Seasons Change

24.

"No, it's fine," I said. "Honestly, you were right to break up with me. We weren't right for each other. I'm over it."

Not to mention, I was plenty confused about what was going on with Luke and Dylan. I had no idea what I felt for either of them, and the last thing I needed was another guy to add to the mix.

Dylan looked relieved. "Good. Let's go find Avery, get her to fall for the setup, and then you and I have plans, Faye."

Avery was hiding out in the guest bedroom, and when I knocked softly on the door, she looked up in surprise.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm going out with Dylan and Ben," I said. "I wanted to see if you wanted to come."

Avery perked up at Ben's name, and when he stepped into the room, she practically started panting. "Hi, Ben," she purred. "Are you the ex-boyfriend?"

Ben coughed to hide his surprised laugh. "For now," he said, winking at me as he delivered the line Dylan had told him to. "Although I'm kind of hoping Lilly will forgive me sooner or later."

"Forget Lilly," Avery suggested, taking the bait. "You should take me out instead. There must be somewhere halfway decent around here to grab a bite to eat, right? Just the two of us?"

"Oh. Um...okay," Ben agreed. "I guess that would be alright."

As Avery grabbed his hand and practically dragged him from the room, he mouthed "Have fun" to Dylan and me. Once they were gone, Dylan turned to me and grinned.

"I knew that would work," he said.

I smirked. "What can I say? You're a master of manipulation."

"I try," he said. "Are you coming, or what?"

I looked down at my jeans and t-shirt, wondering if I should go change. "Is this okay to wear?" I asked. "They're not my nicest clothes."

Dylan laughed. "Don't worry, it doesn't matter what you're wearing right now, because you won't be wearing it later."

I choked. "Olson!" I scolded.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Faye," Dylan laughed. "You'll see what I mean when we get there."

Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up in front of Goodwill. "Did you want to do some shopping?" I asked, confused.

Dylan winked at me, handing me a $20 bill. "We're going to have some fun," he said. "We each have $20 to spend. I'm going to pick out what you wear out to dinner, and you'll pick what I wear. And it has to be the funniest, craziest outfit you can come up with."

I giggled. "Why are we doing this, again?" I asked.

Dylan shrugged. "Because it's fun, and I figured that with all of the drama going on with Avery, fun was exactly what you needed."

"Have I ever told you you're the best?"

"Not enough," Dylan said. "But don't worry, I already know I'm great."

We both headed into Goodwill, and I gravitated to the men's section of the store, looking for the brightest, craziest colors I could find. Someone had donated a baby blue suit that looked like it hadn't been in fashion since the 70s, but it was outside of the $20 budget, so I had to keep looking. There were plenty of wacky t-shirts in bright colors, but I wanted something extra crazy. After all, Dylan was giving me full license to dress him. I was going to make him regret that decision.

In the dress clothes section, I found the ugliest burnt orange dress pants I had ever seen, and the best part was, not only were they Dylan's size, they were only $4. They were so ugly, Goodwill was practically giving them away. In the miscellaneous accessories bin, I found a pair of honest to goodness suspenders, and I almost laughed out loud. Yes. Those would be absolutely perfect with the hideous pants.