He's Just A Bad Boy

Chapter 18 - The ex

Chapter 18 - The ex

*HALEY'S POV*

"So I'll pick you up at 8?"

"Sure" I don't question why Carter wants to pick me up so late I just nod and smile

"Sounds good. Do you need a lift home?" he asks, I don't want to be a nuisance but it is raining and Maya's sick today

"Is that alright?" I ask

"Yeah, that's fine, come on" he opens his car door for me and I smile before sliding in to the plush leather seats

Carter jogs around the front of the car, opening his own door and hopping inside. He reaches for the heater and turns it up, along with the radio.

I hum along to borrow my heart by Taylor Henderson and look out the window as familiar surrounding pass me.

"Do you sing?" Carter asks

I laugh and shake my head "I have a terrible voice"

"Awe, I'm sure it's not that bad"

I smile at him and continue looking out of the window.

"So what do I wear tonight?" I ask Carter who is intently looking at the road

"Wear a dress"

"Ok, I think I have one lying around"

"Great"

A few minutes pass before Carter pulls into my drive way. He turns to me and smiles

"Well, here we are"

"Thanks for the ride, Carter" I thank him

"No problem" he opens his door and walks me to my door.

"I'll see you at 8"

"See you"

I open my front door and close it after me.

"Jake! I'm home!" I call as I walk up the stairs to my room

No answer

"Jake?"

"That's weird" I whisper he probably went to Katie's again

I flop onto my bed and pull my phone out. I've got multiple texts from Jake

From Jake: Hey Hales, gone to Katie's for a bit. Call me if you need.

From Jake: I'll be back before 10, don't wait up.

From Jake: Haley? answer or I'll think something's happened

From Katie: Jakes paranoid. You should probably call him. Xx

I go into my contacts and call Jake. within a few rings he answers

"Haley?"

"Hey Jake"

"Just got your messages, I'm going out tonight, I probably won't be home when you get here"

"Where are you going?"

"Out"

"Haley" he warns and I roll my eyes

"I've got a date with Carter"

******
After rummaging through my wardrobe for about half an hour I come across a maroon dress that will go perfectly with my black heels. I lay the dress on my bed and keep the heels out for later. It's about 5:30pm and I've got some time before I begin getting ready.

I head downstairs and flop onto the couch. Sighing, I pull my laptop from the coffee table and turn it on, scrolling through tumblr and watching Zoellas latest video.

I stare intently at the screen. Reading the Facebook status Katie has written on her wall.

Katie Walsh: Has the best boyfriend in the world <3 - with Jake Michelle

Awe. They really are adorable. I would be lying if I said that I'm not jealous of their relationship. They're just that cliche tumblr couple. Jake is the romantic guy and Katie is the beautiful girl. It was meant to be. I don't know how I feel about Carter. I guess after this date I'll know how I really feel about him. He's nice and caring and considerate, what's not to like? it almost seems like he's the perfect boyfriend. Like he's been mechanically created. I must say I was slightly disappointed when he said we were going somewhere fancy, I love to dress up and have a good night every now and then but I would have preferred something more relaxed for a second date.

I snap out of my deep thoughts as the door bell sounds through the large house.

I get up off the couch, lifting the laptop off my body and placing it on the couch.

I swing open the door and I see, Dylan? A battered and bruised and not to mention drunk Dylan, but a Dylan nevertheless.

"Dylan?" I gasp. I'm pissed. More than pissed but right now I can't think of anything else than to make sure this idiot is ok. He's leaning against the wall, barely holding himself up.

He groans in response and I take it as a hint that he's not in the mood for an interrogation.

"Come here" I pull him inside and close the door behind him. I push him to sit on a stool after slapping him for trying to sleep on the couch.

"You may have a concussion, you can't go to sleep!" I shake him and barely lift him up.

After he's seated I run upstairs to grab the first aid kit that mum left for us.

I pull out some cotton balls and wet them with some dettol. He winces as I dab the cotton over his split eyebrow.

"You're an idiot" I whisper, what was he thinking? what even happened?

"I know" he sighs

I clean up his busted lip and give him an ice pack to press to his bruised stomach.

"What even happened?"

"Nothing"

"Dylan. Let's not do this shit again" I say looking straight at him

"Just that douche bag Ryan"

"What'd he do?"

"He was talking fucking bull shit"

"About?" I say warily. I don't know if I want to hear the words that come from his mouth next.

"You" I close my eyes.

Ryan has been a dick to me since we broke up. Yes, Ryan and I dated, for about 4 months, not very long. He said that if I wasn't going to have sex with him what was the point. I realised then that he wasn't right for me at all. I respected myself too much to continue dating him.

"I want to know what he said"

"Haley-"

"Just tell me"

"He said you were a slut, and that he fucked you heaps of times"

"What?" my mouth is agape as I stare at Dylan in shock.

"The whole reason we broke it off was because he wanted me to have sex with him and I wouldn't!" I cover my face with my hands, tears of frustration and pain gliding down my rosie cheeks.

"Hey, it's ok" Dylan rubs my back soothingly

"And you, one minute you don't want anything to do with me and the next you turn up at my door like this" I gesture to his bloody bandages

"I'm sorry" those were the last words I expected to come from Dylan's mouth. The fact that they sounded so sincere made my stomach do flips.

I sigh "what happened to you?"

"I went over to him and punched him square in the nose" he smiles lightly

"And then he came at me with some of his mates"

"Oh my god" I breathe

"You shouldn't have done that! look at you now Dylan, you shouldn't have bothered" I whisper the last part

"I'm not going to just let him talk shit that I know is not true"

"How do you know it's not true?"

"I know you-"

Dylan's voice is cut off by my phone ringing loudly

"Sorry" I apologise before picking up the phone and answering it

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me Carter" oh shit. Carter. I have to cancel the date or shoo Dylan out

"Hey Carter, what's up?"

"Well, my mum needs my help with some stuff and I can't make it to the date, I'm really really sorry"

I laugh lightly "carter, it's fine. Really"

"Maybe another time?"

"Maybe"

I hang up after we say our goodbyes.

I hear Dylan scoff beside me and I look over to him, a frown etched on my face.

"What?" I ask

"Carter? really Haley?"

"He's nice"

"And sweet"

"And boring" Dylan adds. That part was true, Carter could get a little boring sometimes.

He takes my silence as an agreement and chuckles lightly before wincing as I assume his stomach is still in a lot of pain.

"Dylan?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you"

"For what?" he raises his eyebrows

"For standing up for me"

He smiles softly before pulling me into an unexpected hug. It takes me a few minutes to hug him back.

"Can you please explain why you've been up and down with me lately?" I plead and he nods reluctantly

"Prepare yourself" he breathes

I nod, encouraging him to continue.

"I don't get close to people. I mean, I'm close with my cousins, Adam and Kristen. See, my dad was an alcoholic, he would drink and come home drunk off his arse. I remember singing to my sister, Gemma, she's 19. We would be hiding in my closet as I sang to her, attempting to drown out the sounds of my dad yelling downstairs, my mum would try and calm him down but it would just end in him storming out of the house and coming back the next morning. I hated him. I hate him now. Then he left, about 2 years later he comes back and knocks up mum again. We thought he would stay, I was 13 when Jess was born. He left again. Not bothering to watch her grow up. He's a fucking dick" he seethes

"Wow" I say breathlessly, the truth is that I don't know what to say, I wasn't expecting Dylan to open up and tell me how hard his life was.

"I work at a mechanics place down the road from the school, I work their from 5:15 to 6:45 in the afternoon after school to help my mum out a bit"

"Dylan" is all I can say. I'm at a loss for a words

I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him tightly.

"I'm sorry" I whisper

"It's ok. we're better off without him"

I pull back and smile at him. Attempting to ignore the butterflies that erupt in my stomach.

"Well, that's not how I expected this evening to go at all" he chuckles lightly, changing the subject.

I smile widely. "I'm glad you talked to me"

After this conversation with Dylan I feel like I understand him more. Much more. He has different personas so he can push people away. The flirty Dylan is to never feel love, he's never cared for a girl before and he doesn't intend to. The nice Dylan is just testing the waters, seeing if he can trust the person he is getting close, I guess that makes me smile because he's close with me in many ways. The teasing, playful Dylan is my favourite. Although I didn't spend much time with him. I guess this is the last stage of Dylan getting close to someone, he finally lets his guard down. In my case when I first questioned his personalities he put his walls right back up again, almost as if he had forgotten that he was starting to feel something again.

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A/N hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm sorry I took so long to update. I've been working on my Niall Horan fanfiction as well and I kinda had writers block so yeah, bare with me please.

Thank you so much for the reads! ily. Please comment/vote & share <3