Remembering

Chapter 13

The air was icy on the late December day. I walked through the millions of people that happened to be at the store and tried to make my way to the Chinese lantern isle. Sarah had gotten some stupid idea in her head late last night that Jake, her and I should release these stupid lanterns exactly at midnight and wish upon them as they burned up. Of course I was stuck with the chore of tracking down the actual lanterns and figuring out how to work the damn things.
Typical.
I found the stupid lanterns and pushed past the stupid man blocking my way. I picked the usual colors for Sarah, Jake and me. Blue for Jake. Pink for Sarah. And teal for me. With a huff, I stood up and weaved through the lines and stupid people who parked their grocery carts in the middle of the walkway.
I walked out of the crowded store and looked for my keys in my jacket. "I think you forgot something." The cashier ran out of the store and handed me my keys. "Thanks." I chuckled and blushed embarrassed I had left such an important thing on the counter. "It's no problem." The boy smiled with cute dimples evident. "I'm Conor." He introduced himself. I took a second look at him. Brown hair and blue eyes. A beach, rugged kind of look and tan skin. "Dylan." I smiled back and shook his outstretched hand. I felt a piece of paper make its way into my palm as I pulled my hand away from his. "Call me." He winked before he ran back into the store to help the continually growing line of angry and tired shoppers.

"Sarah!" I screamed before I heard a loud thud come from her bedroom. "Did you get them?" She excitedly ran out of her room looking flustered. "Of course I got them." I rolled my eyes as she squealed in delight but heavy footsteps broke Sarah's excited squeals. Jake emerged from the dark hallway and awkwardly looked around before he slowly walked into our small kitchen. "Well hey there." I smirked and he looked down, nervous. "You guys have some explaining to do." I turned around and randomly pulled the orange juice out of the fridge. Sarah gave me a confused look and I gave her a stern glare. "Spill it." I said after taking a large sip of the orange juice. Jake looked at Sarah and Sarah took a shaky breath before speaking. "Okay. Don't be mad I didn't tell you." She started and I nodded. "We kind of started dating after Christmas and everything is very new and I knew you were resentful and lonely after, well you know," she said referencing Luke and I flinched "And we were the girls that moved to Australia to be single and experiment with different guys and be Bachelorettes and well I don't want to anymore and I'm sorry." She finished and took a breath in. "Sarah we can't be single forever. And I kind of knew that Jake liked you so I figured he would eventually get the balls to ask you out." I shrugged and smiled. Sarah blushed and Jake shot me a death glare. I smirked and moved towards Sarah. I pulled her small frame into my body and hugged her, "I'm happy for you Sar." I genuinely smiled and she gave a relieved smile in return.
We gathered around the TV and watched some New Year's Eve special. At around 11:45 we went outside with our lanterns in hand and I held the lighter in other. We set up the lanterns the best we could according to the crappy instructions that were the literal translation from Chinese. "Dylan do you have a wish planned out?" Sarah asked me eagerly. "Yes." I lied. The reality was I had a shitload of wishes that I was certain a stupid lantern couldn't make come true. I lit the cloth at the bottom of the lantern and waited for the lantern to start floating up. Sarah stood ready with a camera in her hand, aimed at a perfect angle. When I thought the moment was right I pushed the lantern up with my hands and watched as it floated up and slowly started to come down five feet in front of me. I watched as it landed and the fire at the bottom of the lantern hissed and slowly died. "Story of my life." I mumbled and sat down on the step. "Hey it's okay. I got a really cool shot and you can just wish on mine okay?" Sarah asked comfortingly. I just solemnly nodded and took the camera from Sarah and watched her go through the same routine with the lanterns.
Twenty freezing minutes later, all of our so called, amazingly cool and 'floating' lanterns were in a heap on the ground. We all sat around them like kids on Christmas who hadn't gotten what they wanted. "Drinks anyone?" Jake asked standing up. Sarah and I both nodded and Jake lead us to his car before he drove us to a local pub down the street from our apartment. "We could have walked." I suggested as he struggled to find parking in the small parking lot. "No it's cold." He said. He found a small parking space and we made our way into the small pub. We walked through the small doorway and a bell chimed. "Sit wherever you want." Some waiter screamed over the music and I laughed. That's usually how bars work. I sarcastically thought. "They've made some improvements." Jake said over the loud music. I nodded and looked at the small TVs that hung on each side of the bar. They were playing some interview with a slimy woman that had clearly had too much plastic surgery. I rolled my eyes as she interrogated Johnny Depp. I sat at the small booth Jake and Sarah had picked and a waiter came to our table asking us what we wanted to drink. Five minutes later he came back with our drinks and we made small talk over them. I was laughing with Jake when I noticed Sarah's face fall and turn pale from something behind me. I looked over my shoulder at the small TVs and caught a glance of the four faces I had tried to forget over the past couple of weeks. I read the large white subtitles at the bottom of the screen.
Interviewer: So boys how's the love life?
Ash: we don't have a love life. *chuckles* we don't have time and our music and fans are our love.
Interviewer: Luke you look tense. Are you seeing someone?
Luke: *laughs* no, no I'm not.
Interviewer: that's not very convincing.
Luke: well I mean there is this one girl. My breath hitched in my throat as I read the next few lines. She's amazing. And I've screwed it all up.
Interviewer: you're Luke Hemmings! There has to be something you can do!
Luke: I'm afraid not. I have royally screwed this up.
Interviewer: what's her name? I notice Luke take a few breaths in before he looks directly at the camera
Luke: Danyella
At that moment I couldn' take the oncoming emotions. "Dylan?" I heard a mumble over the roar of thoughts. I nodded my head and stood up quickly. "Air." I simply put and started jogging out of the stuffy bar. On my way out I bumped into someone but I couldn't get away from the bar fast enough so I mumbled my apologies and kept moving towards the door in an attempt to get freedom from the narrow bar and crowd. I heard a muffle scream and I started walking away from the loud bar that was attempting to overpower my screaming thoughts. I couldn't process what just happened. Luke had just confessed his feelings for me on television. I didn't know how I should feel. Was this part of his game? All I knew was I was confused as shit and I couldn't figure anything out on the cold pavement outside some abandoned building. I heard heavy footsteps approaching me and I squinted at the figure approaching me. The first thing I noticed was the tall quiff and light eyes before my legs decided to act. The next thing I knew I was running away from him. "Dylan!" He screamed. I pushed my legs to go faster and noticed another figure standing by the stairs of the apartment. As I got closer I saw the familiar black hair and converse of a guy I used to call my friend. "Shit." I huffed and bee lined it for the parking lot. I ran my hand along the inside of my back tire and found my spare set of keys. I quickly opened the door and shoved the key into the ignition. "Dylan." A muffled scream broke me out of my trance and I found Luke standing in front of my car. Just as my car started the radio came blaring through.
She sleeps alone
My heart wants to come home
I wish I was
I wish I was beside you
"Dylan." He tried again and came to my side door. I internally screamed at myself for not getting doors that locked. He opened the cloth door and I debated how I should react. I felt like breaking down and screaming. I couldn't handle him. He was too much. The back and forth was too much and I didn't want to like him. I didn't want to be attracted to him. "What." I said letting a few tears fall loose onto my jacket. "Dylan." He smiled relieved. I kept my stern face and he continued to smile at my like an idiot. "Luke leave." I sternly said. He kept smiling at me and started to close the safety gap between me and him. My breath stopped as I waited for him to continue the twisted cycle between us. My body was paralyzed as he leaned towards me, his lips getting dangerously close to mine. I felt his hot breath on my lips and my body tingled in excitement. He slowly placed his lips on mine and my lips molded with his causing an eruption of electricity. For the month and a half I didn't see him or kiss him I had desperately been trying to forget him. I thought I had forgotten him, but I had just fooled myself. This is what I wanted to do. I wanted to feel his lips on mine and I wanted to be close to him. I wanted to be with him. But that couldn't happen. He didn't like me like that. He used me. He played me. He can't be trusted. I pulled away from him and his arms stayed locked around my waist. Confused I looked into his light blue eyes. "Be my girlfriend." He smiled and I gasped.