UNKNOWN || Dylan O'Brien

Chapter 17

Andrew’s POV

My head throbs at the sound of my alarm going off. I slowly open my eyes and see the time, 6:20AM. It’s time to get up, but I don’t if I’ll be able to. I close my eyes again and roll over in my bed. Last night’s dream was so vivid, I felt like as if she was here with me. Like she never left. I’ve been having a lot of dreams about her, images creeping in my mind often but nothing like this one. My heart aches at the thought of talking to my mom again. She’s the only one who understood me. I haven’t felt like this since I was in third grade. One day our class had a special party for mother's day and everyone brought their parents but me. I sat in the back of the room and cried until I saw Aunt Katy; she’s the closest I’ve come to a mother throughout the years.

I shake off the gloom and stand on my feet. Today is going to be good, Drake and I are ironing out all of the details for Boston. This weekend is going to be great. I can’t remember if I invited Ryan or not, but I’ll be sure to do that.

I grab my towel from my closet and a pair of sweatpants and head upstairs. I walk into the living room and is empty. My uncle must have left to the shop already. But where’s my aunt? She’s usually already up. I go upstairs and slowly open the door to her room. “Aunt Katy?” I call, but she doesn’t answer, I walk in to get a closer look and she’s sleeping.  Her arm is thrown over her face with a blanket almost up to her neck. I smile to myself and walk out then into the bathroom. I turn on the shower and set the water hot. As I step in I can’t help but wonder what I did to upset Elizabeth. Usually, she tells me what’s bothering her.

 I guess I can’t always expect that, she doesn’t owe me anything. We’re not a couple, but I wish we could be. That something else I’m looking forward too.

After my shower, I step out to notice I’ve forgotten my underwear. It’s freezing and now I have to walk around the house naked,  great. I roll my eyes then wrap a towel around my waist. I exit the bathroom and make my way to my room. The living room felt colder than I remember so I pass through it as fast as I can. When I reach my room I focus on the top drawer of my dresser, I pull out a pair of boxer briefs then let my towel drop to the floor.

“Hmm… Well, you definitely grew since freshmen year.” Ryan’s voice rings in my ears. I turn around to see him laughing with his arms crossed. I quickly put on my underwear then my sweatpants. I tie my pants while looking at him. “Oh c’mon, don’t give me that look.” He sits on my bed. “What look?”
“The ‘I’m embarrassed but I’ll act like I’m mad’ look. If stares could kill, I’d be dead.” I sigh, “What the hell are you doing here? It’s 6am.” He gets comfortable in my bed while I put on a t-shirt. “I came to visit my best buddy.” A smile creeps across his face and I arch my eyebrows. “At this time?” he shrugs and I shake my head.  “What?”
“What? You just came in here without telling me and saw me naked.” I say expressing more annoyance than I intended. “I saw your willie, what's the problem?” I take a deep breath and put on my shoes. I’m overreacting, Ryan has seen me naked before and it doesn’t bother me. What’s bothering me is Elizabeth, we barely talked yesterday and when I asked her if I did something wrong she didn’t answer.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” He waves it off and pulls my sheets over him. “Do you mind if I sleep here?”
                “Go ahead, but how did you get in here?” he smiles, “Philips let me in. I was talking to him before he left.” I nod, but something doesn’t click. “And you’re at my house at 6am because?”
“I didn’t go home last night,” he mumbles. Ryan’s not the type to not go home, during high school he would be a party pooper. Making us all go home early. “Why not?” I tie my shoes and look at him. “Let’s just say I had a disagreement with my uncle, nothing big.” I give him a reassuring smile then leave him to rest. It’s 6:40, I’m late considering I’ve been skipping work lately.

. . .

The shop has been full all day. Apparently there’s a celebrity around the city. I don’t mind at all, it’s great for business and neither does Drake.

“There're so many chicks in here,” Drake says biting his lower lip. “Do you think any would go to Boston?” I shake my head and laugh without answering. “I was thinking about the brunette over there with a leather jacket.” “Shut up and get to work,” I try to ignore him and attend the next person in line. But he’s right, working here had it’s perks. A lot of girls walk in her, I’ve gotten a few number myself until my uncle caught me flirting with the customers. I was sent to the kitchen for a month. I ignore all of Drake’s dirty comments until we leave. My shift ended at 1PM, but I had to wait another hour for his to be over. We’re heading to his place to talk figure everything out about Boston.

I park  in front Drake’s apartment and walk inside. He lives in a studio apartment. I give him credit though, it looks great. The bed is set to the far left corner, a sitting area is right at the door with the kitchen behind it and the bathroom is next to the bedroom area. “So I was thinking about staying at the Ramada, it’s like 84 dollars a night.” He says grabbing two beers from the fridge. “How long are we going to stay?”  I ask, “two nights?” “So we leave Friday afternoon right?” he nods. “Yeah, it’s about a four-hour drive. We get there Friday and leave Sunday.” “Who are you taking?” I ask while grabbing a beer. “I don’t know, I was thinking of this girl Chloe I’ve been seeing but…” We walk to the living room and sit there for a while. I try to get some info on Chloe, but he doesn’t barge in. All he would say is that he’s been seeing her for about 31/2 months. That’s a lot for him, all his relationship end after about 1 month max. Every time he finds someone he breaks it off before it gets too serious. I personally believe it’s because of something that happened to him in a past relationship, but he won’t talk about it.

• • •

A six pack of beer and two hours later I decide to go home before it gets dark. I’m driving down 14th avenue when my phone stars to ring. “Hello?” I answer without looking. “Andrew where are you?” A familiar voice answers but I can’t distinguish it. “Who is this?”
“It’s Fay. Andrew, I don’t know what to do. Please help me.” She cries on the phone and heart starts to raise. “What’s wrong?” I anxiously say parking my car on the side of the road. “I came home and I found her on the floor. Help me please,” She sobs.