☆ halcyon girl - five ☆

☆ chapter 2 ☆

"Lily? What are you doing?" He squinted at me and then his eyes widened. "Have you been crying?"

I furiously wiped away my tears. My day could not have been any more embarrassing. I decided to ignore the strange coincidence of Dylan finding me, even though my mind was running a mile a minute with the invasive thought that he had been following me. I scrambled to my feet and stared at him, my lips slightly parted. He pursed his lips. My knees were covered in gravel and dirt and I probably had pit stains at that point. Dylan probably thought I looked disgusting.

Suddenly, he bit his lip and got out of his car, walking over toward me. I could feel my heartbeat as he walked toward me, but it turned out he was just getting my bike. He opened his car door and shoved it in the back seat. I was shocked. He turned back around and opened the passenger side door.

"Come on, Lily. I'll take you home." He didn't look at me as he said it.

"What?" I choked out. "Why?"

He rolled his eyes. "Cus how else will you get home?"

"I'm fine. I don't need a ride. I can get home just fine on my own." My hands twitched at my sides.

"Please don't do this, Lily. Come on, I can drive you, please." He turned his body to face me.

"I barely know you! We spoke once, and only because it was for an assignment! What makes you think I'm not capable of getting home by myself?" I yelled.

He was clearly shocked. "Okay, you want the truth?" He inhaled and pointed to a car parked a few hundred yards away from us and started speaking quieter. "You see those guys? I heard them talking about seeing if you'd stay until it's dark, which by the way, isn't long from now, and then throwing you into their car. I stopped listening after that. Thank god I happened to be in the area."

My jaw had dropped. I did not know how to react other than hauling ass into that passenger seat. The second Dylan was in the car, I locked the doors. I didn't speak until we were far away from the guys in the car.

"Oh my god," I mumbled. He didn't say anything. I could feel the hot tears flowing down my cheeks again. I couldn't seem to stop crying. After driving around a few blocks, he pulled over onto the curb and looked at me.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I shook my head rapidly. "It was a shitty day." He nodded understandingly. "I can't believe this. Before you came, they were talking to me. Saying, well, vile things and making fun of me and I just, I didn't know what to do so I just stayed there. I couldn't ride my bike because it's disgusting and I can't get in touch with my mom, and it's just been an awful day. I was way too far away from my house to walk at that point and I didn't know what to do." My voice cracked with each word.

"Do you want me to drop you off at your house?" He asked soothingly. He wasn't being incredibly supportive but I knew he too was unsure of how to act in this type of situation.

"I guess." I felt around in the pockets of my backpack for my keys when I realized I had left them on the kitchen counter. "Goddammit! Goddammit goddammit goddammit!" I screamed. Dylan was visibly surprised. "My mom isn't home and I have no fucking keys!" I hid my face with my hands and took deep breaths. The only noise in the car for a while was my trembling breaths.

"Um, you could come to my house if you want. My parents aren't home either but at least I have keys." He checked his pocket to make sure he wasn't lying.

I wiped my eyes. "Do I really have any other option?" I asked angrily. He looked down and nodded once. I sighed. "I'm sorry, that was rude. This is a lot to lay down on a person whose last name I don't even know." I looked out the window. He drove silently and I felt awful. We passed the suburbs of Littleton. I stared at the road, concentrating on the lines and how they skipped every once in a while due to weathered paint. My head felt very hot from all the crying so I pressed it against the cold window.