Finding You || Dylan O'Brien

four (edited)

___

After that night, another week went by without any appearance from Astrid. Dylan did his usual shifts at the library, hung out with a few of his mates (and met some of their gorgeous but not Astrid-like girlfriends) and occasionally helped with small renovations in the library, but he wanted nothing more than to spend more time with her. It was like a game, and she was brilliant at it, always disappearing and then reappearing.

That Saturday, Dylan was - for once - not at the library but instead in his apartment doing some paperwork when he knew that it wasn't enough. Seeing Astrid once every week or so wasn't enough. He had to see her, take her out. He wanted this relationship to go as far as it could.

With no hesitation at all, he nudged his laptop away and picked up his phone.

"Hobbit Boy?" She asked on the third ring. "You've never called me before"

"I thought it was maybe time I did" he grinned, his heart skipping a beat - or beating too fast, he couldn't tell.

"What's up?" She asked.

"The sky" Dylan replied instantly. "Oh, well, actually it's the ceiling right now, and a light. The insulation in the roof and-"

"I'm going to hang up" she said.

"Alright, alright. Nothing's up" he smiled. "Nothing much, anyway"

"Nothing much?"

"Alright, so there may be this tiny dilemma"

"Tiny dilemma?"

"I'd...I'd like to take you out to watch a movie or something..." He said.

"And?" Astrid asked eagerly.

"But I'm broke" he sighed. "I spent the majority of my money on the Xbox my roommate and I wanted. I'm sorry"

"No" Astrid said. "Don't apologise. The Xbox is crucial in the life of a teenage boy"

"I am a grown man!"

She giggled. "With no facial hair"

"Shut up"

"Okay then" she said. "Where can we go that is low budget and incredibly romantic?"

He sucked in a breath. "Well...I need to repaint one of the walls in the library...and I can afford pizza.."

"That sounds incredibly romantic enough for me" she said. "When?"

"What about tomorrow, 11:50pm at the library?" Dylan asked.

"I'll see you there" she said, and she hung up.

___

The next day, Dylan spent much of his evening shift preparing the wall for painting. Max, one of his coworkers, looked at him oddly as he entered the library with a heavy cardboard box in his hands and an assortment of paintbrushes tucked under his arm.

"Wasn't Minho supposed to do that?" Max asked.

"Yeah" Dylan said, setting down the tools. "But I called him, and his gay ass didn't want to do it anyway, so I'm doing it with the help of a friend"

Not many people came that evening, so he spent the majority of his time laying out sheets on the carpet and clearing the area, scraping the remaining flaking paint off the wall. The wall was at the very back, the place where most people ignored. Most of the paint had come off already, and the owner of the library (which just so happened to be Max's dad) wanted it repainted.

When Astrid arrived, Dylan was passing the time by reading a book behind the counter, biting his lip in concentration.

"Hello" he said, marking his book.