<Dylan's POV>
Knockout dropped us off in the bridge, claiming he needed to go check and make sure no, and I quote, 'fragging hairbrained seekers' had the horrible idea to place themselves in his medbay.
So the three of us humans said our farewells, invited him to our marathon, and made our way first to Soundwave.
We waltzed into the throne room, as Blair so eloquently dubbed it, and Sam's smile widened. "Yo, Wave!"
Soundwave spun towards his charge and picked him up, placing Sammy on the large purple shoulder.
"You would not believe what Vince did."
I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the twentieth time today and climbed up onto Megatron's throne. Blair sat cross legged on the floor, leaning over her laptop, probably reading another online clothing magazine or something.
My phone buzzed and I saw a text from Jack and an update from the school gossip page.
JACK :
Hey, when do you want to meet up to work on the computer programming project?
Sent 15:00
Oh yeah. I forgot about that. My fingers typed out a quick response as I reclined on the arm of the throne.
When is it due? I lost my sheet
Sent 15:01
Read 15:01
JACK :
Thursday
Sent 15:02
We have the test over it on Friday
Sent 15:02
Shit. I thought looking at my phone. It was Tuesday already.
JACK :
R U free tonight?
Sent 15:04
I really didn't want to cancel on them but I also needed to get this project finished. I looked down at Blair.
"Hey, on a scale of one to ten, how angry would you be if I had to cancel the movie marathon tonight?"
Blair's green eyes narrowed dangerously and I was very glad that I was up out of her reach. "An eleven," She hissed. "Why are you cancelling?"
"What are we cancelling?" Sam asked from his perch on Soundwave, as the two boys walked over.
"Dylan wants to abandon our movie night."
"I don't want to cancel." I huffed, waving my phone screen at them. "I need to finish my computer programming project and unlike you two, my partner does not live on the Nemesis."
Sam squinted at me. "So no movie night?"
"No, I'm going to Jack's house."
"Jack Darby?" Blair frowned. "As in, Autobot's pet human, Jack Darby?"
Sam hooted. "Ooh, fraternizing with the enemy now, Dylan?" He clicked his tongue playfully. "I'm disappointed."
My eye twitched. I so wasn't in the mood for this right now. "He's a teenage boy," I growled darkly, unaware that I sounded just like my guardian. "That I share a project with."
"And apparently a love interest too."
BB's anger hit a pause at Sam's words and she smirked deviously. "~Dylan and Jack, sitting in a tree~"
My jaw locked, even as my cheeks heated up.
Then Sam joined in and my heart fell into my stomach. "~K-I-S-S-I-N-G~"
My eyes burned, and my chest felt tight, but refused to let them see. "At least he's nicer than y'all are right now." I snarled. A few vehicons in the room glanced in our direction nervously.
Soundwave chirped and his visor showed a picture of Jack, Miko, and Raf, then showed the autobot symbol.
"I don't care, Soundwave!" My voice was rising now. "It's not like we're trading secrets. We're working on a high school project!" My throat tightened and my mind was fuzzy. I knew I was close to an emotional breakdown if I didn't calm down soon. "And frankly, I think I'd prefer to be around him right now."
I jumped off the throne and stalked across the room.
"Hey," Sam called "we were just teasing."
My mind told me they didn't mean it but I was already strung up tight from the past few days. The door slid open just as I got there and Steve, a friend of ours, walked in as I was leaving.
"Move," I growled, shoving past him to my room.
I regretted it as soon as it came out but I didn't turn back.
In my room, I changed into a simple pair of skinny ripped jeans and a Wave Riding Vehicles T-shirt. Yanking on my white Nike's, I shot Jack a text letting him know I was on my way.
My back pack weighed almost nothing and as an afterthought, I snagged my blue ninja motorcycle and helmet.
Thankfully, no one was in the bridge and I hit the preset location button for Jasper just as my phone buzzed.
JACK :
Great! C U then!
Sent 15:47
I smiled. Maybe hanging out with someone else would do me some good. My phone buzzed again and I looked down.
JACK :
Do you have my address?
Sent 15:49
This was definitely gonna be fun.
••••
<Dylan's POV>
I zoomed through the town, easily going twenty over the speed limit.
It's not their fault. They were just playing.
I know. But it still hurt.
He doesn't even know you like him.
I need to tell him.
No! He'll hate me.
Then get over him.
My chest hurt as I pulled into Jack's driveway. There was a white car in there and the garage door was up, but empty. I turned off my bike and walked it to the porch and put my helmet on the seat.
One thing I should have expected, but was completely unprepared for - his mom answered.
She was taller than me by a few inches (no surprise there) with straight black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had on light blue hospital scrubs. "Hello," she questioned, surprised. "I'm sorry but I don't quite know what..."
She trailed off and I realized Jack may not have told her I was coming. "I was supposed to meet up with Jack to work on a project for school."
She smiled warmly, white teeth peeking out between her lips. "Come on in," she welcomed. "Sorry to say he's not home right now, but I'm sure he'll be back soon." She shut the door behind me and walked into the kitchen. "Can I get you anything? Water, tea, juice? I have some apples in the fridge if you want something to eat?"
I smiled, albeit nervously. The only parent figure I could really remember in my life was Megatron, and I had little to no interactions with females of either race, other than Blair, so I didn't know what do with this situation. "Do you have sweet tea?"
"Just regular black tea." She shook her head. "Sorry."
"That's okay. Water's fine."
She handed me a glass of ice water and we sat down in the living room, her on the recliner and me on the two seater couch.
"Not that I'm upset you're here or anything," the nurse began after a few awkward minutes of silence. And coming from someone who hangs around Soundwave, that means a lot. "But why our house? Did Jack not give you a choice to stay at your place?"
I thought of Jack, autobot ally, sitting on the floor in front of Megatron's throne. Knockout and Blair racing around, Soundwave watching over our shoulder, and Sam and the cassettes causing mischief at every turn. Not to mention the hissy fit Starscream would throw.
The very image made me laugh. I wiped a tear from my eye and took a deep breathe. "No offense, Mrs Darby. It's just that my family is kinda crazy and I don't want to force Jack into spending time with people like that."
She smiled at me and my heart warmed a little in my chest. I liked this feeling. "It's no problem, Sweetheart. And please, just call me June."
"Only if you call me Dylan."
The silence was less tangible this time, before June broke it again. "So what class is the project for?"
"It's a computer programming project to help us get used to classes in Java." I loved working with computers and tech, so this was a topic I was eager to talk about. "We have to choose an item and create a basic class. It's not hard, and it's supposed to help with the test on Friday."
June nodded, blue eyes lightening. "So it's like a refresher for what you've learned in pieces the entire chapter."
"Exactly!"
"So where do you plan on going to school at?" She probed. "Or do you not have plans yet?"
"I actually wasn't planning on going to a big college or anything." I took a sip of my water. "After I graduate in May I was just gonna take a gap year. Maybe go back to South Carolina and then maybe take some online classes."
She looked surprised. "You're a senior?"
"Yep!" I grinned.
She looked slightly downtrodden and I wondered what it was for. "I thought you were in Jack's grade."
Before I could ask why she seemed upset, the door to the garage slammed shut and Jack's voice echoed through the house. "Mom! I'm home!"
"Good," she smirked. "Because your company's been sitting here without their host."
Jack looked at me and froze like a deer in headlights. Slowly his cheeks turned pink. "I'm sorry!" He squeaked. "I thought you-" He stumbled. "I mean you-"
He shook his head and I broke in, amused. "It's okay." I hefted my bag. "Ready to work on this?"
He nodded shyly and led me to the dining room table.