Dear Dylan

vii. window shards

Gary held my hand tightly as he guided me inside our house. He straightaway pulled me to the living room. He sat on the couch and patted on the empty space to his right, signaling me to sit. I did as he commanded me to. I was biting my lip the whole time, mentally asking my guardian angel to protect me from whatever happens to me.

"So.." He started while raising his eyebrows at me. "Who was that kid?"

"That was Dylan Howard. He's a transferee." I nervously said while panting.

"I'm gonna ask you a very personal question but I want you to respond honestly. You can do that, right?" He asked and I nodded.

He closed his eyes and sighed in hesitation. "Did you use protection?"

My eyes enlarged at his question. "Gary, no. It wasn't anything li-"

"I understand that teenagers nowadays can be a little bit..." He paused for a moment. "...undomesticated. But you must be aware that I don't want Jane and Dylan babies roaming around my property. Not a single one."

I covered his mouth before he could say anything. I was flushing too much in embarrassment. "Will you please shut up for just a second?"

He nodded and I reluctantly let go of my hand. "Are you sure th-"

"Gary, let me finish." I said scoldingly and he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You're literally overreacting. Dylan and I aren't like that, alright? We're friends. Just friends. I'm so disappointed in you. How could you think of me as someone who randomly bangs guys?"

"Jane, you don't have guy friends or any kind of friends, to be exact. What do you expect from my speculations? That you're simply friends with that random guy from our neighborhood?" He snorted.

"Exactly." I said seriously. "Look, the only relationships I will ever have are with fictional characters from the books I read. You have nothing to worry about. Prior to that, Dylan's a good guy. He's a bookworm like me. He's completely trustworthy."

"Don't blame me for accusing you of such things. Dylan could be the kind of bookworm who reads pornographic novels and books with nudes." He argued.

I looked at him in utter disbelief. "Gary, you know nothing about books."

He bit his lip nervously. "Yes, I do."

I looked at him challengingly. "Really?"

"Yeah. They have words, chapters, and all that bullshit."

I nodded, not seeming convinced. "Uhuh."

He glared at me and threw his hands in the air. "Okay, I admit it. I know nothing about the books you read but I know a lot about men and they can be quite menacing."

I snorted. "Yeah, like you."

He put his hands on his hips. "I'm an adult and I'm single. I'm a consideration." He paused. "Always remember to use protection, alright? I don't mind you doing the frickle-frackle business. Just keep it down when I'm in the house." He gently kissed my forehead and looked at me. "I was kidding."

I stared at him in disgust. "Jesus Christ. Gary, I'm 17."

He pointed to me. "Exactly, Jane. Exactly."

"Stop saying frickle-frackle. You sound like one of those adults who try to be sophisticated like their children." I added.

"Heard it from a couple teenagers down the street. It sounded pretty cool to me." He shrugged.

"Whatever." I muttered and left the living room. I went to the storage area and grabbed a pack of roasted almonds. I grabbed a milk carton from the refrigerator and directly drank from it.