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Dylan’s POV

I snorted as Peter tumbled down the stairs. I looked over towards Jackie, who was looking down at her phone completely uninterested in Family Guy.

“Do you want to watch something else?” I suggested, wanting her to enjoy what we were watching.

“Yeah,” she snapped. “This is so dumb… but check out Ross’s instagram picture. Since when did he start to date Mackenzie? She’s disgusting. He should be dating Kyleigh or Brooke,” Jackie started, going on and on. I nodded and sighed, leaning further into the couch. I tuned her out; not wanting to hear more of her bitterness. “Ewh, look what Quinton posted.”

I glanced towards the picture; finally interested in what she was saying. Adena and Quinton were hugging each other tightly. Both of them appeared to be only three or four years old and they looked extremely happy. I found a smile creep on my face. She looked so happy in that photo.

“She looks like a pig, right?” Jackie snapped, laughing like a hyena afterword.

“Really?” I questioned, not seeing it at all. She stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow to me.

“What?” She snapped.

“Why do you hate Adena so much?” I questioned, obvious anger in my tone.

“She’s a disgusting, awkward, lonely… thing!”

“No, she’s a nice and caring person.” She was more than that, but I didn’t want Jackie to have more things to complain about.

“You're talking about her like you like her!” Jackie yelled. If we were in a cartoon comic, she would be red faced with steam shooting out of her ears. That’s how mad she looked.

“I do, she’s a good friend. So stop talking about her like she’s nothing but a waste of space,” the words fell out of my mouth before I had a chance to think about what I had just said. Jackie’s face scrunched up as she began exclaiming cuss word after cuss word. She rose from the couch and began screaming in my face.

“What? Why don’t you freaking date her instead, huh? If Adena’s so great how about you turn to her for a college scholarship, hmm?”

“Jackie,” I started, trying to calm her down.

“Shut up!” She screeched, storming from the room. I rolled at my eyes at her immaturity. I got up from the couch.

“Jackie! Come on!”

“No! You are being a jerk! Adena is a stupid pig and you are defending her! I am your girlfriend who gives you everything!” She yelled from the other room.

“Jackie, you’re being unreasonable!” I shouted back, anger building at what she was saying and the way she was acting. She charged back into the room, walked right up to me, and slapped me in the face. “What was that for?” I howled.  

“Get out!”

“Jackie!” I tried to tame my anger and reason with her.

“I said get out of my house!” She screamed at me. I grabbed my jacket and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind me. I stomped towards the car, throwing my door open and then slamming it shut with as much force as possible. Anger boiled in my veins, I was just so mad.

I saw two options. I could go back in, say something i'd regret completely, and get kicked out again.

Or I could go to Adena.

The answer was obvious. I turned on the car and sped towards Adenas house. With Jackie, showing up unannounced was considered a sin. But with Adena, I didn't feel bad. I wasn't worried about anything.

I was still a little embarrassed from last weekend, when I had called her over while drunk. But I hadn't seen her much this week anyway. This week we weren’t working on the project. Mrs. Bridges had some things she had to teach us. We spent the whole week going over homework so there was a lack of communication between Adena and I.

I pulled up to Adena’s house and got out of the car. Nervously, I looked towards the house. I wasn’t used to feeling nervous. In fact, I haven’t felt nervous for a while. Taking a deep breath, I headed towards the door and rang the bell.

At first no one answered. Standing there awkwardly, I was about to turn around when the door flew open. Adena stood there in a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt. When she saw it was me, she crossed her arms over her chest, something she did a lot.

“Dylan?” She questioned.

“Hey,” I said, scratching the back of my head. Just the sight of her was causing my anger to vanish.

“Why are you here?” She wondered. I sighed, setting my hand down by my side. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I lied. “Just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out.”

“Uh… yeah. Come on in,” she said, moving to the side to let me in. I walked in, looking at the familiar living room. Quinton was wiped out on the couch, his snores booming in the silent room. I laughed at him as Adena gestured for me to follow her.

We went up the stairs and to the first room on the right. I walked into the light blue room and plopped down onto her bed. Her room was small. A white dresser sat in front of her bed and a desk sat against the wall by the door, making her room very bland.

I noticed there weren’t very many pictures up. Only two were sitting on top of the night table by her bed. One was a picture of Adena and Quinton, the other had Adena, Quinton and Grady.

“I like your room,” I nodded.

“Thanks,” she smiled, closing the door and sitting down next to me. An awkward silence filled the room for a moment and we both just sat there.

“So, how are you doing?” I asked, trying to fill the awkward silence.

“I’m good…” She stared at me for a second. “You?”

“Oh, I am fine,” I smiled at her. I gulped when a splash of light came in from the window and danced across her face. She was so beautiful. I shook my head to clear it. I had to stay focused on what was at hand and the fact that I had a girlfriend.

‘A girlfriend you don’t like’ a little voice said.

But I quickly shut it out.

Jackie is a nice person when she wants to be and her father is getting me a scholarship. Everything is fine.

“Is something wrong, Dylan?” I glanced at her realizing I had gotten lost in my thoughts.

“It’s nothing really….” I stared at her dark brown carpet. “I just had a big argument with Jackie and it didn’t end really well.”

“Oh,” she said, glancing at the floor. “What happened?” She asked, glancing back up at me.

“Well….um…” I didn’t know what to say. Jackie had been talking about her. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. That was the last thing I wanted to do. “Jackie was making fun of a friend of mine. I stood up for… them, and then she freaked on me,” Adena frowned, sitting indian style on her bed.

“Who was it?” She questioned with curious eyes. I couldn’t find it in myself to tell her the truth.

“Just an old friend,” I lied.

“Why was she making fun of them?”

“She just… doesn't like them I guess. I don’t know why, my friends such a nice person. She’s so funny and caring…” I found myself trailing on as I looked into Adena’s big brown eyes. Shaking my head and closing my mouth, I realized I had said too much.

“Sounds like you really like her,” she suggested.

“No!” I denied. “I.. I mean she’s just a good friend,” I said. Wow, Nice save.

"Well, I'm here if you want to talk about it." She offered, flashing me a huge smile.

"I'll get over it," I sighed, lying down on her bed. She lied down next to me and we sat in silence for a moment.

Suddenly, we heard a front door slam downstairs followed by the screams of fear of Quinton. Someone had woken him up by closing the door. We both broke into a fit of laughter. I looked to Adena and she looked towards me.

"Still feeling down?" She questioned.

"A little," I admitted.

"Want some peanut butter?"