Blue Plaid

Synchronization

In which Stella and Tyson are strangely in sync.

My room was a disaster; even more than usual. This always happened on laundry days. I usually figured that if I was going to clean my clothes, I might as well get rid of the pieces that I didn’t wear anymore, and in the process, I ended up making my bedroom look like it had just been hit by a tornado.

In the midst of separating my clothes into piles of things I would keep and things I would give away, Tyson called my name from the living room.

“Stella, you got to see this!”

I dropped a skirt I couldn’t decide if I wanted on the bed and walked into the common area to find Tyson sitting on a barstool at the kitchen counter, staring at his laptop. Cooper sat in his high chair, happily shoving fistfuls of Cheerios into his mouth.

“What’s going on?” I asked, raising and eyebrow as I stood beside him and reached around to ruffle Cooper’s soft hair.

“Check this out,” Tyson replied, turning his laptop so I could see it better and grinning widely.

Skeptical as to what could possibly have him so excited, I glanced at the screen and burst out laughing at the headline.

Stella steps out with a hunky mystery man. Is love in the air?

I didn’t bother reading the article because I could guess what it said, so I scrolled down the page to see a picture of Tyson, Cooper, and I taken through the window of the grocery store. It wasn’t as though we were getting cozy, but we were smiling, so I guess I could see how they inferred something more was going on.

Shrugging, I laughed as I looked at Tyson. “I told you this would happen.”

“I figured,” he chuckled. “I just didn’t know it would be so soon.”

“Soak it in, Kingsley,” I smirked as I turned to walk back to my bedroom. “You’re about to become an internet sensation.”

“What do you mean?” he furrowed his brow and pursed his lips.

I wiggled my eyebrows at him as I spoke. “The cheekbones and the soulful dark eyes. Girls are gonna have pictures of you up on their walls in no time.”

“You can’t be serious.” His voice came out in an almost whisper and I realized his face had gone pale. Apparently the thought of being a s*x symbol was terrifying.

“Chill, Ty,” I reassured him, pausing in my doorway. “Seeing as they’re referring to you as a ‘mystery man’, they don’t even know your name and it’ll take them ages to figure it out as long as no one leaks it to the press.”

“And once they figure it out?” he quirked an eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” I shrugged.

He seemed surprised by my nonchalance towards the entire situation. “Why not?”

“I was just stroking your ego before,” I replied, entering my bedroom and speaking over my shoulder, “No one actually thinks you’re attractive.”

The fact that he absolutely knew that was a lie caused him to laugh and I could tell he was a little more relaxed when he shouted, “You do.”

I didn’t bother responding because there wasn’t any point. He would know I was lying if I denied it and I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of saying he was right.

So instead, I checked the messages on my phone and noticed one from Mia, asking me to call her when I had the chance. Odds were that she’d seen the article about me and Tyson online and wanted to discuss damage control.

I dialed her number as I tossed the skirt I’d previously been holding into the giveaway pile. She picked up after two rings.

“Hey, Stella, how’s your day been going?”

“Alright,” I replied, deciding to get to the point. “Did you want me to call because of the article?”

“So you’ve seen it?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, “I mean, there were paps all over us when we left the store, so I assumed it would only be a matter of time before Tyson was linked to me in the press.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me about it?”

Shit.

That probably would have been a good idea.

“Right,” I winced, scrunching my nose. “Sorry. I’ll be more on top of these things from now on.”

“Good,” she replied tersely, “Because it’s not just your life you’re dealing with anymore, Stella.”

Biting my lip, I peeked out my door. Tyson had shut his laptop and taken Cooper out of the high chair and was no chasing the toddler around the coffee table, pretending to be a dinosaur.

I held in a laugh and ending up snorting into my phone. “I know that.”

“I’m glad. So, how do you want to deal with this?”

Mia had been my agent and publicist since the very beginning. When I was sixteen and had no idea what the hell I was doing, she had been by my side. Essentially, she’d seen me blossom into the sort of adult I was today, but I loved the fact that she respected my decisions above all.

Sure, there were times she greatly disapproved of how I conducted myself in public. And of course she had opinions on how the aftermath of such things should be handled. But she always made sure to ask me what I wanted first. She treated me like an adult, even when I didn’t deserve it, and it was one of the many reasons I trusted and respected her completely.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “What are my options?”

She paused for a moment. “I guess the first question to ask is how Tyson feels about all of this.”

“He doesn’t really care,” I answered truthfully. Jokes about him being a heartthrob aside, Tyson understood that being associated with me meant that he could be subject to the public eye as well. As long as Cooper wasn’t affected, we were both in agreement that nothing else really mattered.

“Ok,” she said slowly, “Then I guess you have two choices. You can either set the record straight or you can do nothing.”

I pondered these options as she continued.

“Keep in mind, both choices will have consequences. Setting the record straight means explaining who Tyson is and seeing as you’ll be seen with him and Cooper in the future, you’ll have to explain why he’s so involved in your life. On the other hand, not saying anything leaves it up to the general public to speculate about the nature of your relationship, and that could make things awkward between you two.”

So pretty much neither sounded like the best way to go.

“Can I have some time to think about it?” I asked, crossing my fingers at my side.

She sighed, but agreed. “Get back to me by tomorrow. The window to respond to these things is generally pretty small, but luckily this isn’t a catastrophic situation. We’d have a much bigger problem if there were pictures of you two showing any public displays of affection.” She paused. “There aren’t any, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, Mia. Tyson and I are just friends.”

“Just checking,” she said. “Alright, well get back to me as soon as you can.”

“Will do,” I nodded. “Thanks, Mia.”

I hung up the phone and tossed it on top of my dresser before grabbing the basket of dirty clothes from the floor of my closet and walking into the common area again.

Tyson and Cooper were now seated on the floor, making vrooming noises as they pushed large plastic cars around the floor. I crossed my eyes and stuck out my tongue as I walked past in a successful effort to make Cooper laugh.

“Done reenacting Jurassic Park?” I asked Tyson.

He smiled up at me sheepishly. “I got tired, so I distracted him with the cars.” He noticed the basket perched on my hip and nodded. “Going to do laundry?”

“Yeah, I figured maybe I could wear something in here tonight.”

He looked momentarily surprised and parted his lips as though about to ask where I was going tonight before remembering that we had plans to have dinner with Jenna and Alex.

“We’re still doing that?” he grimaced.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes. It won’t be that bad. Besides, I need you to be there because you’re my excuse to leave if things start getting mushy.”

Tyson quirked an eyebrow and smirked. “Still allergic to human emotions, Stella? I thought you’d gotten over that.”

How clever.

“If by that you mean I’d rather not watch them make out, then yes,” I shot back, wrinkling my nose in disgust.

I didn’t mind PDA if it meant hand holding and sweet kisses, but anything involving tongues needed to be done in private.

Tyson looked slightly disgusted as well. “Would they really do that?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. But they haven’t seen each other for a couple months and they won’t see each other for a couple more when she leaves, so my guess is it’s gonna be a love fest.”

“Lovely,” he snorted. “Did you get a babysitter?”

“Nope,” I responded. “I figured we can take Cooper with us.”

The raise of his eyebrow indicated he was less than satisfied with that response. “What?”

I adjusted the basket at my hip. “Well, we’re not going to dinner until eight. And Coop’s been falling asleep and out for the night by like seven for the past few weeks, so I think as long as we get him to bed before we leave, he should be pretty much knocked out the entire time we’re there.”

He knew my logic made sense, so he didn’t completely discredit that idea. “Are you sure?”

I nodded, smiling softly at Cooper. “Besides, I’m not ready to leave him with someone else just yet.”

“Understandable,” Tyson gazed at Cooper affectionately.

It seemed like things were getting mushy between us and it was freaking me out, so I nodded quickly and turned towards the door. The laundry rooms were on every other floor, which meant I had to go down one to find the machines.

Luckily, it was empty, with only one dryer being used, an event which was rare for a Sunday afternoon. I hummed to myself as I separated my lights and darks. While I was shoving the load of darks into a machine, the door to the room opened. I looked over my shoulder and was surprised to see Dani enter.

Despite the fact that she was Tyson’s friend and we lived in the same building, it was actually fairly rare that we ran into each other.

“Hey,” I smiled brightly, reaching over to grab the pile of lights and shove them into a separate machine.

“Hey, Stella,” she replied, looking flustered and taken aback by my presence as she set down her empty hamper and pulled open the dryer before it finished.

There was silence as she gathered her clothes into her hamper and I poured detergent into the machines and started the wash cycles. As the whirring began, I grabbed my basket, but couldn’t bring myself to walk out the door without saying anything because the entire situation was making me antsy.

“This doesn’t have to be weird, you know,” I said, turning to face her, holding the empty basket at my hip.

Her eyebrows shot up as her fingers curled over the handles of her hamper. “What doesn’t?”

“You and me,” I replied, using my free hand to gesture between us. “I mean, just because you and Ty are…. it’s not like we can’t be friends. And we should be, since you’re part of Tyson’s life.”

She gaped at me in disbelief, her lips parting and pressing together and parting again. “Ty and I just friends.”

“I know,” I nodded, “And I don’t want you to get the idea that just because I’m around, you guys can’t still be friends.”

She paused, her next words coming out softly. “I assume he told you – about our history.”

“Yeah,” I held back a smirk, “He did.”

Dani flushed slightly, but smiled. “It seemed like you figured it out at the restaurant, so it makes sense that you talked about it afterwards. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Tyson and I have never had any kind of romantic feelings for each other. The s*x was purely recreational and mostly happened when we were drunk and lonely.”

“Alright.” I dragged out the word because I didn’t know what else to say.

Her smile widened. “You’re wondering why I’m telling you this.”

“Kinda.”

“Because I don’t want you to think of me as a threat. Tyson’s going to make some woman really happy someday, but it’s not going to be me.”

I blinked at the implication. “You can’t mean me, because Tyson and I spent five years hating each other and only became friends like two weeks ago.”

A small chuckle escaped her lips and she shook her head. “I didn’t mean you. But at some point, you and Tyson are going to have to deal with how your romantic relationships affect your home life and I didn’t want you to think it was starting with me.”

“Gotcha,” I nodded. “Well, thanks for the clarification, I guess.”

She nodded and we both walked out of the laundry room. When we reached the staircase, I paused on my way up.

“Hey, Dani?”

She looked up at me from where she stood at the top of the flight leading down. “Yeah?”

“If you ever want to hang out with me and Ty and Cooper, you know where to find us.”

Smiling softly, she nodded. “Thanks, Stella.”

I shot her a grin before waving goodbye and heading back up to my apartment. Tyson and Cooper had cleaned up their toy cars and were now comfortably ensconced on the couch, watching MasterChef.

“You were gone a while,” Tyson commented as I plopped onto the couch next to Cooper and leaned down to kiss the top of his head.

“I ran into Dani in the laundry room,” I explained.

I could tell he was curious about the interaction, but he nodded as though he understood that the conversation I had with Dani was to remain between us and changed the subject. “If you want to get ready while I feed Coop, we can switch and I can get ready while you put him to sleep.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed.

We’d figured out that we were both good at different aspects of taking care of Cooper. Tyson’s deep, accented voice was soothing enough to keep Cooper calm while he ate. Also, seeing as the fanciest dish I could make was French toast, Cooper also liked Tyson’s cooking better than mine. On the other hand, my inability to stand still was actually an asset helping Cooper fall asleep, because he found my pacing comforting.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent watching a MasterChef marathon, with a quick break where I tossed my clothes in the dryer. It was actually highly entertaining, because Tyson could tell when things were going to end up being disastrous and would tell of the contestant on the screen, which often times included cursing that would immediately cause him to widen his eyes in horror and slap a hand over his mouth. Of course, Cooper, didn’t actually understand any of this, so when I started laughing at Tyson’s embarrassment, so did Cooper.

By the time the marathon had finished, my clothes were done drying and it was time for Cooper to eat. Tyson had him settled in the high chair by the time I returned from the laundry room with my clothes and headed to the shower to get ready.

Forty minutes later, I emerged from my bedroom, shaved, showered, and made up. My clothes were laid out on my bed and I was wrapped in my favorite fluffy robe.

“Good to go?” Tyson asked, slipping out of his barstool and carrying Cooper’s now empty bowl to the sink.

“Yep,” I nodded, “You can have the shower.”

He disappeared into his room and shut the door and I smiled warmly at Cooper.

“Hey, buddy,” I said, reaching down to pull him out of the high chair, “You sleepy?”

As a response to my question, he blinked slowly and yawned.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

I held him against my chest, slowly circling the coffee table in the living room as I softly whispered the story of Hansel and Gretel into his ear. He nodded off before I even got the part about the kids being in the oven, which was good as I’d come to realize that the story was actually terrifying. As soon as felt his heart rate and breathing slow, I took him to my room and lay him down gently in the middle of my bed, making sure he was safely surrounded by as many pillows as possible.

It had taken Cooper barely fifteen minutes to fall asleep, which gave me extra time to get ready. So after pulling on dark tights and a floral sundress, I padded towards the bathroom to curl my hair, leaving the door open to give me a direct view of the sleeping toddler on my bed.

It wasn’t until after my curling iron was heating up that I realized the shower was still running. Which meant Tyson was less than five feet away from me and very much naked.

“Stella?”

Squeezing my eyes closed as I felt my cheeks heat in embarrassment, I squeaked out my response, wondering how it completely slipped my mind that we shared a bathroom. “Yeah, sorry.”

The water shut off, causing my heart rate to spike and my eyes to shoot open and I turned to leave the bathroom when Tyson’s voice rang out again.

“Could you hand me my towel?”

Well, that definitely wasn’t the response I was expecting. I grabbed the dark blue towel from his side of the bathroom and tossed it over the top of the curtain rod, chewing on my bottom lip as I watched it disappear.  

We were both quiet for a moment and I heard shuffling on the other side before the curtain was pulled back and Tyson stepped out of the shower, the towel securely anchored at his waist.

I tried my very best not to look. I really did. But my curiosity got the better of me because this would be the first time I’d ever seen Tyson sans clothing. It’s not like we’d attended a bunch of pool parties together.

So I licked my lips, uncurled the fingers that had been clenched into fists at my side, and turned to face him.

What I saw just made me angry.

Because apparently it wasn’t enough that Tyson Kingsley had eyes that bored into your soul and a jawline that could slice bread and ridiculously plump lips. No, he also had to have the world’s most lickable abs. All that yoga and jogging and squatting was paying off.

“Hey,” I said, a little out of breath as I dragged my gaze upwards. “Sorry. Cooper fell asleep really fast, so I figured I’d use the extra time to curl my hair and I completely blanked on the fact that you were in here.”

He completely noticed me eyeing him up. I could tell because his lips were practically twitching to twist into smirk. However, he had the good sense not to say anything.

“No problem,” he shrugged, looking over my shoulder to see Cooper still sleeping soundly in my bed. He sucked in one cheek as his eyes flicked downwards to take in my outfit of choice. “You look nice.”

“Thanks,” I breathed out, not trusting myself to say more.

Nodding, he turned to walk to his bedroom, calling out behind him, “I’ll be ready soon.”

I exhaled deeply once his door closed and decided to forgo curling my hair for fixing the makeup that had become smudged as a result of the shower steam.

Fifteen minutes later, I sat on the couch in the living room with Cooper curled asleep against my chest when Tyson stepped out of his bedroom. He wore a crisp white button up tucked into tight jeans with a navy blazer and shiny black shoes.

“You clean up nice,” I said, smiling as I stood, careful to hold Cooper close.

Tyson stepped forward and held out his arms, allowing me to transfer the sleeping toddler.

“Thanks,” he whispered quietly. “Shall we do this?”

I nodded, patting my purse to ensure I had both ends of our portable baby monitor before we headed out the door. We decided not to bring Cooper’s carrier because he never really slept well in it and neither of us really minded holding him.

We took a cab to Alex’s apartment and rode the elevator up six floors and knocked on the door at the end of the hallway, which was opened by a curvaceous brunette.

“Hi,” I greeted with a wide smile. “You must be Jenna.”

She brightened instantly and stepped aside to let us enter. “Come in, come in. Alex is in the kitchen. You must be Stella. Alex says wonderful things about you.”

I laughed. “That’s good to know.” She glanced at Tyson as she shut the door and I jumped in to explain. “This is Tyson.”

Which wasn’t really an explanation, but I assumed Alex had told her something, so she understood. She nodded. “Yes, of course. And this must be Cooper. Alex told me about your family dynamic. I think it’s amazing.”

“Thanks,” I said, genuinely liking her already.

We followed her to the kitchen, where Alex was ripping lettuce and tossing it into a bowl for a salad. He looked up as we entered, grinning at the sight of us. “Hey, guys. Stella, looking beautiful as always. Good evening, Tyson.”

“Hey, Alex,” Tyson greeted him with a friendly smile, “Good to see you again, man.”

I let out a small sigh of relief at the amount of civility in the room, seeing as the first time Alex and Tyson had met had been a bit more strained.

“Is Cooper asleep?” Alex asked, lifting his chin to try and see the toddler’s face.

“Yeah,” Tyson nodded. “He sleeps like a brick, though, so as long as I can get him settled, he should be fine the rest of the night.”

“We’re not quite ready to leave him with other people, yet,” I explained.

“Understandable,” Jenna replied, “You can put him down on our guest bed. We’ll cushion him nicely so he doesn’t roll off.”

“Thank you,” I sighed, reaching into my purse to pull out one side of the baby monitor and switching it on. “If you put this in there too, we’ll be able to tell if he wakes up or anything.”

She nodded and took it from me as Alex piped up, “Look at you two. Doting parents of the year.”

Tyson grinned at me and winked before following Jenna towards the bedrooms.

Setting my purse down on the counter, I walked around to join Alex on the other side, leaning against the granite and watching him work.

“So how’d you get him to come?” Alex asked.

I furrowed my brow in confusion. “What do you mean? I just asked.”

His eyebrows shot up. “It was that easy? Cause he didn’t seem too thrilled about us hanging out last time.”

“It’s not like he’s jealous,” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “He was worried about who I was bringing in contact with Cooper. And he has every right to be.”

“Fair enough,” Alex nodded, turning towards the fridge and pulling out a carton of mushrooms.

“If you’re thinking of putting that in the salad, you shouldn’t,” I commented.

“Why not?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Ty’s allergic,” I replied, as if it was completely obvious.

He smirked at me as he put them back and I didn’t bother asking what he was thinking because I could pretty easily guess. Jenna and Tyson returned from the guest bedroom and I reached over to pull the other half of the monitor from my purse and set it on the kitchen counter.

The remainder of the evening went surprisingly smooth. Alex and Jenna managed to keep their hands mostly to themselves, meaning Tyson and I weren’t forced to sit through any awkward make out sessions. The food was delicious – even Tyson was impressed with Alex’s skills in the kitchen and they found something they had in common. Jenna was delightful, keeping us enthralled with interesting facts she’d uncovered while completing her Master’s degree in psychology in Arizona. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised that the four of us were able to hang out without it being weird.

Despite the fact that Cooper hadn’t made a noise the entire evening, I was fidgety. As we sat on adjacent couches after dessert, sipping cups of coffee, I found myself glancing multiple times towards the baby monitor on the counter.

Tyson apparently noticed, because he leaned over and whispered in my ear, “If you’re worried, I can go check on him.”

I was caught off guard and the raspy, low tone of his voice sent my skin tingling and my cheeks flushing. “I’m probably just being paranoid, though, right? I mean, if he hasn’t made a sound, he’s probably fine.”

He lifted his shoulders into a small shrug, keeping his gaze direct. “I’ve been worried, too.”

We may not have any clue what we’re doing, but our protective parent instincts were definitely on high.

“Ok,” I whispered. “Go check.”

Nodding, he patted my knee reassuringly and excused himself from the room.

As soon as he was out of sight, Alex leaned forward and spoke with quiet urgency. “What is going on with you two?”

I blinked in confusion, shifting my gaze to Jenna, who was just smirking like there was no tomorrow. “What are you talking about?”

“I know you said you were taking my advice about trying to be friends, but did you guys end up going past friendship?”

I blinked again, gaping because I didn’t know how to respond. “No?”

“Could’ve fooled us,” Jenna laughed. “It’s almost like you guys are an old married couple.”

Well that was shocking news coming from someone who was actually in a long term, committed relationship.

I crinkled my nose and furrowed my brow. “Does it really seem that way?”

They both nodded, exchanging a knowing glance. Jenna was the one who spoke. “You guys are really just friends?”

I chewed my bottom lip and nodded slowly. “Yeah. And that only happened super recently.”

“You’d make a cute couple,” Jenna offered, as though that was supposed to make this conversation any less awkward.

“Thanks?” I replied, shifting uncomfortably as Tyson reentered the room. I raised my eyebrows in silent question about Cooper’s state.

“He’s fine,” he said quietly, “But I do think we should head back. It’s getting late.”

Nodding, I stood to say our goodbyes, honestly a little grateful because the evening had taken a strange turn. We thanked them for the lovely evening and promised to do it again next time Jenna was in town and then I carried Cooper downstairs, where Tyson hailed a cab.

We were silent the entire ride back, mostly because I couldn’t get Jenna and Alex’s words out of my mind.

Even I had to admit that Tyson and I had been in better sync lately. The effect of our friend dates had been less bickering and although we still had the occasional argument, we did seem to be getting along most of the time. Maybe we had formed some kind of bond.

But couple?

That seemed a little too wild of suggestion considering we were talking about two people who hadn’t even started playing nice until a few weeks ago.

There was no denying that I thought Tyson was attractive. At this point, even he knew I’d gladly let him take me in the back of taxi if he asked. Plus, it turned out he was kind of an amazing parent and when he wasn’t being a complete douche, he was pretty fun to hang out with.

But that didn’t mean the two of us could make any kind of real, adult relationship work.

Besides, the fact that he was beginning to be able to read my mind was just irritating.

“Are you alright?” he asked after I’d lay Cooper to sleep in his crib. “You’ve been disturbingly quiet for the past forty-five minutes.”

See? Unnerving.

I nodded, yawning as I walked towards my bedroom. “Yeah, I’m just tired. Tonight was good, though.”

“Yeah,” he shot me a small smile, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You were right. It wasn’t that bad. It was actually quite entertaining.”

“Told you,” I said quietly, unable to hold back a smile. “Goodnight, Ty.”

He rocked forward on his feet, his lips parting and his expression serious as though he wanted to say something important. But all that came out was, “Sweet dreams, Stel.”

Nodding, I waved goodbye and stepped inside my bedroom, closing the door behind me. I undressed and brushed my teeth and took off my makeup before he got into the bathroom and was already slipping beneath the covers when I heard him turn on his sink.

You’d make a cute couple.

The words ran through my mind for the millionth time since I heard them and I finally came to a decision. Reaching over to my nightstand, I grabbed my phone and texted Mia.

Let the article be. I don’t care if they think we’re a couple.