It was Saturday. The day. Dylan sat up in bed and looked around. His heart was racing and he hadn't even gotten out of bed yet.
It was just before nine in the morning. In a few minutes, his alarm would ring, signaling for him to actually get up and get ready. He would shower, drink some coffee, read some, and then it would be three.
Just as he expected, the familiar beeping sound started from his alarm clock and he quickly reached over to turn it off. He stepped into a pair of sweats and trudged down to the kitchen. William was already up and sat at the table with a newspaper.
"Good morning," he mumbled from the table as Dylan made his way to the coffeemaker, "you're up early, mom and dad are still sleeping."
"It's not early, it's nine," Dylan replied, the sound of the machine whirring in the background, "and I have a lot to do today."
"I, uh, I heard about mom's grounding," William sighed, putting the newspaper away, "I'm sorry about that. I tried to talk her out of it but she was hell-bent on the 'family night every night' thing."
"Yeah, I noticed," Dylan grabbed a coffee mug and poured the finished coffee into it, "thanks for trying, though."
"No problem."
"So, why are you up at this hour?" He sat down at the opposite side of the table, taking a sip of the boiling hot drink.
"I had some work to finish so I decided to wake up a bit earlier," William smiled, "what are your plans for the day?"
Dylan did his best at keeping a smile off his face. "I'm meeting a friend."
"A date?"
"No," Dylan assured, a little bit too enthusiastically, "no, it's not a date."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet, I'm not the one who planned it."
"So a surprise date?" William wore a smug grin and Dylan felt his cheeks heat up just a bit.
"It's not a date," he repeated, trying to keep his cover.
"Okay," William kept the grin, "I get it, you don't want to tell me who your date is-"
"It's not a date!" Dylan sighed. It wasn't until now he'd wondered how his family would react if he told the truth. Sure, he'd like to think that nothing would change, but what if it would? What if they were to react like one of those super-conservative southerners and disown him?
"Hey?" William brought him from his thoughts and he looked up. "Are you okay? You look a little pale, you know I was just joking."
"Yeah, I'm okay," Dylan deflected, standing up, "I just remembered that I have a lot to do until I'm leaving."
"Sure," his brother smiled.
Dylan grabbed the half-full cup of coffee and went back up the stairs. He entered the bathroom and put the mug down on the sink, locking the door.
A few minutes later, he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and his sandy-brown hair a mess, dripping water everywhere. He hurried over to his room, the now empty mug getting forgotten in the bathroom.
Should he have picked out clothes beforehand? Probably, he realized as he stood in his room with a sudden panic over his clothes. He would wear jeans, that much was sure, but what to wear as a top, he didn't know.
Nothing, maybe? He smiled at his thought. No, that would be inappropriate.
"Dylan?" His mother called from downstairs. So they'd woken up now, he thought and pulled the jeans on, pairing them with a white knitted sweater.
"Yeah?" He called back, starting to make his way down the stairs once again. As he passed the wall clock, he noticed that it was already fifteen minutes to ten. Not that he had little time.
Quite on the contrary, he actually wanted time to go faster.
"Come down and eat breakfast with us!" She called back, and he couldn't stop the eye roll that came upon him. He took the last few steps down the stairs and hurried toward the kitchen.
"I'm here," he sighed and took the seat he'd had earlier in the morning when he'd gotten coffee.
"We can see that," Riley shot him a grin and he blew a raspberry her way.
Their mom took a seat with a cup of coffee in her hand. Their dad stayed standing, going to get some things from the fridge.
"So, what are your plans for the day? Riley?"
Riley shrugged in response. "I don't know. Might go to the mall if Nelly's free and if someone can drive us there."
"I could drive you," their dad said with a smile.
"Thanks," Riley returned the smile.
"What about you, Dylan?"
"I'm meeting up with a friend," he said and leaned back against the chair, "I'll leave at three."
"That's nice. Do you know when you'll be home?"
Dylan was quiet. It depended. If they were just going to a café or something, he'd be home before dinner. If it was an adventure type of thing, he'd be home later. But he didn't know what Chris had planned whatsoever.
"I don't know. It might get kind of late, but I'll be home before midnight." Probably. Hopefully. Well, not hopefully, but it was best if he got back before then.
"Good, because you have to be home tomorrow so that we can spend some quality time together, all five of us."
Dylan pushed down the urge to roll his eyes once again. "Yeah, I'll be home by then."
His mom hummed. "I was thinking that we could go on a walk. Maybe at ten?"
"Too early," Riley burst out, "eleven's the earliest I'm going to go."
"Fine, we'll go at eleven."
Dylan nodded. Was it going to be close to hell? Yes. Would he win anything for arguing? No, so he sat quietly. It didn't even matter, because today was going to be a great day.
"There are waffles in the cupboard if you want that for breakfast," his dad said, breaking the silence that had settled around the table. Riley immediately rose from her seat and went to open the cupboard door.
"Will you make some for me, too?" Dylan asked and Riley nodded as she got the packet out.
"So," his mother said, "William, what are you going to do today?" She turned her head to face the oldest brother with a smile on her lips.
"I was thinking that I might visit some old friends from high school. I've heard that some still live in the area."
"That's a wonderful idea, honey! It's always good to reconnect with old friends. Your dad and I are going to the store in a few hours."
Riley came back to the table with two plates with four waffles each. She placed one of them in front of Dylan and the other in front of her own seat where she then sat down.
"Thanks," Dylan smiled, feeling his stomach grumble, "you're a saint, Ry."
She didn't say anything, simply smiled back and took a big bite of one of the waffles. Dylan did the same and sighed. He hadn't noticed how hungry he had been until now. It didn't take long until there was nothing left on his plate and he stood.
"I'm going to get some reading done," he explained to his mom, who had given him a questioning look. She nodded and he went to leave the dirty plate in the dishwasher. Then, he returned to his room.
It was already ten-thirty when he finished making his bed. He grabbed one of the books that he was currently reading, a novel by John Green, and lied down on the bed.
Should he tell Felicia about his plans for the day? She'd probably get mad if he didn't. The fact that she'd known about his feelings before he had was still baffling to him. Was he even feeling what he thought he was?
Everything in his head was spinning and his heart had started racing once again. Did Chris even want what he wanted? And what would his parents say? And Riley... Just at the thought of her looking at him any differently made his heart ache.
But this was the twenty-first century, and his family was a modern one. They'd be okay. Still, something in the back of his mind screamed at him to worry about it. He took a breath. It was all going to be fine.
He got up from the bed to put some calm music on. When his eyes roamed past his alarm clock, he realized that he'd been not-reading for almost an hour. It was eleven-fifteen. Just four hours to go. An eternity and a half.
From downstairs he heard Riley say that she wanted to leave now, and their dad agreed. A few minutes later, the front door opened and shut.
Dylan returned to his bed. He put the book on his nightstand and turned so that he was laying on his back. The music washed over him and he closed his eyes, willing his mind to calm down with the music.
When he woke up, it was three hours later. He sat up, the fear of being late settling in him. He looked at the clock and took a breath. There was still forty-five minutes left. The sun was shining in through the window and he couldn't help but smile.
He rolled out of the bed and straightened the duvet. The playlist had ended and there was no sound except for himself when he moved from the bed to the window. For some reason, it felt as if it were Sunday.
As it was November, he knew that it would be cold, but at that moment it didn't look like it was. Sure, the leaves were yellowing, some had already fallen, but the sun stood high and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
Almost a summer's day.
Felicia must be happy that she got her sun, he thought as he made his way to the bathroom. His reflection looked a little bit tired, but otherwise not that different from when he'd fallen asleep, save from the fact that his hair was an absolute mess.
He combed through it a few times with his fingers, but it didn't seem to want to do anything other than to stand straight up.
He gave up and instead opted to go downstairs and get something to eat.
"Weren't you going out?" The voice of his brother made him jump as he searched for something to eat in the cupboard. He looked around and saw that William was sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room with a notebook in his hand.
"Uh, yeah, in a little bit," he answered, closing the door with a few pretzels in his hand, "at three."
"Oh, yeah, you said that this morning."
"Yeah," Dylan made his way to the living room, choosing to sit down on the sofa. He lifted his legs up and placed them on the empty coffee table. "Weren't you going out, too?"
"Yeah, but that's later, at about four. I will be dining out."
Dylan nodded slowly and put a pretzel in his mouth. They sat in silence for a long while, neither of them having anything to say. Still, a comfortable silence was a big step forward from the tense silence that they'd shared before.
About half an hour later, Dylan sat up. The unmistakable sound of a car was heard from the outside and he hurried over to the door.
"I'm leaving now," he called back to the living room.
"Okay, see you tonight!" William called back. Dylan grabbed his jacket, shoes, and phone. He could feel his heart beat hard and took a breath before opening the door and went out into the cold.
"Hey," Chris smiled as he'd gotten into the black car.
"Hey," Dylan replied, pink already tinting his cheeks. He closed the door and put his seatbelt on. "So, what are your plans?"
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