Metal Chains {Dylan O'Brien}

Chapter 21

After that day, Dylan and I didn't contact each other for six months. He moved to Atlanta and began filming Teen Wolf, and I didn't have any contact with him. "Katy?" A voice sounded from the front door, and I knew it was my dad, back from his business trip. "In the kitchen!" I called back as I stirred the brownies. He came in and kissed my cheek. "How's my girl?" He stroked my hair and looked at me as if he hadn't seen me in years. I tried to smile, but couldn't really. "Okay." was my answer. I guess he didn't hear anything off about my voice because he smiled and kissed my head.

"Your brothers?" he asked.

"Upstairs." I told him. He jogged upstairs without another word.

After I slid the brownies in the oven, I went in the bathroom and looked in the mirror. What did I do wrong? Did he not want to talk to me even after how we bonded? After I gave myself to him? "Katy, you okay?" Austin's voice sounded through the door, making me jump. "Yeah, I'm... fine." I wiped my face quickly and tried to gather myself. "Dad wants us all in the family room." he told me. Shit. "Oh, I'm... I'm coming!" I called. I turned on the water to drown out my sniffing. Once I was okay, I met my family—minus mom, in the living room.

"What's up dad?" I took a seat in-between him and Matt. "I come bearing gifts." he responded. Then he reached over and grabbed a hanger. We couldn't see what was inside because a black bag covered it. "For you." He handed the hanger to me and I had to stand up to see what it was. Underneath the black bag was a beautiful cream colored dress that would highlight all of my curves. I knew there had to be some special place that I had to wear it to. And I asked, "What's this for?" It seemed to take a long time for him to answer the question that we were all thinking. "The MTV Movie Awards." He almost whispered it.

I dropped the dress and stepped away from it. "Take it back." I wiped my hands on my jeans, feeling an attack coming on. I looked around the room and tried to keep it from spinning. "It's already paid for." he responded. I stumbled backward and eventually my back hit the wall. I felt trapped in a room that wasn't even closing in on me, and my chest started burning. The oven beeped in the kitchen and I grasped on to my sanity to go stop it... and to get out of that room.

Once the brownies were cooling, I went outside and swung on the swing set, thinking of that night Dylan and I came out and talked after dinner. I thought about how he told me that I was a lot different than other girls. I thought about the way he said I love you and then broke my heart into pieces. I wanted to scream and break everything. Was I not good enough for him? Did he find someone prettier than me? I finally let my pain break free, and I screamed loud. So loud that my throat hurt afterward. Then I cried until I couldn't cry anymore, until all of the water was drained from my body.

But then I did something crazy. I called his number. Well, at least the number that used to be his. It rang for what felt like forever before the ringing was cut off, and I heard a voice speak through the phone. "Hello?" The voice was dull and careless, but it was his voice just the same. It made my words get stuck in my throat and my heart pound in my ears. "Hello?" he asked again. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I was afraid that he would hang up, but then an indescribable sob escaped my mouth and there was a long silence before he spoke again.

"Katy? Is that you?"

Still, I couldn't speak, so my shaking finger pressed the end button.

–

I woke up three days later with a terrible headache. My head felt like it had been nailed to the bathroom floor. I was still clutching an empty orange pill bottle in my left hand. My stomach twisted and turned until every last pill flew back up my throat and into the sink. My body shook with every wretch and gag, leaving me sweating.

"Katy, you awake? Time to get ready for–"

"Yeah, I'm in the bathroom!" I called out, not wanting to hear the words.

I turned on the water and washed my face. Then I got in the shower and cleaned myself up. I needed to seem normal, like I hadn't just tried to end my life the night before. Once I felt like I was clean, I dried off and wrapped myself up in my white robe. Still in my robe, I started on my makeup. I put on some black eyeliner and light brown eyeshadow to give the dress a late winter feel. I kept my lips simple with just some pink lipgloss.

I curled my brown hair and left it to flow down my back. It was held back by a white medal flower encrypted headband. To finish off my hair, I pulled a few pieces loose from the headband. Time to accessorize. I opened my jewelry box and looked for something that would make my outfit even better. Eventually, I settled on a brown collar necklace. Once I slipped on my long and flowing, cream colored dress, I felt like maybe this wouldn't be all that bad.

My dad and brothers were waiting for me in the living room. "You look amazing." Matt said immediately. I smiled a real smile as I stepped off the last stair. "Thank you." I said. Dad stood up and looked out the window. "Just in time. The limo just pulled up." He slipped a black jacket over his white shirt and black tie. "You all look very nice." I said as I walked toward the door. Smiling, we all loaded inside the limo, and off we went to The MTV Movie Awards.

When we got there, there was kind of this pre-party. A guy named Tyler Posey wanted to interview me. He sort of just rambled and I wasn't paying much attention until I heard him say, "I'm on the show Teen Wolf." and my head snapped up. Teen Wolf? "You're what?" I blurted, cutting him off in the middle of his sentence. "Oh, I'm an actor on the show Teen Wolf." he told me with a small shrug. He had no idea who I was. His expression changed a little when he asked, "Have you heard of it?"

I nodded in response. "Yeah, I've... I've heard about it..." I answered. He just nodded and continued talking as I petted a puppy in a little box. I answered a few questions and then went to find my family so we could take our seats. Dylan was here, I could feel it, and it made my heart ache even more. I suddenly regretted even coming in the first place. I should have stayed home. Damn it, Katy. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Our seats were fairly close to the front and we were all seated together, which was great because I don't know how I'd feel if I was seated next to someone famous like Jennifer Lawrence of something. I sat on the right side of Austin. On his left was Matt, and then Tristan and Dad. We were also right on the end of the row. So I could make a speedy exit if necessary. Closer to the time for the awards to start, seats started filling up quickly. I (gladly) hadn't seen any sign of him.

Dad kind of forced me to stay for the after party. I honestly was just ready to go home, it was a really long day already and I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Again, I found myself sitting there like I had been on that night that Dylan and I met, but this time I was sipping on fruit punch out of a red cup. "You look beautiful." a voice said. I didn't realize that they were talking to me until a pair of legs stepped in my view. I looked up.

Brown hair.
Brown eyes.
Dimples.
Dylan.