Felicia leaned against the door, sighing heavily.
"Parties are just not going great for me lately," she laughed a shallow laugh, her gaze drifting from Dylan to Chris and then back again.
"What's up?" Dylan frowned.
"Oh, it's nothing," Felicia's tense smile proved her sarcasm if her tone hadn't been enough, "just a certain person outside that I'd rather not meet."
"Is it...?"
"Yeah," she closed her eyes, her brows knitting together.
Chris frowned. "Who is it? Was he invited?"
"I sure hope not," Felicia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Is it- what's his name- Alexander?" Chris questioned as he raised his eyebrows. Felicia shot a glare to Dylan.
"You told him about him?" She accused with a subtle embarrassed blush tinting her face, letting her arms drop.
"I felt he had the right to know!" Dylan defended. "He helped!" Felicia seemed to consider his words, keeping quiet for a moment before shrugging.
"Yeah, that's fair."
"So," Chris cut in, "Is that who's here?"
"Yeah, it's Xander," Felicia groaned, "I don't know why he's here, we broke up a month ago! I can't deal with him right now. I don't even know how he knew I was here... I must have my snap map on or something."
"Is he inside? I'll kick him out," Chris took a step closer to the door but Felicia shook her head.
"He's not inside, not yet at least," she coughed, "he was parking his car outside when I went out to get some air."
"I'll talk to him," Dylan's voice was very unlike his usual soft tone. It sounded stern and angry, but then again, he was angry. He gently pushed Felicia from the door and marched down the stairs, entering the crowd.
"Dyl!" Felicia called after him but he didn't stop until he was outside.
Xander had been sitting in his car but when he saw Dylan he got out of the car and started walking towards the younger.
"What do you want?" Dylan yelled even though the distance couldn't be more than a few yards. Xander took a few more steps, the two almost being chest to chest now.
"I'm not here to talk to you," Xander growled, "where is she?"
Steam practically came out of Dylan's ears. "She doesn't want to talk to you." He could hear the door open and close, and when he turned around he saw Felicia coming out of the house. When he turned back to Xander, his expression had softened.
"Felicia!" He called out, trying to get past Dylan. "Come on, baby, can I just talk to you? I miss you and I know-"
"Xander, leave," Felicia said with a strange calm, which Dylan knew only came when she was pissed, "I don't want to see you, I don't want to talk to you, I don't understand why you keep trying."
Xander was quiet for a moment before the anger returned to his eyes and he turned back to Dylan. By this time, some party-goers had noticed the commotion outside and went to watch, standing by the door and stared.
"It's you, isn't it?" Xander hissed through gritted teeth, "You've been fucking my girl all this time, haven't you? You're always with her, I don't know why I'm surprised."
"She isn't 'your girl' anymore," Dylan snapped back, "It ain't my fault that you couldn't keep it in your pants and went and fucked someone else."
Dylan noticed that Xander took a tiny step back. He noticed that his teeth gritted together tightly and from behind himself he heard a quick 'Hey', which had come from Chris. Despite all this, he wasn't expecting the fist that shot out and punched him in the face.
He hadn't even registered that he was on the ground before he felt the scraping of his skin against the asphalt.
From that point, everything simultaneously went in slow-motion and hyperspeed. He saw Chris hurry toward Xander, pushing him away from the house, and after him jogged Felicia, yelling something that he could barely hear.
He stood up, swaying slightly on the spot, dazed, and felt how a little blood trickled from his eyebrow. Chris was standing close to Xander only a few yards away, ushering him towards his car. Finally, Xander seemed to give up, throwing his hands in the air and turned to enter the car.
Not moment passed before both Chris and Felicia was by his side again.
"Dylan, are you alright?" Felicia asked frantically, while Chris' response to him being punched was more a:
"God, you are so stupid for a smart person."
They started walking toward the house, Chris walking ahead, him being the host and all.
"Okay, everyone," he yelled, clapping his hands above his head, trying to get everyone's attention over the loud music, "HEY! Everyone out!"
A few complaints sounded through the house, but Chris didn't care, and most of the students simply filed out of the party without a sound.
"Hey, you didn't need to get everyone out." Dylan placed a hand on Chris' shoulder while his other hand was still on his bleeding eyebrow.
"Well, I'm tired," the raven-haired boy said with a soft smile, "and we've got to tend to your eye. I'd rather do that in peace without having to worry about broken lamps and the people in general."
"Come on," Felicia passed them, pushing through the last of the guests, "where do you keep the first-aid kits?"
"Oh my god, Dylan!" Landon suddenly appeared next to them, moving toward Dylan. "What the hell happened to you?"
Dylan gave him a weak smile. "Oh, it's not that bad, just had a run-in with Felicia's ex." Landon turned his head to Felicia, then back to Dylan.
"For real? Do you need the team to kick his ass?" He knew that Landon was joking, but still, he paled a bit.
"No, no, not at all, it's all solved now," Dylan said.
"Maybe... it was a good riddance?" Landon said to Felicia, giving her a cautious smile.
"Oh, definitely," Felicia said with a soft smile, "he was obviously not a good dude."
"Yeah," Landon breathed.
"Anyway," Dylan cut through the silence, "you should get home. Aren't you the designated driver for Shawn?"
"Yeah, but are you sure that you don't need any help? What if he comes back?"
"He won't come back," Chris said sternly.
"What he means to say is: thanks for the offer, but we'll be fine on our own," Dylan smiled, directing Landon's attention back to himself. Landon hesitated a moment before nodding.
"Okay, call if you need something," he said with the most serious expression that Dylan had ever seen on him, "anything. At all."
"Will do," Dylan answered as Landon started to leave with the rest, "See you."
If Landon had answered, he didn't know, as he was swallowed by the ocean of people leaving the house.
Within the next ten minutes, all of the people that had been at the party had gone home or to McDon's. Felicia had directed Dylan to take a seat on the sofa and had then gotten a clean rag and some water.
"Can you clean it?" She asked, handing the things over to Chris, "I have to go to the bathroom. Do you have a bathroom downstairs?"
"Yeah, down that hall and to the right." Chris sat down next to Dylan on the sofa.
"Why did I do through the trouble of getting a girl up the stairs to puke if you have a bathroom here?" Dylan tried to his injured eyebrow but it had swelled a bit and it hurt.
"Because it seemed urgent and there was a good chance that someone was already in the one downstairs," Chris explained, raising the rag and swiped it gently across Dylan's eye to get rid of dirt and dried blood.
Dylan winced when Chris pushed a little harder, pulling his head away slightly.
"You've gotta sit still!" Chris grabbed Dylan's right shoulder with his free hand, keeping him still. "Why did you have to aggravate him so much? God, so stupid."
"I don't know? It felt kinda good seeing him mad," Dylan looked down for a second before meeting Chris' eyes, "he really hurt Felicia."
After a minute Chris chuckled. "It's been like three months of senior year and both of us have now gotten punched." Dylan smiled, too, still looking into Chris's eyes.
Time slowed as they stared at each other. Dylan thought he saw Chris' gaze soften for a split-second before he heard the flushing of a toilet. Chris backed up a few inches and coughed. When had they gotten so close?
"Okay," Felicia came over to the sofa, "now put a band-aid on it and give him an icepack."
Chris did as she instructed and then stood up. "Do you guys wanna stay here or..."
"No," Dylan said, feeling his heart drop at his own words, "My, uh, my mom wants me home. My brother's home for a few weeks so... Thanks, though."
Felicia looked at him as if she knew exactly what he was thinking, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she turned to Chris.
"Thanks," she smiled, "you've saved my ass twice now."
"It's no problem."
"If you need help with anything that I might be able to help with you can always call, okay?" She gave him a note with her number and he took it with a nod. She then turned back to Dylan. "Okay, you're driving. Let's go."
Dylan stood, following Felicia toward the hallway. Suddenly, Chris caught his wrist, making him stop.
"I just..." Chris took a breath, looking into Dylan's eyes. The latter felt winded, as if someone had punched him in the stomach, too. The intense stare that he'd gotten caught in made his heart race. Chris's eyes screamed that he had something to say, but then he let go of Dylan's arm and sighed. "Nevermind. I'll see you Thursday. Don't get punched before then."
Dylan hesitated a moment, not wanting the tension to end for some reason, but then he nodded and went after Felicia.
"Took you long enough," she grabbed her jacket and opened the front door. It was just after one in the night and the clouds above almost glowed yellow from the streetlights.
"I'm coming, chill out," Dylan sighed with a smile on his lips. "I'll see you," he told Chris that had come out in the hallway and was leaning against a wall.
"Bye."
Dylan unlocked the car and both he and Felicia entered. He sighed, leaning back against the backrest.
"We gotta hurry so you can put the ice pack back on," Felicia said, her impatience clear.
"Yeah, fine," Dylan said as he turned the ignition and started the drive home. "What are your plans for the rest of the break, then?"
"I don't know," she sighed, "not that there's a lot of break left. Maybe hang out with Blaire... or Maddie."
"Maddie?" Dylan frowned. "Wait... Madison? As in Xander's Madison?"
"She's not 'his Madison'," she defended, "I told you that we made plans to meet. She's nice and I kinda feel bad for her-"
"Why do you feel bad for her?"
"Well, when it comes down to it, she was the side chick. But she didn't know that."
"So you're seeing her because you pity her?" Dylan turned at an intersection and looked at Felicia for a moment before turning his eyes back to the road.
"No! No, I just... I don't know, she's nice. We've been chatting a lot."
Dylan was quiet, letting the issue go and instead focusing on his driving. A few minutes later he'd dropped Felicia off. She'd asked if he was sure that he wanted to go home, and that he could stay there, but he'd declined. It was nicer to wake up in his own bed anyway.
As he, as quietly as possible, entered the house after having locked the car, the last thing he expected was to see William sitting in the kitchen tapping away on his laptop. Dylan crept past, holding the ice pack to his eye, but only a few steps up the stairs his brother sighed.
"You don't need to tell me," he said, his voice quiet enough as to not wake their parents, "I won't tell them anything, and I get it, but... I'm here if you need help."
Dylan turned around, meeting his brother's eyes. For a long while, they were both staring quietly. Then, Dylan sighed, turned back and went to his room.
He put the ice pack on his desk and looked down at his shirt- no, Chris's shirt. It still smelled like him, but the scent had dulled throughout the night. Finally, he pulled his pants off and jumped into bed without taking the shirt off.
His muscles relaxed into the mattress and he felt his body shutting down, yet he couldn't seem to fall asleep yet. It was as if his body was tired but not his mind. No, his mind was far from shutting down.
He still didn't know what he was supposed to do with William, how to feel about him being home. About that, he was torn. And him being caught sneaking in didn't help his racing thoughts.
And then there was Chris. Chris, who seemed to have settled deep in his mind, with all his glances and his entire being. It really seemed like he'd wanted to say something earlier and now Dylan found himself wishing that it had been something in particular. His stomach fluttered with butterflies for a second before he frowned at the way he was acting.
Without even noticing it, he buried his nose into the shirt and closed his eyes and let his mind wander away. After that, it didn't take long before he was drifting into a much-needed sleep.
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