Broken People | Dylan O'Brien

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖜𝖔

"You're a lifesaver!" Hanna squealed when she took the water bottle with eager hands, gulping down half of it before she noticed Michelle's dazed expression. "What... What happened to you, girlie?" Hanna was still slurring her words but a little less so. Good, she was sobering up again.

"Michelle?!" came from the other side of the bar, Melissa marching towards her. "Please tell me that I saw what I think I saw."

"Dylan O'Brien just bought Hanna's water, yeah," Michelle mumbled, shrugging a little when two pairs of eyes turned towards her. They were staring holes into her head and Michelle quickly spoke again to distract them from looking at her like they have never seen her before. "He was rude, the bartender was rude, he bought the water, and then he left. Nothing special."

"The way he was staring at you was something special I'd say."

"You too?" Michelle asked, turning to Luna who came up behind her. "My god, it was nothing, okay? He is back with his friends and drinking himself into a coma. He's literally just a guy."

"IT'S LITERALLY DYLAN O'BRIEN!" Melissa exclaimed, waving her arms around desperately. "Michelle... I swear to god. You're missing a whole opportunity."

Michelle cowered in embarrassment, hoping he didn't hear Melissa shout his name, though the bass had only intensified as the evening furthered. "An opportunity for what? To be his sidepiece for an evening? No, thanks. He doesn't even want me to be one, just... Just leave it, okay? He's not the Dylan O'Brien he used to be anyways."

The club suddenly felt too crowed, too warm, too intense. Michelle looked back at her friends. They all realised at the same time that the night was over. There was sight-seeing to be done on their last day in LA the next day and tonight had been quite the adventure already.

"Let's just go?" Michelle suggested, smiling gratefully when the others nodded, already searching through pockets for wardrobe tickets and bus passes.

They wove through the crowd, inch by inch. Michelle thought she could see a blonde buzzcut but shook her head. It couldn't be him, well, it could, but she couldn't see him for a second time. That was against the law. The law of famous people and normal people interacting. You're supposed to meet them once and have it be a special thing – a unicorn sighting. Something that you will treasure for the rest of your life because it will never happen again. Not that this meeting between them was anything special. It was just a chance meeting of an overwhelmed girl trying to get water for her friend and a drunk and/or high boy trying to get the high ground to stow away his embarrassment. It was fleeting, like every moment in a club is. Hands touching accidentally as you try to get through the crowd to the exit, something you will forget about again in a moment. Someone yelling 'hey!' which makes you turn around but escapes your brain again when they wave enthusiastically at someone else. The loudness and tight air and the shitty music the moment you step outside into the cold air, already forgotten what it was like in the club, even though you just escaped it mere seconds ago.

"So... You're not going to like this," Melissa said, smiling sheepishly at Michelle in particular. "But... ThereisaclubfurtherdowntownandIthoughttheremightbemorecelebritiesthere?"

"No. Absolutely not."

"Come on! It'll be fun!"

"No, it won't be."

Michelle was pissy and maybe a little too cold and less understanding or nice than she should have been. But it has been A Night and she didn't want to have to sit through another club, submerge herself again into the horrors that are dubstep and increasingly more drunk dudes trying to hit on her because she chose to wear a tank top that night instead of a full hazard suit.