Chapter Twenty-Two - "It's A Good Different"
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When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't in my clothes. My dress was thrown in a ball on the floor like I just decided to rip it off in the middle of the night without even bothering to hang it up. I cursed at myself for a moment, thinking about all the wrinkles that might appear in the fabric when I had a sudden realization.
It wasn't my floor that my dress was laying on.
It wasn't my bed that I was lying in either. And it wasn't even my room.
It wasn't even my house.
My eyes went wide as I slowly leaned up on my one elbow and looked around the room.
The walls surrounding me were a creamy yellow color with random posters and banners covering them. There were white string lights going around the perimeter of the room at the ceiling and they were on, even though it was perfectly bright enough from the sun coming in through the window.
I looked down to see clothes covering the carpeted floor. My eyes caught on to my attire I was sporting, knitting my brows at the t-shirt I was wearing that wasn't mine, and the pair of basketball shorts that certainly weren't mine either.
Just as I went to lay back down, a snore came from behind me. I turned my head with a small gasp to see who the culprit was.
And then I saw Dylan. Passed out like he hasn't slept in days with no shirt on, baring his tan, muscular back.
Oh no.
I tried to think back to last night after we left Level 3, but I had no luck in bringing it up. I didn't really remember getting to his house, or who even came to get us. We might have taken a cab. I have no idea.
What I did remember was kissing him on the way to his room, and kissing him as we took our clothes off, and then-
Yeah, it happened – we drunkenly slept with each other.
I nodded my head with my lips pursed, trying to hold back an annoyed sigh. I can't believe I did that.
I just wanted to kiss the kid, not sleep with him in one-go. Apparently, drunk me liked to make horrible decisions and go with the opposite of my intentions.
Good job, Lindsay.
A few minutes later, Dylan stirred. He groaned sleepily and rolled over onto his back, slowly opening one eye. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised and an amused smile as he stared at me like he was really, really confused. Or maybe he was just tired.
"Um, hey," he chuckled, ruffling his hair.
"Hi," I sheepishly said. Then I figured if I didn't ask now, I'd never know what exactly happened last night. "Did we uh..." I started to say it, until he cut me off.
"Have really drunk, kinda sloppy sex that was somehow amazing? Yeah, we did," he said it bluntly with a short nod.
"Oh, um, okay," I stuttered, and my cheeks flushed with red hot embarrassment.
After that, the both of us went quiet. I didn't know what to say, and it seemed that Dylan didn't know either.
I didn't really regret what happened – it was taking a step closer to starting something with Dylan. I just wished it wouldn't have happened while I was hammered off a few sugary margaritas. Most of all, I wished I could remember it.
I suddenly realized that he was watching me with that sexy smirk of his printed on his lips. I turned my head and glanced between his eyes, noticing the glint of amusement in them. There was something playful about the look that made me want to lean over and kiss him.
So I did.
Forget heartbreak and "taking things slow". The attraction I had towards Dylan was undeniable at this point – I wanted all of him.
His hands grasped onto me in a tight hold that my fingers matched on his back. Our hands roamed around, trying to remember what each other's skin felt like as the kissing turned frantic and restless.
Bits and pieces of last night started vaguely coming back to me, but last night didn't matter anymore.
"Hey," Dylan whispered onto my lips when he momentarily pulled away.
"Hm?" I hummed absentmindedly, feeling it to be impossible to think about anything else but kissing him.
"Since we don't really remember last night that well and we're sober today," he paused to plant a kiss by my ear. "What if we reenact last night? When we got right here?" Another pause as a kiss was placed on my neck. "Just to refresh our memories."
A light, airy chuckle breathed through my lips. "Refreshing our memories does sound nice," I agreed, my voice a little weak.
"It does, doesn't it?" He smirked before attaching his lips back onto mine, and that was the end of our conversation.
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It was like we couldn't get enough of each other. No matter what we tried to do, we never had enough time.
We spent every possible moment together – including hang outs, dates, nights in and random weekend adventures. Truth be told, I was having the time of my life whenever I was with him.
I was engulfed by the feeling of love and I'd never felt happier. My stay on cloud nine was permanent. Dylan was a drug that I couldn't seem to get enough of. I was completely addicted to him.
He was a drug, an escape, whatever you want to call it. But he was the thing that helped me move on.
I wasn't even thinking about him that much anymore. It was rare for him to cross my mind and I think I was completely over him by now. He no longer mattered because I was moving on to something totally better than he ever could have been.
Although Dylan and I had a seemingly perfect relationship, we weren't "official". We hardly talked about it either – I didn't know what to call us. And two months later, it was getting to the point where I wanted to ask. But I didn't have the guts, so we stayed the same.
Winter break was in about two weeks, and I was hoping that by the new year we'd have something official. I'd be his real girlfriend; an actual label to whatever it is we had. But I couldn't keep my hopes up too high because I didn't want them to come crashing down on me.
On a clear Saturday afternoon, Ashley, Brooke and I went out to lunch at our favorite little restaurant that sits on the corner of a busy street in the city. It was filled with stores of all kinds, and we loved to sit outside to enjoy the San Diego weather that we love so much.
The waiter brought over our drinks, then quickly took our usual orders and walked away. The three of us sat in silence, listening to the chattering of other dining customers surrounding us on the patio area. I reached forward to grab my iced tea and took a long sip of it, quenching my thirst and sighing happily.
"I think I'm finally used to her being so happy all the damn time," Brooke jokingly said to Ashley, gesturing to me.
I rolled my eyes and smirked at them, setting my drink back down. "I think you'd rather see me like this than how I was after everything that happened with Chase," I retorted.
"We're happy that you're happy," Ashley piped up with a grin. "It's been awhile since we've seen you this way, so it's different. But it's a good different."
"Definitely," Brooke agreed as she adjusted her black sunhat.
My smirk stretched into a full-on smile now, my cheeks flushing from their compliments. "It's just really nice to be able to feel this way after all the crap I went through this summer," I explained, shrugging my shoulders and leaning my elbows on the armrests of my chair.
They both nodded, similar smiles on each of their faces, while a comfortable silence settled over us. I took the chance to change the subject to something else a few minutes later, talking about how graduation was so soon.
Not that I was sick of talking about Dylan, but I figured they were bored of this topic by now. It had been two months of this love-bird, honeymoon crap and I was sure my friends were ready to kill me.
Our waiter brought out our food a little while later, placing Ashley's giant salad in front of her, topped with endless ingredients that make lettuce leaves insignificant. He handed me my fresh wrap with crispy fries on the side, then gave Brooke her sandwich melt and left us alone.
Focusing on our food with limited conversation, the cool breeze blew by me as I wrapped my blanket shawl a little tighter around myself. I watched the cars drive by in the street, while the palm trees above us shook in the wind, taking note of how familiar the scenery is to me.
Palm trees in December. It made me wonder what a winter season was like on the east coast; snow and cold weather. I guess I'd never really know, because I couldn't see myself leaving this sunny state.
With my thoughts preoccupied and my teeth munching on a french fry, my curious best friend opened up a new topic. Well, semi-new.
"Linds," Ashley caught my attention, and I looked over at her sitting across from me. "Do you think Dylan will ever ask you out?"
I pursed my lips and felt my shoulders drop a little. "I don't know," I breathed out the words. "I mean, I can never bring myself to ask him what he thinks of us. It seems like we're on the same page, but I'm not sure. We both could be wanting two totally different things and not know it."
"Is he the girlfriend type, you think?" Brooke asked now, shoving a few fries into her mouth.
"That's the thing – he told me he dated a girl for two years before and that was his only real, steady relationship. So I don't really know," I told her, leaning back in my chair and sipping on my iced tea.
"Hm," she narrowed her eyes slightly. "What happened?"
I felt my jaw tick at the thought of explaining it to her, but I did it anyway.
"He uh... he said that she had a lot going on at home and it got in the way," I easily brushed it off. I mentally patted myself on the back for keeping a straight face and a calm demeanor.
"That sucks," Ashley frowned. Brooke nodded along with a mouthful, covering her mouth with her hand. "I hate to see relationships end with that kind of stuff. Just because your home life isn't the greatest doesn't mean your love life should suck too."
"Yeah," I mumbled quietly. I picked up my wrap and took a bite out of it, not saying much else after that.
Of course it killed me to think that they were my best friends and they were completely unaware of one of my biggest secrets. Of course I thought about telling them every day. Of course it hurt like hell to hide it from them.
But I couldn't do it. It was a ridiculously frightening subject for me, so I couldn't even imagine how they would feel about it. I didn't think things could ever be the same after dropping a bomb like that.
And if it meant me being a baby by not telling them, then by all means, I'd be a baby.
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A/N - Being high off love is a great feeling... but we gotta come back to reality eventually! In the meantime, we can enjoy the Cloud 9 state that Lindsay is in.
Thoughts on the beginning of this chapter? Is Lindsay moving too fast or are things going good for her so far? And what do you think about her conversation with her friends? The awkward tension at the end; yikes. Things are building up to get real crazy, real soon. Get ready, my friends, because little by little this story is coming together.
AND ALSO, THANK YOU FOR GETTING ME A RATING ON THE TEEN FICTION TAG?! I just happened to see it was #30 the other day, then it spiked up to #26 and now it's back at #31 :') this is surreal. Thank you so so much to everyone who reads this, it means the absolute world to me! UGH I LOVE YA LOTS.
Song: Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift
Photo: Dylan in bed being sexy as hell
xoxo, sabbbycat