Chasing Dylan

Chapter Seventeen

"I didn't realize they were letting wild animals into restaurants." Evan said, standing up and facing Callum.

Callum looked pissed off, more angry than I had ever seen him.

"And I didn't know they let homophobic assholes in here either." Callum responded, crossing his arms and giving Evan a death glare.

They both stared each other down, fuming. I got up from my seat, and grabbed Callum's hand, pulling him away from Evan.

"Hey, do you wanna wait for me in the car till my shift is over?" I asked, looking up at him.

"No." He shook his head. "I think I'll stay." He said, dismissing me, while still glaring at Evan.

"Please, Callum. I don't want any drama at my workplace." I said, pleadingly.

"No Dylan! That's final." He said to me, his jaw clenched.

Callum didn't even look at me, he continued to scowl at Evan.

"You're actually dating this guy? What? Are you into criminals?" Evan asked me, smirking.

I opened my mouth to speak, but was immediately cut off by Callum. "Don't talk to her. Don't even look at her, unless you want a repeat of last year."

Evan advanced towards Callum, but I held my arms out, trying to put distance between them.

My break was almost over, but I wanted to defuse this situation before going back to work. Instead, Callum was making it worse. I was thankful we were in the back of the diner, and other customers didn't have to witness this pissing contest. Before I could say anything, Evan's friends began walking towards our direction. Callum looked at them, surprised, I assumed he knew them as well.

"Cal?" A curly haired guy asked, squinting at Callum.

Callum instantly got a smile on his face, pulled his hand out of mine and walked towards the guy, embracing him.

"It's good to see you, Kyle." He said, after they let go of each other. He greeted the other guys, while Evan stood beside me, seething.

"Are you guys actually being buddy buddy with the kid who put me in the hospital?" Evan demanded, stomping towards the group.

"Hey man, that was a long time ago. You need to move on bro." Kyle said.

"Unbelievable." Evan responded, shaking his head. He looked to Callum, then turned to me, smirking. "I'll be seeing you, Dylan." He winked.

"Don't come around my girl again." Callum called out, as Evan walked to the exit.

"I'm sorry man, we gotta go, he's our ride." One of the guys said.

"Hit me up bro, we have to chill soon." Kyle said to Callum, dapping him up.

"Will do, see you guys." Callum said, as the boys left.

I stared down at my feet, thanking God that they were gone and nothing had escalated. I kept my eyes off of Callum, incredibly disappointed in how he behaved.

"I need to get back to work." I said, picking up my empty milkshake glass, and walking away from him.

He grabbed my arm, stopping me. "Dylan what's wrong?"

I turned to him and rolled my eyes, pulling my arm from his grasp. "We'll talk later, you can go. I'll find another ride home."

Callum looked me with a hurt look on his face. A look that I'd never seen before. It made me want to tell him that I changed my mind, but I quickly shook those thoughts out of my head. I saw a side of Callum today that I didn't like, and I definitely wasn't going home with him.

"You're mad at me?" He asked, but seemed to already know the answer.

"We'll talk later." I repeated, walking away, towards the kitchen.

"Can I at least take you home, please sugarplum?" He called out, my back facing him.

I closed my eyes tightly, wanting so bad to say yes, but I knew that I couldn't. I respected myself too much to give in so quickly because of a cute nickname.

So I kept walking, ignoring him, hoping it'd answer his question.

-

When my shift was over, I called a Lyft to bring me home. Hector insisted that he drop me, but I didn't want to wait at the diner for his shift to be over. The whole ride home, I kept thinking about Callum, and how he acted today. He behaved like a possessive jerk instead of the kind, sweet man that I had fallen for.

When I got to my bedroom, I immediately stripped down, and went to take a shower. I put my shower playlist on shuffle, and listened to H.E.R as I washed my hair. I felt a little relaxed, but I still had this ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach that wouldn't waver, I hated that I was fighting with my boyfriend.

My music came to a stop, when my phone rang. I figured it was Callum, but I didn't really feel like talking to him right now so I let it ring until the music started to play again.

I had been in the shower for almost thirty minutes, my fingers now pruning up when I heard a knock on my bathroom door.

"I'll be out in a second!" I yelled out.

I turned the water off, and paused the music. I quickly wiped my skin off and wrapped a towel around my body and another around my hair. When I opened the bathroom door, I was surprised to find Callum sitting on my bed playing with the hem at the bottom of his shirt.

"Hey." He said quietly, his green eyes meeting mine.

I tightened the towel around me, as my cheeks burned. I was basically naked.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" I asked.

He got up, and walk towards me, keeping a safe distance between us.

"I called you, but you didn't pick up. I just need to see you and make sure you got home safely. I didn't like how we left things, and I really just wanted to apologize for how I acted." He rambled.

I stared at him, and could visibly see that he was hurting and that he meant every word.

"I didn't like the side of you I saw today. You've never acted like that around me, and it scares me that maybe I don't know the real you."

He shook his head quickly, closing the gap between us. "You do know me Dylan. You know me better than anyone, you know that. How I acted today, that was the old me, that was a guy that doesn't deserve a girl like you. I promise you, I've changed. Seeing Evan again just brought up stuff from the past that I worked so hard to move on from. Trust me when I say that I will never act that way again, I know that I hurt you and I never want to do that again. Ever. I promise you Dylan, I am not that guy, I'm your guy."

I could feel the tears building up in my eyes, as I attempted to blink them away.

"I believe you, and I do trust you." I said, staring at the beautiful man in front of me.

He pulled me into his arms, and buried his face into my exposed neck. After a while, he pulled away from me, and looked into my eyes.

"The thing is, I'm in love with you Dylan."

My heartbeat quickened and the words just left my mouth as if I had been waiting to say them all my life.

"I love you too, Callum.