Our Chemistry

Chapter 13

When I walked into the cafeteria at lunch, I immediately made eye contact with Dylan, who was sitting with his friends. He waved at me. I waved back.

I joined my friends.

"Heyyy," I said, sitting down.

"There you are," Kate said.

"Oh God. What?" I asked. I took a bite of my apple.

"We're settling a debate," Kate responded.

"Do you put water on your toothbrush before and after you put the toothpaste? Or just on after?" Tyler asked.

"I'm not even gonna ask how you guys got on this subject," I said.

"That's not an answer Oliver," Tyler said.

"I put it on before and after," I said, "Like a normal person,"

"Hah!" Kate yelled. Everyone looked at us, which just made us all laugh.

"You guys are weird," Tyler said, "Only after.
What's the point of doing it twice?"

"I don't know, but you're a psychopath for only doing it after," I said, Kate laughed.

"What about Claire?" I asked.

"Sometimes I do it twice, sometimes I do it once," she said.

In Chemistry, Dylan was already sitting, and I made eye contact with him immediately when I walked in. I smiled. I made my way over to our seat in the back. I grabbed the small trash can by our desk.

I gestured asking if he needed it.

He flipped me off. I laughed.

"I see you're learning from me," I said, sitting down.

"Whatever," he said, smiling.

Mrs. Thorpe lectured. After class, Dylan and I walked out of the door together.

"Do you wanna hang out today?" He asked me, cracking his left thumb.

He loved doing that.

"Sure," I said, "We're not doing Chemistry though, right? I don't want to,"

He laughed. "No,"

Kate was waiting for me as usual outside the class door. Her and Dylan said hi.

"Cool. Also, not my house because then we'll be forced to take care of Elle," I said, all three of us now walking together, "We can go somewhere else,"

He laughed. "Forced? Wow. Didn't even bother asking me if I wanted to have a play date," he joked.

"Why doesn't Lilly ever have to take care of Elle?" Kate asked.

"She always gets out of it," I said.

"We can go to my house," Dylan said.

"Clean invite guys," Kate said. Dylan turned red.

"You're invited of course," he said.

"It's okay. I have work today," she said. She quickly looked at me and winked.

We all said bye, and I met Lilly at the car.

I drove over to Dylan's mansion—I mean house.
Dylan greeted me with a smile and opened the door. I walked in and immediately saw his mother on the couch, drinking wine.

"Hey, it's you! What was your name again?" She asked.

"Oliver. It's good to see you again," I said.

"It's nice to actually meet one of your friends," she said to Dylan.

His smile faded.

"Well, make yourself comfortable Oliver," she said, taking another sip.

"We're actually going on a walk," he said.
We were?

"Okay, be careful," she said.

We walked outside.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't take that anymore," he said.

"No worries. I actually need to get my steps in for the day," I joked. He looked at me and shook his head as he laughed.

Dylan lived surprisingly close to a trail, which is where we ended up going.

"How long has she been drinking for?" I asked.

"Ever since my dad got this new job. So like 5 years ago?" He looked at me, "Something like that. He's never home, and I think the loneliness really got to her,"

"That's awful," I said, "So, she was sober before that?"

"Yeah. And I think that's what makes it worse. The fact that I had seen how caring and loving she was before," he said.

"Wow. I am so sorry Dylan. I wish there was more I could do to help. You don't deserve any of this," I said. He looked over at me.

"It's okay. It was harder at first, but I'm used to it now," he said.

We stopped over a bridge, watching the ripples of water crash beneath us. We stood there in silence for a few minutes, both of us lost in our own thoughts.

"I've never told anyone any of this before," he said, breaking the silence. He even looked surprised at himself.

He was still looking down at the rushing water down below. I instinctively grabbed his arm and said, "I'll always be here for you,"

Our eyes met each other. I'd never looked into his eyes this deeply before. They were mesmerizing, his whole face was. I truly had never met anyone that was this attractive and an amazing person.

We both started leaning in slowly, like the universe was drawing us both in. Our lips met each other, which felt like nothing I had ever felt before. It felt so right.

It started with slow, sweet kisses, but then we really started kissing. He stopped to look at me and smiled. Then, he cupped my cheeks with his hands and kept kissing me.

Was this real? Dylan kissing me? Dylan...the guy that every girl has a crush on.

After making out for a few minutes, he pulled us apart.

"You lied to me," he said, throwing me off. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"You said you would tell me who you liked on Sunday. It's Monday," he added.

"You remember that?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Well, it's kinda obvious now, isn't it?" I said.

He smiled at me and kissed me again, "You're such a dork,"