Metal Chains {Dylan O'Brien}

Chapter 13

My whole world crashed in around me and she must have known it because a huge grin spread across her shamefully pretty face. "I... I what?" It came out in a forced, weak whisper. Again, she smiled. "Didn't you know? He's dead, Katy. Hung himself in his closet last week. He left a note about you and everything." I closed my eyes. She seemed to be too happy that someone was dead and it sent chills up my spine. What kind of girl was she? To think I thought she seemed nice.

"I'll tell him myself." I told her, snapping back to reality.

"Oh, but you won't. You wouldn't want to be a burden, would you? And besides, all you need is one more heartbreak before you break yourself."

I struggled to fight off another attack as I spun around and sprinted inside, pressing my back to the door and struggling to find my sanity. I walked up the stairs and into Dylan's room, hoping it would help calm me down. Like Scarlet had said, I don't want to be a burden. I breathed deeply, taking in the soothing scent of his room, which smelled just like him. What do I do? "Katy?" I heard a voice call. Dylan's voice. Before I could answer, the door opened. "What are you doing in here?" he asked, coming over to sit beside me.

Without thinking, I jumped up and threw my arms around his neck. It must have took him by surprise because he nervously laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist. "What's going on?" he softly asked. I loosened my grip a little so that I could look into his eyes. "Nothing. I just love your hugs, that's all." I told him. What am I so worried about? My ex boyfriend may or may not have committed suicide, I don't even know if Scarlet was telling the truth! And even if she is, Dylan would still stand by my side, right? He'd be there to help me with whatever I'm feeling, I know it. Obviously, she doesn't know my boyfriend as well as I do.

But for now, I'll keep it to myself. He doesn't need any reason to worry about me during his audition. He should be completely focused. He leaned down to give me a soft kiss and then he smiled and took my hand in his. "Now come on, everyone has been dying to meet the girl that I won't stop talking about." He gave me a corny grin and then led me out of his room, without even asking why I was in there in the first place.

Somewhere between the moment Dylan and I had just shared and the walk downstairs, the sun had started falling outside. As we stepped through the patio doors with intertwined fingers, the smell of hot dogs and homemade cheese burgers wafted up my nose. "Something smells amazing!" I said once we walked down the three steps. "There you are! Where did you go?" Mrs. O'Brien said, standing up from the picnic table and approaching us. "Oh, I wasn't feeling very well Mrs. O'Brien, but I'm feeling better now." I told her. She smiled a little and looked at Dylan. "Well, come introduce everyone to Katy, Dylan, and then get some food in those bellies of yours!"

Nodding, Dylan lead me over to the table where his mother had just sat. Everyone seemed to look up at once. "Everyone, this is Katy. Katy, this is..." A long string of names came after that and I tried my hardest to remember all of them. I waved nervously when he finished. "Dylan! You told us all how beautiful she is, but wow. She's stunning!" A lady who I remembered to be his aunt said. Blushing, I looked over at him and placed my left hand on his chest. "You said that?" I asked softly, trying to make it so that everyone else couldn't hear. "Well... yeah..." he softly said, a sheepish smile spreading across his face. I grinned, but didn't say anything.

While I engaged in conversations with his family, Dylan went to grab us both some food which I was looking forward to eating because it smelled amazing. "Dylan told us that your dad helped set up the audition?" A young girl that seemed close to my age said. I nodded. "He did actually. My dad's a movie director, so he spends most of his time with talented actors and actresses. I guess he just saw something in Dylan." I explained, glancing back at my boyfriend to see him grabbing our drinks. It seemed as if everyone at the table found me interesting, though I couldn't figure out why.

A plate was sat down in front of me. "Here you go. I got you Pepsi because I know it's your favorite." He sat it down next to my plate and took the seat next to me. I was just about to bite into the burger when I realized that Dylan had only brought one plate. "Where's yours?" I asked, looking over at him. "I'm... not really hungry." He shrugged casually. "Dylan, what? You're almost always hungry." I stated. He laughed. "Well I'm not right now." He put a hand on his stomach and jokingly said, "I don't know why, maybe I'm dying!" earning laughs from most of the table. I slapped his arm and giggled a little bit more before finally sinking my teeth into the delightfully tasting cheeseburger. Dylan's hand rested on my leg as he sipped on water from a styrofoam cup.

The sun fell and darkened the sky until it was nearly black, but by then all of the guys of the group had started a fire and it flickered bright and orange in the darkness. Everyone pulled lawn chairs up and gathered around. Before I could grab myself one, Dylan grabbed my hand and pulled me onto his lap. I laughed and let him wrap his arms around my waist. "Thank you for putting this whole thing together." he whispered in my ear once we'd gotten settled. I smiled and turned my head to face him for a moment, but didn't say anything. Instead, I turned my body, rested my head on his shoulder and let myself melt into his arms. And then I started to drift off, thinking about how happy Dylan made me feel and wondering if I made him feel the same way.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of running water in the bathroom. "Dylan?" I sat up and glanced around, rubbing my eyes. The clock read 9:51am. Then I realized that Dyl was leaving today and my mood dropped a little. What am I gonna do for a whole 4 days? At that moment, the water stopped running and Dylan came out of the bathroom. He saw that I was awake and smiled. "Hey, sleeping beauty." was what he said and then leaned down to kiss my cheek. "Hey." I said, "So tomorrow is the day, huh?" I asked as he sat next to me and intertwined our fingers.

"Yeah, I guess it is."

"Are you nervous?" I already knew the answer.

"Very."

I looked over at him and squeezed his hand comfortingly. Then I put my hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "You're going to do amazing Dylan." I felt him shiver against my touch. He turned his head and pressed his lips to mine. We kissed for a moment, throwing as much passion as we could into it. I pulled away and looked into his eyes. In that moment, I felt so close to Dylan and I knew that I was falling hard for him. I lifted up my hand and touched his cheek, running my thumb across his smooth skin. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "I love it when you do that." He opened his eyes, looking at me. "Do what?" I slowly let my hand fall from his cheek. He paused, trying to find out how to put his thoughts into words.

"When you touch me as if I'm the most important thing in the world to you." he answered after a moment. I grinned at him.

A few hours later, we were saying our final goodbyes at the airport. I lifted up my hand to the necklace that hung around my neck. "I want you to take this." I told him and took it from around my neck. I grabbed his hand and enclosed his fingers around it. "Katy–"

"Dylan." I cut him off. "Just take it. For good luck."

"Thank you so much." He looked into my eyes.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, burying my face in his neck. "I'll miss you so much." he whispered, kissing my shoulder. "I'll miss you too." I softly said. "Call me as soon as you land, okay?" I whispered in his ear. He nodded as our arms slowly fell from around each other. He kissed my forehead and grabbed his suitcase. "I'll see you soon." I pressed my lips to his. "See you soon." he confirmed and pecked my lips again.