For the rest of Wednesday, there was no sound from Chris, and while that was what was expected, it was still unnerving. It wasn't as though he knew that there was a way bigger chance of Chris rejecting him than taking him back. He had, after all, believed a stupid rumor over his... boyfriend? No, but almost. In his defense, the Megan incident was in his opinion clear, at least at the moment. But he still had hope that Chris would call or something.
Thursday was also complete radio silence, but he'd promised that he'd give the raven-haired boy space, and so that's what he did. He even did his best to not look at the other while they had lunch, and in the last period, which they had together, he made sure to sit a bit away. Still, he couldn't help but glance over to Chris's seat a few times.
Friday morning went by fast, as days usually did this close to breaks. He rode with Felicia to school, just because, and before he knew it, both his first and second-period classes were over and there was only one left before he could have lunch. Before he could go to his next class, though, he had to change his books. Felicia had had a different class, but when he arrived at his locker she was already there.
"How were your classes?" Dylan answered as he opened his locker and placed his books inside. Around them, basically the entire school hurried past, most not wanting to be late to their next class. Dylan didn't hurry though since they had ten minutes to get there.
"They were fine, we didn't do much since we already had the last assignments done last week though," she replied with a smile and Dylan nodded in agreement. There wasn't really much left to do the last day of school.
"Yeah, same," he said, closing the locker and leaned against it. How he wished after the break. These were the days that didn't really matter and he just wanted to go home. He looked the right, watching Felicia collect her stuff. She looked past him down the other way, and for a moment neither said anything. Then:
"Dylan," she raised her eyebrows toward the end of the corridor, making him turn his head to see what she meant. When he saw who was coming, he stood up straighter.
"Did you mean it?" Chris asked, standing across from him, close enough so that no hurrying students could walk in between but still a bit away. From behind him, some of the football team had followed and were watching with slight frowns of confusion. "That you'd come out?"
Dylan shot a glance toward Felicia, who gave him a smile, before nodding. "Yeah, yeah, I meant it."
Chris swallowed and closed his eyes for a moment. "So you'd be okay if I kissed you right now?"
That's one way to get his heart beating, Dylan thought as he instinctively lowered his eyes to Chris's lips. He barely made a movement, but Chris seemed to notice the small nod and for a moment, time stopped. The background noise of people moving by was in an instant gone and even his heart seemed to stop when Chris's lips landed on his.
Even from his almost-hazy state, the mumble that went thought the corridor even he heard, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Wishing the books on his arm to be gone, he wrapped his free hand against the football player's neck. He couldn't help but grin against his lips and a long sigh escaped him when the two finally parted. Dylan moved his head to the taller's neck and embraced him in a one-armed hug, sighing deeply and breathed in the scent that was so... Chris.
"Don't let me go again," Chris whispered and Dylan leaned his head against the taller's shoulder.
"I won't, not again," he responded, a wide grin splitting his face.
"That's about time." Felicia's voice brought Dylan out of his slight haze and he turned his head to look at his friend. Then, his gaze wandered around and to his dismay, a half-circle had formed around them. Most of the other students were smiling at the two of them, but then his eyes found Megan. She did not look that happy at all and when their eyes met, she gave out a huff and hurried down toward another hallway.
Dylan's face quickly heated up when he realized that most of his classmates were standing around, but Chris seemed to notice his embarrassment because he turned around, facing the crowd, and said:
"Alright, move along, people, nothing to see here," he said, his voice certain and authoritative in a way that made Dylan shiver. The other students seemed to know not to say against him and most started moving down the corridors, though Dylan could still hear some whispers. But he didn't care. Not until Landon came up to him, at least.
Then, however, he was suddenly filled with uncertainty and he met the soccer captain's eyes almost timidly.
"I'm really happy for the two of you," Landon smiled after a minute's silence, making all of the tension that had formed in Dylan's shoulders wash away, "I knew that something was up. Well, I didn't know this was up, but it was weird that you suddenly stopped talking. I'm assuming that fight you had wasn't actually with your mom."
Dylan laughed lightly. It was relieving to know that nothing would change between him and the team. Or, at least between him and Landon. While he hoped the others would react the same way, he had no way of knowing.
"Thanks," he smiled softly and felt Chris come up beside him and he reached out to take the latter's hand in his own.
"No wonder you never had girlfriends," Landon continued, seemingly more to himself than to Dylan. "Anyway, I better get to class. I'll see you at lunch."
"Yeah, I'll see you," Dylan called after the soccer captain as he hurried down the hallway. Right then, the warning bell rang. He turned toward the raven-haired boy who was still holding his hand and grinned.
"Let's do something after school, yeah? It's break now, after all, and we should celebrate," Chris prepositioned, grabbing Dylan's other hand, "so, let's celebrate with a date."
Dylan nodded, feeling his heart flutter in his chest. "Sounds like a plan. Meet me by the gym after I've had practice?"
"Or I could meet you in the gym and watch you have practice..." Chris smirked and gave Dylan a quick peck on the cheek, making the latter smile.
"Do what you want, but I've really got to get to class now," he untangled himself from Chris's arms and turned to find Felicia still standing by her locker with her phone out, staring at it intensely.
"Felicia, are you alright?" He asked, making her jump a bit. Her face quickly turned red and she put the phone back in her pocket.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Let's get to class," she hurried.
"I'll see you, Chris," Dylan bid the other goodbye and he and Felicia made their way down the corridor. "What happened?" Dylan asked after a minutes silence. They should hurry since the class was starting soon, but he couldn't be bothered and neither, it seemed, could she.
"Oh, it was nothing, seriously," she deflected, the tell-tale blush spreading over her cheeks once again, "Maddie just sent a weird meme."
Dylan hummed. "Yeah, I totally believe that. How's it going with the two of you, by the way?"
"It's..." Felicia smiled, "It's going really, really well. Probably better than it ever did with Xander."
"That's great to hear," he started walking a bit slower since they'd arrived at his classroom. Felicia had history while he had biology. "Well, I'll see you at lunch."
"Yeah, see you," she replied and Dylan went into the classroom just as the bell rang a second time, officiating the beginning of class.
He grabbed the only empty seat in the room just as the teacher starting lecturing, and while it was his favorite subject, he found himself wishing class to be over. A smile made it's way to his features. They were together again. It was going to be okay. Hopefully, they could do something calm to celebrate because he didn't really feel like going out anywhere.
Ms. Baker sat back down at her desk and a moment later, the projector on the ceiling turned on. Oh, so they were going to watch a movie. How educational. Okay, yeah, educational videos did teach some things some times, but for the most part, it was an opportunity to nap.
As Dylan did.
__
"So, what do you want to do?" Dylan asked as he was getting Chris's car, turning to look at the latter. His own hair was still damp from the quick shower he'd taken. Chris closed the driver's seat door and sat back in the chair, taking a slow breath.
"I was thinking about getting coffee? You're probably tired after your practice," he replied after a silent second, to which Dylan nodded.
"Coffee would be great," the soccer player sighed happily, letting his head drop back against the headrest of the car. He closed his eyes, feeling the car move back, out from its parking spot and then forward.
"Do you want to go to that Lava Java place or do you wanna sit somewhere downtown?" Chris voice was soft and brought Dylan back to reality.
"Maybe... Lava? I prefer quieter places, but anything you want is fine," he replied after a moment spent pondering the question. Chris just nodded in response, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"Lava it is," he mumbled under his breath, turning right at an intersection. Within a few minutes, he pulled to a stop at a public parking spot and turned off the engine. The two boys both unbuckled their seatbelts and got out of the car, Dylan slamming the door closed first. From there, it was a ten-minute walk to Lava Java, and that, too, was spent in mostly silence.
On Dylan's side, the silence was mostly because, while they'd been riding the car a thought had hit him. That thought was specifically that they'd never been on a real date before. Well, yeah, they had been on dates. Their first had been amazing, at that... what was it? Dotty's café. But that had been on the outermost part of the city. Now, they were going into a- while small- central coffee shop and were going to be around people downtown and it made Dylan's heart race fast.
Out around people. Kissing and holding hands. He smiled to himself. As if he'd read his mind, Chris grabbed a hold of his hand as they walked, inevitably making Dylan's smile grow into a wide grin. Yet another minute passed before Dylan decided to speak up.
"So, are we good?" Dylan asked, suddenly being flooded with a slight anxiety. Was Chris even liking doing this? Or did he just humor Dylan? And was he still not sure if he-
"We are good, Dyl," Chris's voice interrupted his doubting thoughts, "so good."
The addition at the end made Dylan's cheeks, whether he'd like to admit it or not, light up to a rosy pink, and it was not because of the December air.
When Chris let go of his hand to open the door, he missed the warmth it had given him immediately. Still, he made no sound and instead entered the small coffee shop that really, especially when coming inside from being out, smelled like a warm hug and a cup of coffee. There was actually quite the buzz in the café, people walking around and chatting almost in every seat. For once. But Dylan smiled nonetheless.
Once they'd ordered, Chris lead him to an empty table and shrugged off his jacket. Dylan did the same and took his seat.
"So, what are you're plans for the winter break?" Dylan asked as the barista put down their drinks in front of them.
"Well, mom and dad are leaving for Europe on Sunday and I still haven't said anything about whether I'll come with or not," he answered, taking a slow sip of his hot chocolate, "but I think I'll stay. There's this person that I want to spend some more time with."
Dylan smirked. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
After that, the conversation flowed effortlessly, and in what felt like an hour, it had gotten dark outside and the barista warned them that the café was closing within thirty minutes.
"Let's do something again. Soon. Like, on Sunday," Chris suggested, getting up from his seat. Dylan grinned wide, taking his jacket on.
"Sounds great," he said in reply.
"Good. You can come to mine, we'll watch a movie. Let's say... six?"
"Six o'clock on Sunday, you got it," Dylan walked closer and placed his hands on Chris's hips and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips, only for Chris to catch his lips again in a soaring kiss. Yeah, this was good. So good.
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