Adena’s POV

We pulled up to Dylan’s house and got out of the car. Before coming, Dylan and I had stopped to get Dylan something from McDonald’s. Apparently, eating the devil’s burger wasn’t enough for him. .

As we went into the house, I thought  back to the other night. I could practically feel my heart breaking like it had done then in that moment. I kept my head down and followed behind Dylan to the living room.

“Wait here,” he said, smiling as he jogged up the steps. I looked around his living room before sitting at the breakfast bar. I swung my legs around for a moment before his front door opened. I threw my head up and made eye contact with who I presumed was Dylan’s dad.

His dad appeared to be older looking, maybe in his late forties. His hair was short and gray, nothing special about it. His eyes which were a dull blue color seemed tired and not because of the crows feet surrounding them. My eyes flashed to the police badge on his belt.

“Hello?” He said curiously.

“Hi,” I said quietly. He set his stuff down by the front door before closing it.

“Are you a friend of Dylan’s?” He questioned.

“Yes,” I said, getting up from the chair. Feeling rude, I stuck out my hand. “Adena Serre.”

“So your Adena,” he smiled, shaking my hand.

“Yes,” I laughed nervously.

“I meant that in a good way,” he laughed. “I’m Dylan’s dad.”

“Cool,” I smiled, sitting back down.

“You know,” he started, sitting in the chair next to me. “I was hoping to meet you sometime soon. I’ve been wanting to talk with you,”

“Oh?” I questioned. Why would he want to talk to me?

“I wanted to… thank you,” I gave him a confused look, what would he be thanking me for?

“Thank me for what?” I found myself questioning.

“You see…. I haven’t seen Dylan happy since his mom died. And when I say happy, I mean genuinely happy,” I nodded. I didn’t know anything about any of this. “Until he met you. Ever since you came along, he’s been different. A good different; happier. And, I wanted to come and say thank you,” I was speechless.

I didn’t know this about Dylan. I didn’t know he wasn’t ever happy. Dylan always seemed happy, maybe he was faking it?

I suddenly felt like a bad friend. I knew that Dylan only joined football to bond with his father. His father should know something about this. I should tell him.

“Thank you,” Dylan’s dad said, patting my knee for a moment before getting up. I could hear Dylan coming down the stairs. I knew this matter would go unresolved. I didn’t want Dylan to be unhappy.

“Mr. Henderson,” I blurted out. He turned around to face me and Dylan reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey dad,” he stated.

“There’s something you need to know… about Dylan,” My palms began to sweat and I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t want to tell Mr. Henderson. But Dylan wants his dad to talk to him and not only about football.

“What?” Dylan questioned.

“Mr. Henderson… Dylan…. He-”

“Adena, don’t,” Dylan said, seeing what I was going to tell him.

“What?” Mr. Henderson questioned.

“Dylan doesn't like football!” I blurted the words out so fast, I couldn’t even stop myself from saying them. Dylan looked at me, shocked. Mr. Henderson was quiet for a moment before he started to laugh. “I’m serious…” I whispered. Mr. Henderson stopped laughing and turned to Dylan.

“Is that true?” He questioned.

“Dad-”

“Dylan! Why wouldn’t you tell me this?”

“When could I? Every time I say something, you ignore it. Until I bring up football. Then suddenly you care,”

“That is not true! You just don’t tell me anything!” Dylan’s dad shot back.

“Dad, just drop it. Let’s go Adena,” Dylan headed towards the door, but Mr. Henderson blocked his path.

“Hold on, this is something we need to talk about.”

“Dad, she’s lying! Just, let me go!” Dylan shouted, obviously angry.

“No, she’s not. Do you really not like football? I thought you did! Your mother used to love it.”

“Don’t talk about her,” Dylan stated.

“Dylan, you can’t avoid the topic of your mother forever. It’s not just something you can dust off your shoulders. It’s eating you up inside, I can tell. Please, just talk to me.”

“Don’t talk about her!” Dylan shouted as his eyes glistened with tears.  “Don’t,” he whispered, pushing past his father and storming outside. Mr. Henderson looked to me and I frowned.

“I’m sorry,” I started, running outside after Dylan. “Dylan!” I called as he walked to his truck. “Dylan!” I shouted again. He stopped and turned towards me. I stopped right in front of him.

“Why the hell did you do that?” He yelled.

“I…”

“You what?”

“Your dad needed to know.”

“No! He didn’t! You just… tried to control everything, Adena! I told you that in confidence! So what did you do with it? Told the one person in the world who I really didn’t want to know about it!”

“I’m sorry…. I just wanted to help,” I said, tears building in my eyes.

“Why? Huh? Why can’t you just leave me alone? My life was perfect before you came around! My dad and I tolerated each other, Jackie and I got along and I had no doubts about our relationship! And then you show up and nothing makes sense anymore! Sometimes I just wish I could…. unmeet you!”

The second he said those words, tears fell from my eyes. Dylan kicked his tires in anger before taking a deep breath and looking at me. The anger washed from his face as he realized what he had just said.

“Adena,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” he took a step towards me, as if he were going to hug me. I took a step backwards, feeling a horrible pain in my chest.

“I’m sorry I cause you all this pain...” I said softly, tears building up fast. I knew I would burst soon.

“Adena-”

“No! All I ever wanted was to help you. I just didn’t want to see you hurt yourself anymore,” my tears started turning to anger. “but I guess I tried too hard.” Not a sound could be heard around us. “I can’t do this anymore,” I said, shaking my head. “I know I’m a failure. I know I’m nothing important and no one special. I thought maybe you could have changed that, but I see I was wrong….as usual.”

“Adena, stop-”

More tears fell from my eyes as I turned around and stormed off towards my house. My emotions were a mess.

“Adena!” Dylan called. “You're not any of those things.”

“Then why can’t you prove me wrong?” I whispered to myself, covering my mouth with my hand.