don't let me get me

twelfth

Kennedy woke up early the next morning, knowing Dylan hadn't put anything together for their trip. She woke him up by pressing faint kisses to his jawline. He had his arm around her and she was cuddled into his side. He ignored her for a bit before he huffed. She giggled.

"You need to pack." She told him, pressing her lips to his neck.

"I know." He replied in a raspy voice. "But I don't want to."

"I'll help you, come on." She rolled her eyes, throwing the covers off their bodies.

He groaned as she pulled him up. He followed her over to his drawers and they both started going through things to see if Dylan wanted to bring it.

After about an hour and a half, Dylan was all packed. He hopped in the shower while Kennedy got ready in his room. She threw her hair up, slid on an Erie sweater that she found in Dylan's things, and a pair of Roots trackpants she had brought with her. She was going for comfortable for the drive.

Dylan came out of the shower with only khakis on as he toweled his hair. He chuckled at Kennedy, scrolling on his laptop. She looked up at him.

"Why are you laughing at me?" She frowned.

"Your hair looks so funny." He laughed again.

She had a giant bun on top of her head. She shrugged and went back to looking up directions. Dylan thought he had good direction, and he was wrong. So she was making sure she had them memorized. He walked over and laid down beside her. She ignored him.

"Hey!" He hollered.

She gave him a dirty look. "What do you want?"

"Kiss me, right now." He said with his brows furrowed.

She sighed and leaned down, meeting his lips with hers. "Now go get ready."

"Do you need something McDavid for the game?" He asked as he unfolded his shirt.

"No, I bought an Oilers shirt last week." She smiled.

"You don't want OG McDavid shit?" He teased, pulling out a McDavid shirsey from the Otters.

She laughed, shaking her head. "I'm okay, thank you."

Dylan was finally ready so they loaded up his car. They were taking Alex and TJ too. Some of the other guys were driving themselves to the game.

Dylan and TJ argued about a play in one of the NHL games the night before for a good portion of the ride while Alex and Kennedy killed a duet. They all shut up when a song they all liked came on. Kennedy had aux cord privileges and she was not disappointing.

They got to Pittsburgh in about three hours. They found their hotels, settled in their rooms, and changed before they explored the city.

Dylan had to keep checking his phone since he had promised to get Alli and her friends from the airport. They were landing around three and it was two thirty now, so he was definitely stressing. Kennedy was way more stressed out than he was though.

She was counting down the seconds to three because she was terrified that Allison was gonna hate her. She felt like she was meeting his mom all over again, but it was just his best friend. She knew how close they were though, and obviously, Allison had a tremendous impact on him and he thought so highly of her, so what if she didn't like Ken? Was that the end for her and Dylan?

"Did you hear a word I said?" Dylan's laugh pulled her from her thoughts. She shook her head. "We gotta go get Alli and her friends."

"I'm coming with you?" Kennedy asked.

"Well, if you wanna stay with Brinksy and F-"

"No, I'll come." She stopped him.

They dropped the guys off at the hotel then made their way to the airport. Kennedy just smiled and nodded while Dylan told her stories upon stories of him, Allison, and Connor. Dylan must have noticed how out of it Kennedy was.

"Ken, you don't have to be nervous." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"I kinda do." She argued. "You literally talk about Allison like, I don't know, she's just your favourite girl in the world and I'm scared she's gonna think I'm trying to take that from her."

"I can have more than one favourite girl." He smiled then kissed the back of her hand. "You two are gonna end up being best friends. I promise you that."

They sat in the airport, waiting for Allison and company. Dylan couldn't remember her friends' names off the top of his head, but he would recognize them if he saw them. He wrapped an arm around Kennedy's shoulders, pulling her into his side. She rested her head on his shoulder.

Dylan closed his eyes for no more than a minute, then he heard Allison's all too familiar voice. His eyes shot open and he jerked upright. Kennedy sat up and gave him a questioning look.

"I hear her." He explained, standing up. "She's really loud."

She stood up beside him and he took her hand. They started approaching the area he heard Alli voice together. He spotted her standing at the luggage claim with a girl shorter than her and a girl taller than her. She was on the phone, most likely talking to Connor since she was grinning from ear to ear. Dylan led Kennedy over to them.

"You're standing here on the phone with Connor when I was waiting for your call in the lobby, really, Rogers?" Dylan chirped.

Allison looked over to him and her smile grew even wider. "I'll call you back, Con."

She ended the call and actually jumped into Dylan's arms. He laughed as his arms wrapped around her. She had her legs around his waist and was squeezing him ridiculously tight. He was rocking them back and forth.

"I've missed you so much, you little fucking, string bean." She said as she hugged him.

"Alli, your thong is out." Her shorter friend sighed.

"Oops." She laughed then hopped down. "God, how have you been? Not that we haven't talked."

"I'm so good." He smiled and pulled Kennedy in front of him. "I brought Kennedy, you remember her, right?"

"Yeah, of course!" Allison nodded, turning towards her.

Kennedy extended her hand to shake Allison's. Allison laughed and pulled her into a hug. Kennedy smiled as she hugged back.

"Thank you so much for keeping this rat so happy." Allison whispered to her. They pulled apart. "You remember my friends, right?"

Dylan made a face and Allison knew he forgot their names. She shook her head.

"Phoebe," The shorter one. "And Veronica." The taller one.

"Nice to see you again." He smiled.

"Such a jerk." Alli sighed.

They walked out to Dylan's car and loaded it up. Dylan was actually shocked when Allison didn't try to call shotgun. Kennedy climbed in the front, looking at him. He smiled and gave her a kiss.

Everyone talked the drive to the hotel, including Kennedy. She was surprised. She thought that she would've sat there quietly and not felt like part of the discussion, but she really did feel like part of it. She was laughing and listening along with everyone.

She felt like part of the group all along and she had really been longing for that. Lately she had been feeling like she just came into Dylan's life and ruined the flow of it, the flow he had with everyone for years now, but right now? She felt like she was meant to come along when she did.