush against Tyler’s longer than necessary as she accepted the beer from him, her hand slightly tingling at the touch. She took a long sip from the bottle trying to wash away the feeling. Tyler was her friend.
“That sounds kind of boring,” Caroline replied. She wasn’t trying to offend him. But she had to imagine going to meetings couldn’t be as fun as the actual coaching part. “Yeah,” Caroline confirmed leaning against the counter the sound of popcorn popping in the background. “Which means I’m starting to get swamped. You’re lucky I had time for you tonight,” she teased taking another sip of her beer.
Tyler’s lip twitched up involuntarily at Caroline’s touch. “It’s not as much fun as actually getting to coach,” Tyler admitted. He leaned against the counter next to Caroline, not touching her but close enough that he could feel her. “Am I really though?” he asked, teasing. “I mean, now I’m stuck watching The Notebook of all things.”
“Yeah?” Caroline replied with a raised brow, turning her head so she could look at Tyler. “You want to leave?” she challenged.
The microwave beeped and Caroline got out a bowl, pouring the popcorn into it so it was easier to share. But there was no way in hell she was letting Tyler off the hook from answering that question.
“If I wanted to leave, I wouldn’t have come in the first place,” Tyler said, bumping his shoulder lightly against hers. With the popcorn in the bowl, he moved from the counter and started heading his way into the living room. “Maybe it won’t be so bad to broaden my horizons.”
Caroline had to admit she loved the little physical touch from Tyler. As brief as it was. She missed being close like this with him. A lot.
“Exactly,” Caroline said setting the bowl and her beer down on the coffee table while she set up the movie. “It’ll be good for you. Get more in touch with your sensitive side,” she teased making her way over to the couch and taking a seat.
“Hey, I’m plenty in touch with my sensitive side,” Tyler said, and then frowned. “I mean, I don’t really have much of one, but whatever’s there I know just fine.” He grinned at her. At the very least, he knew that he loved her, almost as much as he knew that she didn’t want to love him. “So, is this one of the ones that’s supposed to make me cry or something?”
“Yeah,” Caroline said settling into the couch waiting for Tyler to take a seat next to her before hitting play. “It’s one of those.” No matter how many time Caroline saw it she always cried. She picked up the popcorn bowl setting it between them, keeping her from getting too close to Tyler.
“Oh good,” Tyler said, lightly sarcastic. “I’ve been thinking it’s been too long since I watched a depressing movie.” And then the movie started, and he frowned a little. “Is this about old people?” he asked after a moment. He’d always thought these Nicolas Sparks movies were supposed to be about young hot people. He reached a hand into the popcorn bowl.
“Shhhh,” Caroline replied to his comment about old people. “Just watch. You’ll see.” Caroline reached into the bowl too her hand brushing against Tyler’s. Okay maybe she had purposefully reached in at the same moment as Tyler just for the brief contact, but whatever. They were friends.
As the movie went on Caroline found herself getting closer and closer to Tyler. By the time Noah rushed to Allie’s house only to find it gated up with no one there Caroline was in tears.
They were definitely only friends, which is why Tyler didn’t think too much about it when the popcorn bowl somehow found its way to the coffee table as the movie countinued onwards.
Honestly, he thought it was sad, but he didn’t really understand why Caroline was crying so hard. But still, his instincts came over him, and he found himself putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his chest.
Caroline fell into old habits quick. She didn’t pull away when Tyler put an arm around her, soaking in the comfort. “It’s just so sad,” Caroline explained wiping away her tears. “He loves her and she’s gone.”
Tyler bit his lip, glad that Caroline couldn’t see his face right at that moment. It was sad, but was it any sadder than him loving her and having her crying into his chest as a friend.
“They’ll find each other again,” he said after a moment. It might have been his first time seeing the movie, but he could tell that much at least. “They always do. In the movies, at least.” Maybe not so much in real life.
Unlike Tyler, Caroline knew how the movie would turn out. But it didn’t make it any less sad. “Still,” Caroline pouted sitting back up eyes dry for now. “It just… it makes my heart hurt.” Caroline was very emphatic like that. But even without the movie her heart was hurting. Tyler was right there next to her and she still couldn’t be with him. She couldn’t look past everything he had done. And it hurt.
Tyler rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. “Yeah, I know,” he said. He could understand, kind of. Maybe not exactly, but… He looked down at Caroline, his gaze soft, and swallowed. He wondered what she would do if he kissed her. The real answer was that she would probably tell him to leave, and that would be the end of them getting to hang out as friends, and so he didn’t do anything more than hold her.
Caroline settled into his arms, remaining there for the rest of the movie. Friends held each other. It was okay. As long as she didn’t let it go any further. The movie ended with them dying in each other’s arms and of course Caroline began to tear up again. Not full on sobbing but there were definitely a few tears running down her cheeks.
Tyler never really held any of his friends, but he wasn’t going to say anything along those lines. He’d missed having Caroline in his arms, and he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize it right now. Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew that Caroline would find someone else and move on, and so long as it wasn’t Klaus, he was mostly okay with that. But for now, he was going to enjoy being able to hold her however he was able, even if it was only as friends.