45 hours

Boss Fight

My phone beckons from where I dumped it on my unmade bed. I guess I can check what everyone's up to, before demanding video game time. Allie has blown up my phone with texts, missed calls and notifications.
"aRE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND???!!"
"wtf Lils?? DONT YOU DARE IGNORE ME"
"what is going onnnnn???????"
"okay, im calm. call me"
"hAvE yOu DoNe It WiTh HiM????????"
The messages she's sent over social media are of the same kind. I'm chuckling as I call her. I kinda forgot about the whole Dean thing.
She picks up straight away. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" I have to hold the phone from my ear. "I can't believe I get sick and miss out on shit like this!"
"Allie." She won't stop ranting. "Allie! Shut up!" The phone goes quiet. "It's not real. Dean wanted help to throw Crystal of his scent. Apparently she finds him irresistible..." I gag into the phone. Although, I don't know if I really feel about him like I did before.
"So, you haven't slept with him?" Do I hear disappointment in her voice?
"No. I kissed him in the kitchen when..."
"YOU DID WHAT IN THE WHERE?!" I laugh and tell her about it. I omit my hands in his hair and that I didn't really mind.

She blows out a breath when I'm done. "And now what?"
"Now what, what?"
Allie sighs. "What happens Monday? At school? For how long are you going to keep it up?"
I just sit there, turning her questions over in my head. "I don't know? I mean, I kinda figured this was it." My heart starts beating fast. "This IS it, right?"
"Lily, you read the same books I read. You KNOW how this ends..."
"Bitch, no. This is nothing like those books. Nuhu!" Allie bursts out laughing. "Shut up!" She doesn't. "Well, fuck you, I'm not going to sit here and listen to you laugh at me." I hang up on her evil cackling.

Dean and Luke are chatting pleasantly about nothing while they're going through loot boxes, swapping armour and weapons. I go stand in front of the tv.
"Lilyyyy... " Luke cranes his neck to see past me. I ignore him.
"What happens on Monday?" I stare at Dean, who at first tries to see past me too. "Dean. What. Happens. On. Monday?"
He looks me in the eye, and something in there has him setting the controller aside and clearing his throat. "I mean... I guess that we... I guess we have to pretend some more?" He rubs the back of his neck. "She kinda has to think that she doesn't have a chance. Right?" He looks over at my brother who's stopped trying see past me and now just sits and watches us.
Luke raises an eyebrow at him. "Dude, you're the one who made things complicated, instead of telling her that you're not interested." I open my mouth to agree, but Luke isn't done. "And Lily, you're the dumbass who agreed. You're stuck with him." He grins at us. "And I would love to stay and chat, but I have some dusting and hoovering to do." With a cheeky salute he leaves us there in the living room.

"Am I really that bad?" Dean's question startles me, I've been so deep in my own thoughts I've forgotten he's here. I open my mouth to give him my answer, but I don't know anymore. "I mean, I know I've been a dick. But not much lately. Yeah?"
"You're just... you're just you. I don't even know how to not dislike you. Have I ever like, liked you?" I let myself fall down onto the sofa and stare up at the ceiling. Memories of Dean resurface. Him getting in trouble at school, Luke being in trouble with him, Luke and him throwing water balloons at me, me shoving snow down his coat, him pulling my hair when we were little, me pushing him into the pool, him pulling me down with him, all of us biking real fast, him helping me clean my knees after a bad fall, Dean holding my hair back as I throw up at a party, Allie and Dean pinning Luke down so I can tickle him... there are hardly any memories where he's not present.

I sigh. "I guess you're not all bad." Us kissing and the image of his fit body in my bed make an unwelcome appearance in my mind. Like, a little unwelcome. I turn to him, my sudden movement has him jerking backwards. "But you're also Dean the idiot and I can't forget that."
"I'm not going to contradict the truth." He shrugs. "I am who I am around you. Around both of you. No matter how much I've changed over the years, with you guys I'm more or less the same."
"Changed? Dude. What are you talking about?"
"How much detention have I, have we, gotten the last week? The last month?" I want to say 'a lot', but I have to close my mouth to think this over. Dean smirks. "I've not been in detention since last semester. Neither has Luke."
I know I'm staring. "Shit man, are you like dying or something? Is this one of those 'I have cancer and want to live a good life the time I have left'?" He bursts out laughing. "Shut up." I fight the smile on my face. "You did total the car though."
Dean stops laughing. "Yeah, and I took it without asking. I never said I wasn't a dumbass." He leans into me. "But I've learnt my lesson."
It's my turn to burst out laughing. "Bullshit!" He laughs with me and I think of the times we actually had fun together.
"You know what's bullshit?" Luke walks in with the duster held high. "Chores." He haphazardly dusts shelves and the tv and the coffee table and other surfaces in the living room.
"You know mum's going to make you redo it if you don't do it properly." He flips me off and continues into the small office. I turn to Dean. "You're my fucking witness that it's Luke who's done a shit job with the dusting."
He flashes me a smile. "Maybe if I help?"
"You do that. I'm going to kill some flesh eating killer robots." I wait until they're upstairs before I retrieve the remote from its hiding place. There's no point in playing DU2 if you can't feel the sound. I've not even killed my first robot before Luke pops his head in the door.
"Hey! How come you get to have the volume all the way up?"
"You're hoovering, I can't hear shit otherwise." He doesn't say anything and when I look, he's gone back to cleaning.

There's a boss fight I have to replay over and over. The AI companions keep fucking up and I can't get into position fast enough. The screen goes dark yet again and with a growl I lean my head back and summon the will to continue.
"You need help with that?" I hope Dean doesn't notice me jumping at the sound of his voice. I keep my eyes closed.
"Yes." I feel the sofa shifting under his weight and hear the sound of him activating the other controller. Opening my eyes I settle into a more comfortable position and get ready to give it another go. "It's immune to fire and ice, you want the high impact weapons or EMP-grenades." Dean nods in response and equips accordingly. "You're okay with not playing tank?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll play technician. That'll give me more tech damage anyway."
I blink. "Have you played DU2?"
Dean stops his preparations and turns to me. "I did have two months to play something that didn't include playing with friends online, and you would not shut up about it at school." He smiles at me and turns to the tv again.
I can't stop staring at him. "Man... I might have to start liking you for real now." I sound way more whiny than I feel.
The sarcasm drips off his tongue. "We wouldn't want that now, would we?"