It was happening.
My birthday was in exactly three days. Luckily, it was on a Friday, and even though I had school, I would still get to spend it with Amber and Tymon. Hopefully, we would just go out for lunch. I always liked my birthdays to be simple and calm and those two words were just not in Amber and Tymon's vocabulary.
They probably wanted to go all out since I was turning eighteen.
I just hoped for a heartfelt birthday spent eating really good food and cracking some good jokes. But the thought of finally turning eighteen made my stomach churn in both fear and excitement.
"Three more days, Aubrey," Amber beamed. "Say, would you consider drinking alcohol on Friday?"
I wrinkled my nose. "No thank you. I'm good."
Amber didn't say anything else, knowing that I wouldn't comply no matter what she said.
"Fine," Amber frowned. "Suit yourself."
I rolled my eyes at her. "Come on, let's just get to class."
"Guys, the teacher's absent," Anna said, coming up to us. "It's a free period."
"Yay!" Amber beamed.
"But, we have to go to the library," Anna continued, fiddling with her hands.
"Oh," Amber's smile faltered and she frowned, rubbing her temples. Anna and I laughed and we walked to the library. I didn't mind being there. In fact, I loved it. Well, I loved reading, so it wasn't much of a surprise.
I've always loved reading. The whole concept just sort of sucks you into this new world where you're free and you feel calm and content. Plus, I've always found it fascinating that the brain can just analyze the words and grasp the meaning behind them.
When we made it to the library, half our class had ditched. Amber did, too. Tymon wasn't in today's class and Anna made her way over to a couple of her friends so I was basically left alone. I spotted Abby at a table with her friends and that included Dallas. I smiled. He was leaning back into his chair, lost in his own world while the others chatted. He looked so adorable.
But then his head snapped up and he caught me looking and I almost ran into the shelves. My heart thudded and I walked further into the library. However, that did not block their table. Sighing, I looked around. All there was left to do was continue reading my book.
(That didn't happen, though.)
I raised my eyebrows. Dylan was sitting alone at a table near the wall. His head was resting on the table. He looked really weary and tired with his disheveled hair and the bags under his eyes. I made my way over to him and quietly sat down from across him. His head slowly lifted up and his tired eyes locked with my curious ones. However, his body went stiff when he looked at me, his cheeks reddening. He frowned at me.
"I don't want to talk about it."
I frowned. "About wh—" Then I remembered. Last night. When the electricity went off. I remembered the way his body shook with fear and the way his breaths came out hasty. "Oh."
He leaned back against his chair. "What do you want?"
"Nothing," I said, choosing to ignore his cranky attitude. "Are you okay?"
He raised his eyebrows. "I said I don't want to talk about it."
I sighed. "It still wouldn't hurt to ask about your well-being. I don't know. You look really tired and out of place. Forgive me for caring."
Dylan stared at me, his face void of emotions. But if he was expressing some sort of emotion, it was one I could not decipher. I fiddled with my hands.
He sighed. "Can this...can this...can whatever happened yesterday stay between us?"
"Yeah, don't worry," I replied and he nodded. I grinned. "You know you are very cute when you are scared. I mean I'm not saying you should always be scared but I experienced a different side of you yesterday. For once, I didn't have the urge to kill you during our conversations."
"I wish I could say the same thing about you."
I frowned. "If looks could kill, you would have been dead a long time ago."
He rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone, averting his attention to whatever was on the screen. I knelt on the palm of my hand and sighed, my eyes trained on Dallas' table. I don't know when my crush on the guy had developed. I guess it sort of happened. I had many classes with him in the previous years. We never really talked but there was just something about him that I admired a lot. Maybe it was his intellect and determination. Maybe it was his kind and warm brown eyes.
Maybe I was staring too much because Dylan followed my gaze and then turned around with a scowl.
"That guy?" he laughed. It lacked of humor.
I scowled at him. "Excuse me?"
"You were practically drooling over him," he said, setting his phone aside and folding his arms.
"I was not! I don't know what you're talking about."
"You're head-over-heels for the jerk."
"Oh, and you're better, how?" I retorted, crossing my arms.
"I'm not."
I stared at him.
"Who do you have a crush on?"
He looked at me with a sour look.
"I bet you have a crush on someone."
"I don't," he said.
"You do."
"I don't so lay off."
"You're so touchy, you know that?"
"And you're a nuisance."
I grinned at him and he buried his head in his hands. I couldn't help but warmly smile at his figure. I knew he was lying when he said there was nothing troubling him. That phone call he had yesterday ticked him off and I wanted to know why.
Maybe I was a nuisance.
Frankly, I didn't care.
I looked away from Dylan and my eyes briefly locked with Dallas. It was brief before he quickly looked away but it was enough to make my heart race.
"Three more days, three more days, three more days," Amber chanted.
I rolled my eyes. "I get it!"
"Three more days!" she screamed, attracting unwanted attention.
I stared at Tymon and Amber.
"Three more days!" they screamed.
"Oh, knock it off!" I said, flailing my arms around.
"Bye, Aubrey," Amber sang. I rolled my eyes again and waved goodbye to the two.
I turned on my heel and smiled when I spotted a familiar mop of black hair. Dylan stalked towards his car, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his head bent downwards. I skipped over to him and he scowled when he saw me.
(I decided to let that slide.)
"Feeling generous?" I asked, grinning.
"No."
"Oh, come on! I just want a ride home!"
"I'm not going home."
"Where are you off to?" I asked, swinging on the heels of my shoes.
"None of your business."
"You're going to the abandoned building, aren't you?"
He snapped his head upwards and looked at me, bewildered, but quickly covered it up with his usual mask: simply blank and void of any emotions. "No."
"Too late!" I cheered. "Can I come with?"
"How the heck did you even know?" he asked, frowning.
"You seemed troubled," I said, shrugging. "You are troubled. Something's bothering you. I think being up there on the roof calms you down. It's nice. Lots of trees. Always so peaceful."
His eyes roamed mine. I got used to it. I felt like he was questioning me, with a million other questions running through his head. He had so many emotions bottled up. I don't know. I could just feel it.
He was a storm.
Dylan's shoulders sagged and he sighed. I gave him a sympathetic smile. "You want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Well, why not?" I asked.
He heaved a sigh again and looked at me. "Because I know that you'll find out anyway."
I was taken aback.
"Oh."
"Yeah," he said. "Now, are you coming or not?"
I grinned and skipped ahead to the car. Before I could get into the car, however, I suddenly had the urge to look behind me.
So I did.
And my eyes met Dallas' once again and I felt my heart lodge itself into my throat. Blushing, I flung open the car door and got in.
"Where are you going now?" I asked, getting out of the car.
"Oh, leave me alone. It's enough I spent the afternoon with you."
"You're very charming, you know that?" I sneered.
"Goodbye, Beatles girl."
I rolled my eyes and closed the door and watched as the car sped away. The afternoon was the same as the other times we spent on the roof. We got food and I tried to make conversation while he cursed at me.
It was pretty amusing.
I turned around and hummed but before I could skip up ahead to the front door, I froze in my place. The day was weird.
It was definitely weird.
I never thought I'd see him in our neighborhood. I knew for sure he lived in the classier neighborhoods. His friends lived there, too. So, what on earth was he doing here?
"Hi."
Amazing! Dallas had only said one word – one word – and I was already profusely blushing.
"Hi," I croaked. "Whatcha...whatcha doing here?"
"I was just walking," he said. "Was that Dylan with you?"
I nodded and stared at him. He did, too. It was quite awkward and I guess he noticed. Clearing his throat, he walked a few steps forward and gave me a small smile. "I actually wanted to ask you something."
"Okay," I said, maybe a little too enthusiastic again. "Shoot. What's up?"
Shut up, Aubrey. You're making a fool out of yourself.
I silently berated myself while Dallas tried to find the right words to say. He seemed nervous and that made me even more nervous. What are the odds my crush was talking to me? I pulled out my water bottle and began to take long sips to calm my nerves.
"Well, I wanted to ask you to...well..." he rubbed his neck and my goodness, was he blushing? He exhaled half a laugh and smiled. "I wanted to ask you if you'd like to go out with me."
And I choked.
Maybe drinking water was a bad idea because as soon as the words slipped from his mouth, I found myself choking on the water. I coughed and slapped a hand across my mouth, bewildered and embarrassed.
Was I dreaming? Did he just ask me out?
Oh, my goodness.
"Are you okay?" he asked, worry evident on his face.
I batted a hand at him. "I'm fine, I'm fine...you were saying?"
"Would you like to go out with me?"
I was not dreaming.
"Me? Me?"
Dallas laughed. "Yeah."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
He laughed again. "I'm sure, Aubrey."
"Gee, I'd have to think about it—" I mumbled. "—Yes. Yes, I would like to go out with you."
He exhaled and grinned. "That's...that's great! I was worried you'd say no." I couldn't help but smile back. In fact, I was smiling too hard, people would suspect I slept with a coat hanger in my mouth. It was probably creepy. "I was thinking of taking you out on Friday. You know, for your birthday..."
"That's great!" I said.
"Great."
How many times was the word 'great' said? Who cared?
I sure didn't.
I was asked out by my crush!
