Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series

by Eliza Bradley

Tye’s dad stepped again towards the island and leaned on it. I watched his face – there were worry lines there, a man used to stress, with concern etched into his features.

  “I am sorry,” his accent was thickly Spanish. “I am guessing you had plans with Tyler?”

  “We did,” I nodded returning to my stool and then regretting the movement, thinking I should be leaving instead. My eyes drew over the man’s shoulder to Tye – he was stood awkwardly with his arms folded and his eyes trained on the floor, refusing to make further comment. “It can wait for another time. I don’t want to interrupt anything.” I stood again, picking up my handbag to show I was leaving.

  “No, not at all,” Tye’s dad held out his hand, urging me to sit again. “I’m the one who’s interrupting. I dropped in rather… unexpectedly.” He had a kind face, even if it was used to the pressure of stress. “I insist you stay.” He turned back to Tye who kept his eyes still on the floor, his jaw set tight and his face lowered in a frown. “Well, I’m in town all weekend. We can see each other any time?”

  Tye chewed this thought over for a minute before nodding reluctantly, moving his hands to his pockets and still not looking at his dad.

  “It was good to meet you, Ivy,” his dad smiled at me before heading for the door. He was gone very quickly, leaving Tye stood in the centre of the room with his head bowed.

  Once the door was shut, I finally felt I could speak again.

  “Tye?”

  He didn’t answer. He just stood there thinking, his jaw twitching in movement.

  Thinking what a horrible day it was turning into, I wished it could all be over. I had seen my parents argue enough times to know that afterwards they were never in the mood to talk. Tye appeared just as disinterested. Usually my parents would lock themselves away on opposite sides of the house and stew in anger. I remembered sitting outside my mum’s door once, begging her to open it so we could still go shopping as we had planned. The door never opened. In the end, I had gone shopping by myself and bought a scarf covered in ladybugs. I’d never worn it, but it was somewhere in a drawer.

  Deciding it was one of those moments, I picked up my plate and returned it to the cupboard then pulled out the bagel I’d bought for Tye and placed it in the fridge.

  Tye continued to stare into space, refusing to speak or move.

  I picked up my handbag and my bagel again, heading for the exit. As I swung the door open, he finally spoke.

  “Where are you going?” His voice startled me – I spun back round, looking at him in confusion. He was staring at me, eyes wide and hands now buried in the sleeves of his t-shirt. It was so hard just to be his friend – I wanted so much more. Looking at me like that, with his cocoa eyes bright, I just wanted to throw my arms around him and make all the pain go away. There were many fun ways I could think of to dispel that pain. Each one sent a jolt of excitement through me. I planted my feet to the ground instead, resisting him.

  “I thought maybe you wanted to be alone. There’s a bagel in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

  “Alone? Fuck no.” It was so rare to hear him swear that it took me by surprise. “I want…” He looked away and this time ran both hands through his hair.

  “What?” I prompted, waiting for him to answer.

  “I want to get out of here. Let’s see somewhere. Anywhere! I don’t care where it is. I just need to be out of Exeter.” He was desperate, pleading. “Now he’s here, I have no desire to be.”

  “Okay,” as strange as this was, I quickly thought through the options. “How about the beach? Exmouth?” The coast wasn’t far away and I hadn’t yet explored it.

  “Perfect – pack the bagel, I’ll just get changed.” He disappeared in a flurry back into the bedroom.

  I quickly retrieved the bagel, trying to ignore the flash of Tye’s back I saw as he pulled his t-shirt over his head. I kept my eyes down as my cheeks blushed. By the time I had poured out two bottles of water, Tye had re-emerged in his best jeans and a dark blue t-shirt, short sleeved and high necked, tight enough that it revealed his toned torso and you could see a flash of ink on his bicep.

  Cue melting.

  He grabbed a jacket and his car keys, not noticing how my eyes followed him around the room.

  “Come on!” His words called me out of my daze. I had to practically run out of the door and down the stairs to keep up with him. I suddenly regretted my own choice of a long maxi dress as I nearly slipped on the dark green hem. As March had dawned, the coming spring had made me want to throw the skinny jeans out of the window.

  It wasn’t until the BMW pulled onto the dual carriageway that Tye visibly relaxed, leaning into his hand that was propped on the driver door. It was a physical relief for him to be out of the city his dad was now in.

  “Do you want to talk about it or not?” I asked eventually, trying to keep my focus on the road and not on him.

  “Not yet,” he shook his head, concentrating on the traffic. “He shouldn’t have come.”

  We didn’t speak again until we had parked up on the seafront of Exmouth. Spring had just sprung and as I climbed out of the car, the sun had some warmth for the first time that year. I basked in it for a moment.

  We made our picnic on a bench on the promenade overlooking the breaking waves as they fizzed on the flat yellow sand. Exmouth was far from the most upmarket of towns, yet it certainly had an old-fashioned charm, something so fifties about its character.

  “Do you want salami and cheddar, or pastrami and gruyere?” I held up two bagels.

  “Posh, princess. Most people say ham and cheese. Pastrami every time,” he smiled, the first one of that day as he relaxed into using the familiar nickname. “How was the run?”

  “Long,” I winced, stretching my right leg out as it crossed over my left to make the point. “It was our first ten-kilometre race since before Christmas and my body could feel it.”

  “Feel it?”

  “Yeah – sore legs, sore arms. Sore everything.”

  “You need to try a different kind of exercise. Change is as good as rest, isn’t that what they say?”

  “So they do. I can’t afford the gym though. What kind of exercise would you recommend?”

  “I can think of one suggestion,” he winked at me, making me laugh around my bite of bagel and sending shivers of excitement across my skin. “See, this is what I like,” he leaned back on the bench and tipped his head into the sunlight.

  “What?” I admired his handsome profile in the glow, his words having taken me by surprise.

  “Escape.” He gestured to the world in front of him, as if it were clear enough without an explanation. “That’s what uni is for me. It’s what you are for me,” he sighed as if it were a hopeless thing.

  “I help you escape?” I was still confused.

  “Yes.”

  “Tye?” At my soft pitch, he looked at me. “From what?”

  He paused again, drawing out the moment and looking down at his bagel as he took another bite. His left hand dropped onto his leg and I saw an opportunity. I shuffled slightly closer on the bench and took his hand in mine, feeling his warm palm against my skin. His gaze shifted to our hands. I felt the nerves in my stomach freeze when he didn’t pull away. As if the little people in my stomach had all frozen in a game of musical statues, waiting to see what would happen next.

  “Tye, what do you need to escape from?”

  He looked up to my eyes this time and the resistance cracked on his face.

  “Alright,” he lowered the bagel, temporarily forgotten. “My dad has always been intense. Always. He wants to keep his whole family close as it’s not exactly what he had growing up. Unfortunately, that transpires into wanting us all to stay as close as physically possible and go into his business.” He clutched my hand, our fingers lacing together perfectly. “I’ve never wanted that. Neither has Isabella.”

  “Your sister?”

  “Yeah,” he nodded, keeping his eyeline on the waves as they sizzled across t
he sand. “Whenever he talks about the future with the company, Isabella and I have just never committed to anything. Stayed quiet or said nothing at all.”

  “What changed?”

  “I applied for university,” he sighed as though this was a great catastrophe.

  “You make it sound like an ungodly sin.”

  “To my dad, it probably is,” he tilted his head as he watched the sea. “To say he lost his shit over it would not be covering the event in detail. He was furious. For the whole of last year, he would act out. It’s why I fell behind in my revision. Couldn’t keep up with all the drama he caused. It’s almost like he’s going out of his way to cause it, so that I’ll give up and come home.”

  “But he let you go in the first place?”

  “My mum insisted he did. She, well… she sort of made a deal on my behalf. Something I never agreed to.” At his words, I squeezed his hand, unable to offer words that could bring any more support than this action. The fact he hadn’t pulled away gave me more happiness than I can describe. “She told him to let me go to uni, complete my education and then afterwards I’d come back to the business.”

  “Whoa,” I turned my gaze out to the sea too, my jaw dropped in amazement. “Did she mean it?”

  “No. My mum’s not like that. She just thought he would get used to the idea in time and give up. Well, he’s showing no sign.” He shook his head. “Every time we talk, he’s now looking for that commitment. ‘When are you coming back? We’ll put you on manager courses. You can shadow your brother for a while.’ I don’t want to do any of that! I don’t want to forever work under my dad, it feels too…”

  “Closeted.”

  “Exactly!” He looked back at me, jumping on the word. “I’m also not a salesman.”

  “That’s why you’re doing engineering?”

  “I prefer figuring out how stuff works to putting on a performance for some poor customer.”

  I squeezed his hand again, not knowing what to say. He raised our joined hands and passed them over my head until they rested on my other shoulder – he pulled me into his side, just holding me there.

  My usual excitement at being near him had morphed into something much warmer as he held me close. I was scared to breathe; nervous he’d pull away.

  We sat there for many minutes in silence, just feeling close to each other. I could hear his heartbeat from my head against his shoulder. Slowly his fingers loosened from my hand and he began to run them through my hair. I didn’t analyse it. I didn’t want to. This was probably just part of the distraction he needed me for.

  After all, he only saw me as a friend. That thought sent my stomach into a dark pit.

  “Tye, I’m so sorry.” I whispered softly. There was nothing I could say to make it better. Only his dad could fix this.

  “Thank you,” he pulled me tighter to his side, burying his fingers in my hair as I rested on his shoulder. “But I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.”

  “What do you want?” I tilted my head up to his, enjoying the feeling of his fingers in my hair and trying desperately to expel that dark pit.

  “Distraction. Escape.” His eyes settled on mine. More than anything did I want to kiss him – distract him in a new way, but that’s not what he needed me for. He needed a friend right now and the temptation of him was only pulling me closer. A beat longer and I would kiss him, I’d ruin our friendship by asking for something he couldn’t give.

  “Well, we’re in a good place for it!” I suddenly jumped away from him, up off the bench. He looked startled on the seat, his arm still up and bereft, wondering where I’d gone. I pulled on the arm, moving along quickly and trying not to draw any attention to what had just happened. “Up!”

  “Where are we going?” He still looked confused.

  “To be distracted.”

  There was one of those tacky amusement parks just off the promenade. I dragged him through the doorway, even though he complained, and wasted no time in exchanging a pound coin for a bunch of two penny pieces.

  “I haven’t been in a place like this for years,” Tye laughed as he looked around at the spotted manky carpet and aging machines. “God it looks old. It reminds me of beach holidays in England when I was four.”

  “That is its charm,” I handed him the money in a plastic cup. “Old, falling down, nostalgia from a time past. Your challenge is to lose all this change on the coin machines.”

  “My kind of challenge.”

  A few hours later, we had spent all of our coppers on the coin slots. Tye got change for another pound which we then spent on the air hockey table. He was quite annoyed I managed to beat him in most of the air hockey games, it seemed we were nearly as equally matched as in pool. This time I was not so gracious in defeat and happily paraded my win in front of him. After a walk on the beach where I made a show of attempting to push him in the sea, and he retaliated by very nearly pushing me in, saving me at the last second with a grab to my wrist, we retreated back to our bench on the promenade with fish and chips.

  “Thanks,” Tye said as we tried to throw our various bundles of balled up newspaper into the bin without standing up.

  “For what?”

  “For making me smile,” he snatched the paper from my hand.

  “Anytime.”

  He smiled again and threw the paper at the bin – it landed perfectly.

  Chapter 10

  Tye agreed to see his dad on Sunday and I was expecting a call from my mum, so we planned to meet up to play pool with Sam, Savannah, and Luke that evening. Sadly, the call with my mum did not leave me in a mood for going out.

  “I could still come up for dinner on Friday, sweetheart? It would just be nice to get away from all the stress this Easter, you know?”

  “Of course, mum. It’s fine, honestly.” My churning stomach said it wasn’t fine, but in my head it really was. My mum’s best friend had offered to take her away on holiday to Lanzarote for the Easter break, meaning I couldn’t go home and spend it with my mother.

  “How about dinner on Friday, then?”

  “I’d like that,” my hand was trembling as I drew a new ladybird onto my knuckles. Of course I understood how good this was for my mum. She needed to escape like Tye needed it the day before. It didn’t make the idea of not spending Easter with her any easier.

  “Good. You could away go to your dad’s for Easter weekend?” She was clearly trying to stay upbeat, but her voice down the phone cracked with strain, betraying the fact her heart wasn’t really in this charitable gesture for my dad.

  “No, I’m not sure I want that.”

  More like, hell no! As if I would want to watch my dad and his new girlfriend play at being a happy family. I’d much rather spend Easter alone in halls.

  The ladybug was doing a little jig – I drew little musical notes around him to add to the picture, wishing Rosie was sat next to me.

  Savannah and I were the first ones to arrive at Chequers, so we perched on the stools to claim our pool table while we waited for the others.

  “That bad?” Savannah asked as we discussed Tye’s argument with his dad on Saturday.

  “The tasmanian devil could not have looker angrier,” it would be a long time before I could forget how furious Tye had been. His face had been pink, veins popping, and the words had felt venomous, even if I didn’t know what they had meant.

  “Talk of said tasmanian devil,” Savannah pointed over my shoulder at the guys as they walked down the stairs towards the pool tables. Tye was sporting a face as good a thunder. As soon as they reached us, Luke elbowed me and gestured to Tye, wordlessly urging me to say something.

  “I’ll go get us some drinks,” Luke’s hint was quickly taken up by Savannah.

  “We’ll come too,” she had to grab the rather non-plussed Sam to pull him away.

  “I don’t think it’s a three-man job,” he complained but she was ignoring him.

  Once their backs were turned, Tye perched on the stool next to me, his
eyes fixed on the floor.

  “How did your meeting with Mr Grumpy go?” I asked carefully, enjoying how I had managed to compare his dad to another one of the Mr Men.

  “Horrible,” Tye quickly pushed past the small smile my words had brought, returning to a heavy frown. “There was a lot of shouting,” he ran a hand across the back of his neck.

  “Do you want distracting again?” It was pretty much the only thing I could do.

  “Yes,” he turned to face me fully, splaying out his hands in a pleading gesture. “Distract me as much as you can. Come at me with any idea you have, with everything you’ve got.” In the soft lighting of the pub, he looked particularly handsome, even though his cocoa eyes were sad. I was desperate to cheer him up.

  “Yes sir,” I saluted him as an idea popped into my head. The last time we had been at the pub playing pool, my distraction technique from the game had worked surprisingly well, it could be fun to have another go. Especially as he had given me carte-blanche. It meant I could indulge in fantasies, have fun without risk. I crossed one leg over the other, bringing my boot-clad foot to brush the inside of his calf up to his knee slowly. Last time the move had worked so well, and I was not disappointed. His handsome face cracked into a smile.

  “You’re planning to flirt with me all night?” His voice had dropped a little deeper than it had been a moment before.

  “Best distraction of any kind,” I repeated the movement of my foot.

  “So it is,” his eyes followed the movement of my heeled boot as it dropped down his calf again. “Careful, Ivy. Flirt too much and my resistance will cave.”

  “Resistance to what?”

  “You.” His cocoa eyes couldn’t even lift to meet mine.

  He was resisting me? This was not coupled with his normal wink.

  “What if I don’t want you to resist?” I asked very quietly, feeling my stomach knot in nerves. The little people that sat in my tummy were all waving their heads madly, as if to ask What the hell are you doing? Backtrack!

  It was the barrier we hadn’t crossed, despite flirtation, but I wanted to know. I really wanted to know if he was just flirting with me to be distracted and have a bit of fun, or if he was actually interested. I wanted to be more than his friend, was that so wrong? It was hard not to ask, sat with him like this where all I could think about was removing that t-shirt and looking at those tattoos beneath.