Chapter 18.

I was laying on my bed, thinking about the drama in the ice cream shop tonight, when Dylan knocked gently on my bedroom door.

"I figured Disney was a good choice," he said, grinning, "considering Disney is literally what makes a child's childhood." He held up a bag full of Disney movies.

"Just stop me when you hear what one you want to watch," he said, his voice sounding a little tired. "Snow White, Cinderella, Bambi, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, the Little Mermaid, 101 Dalmatians, the Black Cauldron--"

I cut him off, sitting up dramatically. "That movie used to terrify me. The Horned King was literally the most terrifying thing any little kid could have seen. And that movie was made before people even knew what auto tune was...which means that guy could actually talk like that."

Dylan looked up from the movies and over in my direction. A small, cute smile crept onto his face. "So do you want to watch it? Miss 'The Horned King is scary'? I promise I'll hold you during the scary parts."

His voice was gently teasing, challenging me to say something, but I decided to just answer simply. "No thanks. I'd rather not have nightmares tonight." I paused, thinking of all the movies I used to love as a kid. "Oh! Do you have the Lion King? I want to watch that movie. It's one of my favorites of all time!"

"The Lion King?" Dylan asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "I had you pegged as more of a Disney princess type of girl." He shrugged, grabbing the disk out of one of the boxes and plopping down on the bed next to me, passing me the disk so I could put it in my laptop.

I smiled, turning to face him. "Is it the Lion King?"

"Yes," Dylan said slowly.

I got the movie set up on my laptop, then leaned up against his strong, muscular shoulder, making myself comfortable.

"Dylan? Can I ask you something?" I asked softly.

Dylan chuckled, peering sideways at me, the cute smile on his face growing bigger. "What's up?"

"Why did you ask me to go out with you tonight?" I asked, nervously playing with my charm bracelet as I awaited his answer. I didn't even know why I asked him. I wasn't ready for a relationship--Luke and Evan had both proven that--so I couldn't really explain why it mattered whether Dylan liked me or not.

Dylan smirked. "Why? Didn't you want to come?"

I shook my head. "Honestly, I wasn't sure at first. I had fun, but I didn't really want a date."

Dylan laughed. "Well, I just thought it would be a good chance for me to get to know my pretty new neighbor."

I blushed. "You really think I'm pretty?"

Dylan chuckled. "I think any guy with eyes can see you're pretty. I just wanted to get to know you better."

Feeling unexpectedly warm and flustered, I pressed play on the movie. A few minutes after the movie started, I struggled to suppress a yawn.

"Tired?" Dylan asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders protectively. I felt myself nodding in response, and snuggled in closer to him. I wrapped my arm around his chest, and my leg around his, cozying up to him like a giant teddy bear. In his arms, I felt safe and protected against the drama of the day.

After a few minutes of cuddling with him, I felt myself begin to doze off, until I was sound asleep in his arms.

____

"Lillian. Marie. Faye."

The icy rage behind those words startled me out of my slumber.

Shit.

I bit my lip, slowly pushing myself off of Dylan. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep next to Dylan. He must have fallen asleep too.

To say my dad looked pissed would be putting it nicely. He looked like he was ready to kill Dylan and me. At that moment, I was just thankful that he didn't own a gun.

"Get over here right this instant," Dad's voice boomed across the room.

I felt Dylan tense up slightly. My dad was never going to let me see him again. I could already tell.

"Dad--" I attempted to explain, but he shot me down completely.
To Dylan, he shouted, "You need to leave. Now."

Dylan jumped to his feet, giving my dad an apologetic look. "Sir, I can explain--"

"Explain what?" Dad hissed through gritted teeth. "That you slept with my daughter?"

"Sleep being the keyword," called a voice from the hallway. "Their clothes are all on. Don't you think you're overreacting just a little Blake?"

Mom?

I jumped out of bed, and sure enough, my mother was standing in the hallway behind Dad. What was she doing here?

"It wasn't Dylan's fault," I explained. "It's just--uh--" I bit my lip, breaking eye contact with him. "You weren't home last night, so I thought--"

"So you thought you could get away with this?" Dad finished for me, the anger in his voice rising again slightly.

I could see Dylan was fighting the urge to roll his eyes at my dad. He very clearly wanted to. Instead, he sighed. "We never meant to fall asleep. We were just watching a movie."

Dad's face softened. He believed Dylan--not that he was lying or anything. But still, I found it a little surprising that Dad would listen to Dylan, but not to me. How did that make sense?

"Alright, fine," Dad mumbled, unfolding his arms. He pointed a finger at Dylan, a glare still on his face. "But you better get home. And I don't want to see you around my daughter anytime soon."

"Now Blake, be fair," my mother argued. "They fell asleep on accident. I'm sure Dylan was just keeping Lilly company while you were gone. It was completely innocent. We'd know if it wasn't."

I tried to hide my smile. I'd missed this: having my mother to intercede for me when Dad went off the deep end.

"I'll see you around Dylan," I said, waving goodbye to him.
Dylan wisely waved goodbye and kept his head down, avoiding further confrontation with my father. Dad was being surprisingly mellow about this, at least with my mother standing up to him, but there was no need to push our luck.

When Dylan was gone, Dad turned to my mother, his whole body language relaxing at the sight of her. He still loved her. I'd recognize that look from anywhere. It's how he'd always looked at my mom when I was younger. Back when I still had both of my parents.

She had taken off across the country with her new boyfriend, leaving him. Leaving both of us. And despite it all, he still loved her.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked. "I don't think she's ready."

Mom looked at him, and replied in a somewhat icy tone, "Well, fortunately for Lilly, we both have a say in what she can and can't do. And I think she's more than ready."

Ready for what? I wondered, but I was too afraid to ask, since I was probably in serious trouble for falling asleep with Dylan.

"Go get ready to go," Mom instructed. "We have to leave soon or we'll be late."

Late for what?

I threw on a pair of jeans, t-shirt, and a hoodie, then fixed my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head.

I came downstairs, where Mom was waiting, awkwardly avoiding eye contact or conversation with my dad. "Mom!" I yelled, wrapping my arms around her, engulfing her in a tight hug. "What are you doing here?" I asked, pulling away from her. It'd been almost a year since I last saw her. I never wanted to let go of her.

Mom laughed lightly, hugging me back. "I missed you sweetie, so I thought I would surprise you." She pulled out of the hug and smiled at me. "Wow, you've grown so much. You look so grown up!"

I laughed. "Tell that to Dad," I said. "He's struggling to cope with me being in high school and having friends."

"What?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at me. Then she shook her head and shrugged it off. "Never mind. So, are you ready to go?"

"Go where?"

"You'll see," she said, grinning mischievously. I waved goodbye to Dad, who looked almost...sad...to see us leaving without him. It made me feel kind of bad. He loved us both, and only wanted what was best for me. I wished he could be included in this too--whatever this was.

It was crazy being in the car with my mom again. It had been way too long since we'd been able to actually talk. Growing up, my mom was always my best friend, the person I'd always go to for advice. It had been different since she'd moved out. I mean, I knew she was always a phone call away, but every time I called, she seemed busy. Now we were finally able to catch up and spend quality time together.

"So, Mom, what is this trip about?" I asked, trying to figure out what we were doing. "Not that I really care. I'm just happy to see you."

Mom laughed, a smile forming on her lips. "Because I missed you. And I don't want to spoil the surprise, so that's all I'm going to say."

I smiled. "I missed you too Mom. And you being here is the best surprise I could ever get."

Mom shook her head in amusement. "You have grown up so much in just a year Lilly. You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age."

I blushed at the compliment, not sure what to say.

"So, who's the boy?" she asked. "You know Lilly, he's quite the looker."

I blushed. "He just moved next door. He's the quarterback for the school's rival team, so I was pretty surprised Dad let me go out with him."

Mom laughed. "Do you like this boy? I think you two would make a cute couple."

I groaned. "Mom, no. I barely know him."

"And? You couldn't get to know him?"

I shook my head. "I'm still getting over someone else. Dylan and I are just friends."

My mom laughed and winked at me. "I like him. If you ever change your mind about him, I totally approve of the two of you together. And if he's the guy I think he is, I'm sure your father would approve too."

"No, Mom, you've got the wrong idea," I said, blushing bright red.

"Well, I hope I get to meet the rest of your friends while I'm here," Mom said, parking the car in front of a brick building. She opened the car door and started to walk inside. "Well? Are you coming?" she asked, gesturing to me to follow.

The sign over the door read 'Tri-State Driving School.' Did that mean what I thought it meant?

"Mom, what is this?" I asked excitedly.

"Your father and I have been talking, and he agreed that since you'll be 15-½ next month, it was time to let you take Driver's Ed. That way, you can get your permit and start practicing for your road test."

Really? Dad agreed to that? I suspected my mother had played a huge role in convincing him to let me take the class. I reached over and pulled her into a tight bear hug. "Thank you," I murmured, squeezing her tightly.

"You're welcome," she laughed. "Now you'd better get in there, or you're going to be late for the class."

I walked into the room, which was already about half-full of students. Following the instructions on the board, I grabbed a pen and a notebook from a table in the front of the room, choosing a seat next to a dark haired girl with hazel eyes I recognized from cheer.

"You're Nixi, right?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. You're Lilly, the new girl."

I smiled, glad there was at least one friendly face in the classroom full of strangers. "Yup, that's me." Nixi was a little older than me, a junior I thought, and was pretty good friends with Cassie and Madison and some of the other upperclassmen.

"Your friends with Luke, right?" she asked in a low voice.

I shrugged. "Sort of, I guess. We've talked a little."

"Did you hear he broke up with Madison? I feel so bad for her. She's sounded so upset this morning."

I felt the tiniest bit guilty. I didn't particularly like Madison, but even I had to admit that she had a right to dislike me. After all, I did make it pretty clear to her that I liked Luke. And then Luke had dumped her for lashing out at me. She had kind of deserved it, but it had been pretty brutal.

I paused, trying to choose my next words carefully. "Really?" I asked. "I guess I always just kind of got the impression that Luke liked her more than she liked him."

Nixi shook her head. "I know she can come across as kind of cruel sometimes, but she's actually one of the most sensitive people I've ever met. She just...doesn't handle it well when people hurt her. I guess you and Kelsey seem to get the brunt of it, but she's jealous of Luke spending time with you, and her and Kelsey have history."

The teacher came in and started class, so I never got a chance to ask her more questions. As I worked on taking down notes, I wondered what she meant by that. What exactly had happened between Madison and Kelsey. And, more importantly, had I completely misjudged the meanest girl at school? And if so, did that mean that I was at least partially to blame for all of the drama?