The Unexpected Happily Ever After

Chapter 9

Once we were outside, I closed the door behind us before addressing him.

"Thank you for coming today. I know that it means a lot to the guys." I said.

"No need to thank me. They're my best friends, and obviously I haven't been a very good friend because I'm completely out of the loop on their whole damn lives."

"I wouldn't take it personal that you didn't know Trey and Liam were dating me. It literally just happened. No one else knew. Hell, even Andrea didn't know that we had been hooking up. That secret keeping was my fault. I was scared of people's reactions." I said feeling slightly guilty about the secret keeping on my end.

"It's not just that Arden. It's everything. They felt like they couldn't tell me about being friends with y'all, about Matt and Andrea dating, and about you two investing in the gym. I always assumed they had gotten a loan for it. I don't know anything about their lives. I didn't know Matt had quit his job and was working for Mr. Winston now. We used to tell each other everything and now I'm on the outside looking in." Dylan rambled.

"That's not true. You're just used to being the only one with secrets Dylan. I seem to remember quite a few things that you told me in high school that no one else knew about. I highly doubt that you started telling them EVERYTHING after I left." I replied.

"I guess your right. It just all feels weird. You used to be my best friend and now you're their's and I'm not sure where I even fit in with them anymore ya know?" He said as he leaned against the railing to the stairs.

"Everything will come together. It's just going to take some time." I said as I squeezed his arm.

"You're a lot nicer to me than I deserve." Dylan commented.

"I was always a lot nicer to you than you deserved." I replied with a chuckle, "Sorry. That's not true anyway. You were there for me when my dad left us and I won't ever forget that."

"You paid up that debt a long time ago. You were a great friend to me and I treated you like shit. If I was any kind of friend I would have realized how shitty Holly treated you and done something about it. To this day I still regret ditching you at prom. Who knows? If I had taken you, it might be us in the relationship now." Dylan said with a rueful smile.

"Not likely. You would have ended up back with her at some point. Prom wouldn't have made a difference except that we might have stayed friends." I said with a sad smile.

"That alone would have made it worth it." Dylan said returning my sad smile.

"Can't change the past. There's no point in dwelling on it." I said.

"I can't change the past, but I can change the future. I want my best friend back Arden. I know that I have a lot to make up for, but I want to make up for it. I want us back to the way we were before I became a complete tool." Dylan said almost pleadingly.

"How about we start small? Want to go somewhere with me tomorrow?" I asked.

"Anywhere." He replied.

"Good. I'll meet you at your house tomorrow at 5. Your number still the same?" I asked.

"Yeah still the same." He answered.

"Perfect. I'll shoot you a text and you can send me your address. Wear something that you don't mind getting dirty in." I said with a smile.

"What are we doing?" Dylan asked looking at me warily.

"It's a surprise. You'll just have to trust me." I said before turning and going back inside.

"Y'all were out there for a long time." Matt said gazing over at me suspiciously, "Dylan isn't rocking any new black eyes is he?"