I couldn't be happier. Seriously, it's like everything is falling into place.
Dylan and I couldn't be better, we didn't see each other this past week as he's busy with college again, but we are still texting and officially dating him is amazing.
Nothing really changed from what we were doing before, but now that I have the girlfriend label, it just feels great!
Well, things actually changed inside my head, like the way I'm now walking down the school hallways with a loose smile on my face and a sudden increased confidence. People around here would go crazy if they knew I'm dating Dylan. The Dylan. I know some girls from my class also dated him too, but like I said, it's different with me.
He told me I'm not just any girl to him, I'm special.
Lilly freaked out when I told her and made a whole ritual to cross the 'tell Dylan how I feel' item from the bucket list. She's still not Dylan's biggest fan, but I'm glad she's happy for me.
We still haven't told anyone about us being together and it's nice having this as our little secret, like the day he asked me to be official and we had dinner with our families right after. We kept glancing at each other and being flirty.
My parents asked me what was going on with me because it looked like I was more distracted than normal. My dad eyed me suspiciously and I know he suspects there's something to do with Dylan, but I didn't give it away.
Well, our secret relationship is about to change, that's why I'm feeling a bit nervous as I'm getting ready to go out with him.
It's not exactly a date, it's even more nerve-wracking than that. He's going to introduce me to his college friends and for some reason I think this is a pretty big step.
Telling people makes it just too real.
I know it was my option to keep it between us, but I'm ready to tell his friends. His college friends at least. Especially because they don't know Bennett, so what are the chances of him finding out so soon?
Not that this is what I should be worried about...
The fall weather is super chilly, so I decide to go with dark jeans, a blue satin blouse and a nice black jacket. I'm also wearing some cute Chelsea boots.
"You look good." Dylan says as soon as he sees me. He gives me a soft kiss and takes my hand in his. "Are you ready?"
"I'm so ready." He chuckles and leads us to the car.
In less than an hour we are in New York, where he made plans to meet his friends at a bar they usually hang out at.
He never told me he goes to bars in Manhattan. I know he goes to some parties, but a bar is something else, isn't it? Plus, I thought he was taking me to the campus.
We walk inside and I take a second to look around. I'm feeling excited, but afraid at the same time. This is New York and I've never been to a bar like this, so I find everything so scary. I squeeze his hand and he looks back at me with a smirk.
He waves to a group of people who are at a table in the corner of the place and we make our way there.
There are a few guys and a couple of girls, who look like they are way older than me. Dylan greets all of them in a sort of bro hug while I stand there looking like I don't belong here.
Although Millburn is close to Manhattan, I don't come here often, so technically it's true, I don't belong here.
"Guys, this is Alex, my new girlfriend." My heart jumps a little when he says it out-loud and I take a step forward, raising my hand to say hello with a wave.
"Well, well, so you are the one who got our friend here hooked up." A tall guy, who I assume is on the football team, considering his body type and the Rutgers Football t-shirt he's wearing, stands up and pulls me towards him in a bro hug as well.
Ok, that's awkward.
"I'm Steve, nice to meet you, A." Did he just call me A?
"Nice to meet you too... uhn, S." I joke and he laughs. It's pretty lame, to be honest.
"The girl has a sense of humor. I like her." He turns to Dylan, but joking is just a way of making me feel less nervous, it doesn't mean that I'm comfortable. "Let me introduce you to the rest of us."
He puts his arm around my shoulder and then goes one by one telling me their names, which I will probably forget.
While Steve is being the host, Dylan is already sitting with the rest of his friends, a beer bottle in his hand.
"Here, grab a beer." Steve hands me the bottle, but I shake my head.
"Thanks, I shouldn't be drinking, I'm underage." It's not that I'm a prude or anything.
You know I've been drunk before, but one thing is to drink at someone's house, another is to drink at a bar in New York. I just don't want to go to jail.
I glance at Dylan and he takes a sip of his beer, looking amused. He is also underage, so he shouldn't be drinking either.
"Don't worry about it. The owner is a good friend of ours and you're 21 tonight." He winks at me, practically shoving the beer bottle in my face, so I take it.
I don't want them to think that I'm not cool, so I take a big sip, before turning to find an approving Steve looking at me.
The girl who Dylan is talking to makes room for me and I sit between her and my boyfriend. It's so cool to say that!
"So, Alex, what's your major?" Another guy from the group asks.
"Oh, I'm a senior in high school, I'm still not sure what I want to do after I graduate."
"You're in high school?" He asks surprised and I see the lips of one of the girls turning up into a smirk, whatever that means. All I know is that suddenly I feel embarrassed, which let's be real, happens a lot when it comes to me.
"Alex and I have known each other our entire lives. We just happen to have bonded now." Dylan shrugs and some of his friends nod.
"I think that's romantic." The other girl, that I now know is called Lauren, says. "That's how I met my boyfriend too, right babe?"
She turns to the guy next to her and he just nods before drinking his beer and turning to his side to talk to another guy.
I engage in a conversation with her and it makes me feel much better. I thought girls would be mean, but she's so nice. She's a sophomore and lives with her boyfriend off campus.
I feel so grown up in this crowd that I'm suddenly having my second beer and acting like a true new yorker, all the embarrassment gone.
I'm not sure how it happened, but I find myself making plans to visit all the cool places in the city with her. I could definitely get used to it here.
Time went by quickly and the rest of the night was intense. I got a bit drunk - well, everybody got drunk - we went for a walk around the city and ended up crashing at Lauren and her boyfriend's place.
This is something that I never thought I'd experience. This is a whole new level of going out and I don't think I've ever felt so grown up and I really like the feeling.
I suddenly can't wait to go to college.
Going to a bar should be on the bucket list, but Lilly is not here, so I guess it doesn't count.
Speaking of Lilly, she has been texting me the whole night asking where the hell I am, because my parents called her asking if I was at her place as I wasn't answering my phone and I haven't given them any news either.
She lied to them and said that I fell asleep, so she would ask me to call them as soon as I was awake in the morning, so when we got back home, I asked Dylan to drive me to her house instead of taking me to my place.
"Alex Harper, where the fuck have you been?"
I say goodbye to Dylan as I grab my things from his car and I walk towards her. I can't help but notice how she widens her eyes when she looks at how disheveled I look.
I look like a mess, with the same clothes from last night, not to mention my hair that could definitely use a brush.
The day is too bright, making my eyes hurt and I feel a bit of a headache, clear signs of a hangover showing up.
"What happened to you?" She inquires.
"I was on a date with Dylan." I say like it's not a big deal that I'm showing up in the morning.
"Yeah, last night. Where did you go and why did I have to lie to your parents?" She crosses her arms in front of her body.
"We went to a bar in New York." Her eyes go even wider.
"A bar in New York? Like a real bar? A bar where people drink heavy stuff?"
"Yes, a real bar, Lilly." I roll my eyes annoyed with her tone. She sounds like my mother scolding me. "I didn't drink too much. Just two beers, or maybe three. Anyway, everyone was drinking, so it's not a big deal. We didn't want to drive intoxicated, so we crashed at Lauren's."
"Who the hell is Lauren?" She puts her hands on her hips this time.
"She is a friend of Dylan's who offered her house for us to spend the night." I say, like it's the coolest thing.
She takes a step closer and I know that look. It's not only disapproval, but she thinks I'm hiding something.
"Did you have sex with Dylan?" My cheeks turn red.
"Oh my God, of course not! We've been officially dating for only a week, Lilly. A week! I slept on the couch and he was on the floor."
"Well, it looks like one week is enough for you to act like this." She narrows her eyes.
"Act like what? What does that even mean? I just went to meet his friends, who are pretty cool by the way, and we stayed there. What's wrong with that?" I throw my hands in the air, feeling frustrated.
"Nothing, but the moment you lie to your parents and get drunk in fucking Manhattan, then I see a problem."
"Lilly, I love you, I really do, but I love Dylan and he was just showing me his new life. It's not like I'll be drinking at bars from now on. I just like being part of his world, that's it. I feel like an adult."
"Right, but you are not an adult yet." I roll my eyes.
"Neither are you, so stop talking to me like that." I called her out, louder than I should.
"Did you even take your medicine?" She narrows her eyes one more time.
Now she really sounds like my mother. I gulp, because the truth is, I didn't. That was irresponsible of me, I'll admit it.
It crossed my mind a minute ago that I just hope my headache is a hangover and not a migraine episode. That would suck big time.
"Can we please forget about this? I want to tell you everything that happened, how amazing it was to walk around Bryant park and eat bagels in the middle of the night. Pretty Please?" I pout and I can see her giving in.
"Fine, I'm letting this go, but next time just let me know where you are so I don't have to worry about you."
"I promise." I blink innocently and she gives me a hug, pushing me away almost instantly.
"Before you tell me anything, can you please take a shower? You smell like beer."
I nod and we go to her room, where she hands me a pair of pants and a t-shirt of hers.
.........................
The following couple of weeks were hectic. There's a lot going on at school, Dylan is busy as well - as usual - and Thanksgiving is around the corner.
It's not just school that is busy, but my life in general suddenly changed after I started dating Dylan and especially after I met his friends. We went out with them the past couple weekends and I'm doing my best to manage school and have a relationship with a college guy.
It's not that I'm someone different, but let's just say that I got drunk again another time and Lilly is not happy with me about it. She said that Dylan is a bad influence for me.
According to her, now that I have new friends, I started going to college parties, drinking and going out on school days, which is not true. It only happened once, when Dylan was home on a Wednesday night and we went on a date. It was the first time we went out just the two of us since we started officially dating and I confess that I missed it.
Every time we go out, we're always with his friends, so it feels like we never spend time together. I hate to say this, but sometimes it feels like I'm more of a friend than his girlfriend. When he's with his friends he's a bit different and he doesn't give me as much attention as I'd like, but I guess it's just how college people do things, right?
I reminded myself that I'm still not in college, so I told Dylan that I need to focus a bit on my studies as mid-term exams are close and he is supportive of that. I guess that's why Dylan and I haven't texted much this week, he's probably giving me space to focus on exams, which is very understanding of him.
Lilly thinks that Dylan is doing what he always does, which is to be really excited at first with a new relationship and after a few weeks, he gets bored. She didn't say it like that, but I can read between the lines. Apart from the rumors, we've seen Dylan act like this before way too many times, so I don't blame her for thinking like this, but like I said, I'm different.
With Lilly on my mind, I'm making my way to my next class when I see something that makes me stop in my tracks.
There she is, at the other end of the hall. She is talking to the person I've never seen her engage with before. Not at school at least and especially, not like that.
Why on earth is Lilly talking to Bennett like she's demanding something from him?
I know her well enough to see the bossy way she's talking to him and she doesn't look pleased. He is going through his locker and I also know him well enough at this point to know that whatever she's saying, she's pushing her luck.
She takes a step forward, stopping too close from him, like she's telling him a secret and that is enough to make me frown.
When did this happen? Have I been so oblivious that suddenly Lilly and Bennett are close?
I thought I was what they had in common, like when Lilly spent that summer with us at the West's cabin, she wouldn't be hanging out with the Wests if we weren't friends, but apparently not. What business could she possibly have with him?
It's not that she can't be friends with him, she totally can, it's just... weird.
What if... oh my God! What if Bennett is the guy Lilly is interested in and that's why she doesn't want to tell me?
I've been trying to get her to spill out who her crush is, but she dodges the topic every single time.
What if they are together behind my back?
No, there's no way. Lilly still says how perfect Bennett and I would be together and how he might have feelings for me, so there's no way they are a thing.
Or maybe, just maybe she says these things to see how I feel about him as we've known each other since we were born and when she actually realized that I really don't care about him in that way, she went for it.
It makes sense, now that I'm actually dating Dylan, there's no reason why they can't be a couple as well.
Maybe they just don't know how to tell me, exactly how I don't know how to tell Bennett about me and his brother.
Not to mention that they would look so good together. Both smart and interesting, both good looking too. They actually do have a lot in common and I know they are sort of friends, even if I don't see them talking much.
When I'm internally freaking out, not sure if it's because they might be together or because she didn't tell me, he suddenly turns to his side to face her and just like her, he also doesn't look pleased.
Why are they arguing? About what they could be arguing about? This is making me so confused.
He looks both ways, as if he doesn't want anyone to hear and then says something with a big frown on his face, being too close for my liking.
She takes a step back, but she puts her hands on her waist right after and says something back to him. Lilly wouldn't back off when a guy is calling her out.
I mean, if that's even what's happening.
Without realizing, I'm a bit closer to them as I'm too curious for my own good. I want to hear what they are talking about so badly, but I don't want them to see me, so I stop before they can spot me, but I'm still not able to hear a thing.
The bell rings and I startle, before I turn my attention back to them. He leans even closer and says something that seems to put an end to their conversation.
He then leaves Lilly standing there alone, contemplating the floor.
Can anyone tell me what the hell just happened?
.........................
Hello Lovely Readers,
I know you are wondering about Lilly and Bennett. What do you think is the deal with them? Are they really are together? And lastly, are you ready for Bennett's POV??
There's a lot to happen and OMG, I can't wait for you to see what's coming next!!!!
How do you feel about Alex hanging out with Dylan's college friends?
I can barely control my excitement, so pleeeease share your comments with me and vote!
Love,
Me