Head In The Stars

Chapter Eight

The front door swings open and I freeze, my spoon of cereal halfway to my mouth.
I totally forgot about Hunter. And here's Dallas sitting across from me, both of us not at school.
Shit.
Hunter walks into the kitchen whistling. "Hey sis. Hey Dally."
I wrinkle my nose. "Isn't that the character from The Outsiders?" I ask. They both shrug and I roll my eyes. "What's with that nickname anyways? Dallas's nickname theory rubbed off on you?"
"Yeah, I don't like having nicknames," Dallas says with a shrug.
"But you are allowed to give everyone else a nickname?" I ask him.
"Pretty much."
I roll my eyes as Hunter laughs. He then looks over at us curiously.
"Dallas, what are you doing here?" He asks. "And why aren't either of you at school?"
I exchange a look with Dallas. Time to fake it or we won't make it.
"Did you stay the night?" Hunter asks Dallas. I choke on my cereal and send milk flying everywhere.
My brother has always been protective. Always. You should have heard the lecture he gave me after my first kiss. My past couple boyfriends have been scared of Hunter. I don't really blame them.
So you can imagine my shock when my brother continues on, "Because, if you did, I just want you both to know I'm cool with it," he says and then claps Dallas on the back. "You're a good kid."
I spray more food across the table.
Dallas gives me a weird look before turning to Hunter. "Thanks, Hunt, but I didn't stay the night. I walked over so I could catch a ride to school," he says.
I catch onto the lie. "But I'm still feeling sick and sore from yesterday so I don't think I'm going to school."
"I offered to stay with her," Dallas adds. "If that's alright with you."
"Oh," Hunter says. "Yeah, that's fine." He then gives us each a huge smile. I can tell that something is up.
"Hunter?" I ask, smirking.
He looks at me. "Yes, sis?"
"Why are you so happy?" I ask him. "Not that there's anything wrong with it. You're just really happy today."
"No reason," he says. "No reason at all."
"Hunter!" I exclaim. "You didn't work last night!"
"You thought I did?" He asks.
"Yes," I reply. "But you didn't. Where were you?"
"Crashed at Levi's," he says with a shrug.
I narrow my eyes. "What about before that?"
"I was out. Leave it be, Avril."
I cross my arms and look at him, eyebrow raised. Dallas sits quietly, watching the exchange. Hunter leans against the counter and stares back at me. After a few silent moments, Hunter gives an irritable sigh.
"I'm going to work. See ya guys later," he says and walks over to the doorway. "Oh, Avril?"
I turn to face him. "Yeah?"
"Answer your phone," he tells me. "Your friends were worried yesterday."
"How do you know that I wasn't answering?" I ask, curious.
"I talked to Teagan."
"Wait, what?" I say, looking blankly at him. "Teagan talked to you? You talked to her?"
"Yeah," Hunter say with a shrug. He waves and walks out the door then.
I hear the front door close and turn to Dallas. He's watching me with an amused expression.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothing," he replies. I roll my eyes and he laughs at me.
"What are we doing today?" I ask him. I've realized that it's becoming pointless to make plans without him, he just invades on what I'm doing.
"Well ya know," he says smugly. I shoot him a warning glance. He chuckles and continues on. "Your brother basically said he wouldn't care if we slept together."
"Oh god!" I exclaim, throwing my hands into the air. "What is wrong with all the boys in my life?"
"So now I'm a boy in your life?" Dallas smirks.
"Considering you won't leave my life alone," I reply flatly.
"You want me to leave?" He asks.
"Yes," I say and throw him a smirk.
"Oh darling," he drawls. "We both know that you would be at a loss without me."
I don't answer him because I don't think he knows how right he is.
--------------------
"No," I say, folding my arms across my chest and biting my lip.
"Why not?" Dallas asks.
"Because I don't trust you," I tell him. "Especially considering the last time you took me somewhere."
"I promise you no parks this time," he says. "Or trees."
I sigh and look at him. He wants to take me somewhere, using my car.
"Where?" I ask.
"Surprise," he says. "It's a surprise."
"I hate surprises," I mutter.
"Yeah, yeah. I know," Dallas replies. "You hate surprises." I don't even have time to blink before he grabs the keys out of my hand. "Let's go."
"Dallas!" I complain. He just laughs over his shoulder and walks out the front door.
I stand there for a few minutes, thinking over my options. With a groan, I slip on my Vans and jog out the door.
I slide into the passenger side just as Dallas is starting the engine. I buckle up and set my feet on the dashboard.
"Ya know," I tell him. "I don't think I've ever spent as much time in the passenger seat in my Jeep than I have since I met you."
"No?" He looks over at me and pushes his hair out of his eyes. "You like to drive?"
"Love it," I reply with a smirk as we back out of the driveway.
"Interesting," Dallas comments.
I look over at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, your parents died in a car accident. You wouldn't think that you'd like to drive. Most people would be scared. Nervous."
I think about that for a moment. Maybe it looks bad but I love driving. Getting my license was amazing. Ever since I got it, a couple months ago, I've drove everywhere.
"Whatever," I reply. "I don't like to let my parents hold me back. Dead or alive."
When he doesn't reply, I sigh and turn so I'm looking out the window. I don't know what Dallas and my's relationship could be classified as. We're friends, I think. But we've made out more than once. And I don't really enjoy the kid's company. Yet, he's the only one who really knows me.
"Your phone is ringing," Dallas says.
I snap out my thoughts to hear music blasting from my phone. I grab it to see that Teagan is calling me. Seriously, what is it with all the calls?
"Hello?" I answer.
"Where are you?"
I look at the clock on the radio to see that, if I was at school, it would be lunch.
"Where are you?" I ask back.
"So you're not at school," she replies.
"What?" I exclaim. "Teagan! Where are you?"
"With.. Oh."
"Oh?" I repeat. "What?"
"Where are you?"
I open my mouth to demand an answer, and then I pause. Why should I command her to tell me, when I've been lying to her?
"Avril?" Teagan asks.
"Yeah, Teags. I wasn't feeling good so I stayed home."
"That's what Hunter said," she replies. "But he also said that Dallas was with you. What happened to hating him?"
"What happened to make you so close with my brother?" I snap, taking my feet off the dash.
"It's none of your damn business!" She yells.
"Yes, it is! He's my fucking brother!" I hiss.
"You just started caring or what?" She challenges.
"I've always cared!"
"To hell with that, Avril." I can practically feel how mad she is. I just don't understand why. "So what the fuck are you doing with Dallas? Fucking him?"
I automatically narrow my eyes, even though she can't see me. "It's none of your damn business!" I reply, repeating what she said earlier. "But maybe I am fucking him!"
I hang up and throw my phone back in my bag. I cross my arms and anxiously tap my right foot.
"Me?" Dallas says, breaking the silence. "Fucking me?"
I look over to see him looking beyond astonished. For some strange reason, I laugh. Everything that just happened in the past five minutes, slips away. I laugh until my sides hurt. I look up to see Dallas confused and laugh harder.
"You sure do know how to damage one's ego," he mutters. I pat his shoulder as I try to calm myself down.
"Oh god," I say. "That was priceless."
Dallas just grunts and shakes his head. I chuckle as I grab my phone again.
I send Teagan a text apologizing. I tell her that Dallas offered to stay with me when Hunter was there so of course, he had to. I lie and say that I'm extremely pissed off and we're just sitting on my couch, glaring at each other.
She replies saying that she's sorry too. She tells me that she didn't go to school for an appointment and saw Hunter downtown. She stopped and asked if he thought I could get her homework for her, when he told her what I was doing.
"There," I announce happily.
Dallas looks over at me. "What?" He questions.
"Everything is all good between Teagan and me," I tell him.
"Oh," he says. "That's good. But who are you fucking?"
I laugh and shake my head. "Nobody."
"Good," Dallas says protectively. I tilt my head to the side and look at him curiously.
"What does that mean?"
"We're here!" He exclaims, ignoring me.
I look out the front window. A small smirk breaks out on my face. We're at the water park. Not just one with sprinklers, this has waterslides and rides.
"I don't have a swimsuit," I point out.
"I grabbed one for you," Dallas replies with a shrug.
I freeze. My swimsuits are in the same drawer as my underwear. I throw Dallas a dangerous glare. He looks at me confused.
"What?"
"When were you going through my drawers?" I demand.
"After I cleaned up the glass from the picture," he says.
"You cleaned that up?" I ask. I had completely forgotten about breaking the picture.
"Yeah," he tells me. "It was nothing."
"You didn't have to do that. You don't have to do any of this." I gesture out the window, to the park and then to myself.
"I want to," he says with a smile.
I smile back and pray that I'm not blushing.
He jumps out of the car and walks to the back. I hear him rummaging through the trunk. I unbuckle my seatbelt and open my door. I get out and walk to the back.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Getting our stuff," Dallas replies and pulls a black duffel bag out of the trunk. I recognize it. It's my black Nike bag. From my closet. The back of my closet.
"When were you going through my closet?" I exclaim. Dallas smirks.
"Same time I was going through your drawers," he says. "I ransacked your whole room."
"That's great," I mutter. "Fucking great."
"C'mon," Dallas says, laughing. "Let's go."
He walks towards the water park entrance. I follow, thinking about what's in my room that Dallas could possibly have stumbled across.
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~Cambrie