"something happens when everybody finds out, see the vultures circling dark clouds, love's a fragile little flame, it could burn out"
i know places • taylor swift
I was furious.
What happened at Ridgemount with Dakota only made me more confused about what was happening between us.
There may not be a relationship nor a friendship between us, but you had to be blind not to see that the dynamics between the two of us had shifted.
I was angry, but I think it was mostly at myself. Getting cocky and over confident wasn't part of my plan when I went to meet Dakota but my ego had gotten the better of me. Looking back, I wasn't proud of it. I had only backed Dakota into a corner by doing so and gotten myself hurt in the process.
It wasn't the rejection that hurt simply because there was nothing to be rejected for. It was the fact that Dakota was still being his stubborn self and couldn't admit that things had changed, even though I know he sensed it too.
The weekend had finally come around and I paced the house restlessly. My parents had gone out for the afternoon and Drew was making final trips around town for his job before he headed home the following morning.
I was too restless to focus on homework and I needed to get my mind off soccer for a while. Unfortunately, Scott was doing stuff with his family and Trent was at his grandmother's birthday. That left me alone and bored for the first time in a while. I could go out somewhere but I was in desperate need of company. Good or bad.
My phone was in my hand before I had even realised. Working with a mind of their own, my fingers typed a quick message to the one person I was dreading to see.
I stared at the screen in shock. I was so screwed. This was a bad idea. He wouldn't agree to that after what I did the other day.
I was screwed. I was so majorly screwed that I couldn't stop pacing the kitchen in anticipation.
It wasn't until Dakota was walking through my front door that I came back to reality. He leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen. "Why did you call me here, Connor?"
I sighed, knowing there was no use in lying. "I don't know."
Dakota crossed his arms across his chest. "That's not good enough."
Hanging my head, I stared down at the linoleum. What was I doing?
Dakota approached me slowly, his shoulders tense with frustration. "You and I, Connor," he said, "we don't talk. We're not friends. You called me here, now what do you want? If it's sex, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why are you being so harsh?" I snapped my head up to meet his gaze. "I get that you're angry with me but this isn't you, Dakota."
"The boy who's pushing me to reveal my non-existent feelings?" Dakota scoffed. "Yeah, that's nothing to be angry about, right?"
"I'm sorry!" I exclaimed. "Okay? I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
Dakota straightened up. "Why did you call me here, Connor?"
"You're the last person I should come to, I know," I mumbled. "Just make me forget how stupid I was."
"That's going to take more than one afternoon."
"Dakota."
Dakota rolled his eyes and for a minute I thought he would turn and leave, but then he surprised me by bringing his lips to mine and kissing me heatedly.
It wasn't long before Dakota was pulling me out of the kitchen and pushing me up the stairs, both of us trying not to stumble on the way as we barely broke our kiss.
Making our way into my bedroom, we tumbled onto my bed and proceeded to strip one another down, both of us trying not to seem eager. Against our better judgement.
Unfortunately for me, I had broken the lock on my bedroom door last week and had not yet replaced it. But the commencement of our activities had both Dakota and I oblivious to other occurrences around us.
Such as Scott and Trent walking in on us.
To my absolute horror, my bedroom door swung open right as Dakota and I were most vulnerable to reveal my two best friends standing in the doorway. Shock overcame their faces immediately.
"Oh my God." Trent exclaimed, immediately shielding his eyes as his cheeks flushed red.
Scott, on the other hand, looked furious. "What the hell?" he growled, completely unabashed at the situation before him. "I did not need to see that."
I sat up in lightning speed, pulling the sheet over myself and knocking Dakota off the bed in the process. "What are you guys doing here!"
Trent was basically hanging halfway out into the hallway. "We both finished our events early. You said you were home today so we thought we would surprise you."
"And yet," Scott said, "you surprised us. I see you've found a source of entertainment."
I flushed a deep red. "It's not what it looks like."
"Yeah," Dakota groaned, pulling himself up from the floor next to the bed. "That's not going to work."
I smacked my forehead. "Alright, fine, you caught us. We were... um..."
"Having sex." Scott finished bluntly.
I flushed harder and bit my lip. God, I didn't even want to imagine what my hair looked like right now. "Yeah."
"I thought you two hated each other?" Trent frowned.
"We do." I nodded confidently, and saw Dakota roll his eyes out of the corner of mine. I resisted the urge to pummel him.
"So, what. This was just hate sex?" Scott demanded.
Dakota looked to me as if to answer and I lowered my eyes. "We just do it to blow off steam and stuff."
"Wait." Scott gaped. "This has happened before?"
"Yes."
"Since when?"
"Since last year." Dakota smirked, clearly happy to throw me under the bus. I guess I deserved it though.
"A year!" Scott fumed. "So, you've been sneaking around and lying to us for an entire year? Skipping practices the past few weeks and all for what? To get laid?"
I shook my head. "It's not like that."
"How is it not like that?" Scott demanded. "We're your friends, Connor. You're not supposed to lie to us. What happened to trusting each other with anything?"
"I know, I'm sorry. You're right."
"And above all else," Scott pointed at Dakota. "It's with him."
Dakota mock-saluted him. I groaned and buried my face in my hands.
Trent turned his attention to Dakota, who had finally wrapped a blanket around his waist. "I thought you hated Connor?"
"Oh no," Dakota pulled himself back up onto the bed. "Don't be mistaken. I hate him completely. But he's alright for a quick hook-up every now and then."
"But our schools are competitors. How will they react to this news?" Trent asked nervously.
I growled low in my throat. "They're not going to find out."
"You're not going to tell them?" Scott's anger intensified. "You're the soccer Captain of Northshore, Connor. All these practices – the ones you attend lately – you've been coaching us on how to beat them. It's all you've talked about since seventh grade. No one hates Ridgemount more than you. And now that you're fucking their captain you don't want it anymore?"
"Not that I really care about the matter," Dakota interjected. "But one, you won't beat us and two, Connor's right. You won't tell anyone."
"So, your conquest is threatening me now?" Scott turned an appalled look on me. "I can't believe you, Connor."
"Scott, please," I plead. "I'm sorry for not telling you the truth, I really am, but no one can know. This has nothing to do with soccer."
"If it has nothing to do with soccer then why are you hiding it?"
"I-" I looked across to Dakota, who watched me patiently. I looked back to my friends. "I don't know, okay? I guess it's embarrassing. The last thing I want is anyone finding out about this when I've made our goal to beat Ridgemount so public for years on end."
Dakota rolled his eyes in my periphery.
Scott looked like he was debating arguing further. I looked to Trent, who managed a small smile before looking away.
"Scottie, please." I begged. "Just give me some time to work this out."
Scott eventually sighed and his shoulders dropped. "I suppose I understand why you hid it. I just thought the three of us had agreed there was nothing we couldn't tell one another."
Trent cringed. "Even when one of us loses his virginity on dinosaur sheets in his little brother's playhouse."
"Hey!" Scott whirled on him. "It was one time, and it wasn't my fault that my siblings had broken the bed springs by jumping on it."
"I just need some time." I said, drawing their attention back to me. "I'll figure this out. I promise. Just please don't tell anyone. I don't want the team finding out."
"We won't tell anyone." Trent promised.
I looked to Scott. "Scottie?"
He sighed. "Fine. I'll give you the time you need. But you won't be able to hide this forever, Connor. Anything could happen to expose you. Man, I wish I still didn't know considering what I just saw."
Trent began pulling Scott out of the room. "We'll see you on Monday."
The only thing I could do was nod as I watched Scott and Trent leave the room. When the front door closed downstairs, I collapsed back on the bed and shielded my eyes with my arm.
"I'm sorry."
I lowered my arm and looked at Dakota, who finally broke his silence. "What?"
Dakota was staring at my wall of photos, every one of them containing Scott and Trent. "That couldn't have been easy. I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"Yeah, well," I sat up. "I can't really say anything, can I? I knew the consequences when we started. I just didn't think they would actually find out like this."
Dakota surprised me by leaning in and kissing me gently on the lips before saying, "I should go. You need time to process this."
"Wait!" I caught him by the blanket wrapped around his waist. "What does this mean for us?"
He shrugged, beginning to pull on his clothes. "I don't know, Connor. I think I need some time to think too."
Without another word, Dakota left the room, leaving me to bask in my misery.
Between Scott and Trent walking in on us, and something deeper growing between Dakota and I, things were really starting to fall apart.
And I had no idea how to fix them.
***
VOTE. COMMENT. SHARE
What did you guys think?