That Girl

Chapter 4

"Den, get off of her." A muffled voice became clear. "Den, come here."

I felt a weight being lifted off my chest, literally. Slowly, little paws were treading to the edge of my horizontal body. My eyes slowly fluttered open and I realized was back home - safe and sound. I was on the living room couch, pillows and blankets drowning me.

"Oh, Beth, you're awake. Are you okay?" The same comforting voice I've heard millions of times came from behind me. "How are you feeling?"

"Um, I'm fine, thanks Lia." I said. "What happened?"

"Dylan brought you home. You fainted right in front of him on the sidewalk, and you guys were close enough to home that he carried you." She said. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "He actually just left, he was trying to wait until you woke up to head out."

"Really? Wow, um," I didn't know what to say. All I remember was my heart rate increasing like mad and light headedness.

"He really cares, sweety. Don't let him go, okay?" Lia stroked my head. It was throbbing since I woke up. All I did was smile as she walked back into the kitchen.

The next morning I got up and ready for school like any normal day. I walked down the frosted sidewalk to my deserted bus stop. Except Dylan was there, leaning against the grafitied stop sign, on his phone. He didn't look up when I sat down next to him.

"Hey," I said, nonchalantly looking over his shoulder at his dim screen. He was on Twitter.

"Hi," He said, turning the screen black and setting it aside. He looked stright in my eyes, I looked in his, and I got déjà vu of butterflies and spinning again. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," I said as he showed a smile.

"What did you have for breakfast?" He asked, pulling out a saran wrapped blueberry muffin; most likely homemade - his mother loves baking.

"Um, I -" I stuttered. I never eat breakfast, and he asks me what I had every morning before school. I usually just make up a lie, but today I didn't feel like lying to him. There was something there that was never there before. A stronger bond, more than our old friendship.

"Here. Take it," Dylan said, handing me the muffin. I looked at it; it did look scrumptious. I took it and unzipped my backpack to drop it in. Maybe I'd eat later.

"No, eat it now." He said. I looked over and saw the most serious look on his face. He really needed me to eat. "My mom made it, she deserves more feedback than just from her kids."

"Don't you need something for breakfast?" I asked, trying to slip by with a valid excuse.

"Nope, I got mine right here," He pulled out another muffin from his pocket. I looked at it blankly. He was thinking of me when he grabbed two muffins, wasn't he? I looked back to his face, and faced the fact that I had to eat this muffin - right now. I slowly unwrapped the muffin and looked back to Dylan, who was watching me intentivly. I lifted the muffin up to my mouth, taking a bite.

"Is it good?" He asked, smiling at me as I let my head back.

"It's amazing." I said. "Your mom really needs to open a bakery."

"She wants to, but she's too busy taking care of Daisy,"

"I can help," I blurted out. I wasn't even thinking - it kind of just spilt through my head and out my mouth. Not that I didn't want to, but I wouldn't have said anything otherwise. I'm not necessarily the helpful kind.

"Really? Beth, are you feeling okay?" He asked with a slight giggle. He knows me too well to let anything abnormal slide.

"I'm fine, I just thought I could help your mom pursue her dream," I said with a shrug.

"Well, if you really want to, I can ask," He said, and just then our bus slowly crawled to a stop next to us. The doors creaked opened and the people around us flooded in, while Dylan and I were the last ones. We took a couple empty seats in the back.

"Hey, don't forget about Jake's house party tonight."