With You┃Dylan O'Brien ⓵

Chapter Sixteen (Pt. 1) : How Unexpected

I don't know this song, but I already love it. The words she is singing and the way she is singing them make me love the song, but something tells me I wouldn't care for the original. She's so captivating and mesmerizing, I can't look away or turn my attention from her in any way-- not that I would want to.

My cake has been left on a nearby table with only two bites taken out of it. I'm kind of afraid to say it... but as I sit here watching and listening to Anita sing her heart out, I can feel myself falling. In love. With her.

No matter how many times in the past few years I've told myself that, other than family, I'll never love anyone, never care for them, it's happening right now. Of course I care about her, but now, I think... I love her. Any doubts I have about this fact are completely demolished when she sings the final line of the song, staring directly at me, into my eyes.

"I have nothing, if I don't have you."

Well, I'm in love with Anita Burns.

She smiles brightly as she finishes the perfect note, and her magical performance comes to an end. The sound of people clapping and cheering overtakes the room and I am very much among them. I think I see her grandmother crying and her parents are smiling so fondly and proudly at her.

"Thank you," she says with a genuine grin. "Happy Birthday, Nonna. I love you."

Anita exits the stage afterward and the band repossesses the stage, immediately playing a song I believe to be from the 50's. She walks over to her grandmother where they hug for a long time, and some words that I can't hear are exchanged.

She receives hugs from her parents, too, and some other people compliment her and such as she makes her way back towards... oh, me.

Her pearly white teeth flash at me as she takes her seat next to me. I kind of hope I don't have to talk because I have a feeling I'll be tripping over my words.

"Hey stranger," she muses jokingly. "How was I?"

Between the fact that I've just realized that I love her, the fact that she looks the way that she looks, and the fact that I really can't put my amazement into words, I am left speechless. Because of this, I'm just staring back at her.

She laughs a little at my silence, "What?"

I still can't speak.

"What is it?", she suddenly looks worried. "Was it bad? Did you not like it?"

"No! Not at all!", I burst out. "WAIT, no, I mean yes?" See what I meant about how I'd trip over my words? I try to further explain, "No okay what I meant is no, i-it wasn't bad. At all. I-It was actually, like, freaking amazing."

Anita smiles, "Well thank you, I'm glad you think so."

Jeez, I-I really can't look at her. So I look off into the distance and nod my head.

I hear her laugh again, "Dylan, are you okay?"

"It's not necessarily a matter of life and death, so I guess so."

"You're so weird sometimes. But then again, that's just another reason you're my favorite person."

Throughout the remainder of the party, we watch a lot of people dance and a few of them get drunk off the red wine. Anita gets up and dances with her relatives several times and tries to get me to dance with her but I reject her every time. If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that Dylan O'Brien does not dance.

Trust me, I'm doing these people a favor by sitting down. But when many people have left and it's nearing nine o'clock, I'm practically forced into dancing with her. She pulls out the puppy dog eyes, and I wish I could say I was immune to their effect.