Can I Ask You a Question?

6

April

Two months passed since the tornado, and two months had passed since Dean asked me out. I have slept in his room ever since. He was serious about taking me out, and we had been dating for those two months since. He was sweet, at least in my fucked up head. I was happy we only had one more month until the spring semester was over.

My fingers were curled under my nose as I pressed my hand underneath it. It smelled like hand sanitizer and potato chips. I stopped studying and stood up, taking my snuggie and shuffling into Dean's room. My muscles ached as I finally crashed down into his bed. He sat in his desk chair and spun around, laughing at me.

"Are you all studied out?" He smiled and slumped into the bed next to me. I nodded and curled into his side. He huffed and bent down to kiss my forehead, sinking into the bed to lie parallel to me.

"My brain is broken," I whine, and he lets out a small chuckle.

"I know how you feel," he shifts beneath me, and I put my chin on his chest to meet his eyes. It sounds like you need a break." There's a mischievous gleam in his eyes, making my face flush.

"Where are we going?" I ask as he drags all of us out of our apartment door. I mean all of us. Adam, Leo, me, and Dean.

"Yeah, I have laundry to do, man." Leo sighed, and I grinned as we piled into the elevator and headed downstairs.

"You better have your fucking underwear on underneath your clothes," Dean mumbled.

"What the fuck does that mean?!" Leo screamed.

When we all realized he piled us into Benji's car to drive to the beach, I was frozen, sitting on Dean's lap. Benji was driving like a manic down the freeway, and Dean did his best to hold me still.

"Benji, for the love of god, keep your eyes on the road," I whined, and he just chuckled. Benji was a bad talker and an even worse storyteller when he was driving. He always had to look at who he was talking to in the rearview mirror.

"You're okay," Dean said into my ear from behind, turning my face red. Dean's fingers hooked under the pantlegs of my shorts, and I leaned back into him. I could feel the guy's eyes on me; they hadn't known about our relationship until now. We kept it to ourselves. Dean had decided to tell them we were dating by offering to have me sit on his lap so we had enough room for all of the shit he wanted to bring and Adam's wheelchair. Adam might not have needed it now, but it was just in case. He was walking okay now, recovering "really good," he always said. He hasn't spoken to me a lot lately. I miss sitting on the couch with him and talking until three a.m. I'm just glad he's doing better.

When we arrived, we piled out of the car, just like in Teen Beach Movie—that or a clown car. Leo was forced to carry most of the big stuff, like the cooler and the firewood, and Dean had all of the lawn chairs under his arms at once while Adam and I held the canopy.

"I am starving." Adam groaned, and I chuckled.

"I'll start cooking as soon as Leo gets set up with that fire." I tease and watch Leo roll his eyes playfully at me.

"Thank you for letting me tag along, Dean," Benji said, and Dean muttered something under his breath. Yeah... Dean doesn't like Benji anymore, and I wouldn't say I like the fact that Dean doesn't like Benji, but there's nothing I can do about it. Everyone has been distant recently, and it's been killing me. Maybe this trip will work.

The apartment started being referred to as "The Hell Hole." nothing stays the same when it comes back out. Not even us. It's like a fucking time warp in there.

"When we get done, can we all go back to the hell hole and watch a movie for old time's sake?" Benji adds, and Adam nods.

"You can sleep over if you want to."