Right There || Dylan O'Brien

chapter six; ikea girl

Dylan had already set the window open right when they walked in, but the smell of the paint was still hanging the air. It didn't bother her so much though, because she didn't have time to notice as they talked, joked around and colored the walls white.

"I've never really thought about how I want my living room to look like," he admitted, putting down the brush on the newspaper covered floor. He was in need of a break, his hand was aching and well, he was just getting bored. "I suppose I just everything to be as simple as possible."

"I agree with you. You don't have to make it harder than it already is." Was all she said, turning to him to give him a sweet smile. She then focused her eyes back on the wall she was painting. "It's your apartment, do what makes you happy."

He let it sink in, staring at her with admiration.

Her hair was up into a ponytail, loose strands hanging down on the side of her face and it seemed like she was having more fun than he was. He wasn't sure if she was thinking about something, maybe she was singing a song in her head or it was because she liked doing this work.

But he knew one thing: she was absolutely beautiful.

Feeling a strange buzz in his pocket, he grabbed his phone to check who was texting him. It was Tyler, his best friend telling him he was on his way with beer.

"Oh, shit. No." he sighed dramatically. How much he appreciated the guy to think of him, he wished he would've gone another time. He hadn't even told him yet he had been hanging with Clara, he hadn't seen him since Friday.

"What is it?"

"A friend is coming over and-..."

Before he could explain, a knock was heard on the door.

Clara stopped with what she was doing, getting quite nervous about what was happening. A friend was coming over and-... and what? Who was knocking on the door? Who was this friend?

"Hey, hey, hey," Dylan shushed her, touching both of her shoulders with his warm hands. "Tyler is a nice guy. He knows you from IKEA, 'cause I've told him so. We haven't seen each other for a few days but I can tell him it's not the right time." He breathed, "don't worry."

A smile appeared on her face and she nodded, "only if you don't worry about me."

"Are you teasing me?" he played along, just to see her smile longer before walking towards the door and open it.

As expected Tyler was standing there, holding a six pack with beer in his hand. "Dude, I've missed you!"

They hugged, but it didn't last long before he saw the girl standing by the wall. Her arms were folded awkwardly around her chest, eyes searching for something to look at other than the overly excited boy with the black hair. "Hey, you're the girl-... Wait."

He raised an eyebrow at his friend, grinning widely. "What is she doing here? Why haven't you told me?"

"There's nothing to tell, really. We've been hanging out since yesterday."

"Well", he walked to her, extending his hand to introduce himself politely. "I'm Tyler, Dylan's best friend. It's nice to meet you, IKEA girl."

"Yeah, it's Clara."

Dylan was cursing quietly behind, not only at himself but also how stupid Tyler was acting.

The girl sent him a small smile to show him it was alright. He looked nice enough to know he was just joking with the silly nickname. She then turned back, shaking his hand. "Hi."

Everything went so fast; he gestured to the door, Dylan agreed and they went to say goodbye.

No, this wasn't what she wanted. They were best friends, hadn't seen each other and now because she was here, there was no chance to catch up.

"Wait, ehm..." she stuttered, putting up a hand to get their attention. "I-... well, ehm-... you don't have to go. It's okay, I can paint. There's lots of work to do while you guys can, you know, hang out. Do guy stuff."

There was a silent, whilst the boys used their time to communicate with no words. All they did was stare at one another, pull weird and awkward facial expressions and after a minute, Dylan patted his friend's shoulder after turning to Clara. "Yeah, not gonna happen." He pushed him out of the door with a chuckle, "see you later, buddy" and closed the door behind him.

"You need to stop worrying so much," he told her, grabbing a bottle of water from the only table that was standing in the room. "There's enough time to catch up on Wednesday."

"What's happening on Wednesday?"

"Me and my friends are going ice skating in L.A."

"Ice skating?" she gasped, smiling widely at him. "I haven't done that for years. That's like... so awesome. I hope you're going to have fun."

By watching her get all excited over a little thing, he got an idea and his face automatically lightened up because of it. He was smiling from ear to ear as he sat down on the table, "you're coming. You can bring your sister, friend or maybe that guy you were walking with yesterday."

She decided to joke along, but knew this was her chance to tell him about her crush she has had on him. "I'm totally taking Jesse with me. He'd like that. He can hold me so I won't fall."

"How about you don't bring him, so I can hold you?"

And it shut her up, surprised at what he said as her cheeks flushed bright red.

"I'm sure Jesse would beat me up if I do so."

"Yes, exactly," she nodded, giggling as she grabbed the brush from the ground, dipping it in the white paint to continue painting the walls. "Jesse can be so overprotective sometimes."

"Really?"

"No, I don't even know the guy that well," she turned her head, smiling. "But he has been my crush for a few years. I know he likes partying and girls, he drinks lots of alcohol and smokes. He wants to become a security guard, but he skips school a few days a week. I'm not sure why though. I also think he has anger issues."

"Sounds like a good guy."

She burst out laughing by his sarcasm, turning around to look at him. "I've never really got why I had a crush on him. He's extremely gorgeous, yes, but... I don't believe we have anything in common. I can't see myself dating him, he's like-... I'm-..." her smile disappeared from her face as she stopped herself from saying anything else.

She knew she needed to think positive, but she never imagined herself dating anyone. She imagined herself living alone in an apartment, kids by her side. Maybe it was because she grew up learning her mom was a father and mother at the same time. She's never thought about asking her about it because it didn't bother her but it did made her independent. Sometimes too independent.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Life."

"Do you want to tell me?"

"No, my thoughts are too dramatic for you to hear" she simply replied to quit talking about Jesse or her thoughts, turning around to continue painting. It helped, because Dylan was quiet and apparently he didn't know what to say. Neither did she.