Chapter 9

I couldn't help but laugh too. "Okay." I said. Remembering that the cake was in my hands, I held it up to her. "This is for you. My stepmother baked it." "Oh lovely." She said, taking the cake from me. "Thank you dear and please tell her thanks for me as well." "I will." I said. I barely got the words out, when she continued. "Oh my, I'm such a bad neighbour. I've been here a year now and I still haven't gotten the chance to meet my neighbours." She chuckled to herself. "I will have to introduce myself to your stepmother one of these days." She turned to look at me then. "Please, please, have a seat." She pointed to the couches in the living room. "I'm going to put this in the kitchen." She added as she turned away from me. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs when she reached it. "Tyler! Emily is here!" She shouted. By the time Tyler came down the stairs, his mother had returned from the kitchen. Tyler, who had just reached my side, put his hand around my waist. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "You two are so lovely." Rachel exclaimed. She turned to face me. "You know, I didn't believe when Tyler told me he has a girlfriend. I'm so used to him throwing away his life, bringing different girl after girl here all the time." Tyler sighed beside me. "Mom," He began, clearly embarrassed by what his mother was saying. Rachel ignored him and continued. "I'm so glad that he found someone like you to inspire and make him a better person." I grinned at Tyler teasingly, revelling in his discomfort. "Yeah, me too." I said, patting his arm lovingly. "Well, I'll leave you kids to it. I'm going to finish with dinner." Rachel said, turning around and head back to the kitchen. "Come on." Tyler said, turning and heading back upstairs. Following him, I head up the stairs as well. Tyler turned left and went inside the last room down the hall. When he went inside, he sat on his bed. I went in, but stood in the middle of the room. "I like your mom." I commented. Tyler sit back on his bed and sighed. "Yeah. I just wish she weren't so invest in my personal life." I smiled. "Oh, come on. She only means well." "I know." He rest is head on his pillow and looked up to the ceiling. He continued, as if to himself. "I know she's upset that I do what I do, but I can't change...it's not who I am. I hate to disappoint her, because I know how much this means to her; it's her dream for me to find a nice girl. So if this makes her happy, them I'm happy." It was the first time I've seen such raw emotion on Tyler's face and in his voice. He really did care about his mother and he really hated that she was disappointed in his behaviour. He would do anything to make his mom happy, if it means to pretend to have a girlfriend. I couldn't help but see Tyler in a different light. "Where's your dad?" I asked. He looked at me then. "He lives out of town. He and Mom are divorced. He would come here and visit me occasionally and I would go there and visit him." He answered. He then patted the bed beside him. "Come and sit down. I don't bite." He grinned mischievously and winked at me. "Hard." He added. I shake my head. So much for my earlier thought. "You're such a perv!" He chuckled at my response. I crossed my arm over my chest and decided to walk around his room instead. He had a few posters on his wall and the only other thing that hang on his wall was a wall bookshelf, position directly in front of his bed. I didn't see it when I came in, because it is beside the door. I walked over to the bookshelf. "You read?" I asked surprised. "Yes." I heard him answer, but I didn't look around at him. I was busy reading some of the book titles: The Lord Of The Rings, The Hunger Games, The Harry Potter Series, The Lightening Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympian), The Last Mission.... Wow, he has good taste in books. I can't believe he actually read these. I began laughing to myself. "What's so funny?" Tyler asked. I turned to look at him, still laughing. "It's just so hard to imagine a bad boy like you reading. If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed it." I commented. Tyler placed his hand over his heart. "That hurt, Emily. It hurt deep." He said in mock hurt. I shrugged my shoulders. "I call it like I see it." I walked over to a chair that was situated in front of a table and finally sat down. My eyes caught some magazines that was on the table. Adult magazines. Why wasn't I surprised? I held up the paper in my hands and turned to face him. "You are sick, you know that?" "I'm a teenage boy." He said innocently as if this was an innocent act. Rolling my eyes, I put the magazine back on the table. "Yeah, a sex-crazed, horny teenager." I said. Before Tyler could open his mouth and say something obnoxious, I heard his mother downstairs calling us for dinner. I got up from the chair and head downstairs with Tyler. When we reached downstairs, I saw that Rachel was carrying the food to the table. "Do you want some help?" I asked. She nodded her head as she placed the bowl in her hands on the table. "Sure, thanks." I went into the kitchen and took up a dish and began to walk to the dinning room. "So, did you kids have fun upstairs? Did anything interesting or exciting?" Rachel asked, coming behind me with the last dish. Not sure what she was asking, I turned to look at her and she winked at me.