Look for the light | Dalton Lambert

THE ENCOUNTER

"Hey guys, be quiet!" Lizzie and Chris burst back into the room after hearing the commotion from down the hall. "What's going on?" Lizzie questioned as Stella and Dalton scrambled up from the floor, both pale and shocked. Neither had time to answer as increasingly loud voices appeared outside the room. The four pairs of eyes went wide as they were desperately trying to busy themselves in a reason as to why they may be in Nick's room, Lizzie and Chris filed into the bathroom and Lizzie bent over the toilet in order to fake being too drunk, Chris leaning down to hold her hair back as the other two continued to panic.

Stella had to think and do it quickly, she had an idea yet it was a stupid one and one that could risk her friendship with Dalton yet it seemed as though the had no choice. Stella grabbed Dalton by the arm "Do you trust me?" She rambled quietly "What?" He questioned, confused as to what the girl was trying to get across. "Do you?" She pushed, desperate for an answer "Yes! I don't know?" Dalton replied, confusion growing with each word.

The door handle behind them began to turn as Stella spun Dalton around and sat him on the bed and falling into his lap, smashing her lips onto his, it took Dalton a second or two to respond, twisting his arms around her waist and pulling her closer, finally understanding her idea.

"What the hell?" The door had finally burst open and Nick waltzed in, confused as to how and why so many people were in his room. "Oh my god! I'm like so sorry!" Stella played, batting her eyelids at him.
"We were just looking to get away from the party and you know, get to know each other" she winked at him, desperate to sell the story as Nick's eyes wandered over to the two girls in his bathroom.

"I'd rather watch my parents do it" he deadpanned, not impressed with the two sat on his bed and the two in his bathroom watching as they exited the bathroom behind him. "But...you should stick around, you might get drunk enough to 'get to know me' instead" Nick laughed, looking Stella up and down as if she was merely an object and nothing more. Dalton prepared to step forward and defend the girl yet it seemed like Nick wasn't done "And maybe I'll get drunk enough to find one of you two attractive?" He turned round sarcastically, pointing at Stella and Lizzie "Even though you look like a pair of clowns" he laughed, looking at his friends behind him as they laughed along with him.

"Nick the dick huh? I'm more partial to kick the dick." Chris raised her right foot and kicked Nick right between his legs, he crouched over in pain, clutching himself as he fell to his knees. This however allowed the four to run from the house, pushing past even more drunk teenagers as they slowed to walked down the front path.

"Quick thinking back there huh?" Chris smiled as the four walked towards the car in their usual format, Lizzie and Chris at the front, Dalton and Stella at the back.

"Hey dalton? I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I did back there, I should have asked you properly first but I just panicked and didn't think about how you would react. And now you're being all quiet I really hope I haven't just ruined our friendship" Stella had turned to Dalton in his quiet state and rambled out an apology, anxious that she'd ruined their relationship.
"What? Ruined our friendship? No way, you got us out of trouble it's okay. But I'm just sorry for what he said to you" he turned to the girls in front of him "to all of you."

"You think we care what people like him think?" Lizzie turned to him "we appreciate your concern Dalton but as girls we are used to it, we just have to move on, if we cried every time a boy spoke to us like that i don't think we'd ever stop" Lizzie finished, the other girls smiling at her in agreement. "Yeah...maybe. But it still doesn't make it right" Dalton finished, a concern smile gracing his face.

In all honesty the girls appreciated his unnecessary apology more than they'd let on. Between the three of them the girls had experienced enough misogynistic behaviour in their lives to last them a lifetime and one scrawny teenage boy wouldn't change things.

The four were quieter on the drive back to the dorms as they recalculated the events of the evening. Parking the car and walking up to the dorms, they felt as thought their bodies were on auto pilot, their legs seemingly taking them where they needed to go.

The four exchanged goodbyes as they split off into their respective dorms, Chris splitting off on her own to go upstairs despite the groups offer to walk her upstairs, waving as she left. Lizzie wasted no time in heading into her dorm, leaving Stella and Dalton in the hallways, they shared a smile as Stella turned to walk into her dorm. Before she could however, Dalton reached out and softly grasped her wrist "I can tell you're still thinking about earlier and honestly, nothing is going to change between us, it was a spur of the moment thing and it probably saved our asses, if anything I should be thanking you." Dalton laughed softly, making sure to keep his voice down as not to disturb any sleeping dorm owners in the hall. Stella smiled at him softly and before her brain could stop her she pushed herself forward and lightly wrapped her arms around Dalton. The boy wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her shoulders, enjoying the moment for what it was, he couldn't remember the last time he'd hugged someone that wasn't his mom."Goodnight Dalton" Stella whispered, untangling herself from him and enclosing herself behind her dorm door.

"Goodnight Stell" Dalton whispered, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.