Chapter 10 Naomi [The Past]
I didn’t know how I didn’t see him right away.
He was impossible to miss, like the sunlight.
But that summer, I was so wrapped up in helping Dad, going to camp, and volunteering with Brittney that I barely noticed the house next door had sprouted a new family.
I overheard my parents one evening talking about them.
The Bradys. I even saw Adri heading over there a few times, probably because of their kid.
Mom and Dad were happy my brother had made a new friend.
Naturally, I assumed he was Adri’s age and probably wouldn’t care about his buddy’s little sister.
So, I really didn’t think about it much until one August afternoon right before the beginning of the new school year when Brittney's parents dropped me off at home after a trip to the mall.
Stepping inside the house with my shopping bags in both hands, I found the living room turned upside down—comic books everywhere, bowls of half-eaten chips scattered like forgotten homework, and a line of empty Coke cans on the coffee table.
Adri and some shaggy-haired guy were glued to the TV, their fingers flying over controllers, shooting away.
"Nice move, asshole!" my brother yelled, and I froze at the doorway, a little floored by the scene. I could see the new kid up close for the first time.
"Gotcha!" the boy shot back with a triumphant grin. His hair fell into his eyes, messy but somehow cool.
"You wish." Adri laughed. "That's what you get for camping!"
The boy—I figured he was the neighbors’ son—looked my age. I wondered why someone like Adri, a year away from graduating, was hanging out with him. They seemed like best friends, lost in the game and each other’s company.
"This round's mine!" the boy called out, and then the screen flashed. I could tell he was winning.
I watched them, quietly soaking in the sight of Adri actually having fun.
My brother was a grump, and seeing him like this made me feel strange.
I figured that’s what it meant to be a family—to be happy for your sibling even if you hated him so much for all the pranks he’d pulled on you.
The playful back and forth between him and the boy was kind of nice. Weird but nice.
The match finally ended. "Hey," I said, trying not to sound too interested. "You better clean up this mess after you’re done goofing around."
Adri turned toward me, a bit of sweat plastering his long hair to his neck. "Hey, Shrimp," he said, catching his breath. "Didn't hear you come in."
I died a little on the inside at the stupid nickname, especially in front of the new boy. But I chose to act cool and not reveal the fact that the nickname pissed me off.
Adri nodded toward his new friend, who was looking at me with eyes so blue, they almost seemed unreal. "This is Ty." He said nothing else.
"Hey. What’s up?" Ty said, his voice almost shy.
I shrugged like it was no big deal. "Hey."
Then I headed off to my room, pretending I didn’t notice how cute he was. He had that weird bad-boy aura about him. The ocean gaze and the messy hair the color of the desert. He wore some band T-shirt and a pair of baggy ripped jeans and looked so cool.
By that evening, when I stepped out of my room to grab some water, the noise in the living room had calmed down. I heard Adri telling Ty that pizza was on the way.
"Grab some more soda, yeah?" my brother asked, and then a familiar slam of the screen door followed. When I peeked into the living room on my way to the kitchen, Adri was nowhere to be found.
The pizza must have lured him outside.
I dashed for the fridge, thinking maybe I could scrounge up something sweet and disappear without being noticed.
I grabbed a bottle of water, then popped my head into the freezer compartment and fumbled through packages of meat and seafood, searching for ice cream.
My mission was successful, but when I turned around, ready to take my leave, there was Ty.
He pointed at the fridge behind me. "I’m just getting us some drinks."
"Oh," I said, clutching my water and ice cream. "Okay."
He stood there like he was waiting for something.
"You moved in next door?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," he said, leaning against the counter like he’d been living there forever. "You live here long?"
I nodded. "Since I was born."
"How old are you?"
"Fourteen. You?"
"Same." He smiled, and a tiny dimple appeared on his left cheek. "So I guess we're going to the same school, huh?"
"Probably," I said, handing him some napkins. He didn’t ask for them, but they seemed to be necessary to eat pizza.
"My mom thinks your brother's gonna babysit me or something," Ty supplied casually.
"He thinks he’s my babysitter too."
It was quiet for a moment, but not the awkward kind. More like we both had things to say but didn’t know where to start.
Then Adri yelled from the living room. "Pizza’s here! You grabbin’ those sodas, Strings?"
"Uh, yeah," he shouted back and then looked at me. "Want to join us?"
I hesitated, picturing the way Adri would glare if I interrupted their boys’ time. "Nah," I said. "You guys go ahead. See you around."
I slipped back into my room before he could see I was smiling at his nickname.
In the days leading up to the new school year, I kept spotting him from my bedroom window. I often found myself wondering if it was accidental or if I’d sought him out, sitting at my desk, craning my neck, staring at that sidewalk until he showed up.
He always took the same twenty steps between his porch and ours. Then he and Adri would plot their little escapades in our living room.
It was silly. I’d never really cared about boys before. Sure, my room was filled with posters of Chad Michael Murray. But Chad was a comfort man. A teenage crush. Something imaginary.
Tyler Brady next door was very much real.
On the first day of school, I saw him standing near the lockers as if waiting for me. He had on one of those graphic tees and his signature baggy jeans with worn out bottom hems that completely hid his Converse. A black hoodie was tied around his waist.
I saw a cluster of freshman girls I knew staring at him dreamily from across the hallway, and my senses heightened. Like he was only mine, like he wasn’t something to share.
Stupid me.
I didn’t understand those feelings yet. No one really would at fourteen.
Instead, I simply went to my locker to drop off the books I didn’t need for first period.
"Think we'll survive?" Ty asked, edging closer to me and nodding at the endless row of lockers.
"I give it a week," I shot back, the noise of the corridor blurring around us.
"Don’t forget, you have me now," he supplied cockily, leaning against the metal wall with one shoulder.
Even at fourteen, he had the confidence of a grown man.
"You? Even my brother can’t help. Girl drama is on another level," I joked.
"I’m different."
"How?"
"You’ll see."
Just then, I saw Adri walking down the hallway in the company of his jock friends. He didn’t stop, didn’t even slow his pace, just threw a ridiculous Be nice to my sister, Strings at Ty on his way to the classroom.
"Asshole," I whispered.
"He always like this in school?" Ty asked, looking over his shoulder.
"He’s a senior now. Don’t expect him to be all chummy with you in front of his football-team buddies."
"School hierarchy doesn’t allow it?" Ty chuckled like it was no big deal for him.
"Something like that."
"Then you don’t mind if we do lunch together?" he suggested. "Being the same age and all?"
"Sure." I tried to sound nonchalant, like either way was fine with me, but in reality, my pulse was all wrong. Too fast, too slow, too unpredictable.
The bell rang, and we scattered to our respective classrooms, but during lunch break, he found me at the entrance to the cafeteria.
My parents always packed me something in case the food at school wasn’t enough or to my liking.
Sometimes, I ate it; sometimes, I’d give it to Brittney or Shauna.
Sometimes, Adri would come by and snatch my sandwich.
I had no idea where it all went. He was so skinny. No wonder he sucked at football.
But today, it was me and Tyler, and we traded jokes about who had the worst teachers and why while sitting at a corner table. Just the two of us.
"Think they do it like this on purpose?" Ty asked, poking at the pulled pork sandwich Dad sneaked into my backpack this morning.
"It's survival of the fittest," I said. "Wanna trade?" I gestured at his sub that somehow looked way better than what I’d brought from home.
"Sure." He didn’t even give me a chance to change my mind. "Your pops can rock it in the kitchen."
"You know The Gobbler?"
"The food truck?"
I nodded.
"Of course. Who the hell in Coachella Valley doesn’t know it?"
"It’s ours."
"What do you mean?" He had this expression on his face like he’d been struck by lightning.
"I mean, my parents own it."
"For real?" He seemed impressed. "Why haven't I seen it parked in front of your house?"
"Oh, it's in a garage in the back alley. If we keep it outside for everyone to see, it'll be a nightmare."
"Makes sense."
"You never saw me there? I help out sometimes."
"Seriously? I never paid attention. But we lived in Lone Palm back then. Your truck wouldn’t come there often."
"Yeah, it’s not the nicest area. People would always try to hustle my dad for money there, ask for a discount or threaten him, and if something happened, cops took forever."
"That’s why we moved," Ty supplied, biting into the sandwich. "Cheap but shitty, especially after dark. My folks thought I’d become a drug dealer or something." He laughed, his eyes doing that bright thing.
"Then what do you want to become?" I asked, curious. He didn’t seem like the academic type. I didn’t need to be in the same class with him to tell. He was all rebellion.
"I’m gonna have my own band," he whispered like it was the world’s biggest secret.
"Oh yeah?"
"Hey, do you know this kid, Jon Sheppe?"
"Why?"