Adena’s POV

I looked into the mirror and stared at my reflection. My mother had decided to let me back into the house, only if I agreed Charlotte could have my room and if I apologized.

My mother saw the whole fight as one hundred percent my fault. She even told my father I had become a manic and began throwing insults left and right. Of course, all of this was untrue. I was, however, allowed to get ready to go out in my own room.

When I had been allowed back into the house, Dylan texted me. He wanted to take me somewhere and I agreed. I needed to apologize to him for last night. I had barged into his house and yelled like a moron. I felt so stupid for going to him last night, but he’s all I could think of.

Of course, Quinton wasn’t to happy with me this morning when I attempted to explain why I went to Dylan and not him. I heard a car pulling up and I walked to the window, seeing Dylan’s car pull up. Grabbing my purse, I threw it over my shoulder and jogged down the stairs. Charlotte stood by the front window, looking out of it with an odd look on her face.

“Who is that?” She questioned with a smile.

“A friend,” I replied.

“He’s cute,” she giggled, biting her lip. I opened the door, rolling my eyes at her. She waved to Dylan as I walked to his car, and he returned a confused wave back.

“Who's that?” he wondered as I got into his car. I looked back towards the front door. Charlotte was leaning over, her butt facing the car, pretending to pick something up. I rolled my eyes at her yet again.

“My step sister.” He nodded, seeming completely uninterested in her. In fact, he wasn’t looking at Charlotte. He was looking at me. “How are you?” He questioned. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I said, bluntly. I didn’t want to think of getting kicked out of the house. It brought a heavy sadness in my heart.

“You don’t seem fine.” I sighed.

“I’m just… embarrassed.”

“Why?” He wondered.

“I mean, I threw myself at you last night. I can’t believe I did that.”

“Adena,” he said, resting his hand on mine which sat on my lap. “I want you to come to me with things like this. We’re best friends now! And you have no choice!” I started to laugh. I was laughing not only at his joke, but the fact that he just called us best friends.

"What happened with your mother?" He questioned.

"She demanded I apologize.... so, I did."

"Did she accept that and let it go?"

"Sort of.. I see my mother bringing it up again soon; using it against me."

"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I looked towards the door, seeing the odd look Charlotte gave me. It was the same look I had received from her when she got home, a look of hatred. "Can we just go?" I questioned. Without a word, Dylan started the car and I watched my house disappear from the window. I could feel an odd sadness in my heart, and I fought tears back.

We drove in silence down the street. As we approached the light it turned red. We pulled up and sat quietly, waiting for it to change. Out of the corner of my eyes, I watched as Dylan looked to me. He reached out, placing his hand onto mine, which sat on my thigh. I looked at him but didn't flinch or pull away from him.

"Come on, smile! Be happy... I don't like seeing you sad," I smiled a genuine smile. Dylan could always make me smile. "Hey! Music is the food for the soul, right? Time to turn it up!" He laughed, turning on the radio.

Some folk songs began sounding from the radio and Dylan frantically rushed to change it.

"Ha.. Who played that?" He questioned as the light turned green and we went. As we drove, Dylan flipped through several channels until a familiar song sounded. "Oh! This is my jam!" He said, bouncing up and down in his seat as ‘Pump it’ by the Black Eyed Peas sang through the speakers. "Yo yo, turn up the radio, blast your stereo right now."

He sang, turning up the volume of the radio.

"Sizzling, fizzling. Chizzaling, apalayma," he said, moving around wildly in his seat. "Yeah, that's all we do," he said, taking one hand off the wheel and using it to point to myself and them himself. "Shake it, shake it, shake it," he sang, throwing his head around crazily, trying to get me to dance the same way. "Shake it, shake it, shake it," Dylan sang, looking to me.

I began to move around like an idiot, throwing my hands up as I did so.

"Yeah, yeah!" I stopped dancing and just started to laugh.

I wasn't faking this laugh at all, it was real. I laughed so hard, my stomach hurt. Dylan kept singing and dancing and all I did was laugh. I didn't remember the last time I had laughed this much. All I knew was that I loved laughing like this and I didn't want it to stop.

But when we pulled up to the restaurant, I saw the looks we were receiving and stopped laughing. I turned down the radio volume and sat there quietly looking down, hoping no one was looking at me. Dylan glanced at me; seeing my discomfort.

"What's wrong?" He questioned.

"I... uh...." I was at a loss for words, I didn’t know what to say. He just nodded, seeing I wasn't able to explain myself. He understood me.

"It's okay," he smiled, getting out of the car. I followed behind him, my head down. We walked inside, Dylan got us a table, and we sat down. The waitress took our drink orders and disappeared. A moment of silence passed as we decided what we wanted. "I am feeling the devil’s burger. what about you?"

"Uhm... I'm not hungry," I stated, to embarrassed to eat in front of him.

"Not hungry? Oh, is this one of those girly things?"

"What?" I questioned.

"You know, the girl doesn't order anything to eat because she doesn't want the guy to think she's fat? Gosh, you girls make no sense..." The waitress came back and set down our drinks.

"Are you guys ready to order?" She questioned.

"Yes, I'll have the devil's burger," I said with a wicked smile, looking right to Dylan. He set down his menu and raised his eyebrow as if I had challenged him.

"I'll have the same," he said, setting down the menu. The waitress grabbed our menus and left us. "Adena Serre, you never cease to amaze me."

"What do you mean by that?" I questioned.

"You aren't like other girls, Adena," I wasn't? But I had tried so hard to fit in? "Your different. In a good way of course" I smiled, moving a piece of hair from my face.

"So... how's football going?" I questioned. 

"We had our last practice of the year last week. Now I can come home and watch Family Guy right after school!" I giggled at his comment.

"Aren't you going to college for football?"

"Yeah," he stated.

"Can I be honest with you?" I questioned, taking a sip from my straw.

"Of course."

"I don't think you like football as much as you claim to. I mean, you don't talk about it like Quinton or Grady do. They have such passion in their eyes when they talk about it. But you? Not so much," he sighed.

"I don't... like it that much to be honest. I mean, sure it's fun. I guess I just.... play to have something to talk to my father about? I don't know..." He said. I was surprised he was so open about this subject.

"Oh..." I stated, not sure what to say.

"I just made this awkward.."

"No! I just.... am surprised your sharing this with me, that's all."

"I'm a little surprised I did to," he shrugged. "I mean, I've never told anyone about this before."

"Not even Jackie?"

"Not even Jackie," he confirmed. Dylan started to blow bubbles through his straw. The bubbles overflowed the cup and spilled all over the table top. Dylan and I broke into a fit of laughter as Dylan tried to frantically clean it up with the one small napkin left at the table.

The waitress walked back and saw the big mess Dylan made. All I could do was fill the almost quiet restaurant with laughter. When people glanced our way, I quieted down but when I heard the waitress mumble:

"Stupid teenagers acting like little kids,”  I couldn't help but laugh some more. Dylan joined along with me, he must have overheard her comment.

After he had cleaned up the table, we sat quietly  for a moment

"So," Dylan spoke up. I took a sip from my straw "You dating Grady?" The question caused my water to go down the wrong pipe. I ended up coughing widely for a moment.

"No! Ewh! Why do you say that?" I questioned.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "You guys are always together. Just wondering." What an odd question I wondered to myself. Why would he ask something like that? He smiled at me as the waitress set down a basket of chips.

In about one minute Dylan devoured the whole thing. I watched with a laugh as he wiped the crumbs from his lap.  After this, the waitress returned. Taking our basket, she came back with our burgers.

I stared down at the largeness of my burger and felt a little sick. I wasn’t sure if I should eat it after all.

“Not hungry?” Dylan questioned with an evil grin. I returned the grin, picking up the burger.

“I’m starving,” I said, taking a large bite from it. We both scoffed down our burgers, seeing who could finish there’s first. I accepted my loss, too full to finish the burger.

“Don’t worry, everyone loses to me,” Dylan teased as the waitress brought us the check. I reached for it but Dylan pulled it from my grip. He observed the receipt, put in some money, and then gave it to the waitress. “Want any change?”

“No thanks, keep it.”

“Thanks for coming,” the waitress said as enthusiastically as humanly possible.

“How much do I owe you?” I questioned.

“Nothing,” he stated, standing up from the table. 

“Dylan-”

“Come on!” He whined, interrupting me. He exited the restaurant and I chased after him, not wanting to be left alone. Dylan walked away from his car and I followed by his side. We walked slowly to the park.

It was beautiful outside. There was little wind and it was cold enough outside to see my breath. But I loved the cold air. There was something about it, I didn’t know what.

“I love this weather,” I stated with a smile.

“Really? Because I hate it!” I giggled at his comment as we entered the park. As we walked through the path, we passed by some kids. They ran around chasing each other and I found a smile crawl on my face. “So cute,” I stated.

“No!” Dylan yelled, stopping in place.

“No?” I questioned.

“Oh! I wasn’t saying no to the kids being cute. I was saying no, because I just remembered something.”

“What did you remember?” I questioned.

“Our project? The whole reason were hanging out?”

“Oh, right!” I had forgotten completely about this project. “What’s this week?”

“We have to hang out and take a picture,” he pulled his phone from his back pocket and turned to a man walking by. “Excuse me, would you mind taking our picture? It’s for a school project.”

“Sure,” the guy smiled. Dylan handed him the phone and walked to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Big smiles!” The guy said. Dylan smiled and so did I. Being this close to him felt…. right? The guy took the picture and handed the phone back to Dylan.

“Thank you so much!” Dylan thanked as the man nodded and walked off. Dylan opened the picture on his phone and I looked over his shoulder. Dylan looked good, but me? Not so much. I groaned, why do I have to ruin every picture I’m in?

“Ugh…”

“What?” Dylan questioned.

“I look… weird!” I stated.

“No!” He said, shaking his head. “I think you look beautiful,” his words made my heart skip a beat. I could feel my face getting bright red and I looked away from the phone. “Adena?” He questioned.

“What’s up?” I said, taking a deep breath and turning around.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I just… Don’t feel like going home,” this wasn’t the real reason, but it was true. I didn’t want to go home. Home didn’t even feel like home anymore.

“Neither do I, let’s catch a movie,” Dylan suggested.

“Sounds awesome!”

“I just… uh, have something for you back at my house. Let’s stop there first?”

“Sure!” I smiled as we headed back towards Dylan car. “So, you got me something?” I questioned.

“Yeah,” Dylan admitted.

“Ooo, what is it?”

“You think you can give me that puppy dog look and I’ll tell you what it is! Ha, you can try!” I smiled as Dylan sprinted towards his car. I walked behind him, just laughing.

If everyday was like this one, I might just stick around some more.