D for Dylan - 6. Chapter Six

“So what happened next?” Jake asked, brushing my hair with the palm of his hand.

I hugged him tightly and pressed my ear to his chest. His calm, steady breathing was soothing and I felt warm in his embrace.

“Nothing, he just...” I exhaled, “He just drove away. I don’t know what happened last week, where he’s been or what he did. Elle heard he crashed his car, but I don’t really care, to be honest.”

“Did he try to contact you after that?”

“No. I’d like to think I’ve made myself clear.”

“I see...”

“You know what was most infuriating?” I asked, “He looked so surprised when I told him about the scar and everything. It’s like he’s been living in a bubble, he didn’t even know how much shit he did to me. As if I wasn’t important enough to keep in his mind, to make sure he hasn’t killed me. What was he thinking, coming up to me like this? Did he really expect me to forgive him?”

Jake took a deep breath and hugged me tighter. He kissed me in the forehead and said, “You don’t owe him anything, Dylan.”

I felt soft chills running down my spine as his arms wrapped around me. He smelled so nice, his skin was soft and I sensed his heartbeat pulsating against my ear through the warmth of his skin. I lifted my chin and carefully studied his face. He was stunningly handsome, especially in the moonlight. I didn’t know what I did to deserve someone so amazing to actually like me. I’m pretty sure I smiled at him like an idiot, but I wasn’t the only one doing it at the moment.

“I feel sorry for this guy,” Jake uttered wistfully.

I gave him a confused look.

“Even though I hate him for what he did to you, I have to say I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.”

“Why?”

“He must’ve realized what he has lost.” Jake hurried to explain, smiling at me. “I don’t expect you to understand. You don’t see what I see, Dylan. There aren’t many people around that are like you. You’re pure and deep and beautiful. Not just on the outside. It’s very rare. This guy is a petty loser and I bet he’s chewing on his nails right now. Selfishly, I’m glad he’ll never get you back.”

Picking on my confused look, he added, “I’m assuming he’s the guy that you had a crush on?”

“No.” I blurted out on autopilot, before catching my lies, “Never. Screw him, I liked someone else.”

“Okay-okay, sorry. I just assumed... You were close and you mentioned the other guy was straight.”

“It’s alright, but it wasn’t him. Liam and I were just friends.” I kept lying, thanking the night for providing a cover to my reddening face.

I pretended to yawn and tucked myself in Jacob’s armpit.

“I love you...” he exhaled barely audibly, brushing my hair as I was falling asleep.

Even a hopeless bookworm such as myself wasn’t particularly thrilled at the prospect of living through a Monday. It was the universally hated day for a reason, and I definitely concurred with that statement. The only person who consistently managed to uplift my moods at the dawn of a school week was Elle - more frequently than not, her primary means at doing so revolved around a fresh gossip.

Jason Wu was a son of a hot shot business executive in Boston office of a certain famous pharmaceutical company. During his son’s freshman year, Jason’s daddy had an affair with their 19-year old house maid, causing a big scandal in the media after it leaked. Turned out, Mrs. Wu spotted young Vanessa parading around the house in jewelries identical to her own. She hired a private investigator to confirm her suspicions, but the sleazy guy sold compromising photos to yellow press, outing the story. Apparently, creativity in making jewelry purchases wasn’t amongst Mr. Wu’s strongest traits, which wasn’t to say that he lacked resourcefulness or imagination with his sexual escapades. School crowd loved the scandal, I remember how Jason had suddenly and very briefly turned into a hot topic. He appreciated his five minutes of fame and it just so happened that further rumors about his father’s tempestuous sex life have permeated his high school journey, mostly because Jason actively spread those rumors himself. Throughout his son’s sophomore and junior years, horny Mr. Wu had slept with his many secretaries, tennis instructors and even his youngest daughter’s private tutor. Having married into a very wealthy and traditional Chinese family at a sensibly young age, poor Mr. Wu had carelessly signed a prenuptial agreement which read that in case of divorce he’ll lose all of his estates to his wife. As a result, whenever Mrs. Wu caught her husband red handed, shifty Mr. Wu would take her to lavish resorts to ‘patch things up’, creating openings for parties, that, as Jason had learned, aided his popularity. Over the years, Mr. Wu’s infidelities have turned into a code word for upcoming events at Wu’s residence. Up until recently, I wasn’t a part of the school’s inner clique to know about all of this, but Elle enlightened me as we were stretching our legs at the railings by the running tracks.

Not sure how I felt about attending a party full of drunk teenagers, but by Saturday the dread of terrible retribution from Elle trumped my concerns and I decided to stay true to my word. Jake picked me up in the evening and we headed over to Jason’s house.

“You look fantastic. I have to be very careful,” he complimented, forcing me to blush harder than Renee Zellweger.

“Thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself,” I came back.

We parked at the premises of their enormous residence and walked uphill for what felt like forever, before meeting Peter and Elle at the entrance. I looked around the house and lost my breath for a second. I’ve been to big houses before - Liam’s place, for instance, was a three-story mansion which Emma constantly complained about, because there was no way to keep it clean and tidy. All the extra space wasn’t really necessary and empty rooms have collected dust on the best of days. Shanice and Reginald shared the same opinions - despite having every opportunity to live in a manor, they kept their two-story house and even pondered downsizing now that their kids have moved out.

That was not the case with Mr. and Mrs. Wu, however. Their residence was gargantuan, the modern white stone finish on the facade contrasted with traditional Xie-Shan style rooftops, beautiful statues and ornaments with intricate patterns decorated balconies and walls, the entire perimeter of their estate was lined with ornamental shrubs and flowers. A huge illuminated fountain flaunted at the center of the driveway, blocking the view on the entrance at the main wing.

“He must have a very small penis,” Elle muttered, gasping at the surroundings.

“Let’s get inside.” Pete offered.

“Just look at this, Jesus...” she exhaled, “Why do they have so many lights on, it’s not even Christmas.”

Frankly speaking, such an overt display of money and power made me feel uneasy. I glanced at Jake. However rich Jason Wu’s family was, I suspected that the wealth of the guy standing next to me was far superior to theirs, which technically meant that my boyfriend could own a house like this. I shrugged briefly at ridiculousness of this thought. Somehow, I just knew he will never throw money on bullshit like this.

“You okay?” he asked, squeezing my hand.

“Yeah, I’m just... Not used to this stuff.” I replied.

“I think she’s right,” he smirked, nodding toward Elle who walked in front of us. “Someone’s compensating.”

“Are we making fun of Asian man’s penis now?” I chuckled.

“Only a little.” he whispered in my ear with a smile.

Upon entering a dimply lit foyer we were greeted by a loud music and smoke guns, spewing vapor on the floor, with colorful lights beaming down from a pair of rotating laser projectors at the ceiling.

“Is this what it feels like to be in a night club?” I asked loudly, wincing at the scene.

Jake chuckled in response to my silly question, leaned in and gave me a tickling kiss on the cheek.

Elle’s eyes were all over the place, Pete tried to keep her enthusiasm contained, but eventually relaxed and went with the flow. Coming in, I was worried that it will be embarrassingly obvious we don’t belong with the cool kids, but we’ve met a few familiar faces from school and in general didn’t really feel uninvited. People were coming up to us, offering drinks and making small talk, mostly shouting through obnoxiously loud music. Small groups of people filled up the kitchen and dining area, with occasional folks strolling through hallways and peeking in different rooms, exploring expensive surroundings. I’ve introduced Jake to several of our classmates before Elle snatched me in the direction of a fancy looking diner table, catered with snacks and a variety of alcoholic beverages.

“Is this even legal?” I yelled.

“Who cares!” Elle shouted back, grabbing a red plastic cup and pouring unlabeled red punch into it. “Everything’s legal when you’re rich!”

She shoved the cup in my face and demanded me to drink it. I laughed at the silliness of her request - I’ve never tried alcohol in my life, did it look like I was stupid enough to part with millions of my brain cells by the morning?

“Drink it!” she demanded.

“No!”

“Do it!”

“Why?”

“Because I said so!” she mandated, shaking her finger at my face.

I took the cup from her hand and smelled the red drink. I really didn’t know what people found so amusing in alcohol, it smelled horrific, despite being laced with a crappy strawberry syrup.

“You’ll have to watch me!” I warned.

“You’re safe with me, baby!” she replied. “I’m the most responsible adult in the room!”

Elle didn’t sound very convincing. I exhaled sharply and drank disgusting potion, squinting at the taste.

“Yep, tastes just as shitty as it smells...” I though out loud, searching for a cup of water to rinse my palate.

Twenty minutes later I was laughing out of my ass, dancing at the center of the crowd, singing along the song I’ve never heard before. Jake remained close by, dancing with me and smiling at my drunk face.

I, for once, felt easy and light. Heavy thoughts and constant rumination tuned out to a quiet background static, I opened up to the music and I was able to relax and enjoy myself. I noticed Sebastian, he was standing in the corner of the room, chatting with Abby. For some reason he was stealing glances at Jake and I, which I found funny, recalling how he doubted whether or not I actually had a boyfriend. Instead of a rational approach at ignoring his looks, I gave him a smile, grabbed Jake and slapped a smooch on his lips to make my prior statements clear.

Was it a very childish behavior on my part? Maybe. Did I give a fuck? Absolutely not.

Jake liked the kiss and grabbed me in his arms, swirling me around on the dance floor. I laughed through the kiss as his fingers rubbed against my ribs.

“You’re drunk!” he shouted, chuckling at my blushed physiognomy.

“I know! Isn’t that awesome?!”

Very soon, Elle stole me from Jake and we went on dancing like a pair of headless chickens. By the end of it, our exhausted bodies crashed on the only available double seat at the nearest sofa.

“Look who just walked in!” Elle exclaimed, pointing forward.

At the tip of her finger was the sweetest couple of Montgomery High - Liam Henderson and Jessica What’s-Her-Last Name. Liam’s current bimbo was just as big of a bitch as all of her predecessors. She was a carbon copy of Kylie Jenner - their physical resemblance was truly uncanny. The girl was ruthless, spoiled and manipulative, unlike most of his prior confidants she managed to keep the king by her side the longest - I could only imagine all the countless talents required for such an achievement. Naturally, she filled every single checkbox in Liam’s list - she was gorgeous and sexy, she was rich and popular and wildly desired by other guys. But perhaps most importantly, she was a raging narcissist with a borderline personality disorder, which always kept him interested, because let’s face it - Liam Henderson wasn’t keen on dating good girls.

To my annoyance, their entrance was such a big deal that whoever was running the music had stopped it to announce their arrival. I rolled my eyes at this, but in the sudden deafening silence I was able to focus enough to notice painfully disinterested look on Liam’s face. He was wearing a dark green pullover with a light gray shirt underneath, as well as a pair of shabby jeans. Jess was wearing what Elle called a plastic-wrap dress, the bottom edges of which were barely covering her ass.

“Jesus Christ, I can see her snatch from up here!” Elle shouted, prompting both of us to break into laughter.

We must’ve laughed too loud, because the next thing I knew - Liam’s eyes were on us. Jess glared at us next, pursing her lips in irritation and leaning to Liam’s shoulder to whisper something in his ear. Interestingly, in response to whatever she told him, he dismissively waved his hand at her face and walked towards the table with drinks, leaving his girlfriend standing there with confused look on her face.

“Troubles in paradise?” Elle asked.

“Who gives a shit?” I asked. “Let’s go dance!”

Elle and I morphed back into the crowd, joining our dates. I almost had to fight a girl that glued herself to Jacob on the dance floor.

“Thanks for saving me.”

“Anytime,” I grinned.

Whether it was alcohol wearing out, or the fact that the space was getting too crowded, at some point I felt that eerie restlessness you get when too many eyes are staring at you. The source of this was standing a few feet away, as it turned out. He stood there, squeezing a red plastic cup in his hand, staring at me and Jake. Looking back in his green eyes, I saw frustration in his gaze. Muscles flexed on his jaw, as he clenched his teeth and furrowed his thick eyebrows. I smiled at him and did the exact same thing I did to Sebastian earlier, passionately kissing my boyfriend in front of him. By the time our lips parted, Liam was nowhere to be found. I felt nice, seeing that I finally discovered a good way of getting rid of the asshole.

The relief didn’t last long, however. At some point I felt extremely dry in my mouth and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. I felt like I was inside a subway train at a peak hour, grinding through a pile of bodies on my way out of the room.

Stepping out, I realized how hot it must’ve been inside. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and sucked in full lungs of fresh air. Kitchen wasn’t nearly as crowded, I rinsed my cup, filled it with a cold tap water and drank it, only to choke on the last sip, as someone’s hand landed on my shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” an annoyingly familiar voice called out from behind.

Turning around, I immediately rocked back from how uncomfortably close he stood to me. In fact, he was only an inch away, with his massive 6’5” frame throwing shadow from ceiling lights on me.

I rubbed my eyes and chuckled, for no particular reason.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Liam said, staring me down with his eyes.

It was super awkward trying to maintain eye contact with him this close, mainly because it felt weird cranking up my neck at such angle.

“Uh-huh. Fuck you too,” I replied, twisting to the side in an attempt to escape his company.

He blocked my way with his arm and pushed forward, pressing me into the marble countertop with his hips. Even my considerably intoxicated brain registered it as weird.

“Ever heard of personal space?” I asked.

He didn’t reply. I felt uncomfortable, his groin was basically grinding against my lower abdomen.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I want to talk,” he said.

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“Please.”

I sighed, picked up a cup of someone’s leftover vodka-martini on my left and drank it, immediately squinting at its disgusting taste.

“Sure,” I blurted out. “Anything for you.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the kitchen. I tried to free myself from his grasp, but he held me firmly and I just gave up, following him as he lead us down the hallway. It was pretty dark and foggy, people around were drunk and the visibility was terrible, yet we still had a few prying eyes on us. Undoubtedly, Liam Henderson and I were an odd pair to witness walking around holding hands. He tried to get us in the room at the end of the hallway, but it was occupied by a half-naked couple in the midst of a steamy make out session. Irritated Liam frowned at the scene and yanked me towards next door.

We happened to stumble across what looked like an empty billiard room. As soon as we got in, he made sure we were alone and closed the door behind us. I liked the surroundings and took a stroll around the pool table. Its edges were lined with red oak, I brushed my fingers on the green velvety cloth overlying cold marble top of the table. There was a separate stand with balls and cues at the wall, the room smelled of wood and had a dim warm lighting to complement the setup. The pockets at the professional pool table were much more narrow compared to the regular pool tables. This one was also taller. Seeing this room reminded me of dad, he was an avid pool player, loved to disappear in bars with his friends when I was little, back when life was a little simpler.

For the first time in my life I was discovering the phases of alcohol intoxication. In my particular scenario, light mood and disinhibition came first, followed by a phase of dancing monkey and now I was feeling tired and overall only half-awake.

“So what now? You got us here, we’re all alone.” I yawned, stretching in fatigue.

He stepped closer and I chuckled at how he fancied physical proximity to me this particular evening. I hopped and sat at the edge of the billiard table so that we end up at the same height.

“Can you step back? You have a very bad breath, I don’t want to vomit on your shoes.” I lied.

He smiled, flashing his big white teeth at me. I haven’t seen him smile in a while. Back when we used to be friends, he would laugh about everything, perhaps a bit more than a normal person would. But these days, gloomy and pompous seriousness was the only expression on Liam Henderson’s face. I would assume this was one of the things people considered cool and mysterious about him, but I was convinced that only Edward Cullen was able to pull this off and not look like a complete idiot.

“I see that you’ve met someone,” he said.

“You’re very observant.”

I couldn’t hold a stupid grin. What the fuck was he doing?

“What do you want?” I asked.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down, licking his lips in a pathetic attempt to appear anxious.

“I was...” he sniffled, speaking timidly, “I was thinking about what you’ve told me the other night.”

“Okay, cool.” I nodded. “I don’t care.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I really don’t care,” I yawned.

He shifted from foot to foot, pulled his hands out of pockets and clenched his fists. My inebriated brain found his behavior funny and I giggled at his reaction to my words.

“Dylan, I didn’t know,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know about... About the...”

He held out his hand and his shaking fingers pressed against my stomach. In other circumstances he might’ve seemed sincere, but boy, oh boy what a poor choice of words that was.

“Do you want me to repeat myself?” I asked, grabbing his arm and doing my best to twist it away. “I fucking hate you, you god damned motherfucker.”

His eyes snapped back at me, as if I just slapped him.

“You didn’t know.” I repeated really to myself more than to him. “You didn’t fucking know...”

I began laughing and he bit his lip. God, this guy acted better than DiCaprio in Revenant.

“Does that suppose to make me feel better?” I asked.

“I don’t know...” he whispered.

“Do you even hear yourself?” I asked. “You’re saying I’m so worthless you didn’t even bother remembering how you used to beat me to death?”

“No, I...”

“Liam, just shut up.” I said firmly, to capture his attention. “Don’t bother me. I’m happy for once, I really am.”

His eyes got red and sparkly in dim light.

“All I need to stay happy is for you to keep your fucking distance,” I finished.

Liam swallowed and blew loudly through inflated cheeks. He appeared as though he was trying to fight off tears. I tried to assume for a second that he was, in fact, sincere. The possibility that my words really caused him so much pain, however, seemed too good to be true.

“We’re done here.” I said, pushing up against the wooden edge of the table, ready to jump on the floor.

“No,” Liam objected, pressing his hand against my chest to keep me seated. “We’re not done.”

“You’re wrong, we’re done. Let me go.”

“Hear me out.”

“I already did, you said you didn’t know. So unless you have an evil twin that did all that instead, you’re wasting your time.”

“Do you really hate me that much?” he asked. “So much that there’s nothing I can do?”

“Does that surprise you?”

“I don’t believe it,” he dared.

“You better believe it. Why would I forgive you?” I asked, smiling at his baseless arrogance.

“Because you used to love me.”

I stopped breathing. The alcoholic fog that kept my mind enveloped in a haze evaporated in a matter of seconds, and the gravity of his sentence hit me like a brick wall.

What? Was that a joke?

There was no way he knew. Absolutely no way.

“In your dreams.” I answered after too big of a pause for him to buy my lies.

He didn’t even wince.

“Dylan, I know,” he said. “I always knew.”

“Really?” I asked, trying so sound sarcastic. “What makes you so sure?”

“I’m not stupid, Dylan.” he said. “I’m sorry. Emma talked to me about this. She asked to be gentle with you, to not break your heart.”

I sucked in full lungs of air and held my breath tightly. Jesus Christ. His mother knew about it. Did Helen tell her? Did they always know? Was it that obvious?

It wasn’t happening, it wasn’t fucking happening...

I felt the pounding in my chest, heart threatening to burst out of it. I felt dizzy, I wanted to vanish into thin air, to escape that room and break free from the gaze of his green eyes.

“Let me go.” I growled through my teeth.

“You’re not going anywhere.” he whispered.

I felt hot, the room turned into a smoldering pot of melting lava, suffocating the hell out of me. As sweat perspired off my face, I unwillingly drew a few sharp breaths, giving away my nervousness.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You have no idea, Dylan...”

I was paralyzed, unable to talk or move at all, forced to sit there and listen to him.

“I can’t sleep,” he spoke. “Can’t stop thinking about all the things I’ve done to you. It’s eating at me, it’s killing me to know that I hurt you so much...”

He stepped in closer and his hand found its way back to my stomach. I shuddered in a mix of conflicting emotions, amongst which the shame dominated.

He knew. All these years, he knew I loved him...

I snuffled, losing the grip on self-control and eventually sobbed, letting hot tears roll down both of my cheeks.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me so easily,” he said, piercing me with his emerald eyes. “I’m a fucking monster, I know I broke your heart.”

“You...-” I hissed, trying to soothe the pain in my throat.

“But you will forgive me,” he breathed out. “Because you’re mine.”

I was losing myself hearing his disgusting fucking speech. He ravished in that knowledge, savoring this notion that I had feelings for him in the past. Did he really think I still loved him? Was he really that much of a fool? Did he truly believe that I felt anything but disdain for him?

“That guy you’re dating,” he said, pointing at the door, “He’s not who you think he is.”

I clenched my teeth. What was he talking about?

“He’s not safe to be around,” he added.

“Really?...” I asked with an angry half-smirk that squeezed through my tightened jaw. “At least he didn’t rupture my spleen.”

Liam pursed his lips in guilt. He pressed his body against mine, forcing my thighs to spread apart on his waist. His hand slipped on my lower back, pulling me closer to him. He pressed his forehead into mine and I felt his warm breath on my cheek.

What the fuck was he doing?

“I was such a fool.” he exhaled. “So fucking blind...”

“What the fu-”

In the next moment, the time came to a full stop. As dubious as it sounds, it felt as though I experienced things in slow motion. Our lips touched and I trembled in response, only to get pulled in closer. It would seem that I’d have one billion thoughts rushing through my mind, but there was nothing. Only the feeling. The smell of his breath, the brush of his hand sliding on the side of my neck, fingers slipping under my hair, as he tilted his head and pressed his lips firmly into mine, ushering me into a kiss.

What’s happening?

For a brief moment Liam separated from me, but only to kiss me deeper the next second. His full lips have enveloped mine, forcing them to part, to take on the shape of his. Large teeth tapped lightly against mine, his tongue made its way inside my mouth and rubbed onto my own. He pulled me closer, holding me in both arms, groaning through the kiss.

Did I pass out? Am I hallucinating? Is it alcohol?

It couldn’t be. I could taste him, I felt the wetness of his mouth. His lips slid off on my cheeks, sucking on mine, rolling them between his teeth, biting them. He licked my gums, wielding his tongue into the deepest crevices of my mouth.

My heart was beating erratically, hands were shaking, I couldn’t draw a breath, perplexed and unable to move. I sat there, stunned, bewildered and shocked out of my existence, as Liam fucking Henderson kissed me, loading my nostrils with the smell of his cologne and scratching my flushed cheeks into a crimson shade with his bristle.

At the precipice of this bizarre moment, the door behind my back creaked open, and whoever walked in on us gasped in shock.