Something New

by Amanda Abram

  My breath hitched in my throat as my gaze shot to Elijah. So, it was true. A little part of me had suspected, but I had never dared to get it confirmed from Dylan. Elijah was happy to have picked Hannah’s name. He wanted her as his partner. And when given the choice by Dylan to be with his girlfriend instead of her, he had turned it down.

  I should have dumped him long before he’d had the chance to cheat on me. And if I had known what I knew now, I would have.

  “You were so happy to get your ex-girlfriend’s name, weren’t you?” Dylan continued to goad him. “How messed up is that, Elijah? You couldn’t wait to cheat on Cass—”

  Elijah’s hands shot out and connected with Dylan’s chest as he shoved him backward. “That is not true!”

  I had a bad feeling I knew where this was heading, and I had to put a stop to it before the situation could escalate. “Elijah,” I said, “maybe you should go—”

  “You never loved her, did you?” Dylan asked. Neither he nor Elijah were paying any attention to me anymore. I had to wonder if they even remembered I was there.

  “Of course, I loved her,” Elijah said through clenched teeth. “She loved me too, and we were going to get back together until you—”

  “Until I what?” Dylan challenged, taking a step toward him. “Until I showed her what it could be like to be with someone who would never cheat on her? Until I showed her that she could do a hell of a lot better than you—”

  Before Dylan could finish getting out the last word, Elijah grabbed the front of Dylan’s jacket with both hands, swung him around and pinned him against the side of his car.

  “Get your hands off me,” Dylan hissed, shoving Elijah away with his arm and sending him stumbling backward.

  “You’re nothing but a rebound to her,” Elijah sneered as he steadied himself.

  Dylan smirked as he pushed off the side of the car. “I’d rather be a rebound than the cheating asshole you are.”

  It all happened so fast. As soon as the words were out of Dylan’s mouth, Elijah swung out his fist and connected it with Dylan’s jaw; the impact sending him toppling back into the side of Elijah’s car.

  My heart leapt into my throat as I started toward them. “Dylan!”

  He looked stunned as he brought his hand up to the side of his face to touch the spot where Elijah’s fist had just been, and for a moment, both boys looked shocked by Elijah’s actions. But that shock quickly wore off as Dylan regained his composure and lunged forward, plowing into Elijah.

  “You guys, stop it!” I cried. I felt a rush of panic as I watched them push, shove, and wrestle each other to the ground, and I knew I was helpless to stop them.

  “Hey!” a deep voice behind me shouted and everyone froze.

  I knew it was my dad before I turned around to see him stalking toward us. He must have just arrived home from work and we were all too preoccupied to see or hear him pull into the driveway.

  “Is there a problem here?” Dad asked sternly as he approached. He glanced between Dylan and Elijah, who had already let go of each other and scrambled to their feet.

  “No, Mr. Briggs,” Elijah muttered, running a hand through his tousled hair. “I was just about to leave.”

  Dad crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

  Keeping his gaze aimed at the ground, Elijah brushed past me as he made his way over to his car.

  “We’ll talk about this later once we’ve cooled down,” Dylan calmly said to him.

  Elijah shot him a dead, emotionless stare. “No, we won’t,” he said simply. He then turned that same stare onto me before opening the driver’s door and climbing into the car.

  I backed away as the engine roared to life and he pulled away from the curb. Hugging my arms to my chest, I watched as his car disappeared down the street.

  “You two,” Dad said, motioning between me and Dylan. “Inside the house. Now.”

  Dylan and I exchanged a wary glance before following my dad up the driveway and into the house.

  Once we were inside and the door was closed behind us, Dad turned around and, placing his hands on his hips, said, “Okay, what was that all about?”

  “Nothing,” I mumbled.

  “It sure as hell didn’t look like nothing.” He pointed to Dylan’s jaw, which was already red and slightly swollen from where Elijah had hit him.

  “What’s going on?” Mom asked, stepping out of the kitchen.

  “I just came home to find Dylan and Elijah fighting in our front yard,” he replied. “I’m trying to find out why.”

  Mom gasped and rushed over to us when she caught a glimpse of Dylan’s face. “Oh my goodness, are you all right?”

  Dylan nodded. “Yes, Mrs. Briggs, I’m fine.”

  She frowned as she got closer to examine him. “I’m going to get you an ice pack to put on that,” she said before disappearing back into the kitchen.

  When she was gone, Dad turned his attention back to us and tapped his foot against the floor impatiently. “Well? Are you going to tell me, or what?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him I didn’t want to talk about it, but Mom was quick to return to the room and she answered for me.

  “Honey, why don’t we leave them alone for a little bit?” she said to Dad as she handed Dylan the ice pack. “She can talk to us later.” She grabbed his wrist and began pulling him toward the kitchen.

  “But—” he began to protest, but she instantly distracted him with the one thing she knew that would take his mind off everything.

  “Can you come taste the spaghetti sauce?” she asked. “I feel like it’s missing something.”

  If there was one thing Mom never needed help with, it was her cooking. Her food was always on point, and not once had she ever had to have anyone taste-test for her. She was simply using that excuse to lure my father away. She knew neither Dylan nor I wanted to talk about what had just happened outside. Not right now.

  Thank you, I mouthed to her before she finished dragging Dad into the kitchen. She smiled and waved her hand as if to say it was no problem.

  I turned to Dylan, who was nursing the side of his face with the ice pack, and let out a shaky breath. “Come with me,” I ordered, heading for the stairs.

  I led him up to my bedroom and closed the door behind us. I didn’t care that I was breaking the “no-closed-door-with-boys-in-the-room” rule; I didn’t want Caitlyn spying on us from the hallway.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him.

  But I didn’t need to ask. He didn’t look okay. He looked like a guy who had just lost his best friend.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied weakly, dropping down onto the edge of my bed. “You should see the other guy.”

  The other guy didn’t have a scratch on him, because from what I had witnessed, Dylan hadn’t even attempted to return the punch.

  With a humorless chuckle, he added, “That went way worse than I thought it would.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, joining him on the bed. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. I had no idea he would come here for any reason—”

  “Cass, don’t apologize,” he sighed. “This is all my fault. I’m the one who couldn’t just keep my feelings to myself. I dragged you into all of this.”

  “You didn’t drag me into anything, and it’s not your fault,” I assured him. “We just obviously handled this all wrong.”

  Dylan snorted. “Tell me about it.” He stared down at his lap. “Listen, that whole thing about offering to switch names with Elijah…I’m sorry I never told you. I guess I just thought it wasn’t my place to. Looking back, though, I wish I had.”

  “No. I told you before that you had no obligation to tell me anything. He was a jerk for turning down the offer.” I swallowed hard and averted my gaze away from him. “And, you know, everything he said—about me not thinking of you as a friend and about you being a rebound or just a way to get back at him for cheating on me—none of that’s true, you know.”

&
nbsp; He grinned and then winced at the pain it caused him. “I know, Briggs. You’ve wanted me for a long time.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, that’s not exactly true, either.”

  “Hey, just let me think it, okay?” he said with fake annoyance.

  “Okay,” I said, laughing softly.

  His smile faded and his expression grew somber. “I didn’t mean to provoke him like that. I just…”

  His voice trailed off, and I studied his face as I waited for him to continue. His eyebrows were drawn closely together, the corners of his mouth were angled down in a slight frown and his eyes were dark and brimming with regret. Feeling like he needed to be comforted, I took his free hand in mine and gave it a light squeeze.

  “I think I’ve just had a lot of pent-up anger these past couple of weeks over Elijah cheating on you,” he continued finally, his voice tight. “And I know I’ve had a lot of pent-up anger over my dad cheating on my mom, and between the two, I just snapped.” He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. “He hates me now.”

  “I think he hates both of us now.” I sighed heavily and stared down at our joined hands. “You know, Lauren warned me this would happen.”

  Dylan glanced sideways at me. “I never thought I’d say this, but Lauren’s a smart girl.”

  “It’s why she initially didn’t approve of me having feelings for you.”

  “I know. And it’s why I’ve tried so hard to fight my own feelings. But how is that fair? Why should we have to ignore our feelings to spare those of somebody who hurt you so bad?”

  “But he didn’t hurt you,” I pointed out, “and now he feels betrayed by you. You’re going to lose him as a friend, and it’s all because of me.”

  “Hey, stop that.” He lifted a hand to cup the side of my face. “Nobody is losing anyone as a friend, all right? I promise.”

  It was an empty promise, and we both knew it. There was a good chance Dylan and Elijah’s friendship would never recover from this. Even if it did, it was possible it would never go back to the way it was before.

  I lowered my gaze to his hand holding the ice pack and gently pulled it away so I could see the damage. He didn’t have a bruise yet, but he would by tomorrow.

  “I’m not worth it, you know,” I whispered as tears began to well up in my eyes.

  Dylan let out a breath as his shoulders slumped forward. Lifting my chin to force me to look him in the eye, he shook his head. “Cass,” he whispered back, “you have no idea what you’re worth to me.”

  The tears spilled from my eyes as I leaned forward and pressed my lips gingerly against his, careful not to hurt him.

  He responded by sliding his hand around to the back of my neck, pulling my face closer as his lips parted beneath mine and he kissed me. He wasn’t gentle; he held nothing back. And if it was causing him any pain, he wasn’t letting it stop him.

  Instead, what stopped us both was the sudden sound of somebody clearing their throat behind us. Breaking away from Dylan, I glanced over my shoulder to see Mom standing in the doorway to my room with one raised eyebrow and a small smile on her face.

  She rapped on the door twice with her knuckles—something she had failed to do before opening my door—and said, “May I come in?”

  I felt a blush warming my face as I nodded.

  Well, I could now add my mom to the growing list of people who knew about me and Dylan.

  “I should get going,” Dylan said, pushing off the bed.

  “You don’t have to leave,” Mom said quickly.

  “No, actually, I do. I’m already late for dinner. I’m surprised my mom hasn’t called to yell at me yet.” He glanced down at me and smiled, but I could tell it was forced because it didn’t reach his eyes. “Would you like me to pick you up for school tomorrow?”

  “Yes,” I said, returning his smile. “Please.”

  “Cool.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” I said, moving to stand up.

  “No, it’s okay,” he said. “I know where the front door is.” He held out the ice pack to my mom. “Thanks for letting me use this.”

  She shook her head and gently pushed his hand away. “Take it with you. You need it more than I do.”

  Dylan chuckled as he brought it back up to the side of his face. “Yeah, I guess I do.” His gaze flickered down to me once again. “Goodnight, Cass.”

  “Goodnight, Dylan.”

  “Bye, Mrs. Briggs,” he said politely to Mom. Before she could respond in kind, he walked over to the door and exited the room.

  Sitting on my hands, I stared down at the floor and waited for Mom to speak first.

  I didn’t have to wait long.

  “I got your father to agree to let me try talking to you alone,” she said, taking a seat next to me. “But I guess now I don’t need to ask why Dylan and Elijah were fighting with each other outside, do I?”

  When I didn’t respond right away, she sighed and continued. “It’s not nearly as romantic as it is in the movies, is it?”

  I blinked at her in confusion. “What?”

  “Two boys fighting over the same girl,” she explained. “I mean, what girl hasn’t fantasized about two boys being so in love with her that they must duel for her affections? It makes for a great story, but in real life, it’s messy and complicated, and doesn’t always have a happy ending. Especially when the two boys are best friends.”

  “It sucks,” I confirmed with a sniffle.

  “How long has this been going on between you and Dylan?”

  “Not long,” I replied quietly. “He kissed me last week, but we agreed the next day that it didn’t mean anything and that it would never happen again. But I guess we were both lying because we kissed again on Saturday. And then again yesterday. And then again about fifteen minutes ago in the driveway, when Elijah happened to drive up and see us.”

  “And let me guess—Elijah had no idea that you two had grown so close?”

  I shook my head. “We were going to tell him; we just didn’t know how. We wanted to wait until the right moment. We were trying to be careful so he wouldn’t react…well, so he wouldn’t react the way he reacted just now.” Leaning forward, I buried my face in my hands. “We screwed up.”

  Mom gave my back a reassuring rub. “I’m sure you didn’t screw up as badly as you think you did.”

  I removed my hands from my face. “No, Mom, you saw Dylan’s face. Elijah did that to him. He hates him now. Their friendship is over.”

  Mom chuckled softly as she put her arm around me and rested her head against mine. “Oh, sweetie, those boys will be just fine.”

  “How could you possibly believe that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

  “Because they’re seventeen. They’ve been best friends since they were born. It’s going to take a lot more than liking the same girl to ruin their friendship. Trust me—they’ll be okay. Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not even next week. But I promise you that Elijah will get over this and he’ll move on. And when he does, it will be like nothing ever happened between them.”

  It all sounded too good to be true, but Mom was just trying to be helpful and supportive, and I didn’t want to take that away from her.

  “I hope you’re right,” I said, leaning into her.

  She gave me a light squeeze and a pat on the shoulder. “I am right. I’m a mom. I know these things.” She pulled away and stood from the bed. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes if you want to come downstairs.”

  Food was the last thing on my mind. “I’m actually not that hungry right now. Save me a plate for later?”

  “Sure,” she said with an understanding smile. She headed for the door and stopped before she left the room, turning back around. “For what it’s worth, I like Dylan, and I think you two will be great together.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” I said, smiling back. I knew from the moment she met Dylan that she liked him, but it was still nice to hear her say it.

  As soon as she was gone,
I fell backward onto the bed and draped my arm over my eyes. I wanted to pretend that this was all just a bad dream. Better yet, I wanted to hop into a time machine and go back to yesterday, where Dylan and I could have just simply explained to Elijah that we had feelings for each other, instead of having him find out by catching us kissing in my driveway. Would he have reacted differently? Or would a fight still have broken out, only it would have been way worse because my dad wouldn’t have been there to break it up?

  I didn’t even want to think about it.

  “You know, I think so, too,” a cheerful voice said above me.

  I sat back up and glared over at Caitlyn, who had let herself into my room without permission. “What are you talking about?”

  “About you and Dylan being great together.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “And you would know about me and Dylan how?”

  “From eavesdropping outside your door just now,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Duh.”

  I grabbed a pillow and threw it at her. “How would you feel if I eavesdropped on your conversations?”

  “I’d feel confused, because none of my conversations are ever interesting like yours are.” She smirked. “I don’t even have one boy that likes me, let alone two.”

  I groaned. “Yeah, well, consider yourself lucky.”

  “Nah, you’re the lucky one. Dylan is, like, amazing.”

  “He is,” I agreed. “But this whole thing with Elijah complicates everything.”

  “Elijah’s a jerk for cheating on you,” she said matter-of-factly. “Who cares about Elijah?”

  “Dylan does.”

  “Dylan cares about you, too. Probably more than he cares about Elijah right now. So, what’s the problem?”

  It was a good question. Arching a brow, I glanced her up and down. “Is my little sister attempting to give me advice?”

  “Yes,” she said. “And that advice is: don’t screw this up. Dylan and I have plans to watch the Baker’s Dozen finale together, and I have five dollars riding on Grant winning.”

  I shook my head. “I should have known you had selfish intentions.”

  She just grinned as Mom yelled up the stairs to tell her dinner was ready. “It’s still good advice, anyway,” she quipped before taking off out of the room.