Seasons Change

16.

Chapter 16.

I had no plans to do any black Friday shopping, but the morning after the Thanksgiving debacle, I awoke to the sound of my phone going off. I glanced sleepily at the display. Four a.m. Ugh. I rolled over and had every intention of going back to sleep, but a few minutes later, my dad called out from the other room.

"Lilly, Dylan called for you. He says you have plans to go black Friday shopping with him, and he's out front waiting for you," Dad yelled. "Get out there before he calls me back. I'm trying to sleep."

I bolted up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and wondering why the heck Dylan was here so early in the morning, when I knew for a fact that we were barely speaking and did not have any plans. I threw my hair back into a messy bun, slid a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt on, and slipped on my shoes before trudging downstairs to the front door.

Sure enough, Dylan was sitting in the driveway, and as soon as I approached his car, he rolled down the window to talk to me.

"Get in, loser, we're going shopping," he said.

I laughed. "Did you seriously just quote Mean Girls? What kind of straight guy does that?"

Dylan shrugged. "One whose best friend is a girl? I've watched that movie with you at least a half dozen times." He offered me a brilliant smile. "Come on, you're already up. You might as well come black Friday shopping with me. I have to find gifts for my family, and I thought you might appreciate a chance to get out of the house and away from all of your family drama from yesterday."

With a sigh, I opened the door to Dylan's car and slid into the passenger seat, buckling my seat belt before I turned to him. "This doesn't mean I've forgiven you," I informed him grumpily. "You've been a jerk all year."

Dylan nodded. "I know," he admitted. "I'm a complete idiot, and I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I miss you, Faye. You're my best friend, and I want to spend time with you. It's not the same without you."

Truthfully, I had missed Dylan too. He was easily my best friend, and although I had enjoyed seeing Luke again, my friendship with Luke was nothing like my friendship with Dylan. Luke and I had never had the same easy closeness that Dylan and I had. But, it wasn't as easy to forgive Dylan as he made it sound. Hesitantly, I asked a question that had been bothering me ever since Avery had shown up to Thanksgiving dinner.

"Did you know?" I asked quietly.

Dylan glanced over at me before starting his car and backing out of the driveway. "That Avery is your stepsister? No. I can honestly say I did not see that coming."

"Why did you date her?" I asked. "I've been over it again and again, and it just doesn't make any sense to me. I know that you can date whoever you want, but why did it have to be her? I don't think you realize how much that hurt me."

Dylan sighed heavily, his gaze remaining fixed on the road as he worried his lip between his teeth, presumably searching for an explanation that would make sense of it all.

"It was stupid," he said finally. "I guess at first, I thought you were just being melodramatic, and Avery really wasn't that bad. In my defense, she's actually not that bad when she's not around you. I'm not sure what it is, but you really do seem to bring out the worst in her. It's jealousy, maybe, or maybe she was just extra nice around me because she was using me to get to you. I don't know. And then, once I realized that Avery really did seem to hate you, I thought I could help if I was close to her, like I could reason with her and help her see how amazing you are. I still don't understand how anyone could hate you. If Avery just gave you half a chance, she'd see that she couldn't have asked for a better roommate."