William had told him to 'be careful at the party' about a thousand times throughout the day. At least that's what it felt like.
"Why are you so wary of me going to a party?" Dylan had snapped after the hundredth time, and in response, William had told him that he'd known his brother.
"I already knew that!" Dylan had barked back.
"Let me finish," William had sighed, "He... wasn't a very good person. I mean, he hurt some people."
Oh, Dylan had thought. After a few moments of silence, he'd said that 'not all brothers are the same' before going to grab his jacket.
Now, however, he was laying on Felicia's bed, his head at the foot of the bed and legs stretched along the wall. Felicia was at the moment lost in her closet, which she'd already almost emptied onto the floor.
"Should I put my hair up?" She turned around to look at him.
"If you're going for Wonder Woman? Then no, keep it down. That will be better," He hoped that it was the right response. Apparently, it was, as Felicia smiled softly and turned back toward the wardrobe.
"Are you going to show me what I'm going to wear?" He asked, turning around to lay on his stomach on the bed. There was a slight pause before Felicia answered.
"You can't get mad." She said. Dylan sighed, though a smile spread across his lips.
"What did you do?" He asked, sitting upon his knees.
"It's not that bad, it'll fit you great!" She exclaimed, going to the other corner of the closet.
"Is it a wrestler?"
"No! Nothing like that," she searched through the heaps of clothing that decorated the floor. Then, she stood again with a white blazer jacket and a pair of folded light gray jeans, "It's just this!" She handed the clothes to her friend and Dylan looked at them.
"Felicia?" He asked slowly, and she hummed. "Where is the undershirt?"
"You're not going to need one." She answered with a sweet smile. Dylan sighed. It didn't take much thought to realize that no matter how much he argued against her, she would always win. "I have a halo for you, too, and angel wings, but those are optional."
Dylan watched her as she went over to a drawer and took out a halo.
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"You look great," Felicia said, softly slapping his hand away from the jacket, "Stop picking at it."
"I am uncomfortable in this," Dylan pouted and moved his free hand to the halo over his head. It wasn't that the jacket didn't cover enough, but he'd never been very comfortable showing skin, and with no undershirt, the V went lower than what he was used to. "Someone is going to spill beer on me and then the outfit won't be white anymore."
"No, it'll be fine," Felicia encouraged with a smile. She was a clad in a golden armor which and had even found a headband that looked a lot like the one the Amazonian warrior wore in the movie.
Dylan drove slowly, looking for the house they were going to. It wasn't hard to find, as there were already some cars outside, and as he pulled up and left the car he heard music from the house. In addition to all that, the entire front of the house was decorated in orange and black, with some fake skulls littering the front yard.
The two of them walked up to the house. Dylan went first, opened the door and held it open for his friend.
"Thank you," she laughed as she entered the house.
The loud music shouldn't have surprised him as he, too, entered. Nevertheless, the blaring sound coming from the living room startled him. He walked farther into the house, past a hoard of footballers. They stared after him, some looking shocked and some grinning. He frowned, not understanding what the gazes were about.
"Did you see those glances?" Dylan asked Felicia as he'd caught up with her.
"Yeah, what was that about-...I think I know what it was about." Dylan followed her eyes across the room, his own finally settling on a familiar head.
Chris was wearing his usual leather jacket, his back turned toward Dylan. He had a pair of devil's horns on the top of his head, and from under his jacket, Dylan could see a slip of a red shirt. Chris turned around, his eyes instantly connecting with Dylan's.
Dylan stared back, his heart making an unusual flutter. If it was the base or the intense staring contest, he wasn't sure. Chris's face broke out into a smirk.
Felicia let out a short laugh. "You're matching! How cute," she moved toward the kitchen, probably to get something to drink. "He's the devil, you're an angel, a forbidden friendship!"
Dylan snorted a laugh as he tore his eyes away from Chris's, only to find that Felicia had already disappeared behind the mass of people. For a second, he contemplated following her, but he soon decided that she would probably find her way back in a while.
A buzzing in his pocket brought Dylan out of his head. He took his phone out, looking at the screen and answering.
"Hey," Landon's voice sounded in his ear as he placed the phone against his ear, "are you there already?"
"Yeah, Dylan shifted his feet, "where are you?"
"On my way."
"And the others?"
"With me in the car," Landon said, and Dylan could hear the voices of the rest of the group. "Oh, we're here now, I can see your car. See ya."
"Cool," Dylan hung up the call, placing the phone back in his pocket. A tap on his shoulder made him turn around to find Felicia standing with a cup in each hand. She reached out one of them, handing him the cup.
"It's juice," she assured and he smiled.
A few moments later, a hand landed on his shoulder and he swiveled around to find Landon, Shawn, and Jake standing behind him. Cole hadn't been able to get out of his commitment to go to the Big Apple, so it would only be the four of them.
"I take it Felicia picked your costume?" Landon laughed, giving Dylan a bro-hug and then moving toward the girl in question.
"Yeah," Dylan grinned, hugging the rest of the group.
"Angel, huh?" Shawn inspected the outfit before breaking out in a huge smile and turning to Felicia. "It fits him."
"I know," Felicia smiled smugly, taking a sip of her drink. Dylan took a moment to look at his friends' costumes, too. Landon was clad in a basic ref tee and shorts, clearly not putting any effort into his costume, not that Dylan had either. Shawn had picked a little more creative option and gone for a pirate, and Jake was... himself.
Dylan followed the soccer team toward the kitchen when they were going to get drinks, but had once again lost Felicia in the crowd.
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At about twelve, the inevitable finally happened. As Dylan moved from the living room, toward the kitchen, a girl that he recognized as Jenny from the cheer-squad stumbled into him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she muttered, and a split second later she was emptying her stomach onto Dylan. He gasped, catching her at the last minute as she continued to barf on him. When she was finished, she looked up, tears in her eyes.
"It's okay," he knew that it sounded panicked- he was, after all, panicking- but that didn't matter. "It's alright. Come on, let's get to the bathroom."
He placed her arm around his neck, gently guiding them both toward where he hoped there would be a bathroom. On the way, though, Chris came up to them, blocking the way.
"What's going on?" He asked, his eyes widening when he saw the stain on Dylan's jacket.
"Where is the bathroom?" Was the response he got from Dylan.
"It's upstairs," Chris took a hold of Dylan's arm and started walking toward a flight of stairs, "Come on."
The three of them moved up the stairs, then down a hallway. Chris fumbled with something in his pocket for a second before getting a key out and opened a door to the left. Dylan hurried into the room only to find that it had to be Chris'. He couldn't look around for long though, because he found the door that finally had to be a bathroom.
"Can you go find one of her friends?" Dylan pleaded as he all but carried the girl into the bathroom.
"Find Meg," Jenny mumbled quietly.
"Sure," Chris hurried out and back down the stairs.
Dylan helped Jenny over to the toilet, opened the lid and sat them both down on their knees.
"Come on," he cooed softly, pulling back her hair, "puke it all out."
After what felt like an eternity and a half, Jenny sat back on her heels and rested her head on her arm. She'd managed to get out a little more, but most of the alcohol was already out of her and staining Dylan's clothes.
"Thanks," she whispered hoarsely, pink tinting her cheeks, "I'm sorry."
"It's fine," Dylan let go of her hair. Not a moment passed before another girl rushed into the room. "Are you Meg?"
"Yeah," the blonde breathed, sitting down next to Jenny. "Hey, do you want to go home?" Jenny gave a slight nod. Megan turned her head toward Dylan. "Thank you, she's not usually like this."
Dylan gave her a soft smile. "No problem. Do you need any help?" Meg shot a glance toward Jenny, who seemed to have sobered up a little bit.
"I can walk," she huffed lightly.
"I'll get some water," Chris said, suddenly appearing in the doorway. He gave Dylan a short nod before going back down to the party. He returned not a minute later with a water bottle and a painkiller. "She'll need this," he explained and gave the bottle and packet to Megan, who immediately handed the water to her friend.
Chris leaned back against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest as Meg helped Jenny to her feet.
"She can rest here for a while," he said, moving out of the way as they walked past him.
"No, I think we'll leave, she'll crash at my place," Megan smiled as they walked out of the bedroom. Dylan stood up and closed his eyes, resting his head against the bathroom wall. A comfortable silence settled over him, and he opened his eyes just a bit.
Chris was staring at him, a smile on his lips. "We're matching," He chuckled and Dylan felt his face flush.
"Well, I'm now a puke-stained angel, but sure," he joked. Chris looked down, seeing the orange-tinted stain.
"You can borrow one of my shirts," Chris turned around and walked over to a large dresser on the other side of the room. Dylan took a few steps after, looking around in the dark.
It wasn't super big, his own was probably bigger, but the lack of furniture made it seem bigger than it was. There was a twin-sized bed in one corner by a window, and Chris seemed to use the windowsill as a bedside table. Across from the bed stood the dresser where Chris stood, searching for a shirt for Dylan.
Along with the bed and dresser, the only furniture was a small desk. But that wasn't what had caught Dylan's attention, however. The most extraordinary things in the room were the drawings that decorated the wall above the desk.
"Did you make these?" He asked, stepping closer to see in the dim light. "They are amazing."
"Thanks," Chris replied and Dylan could hear the smile in his voice even when he was turned away. "Here," he turned abruptly at threw the shirt.
"Thanks, yourself," Dylan smiled as he caught the shirt, opening his jacket and shrugging it off, letting it fall to the floor.
He pulled the tee over his head. It was a little bit lose, maybe a size too big, but other than that it was nice. It did, however, smell a lot like Chris. Enough to make him dizzy. His eyes met Chris' who was already looking at him. The air had gotten heavier and Dylan felt his heart quicken its pace.
Suddenly the tense atmosphere was broken by the door opening, as Felicia stormed in and slammed the door closed behind herself.
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