alright ↠ dylan o'brien

twenty eight.

Drink up with me now

And forget all about

The pressure of days

Do what I say

And I'll make you okay

And drive them away

The images stuck in your head

~Between The Bars by Elliott Smith

Dylan

"Do you still like Lola?" I asked Brian at my locker.

"I wouldn't say I like her a lot," said Brian, "I mean I barely know the girl. But I'm sure if I did, I would."

"I gotta tell you something, man," I said to him, closing my locker shut. Brian's blonde, curly hair was extra messy today. He had dark bags under his eyes and was wearing clothes that looked and smelled as if they hadn't been washed in a few weeks. I decided not to comment, however.

He seemed to know what I was going to say, and didn't seem very surprised when I told him Lola and I were together. "Oh well," Brian muttered. "It was inevitable, anyways. Everyone saw it coming."

"What do you mean?" I wondered as I gathered my books in my arms and began slowly walking to History with Brian. We had three more minutes, anyways.

"From the day you met her, everyone knew you had a thing for her. I think the only person who didn't know was you," Brian expressed brightly.

I scoffed. "That's not true."

"And what about Ashley?" Brian hinted.

"Ashley," I groaned dangerously. "Turns out she was cheating on me with Evan the whole time."

"About time you found out," Brian mumbled.

"What?" I stopped walking.

Brian paused in front of me and turned around, puzzled. "What," he stated.

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew. Everyone did. They've had a thing since freshman year. They dated then and after they broke up, they kept doing a 'Friends With Benefits' thing. It's just kind of their thing," Brian explained calmly.

I was in total disbelief. Brian, my friend, had known that my girlfriend had been cheating on me all along? He had made me look like a fool in front of so many people. They all had. And I couldn't believe it. Of all people, I expected Brian to be one to come to me with this. Did he really think I was one to go out with someone who was having sex with another guy the whole time? I wasn't Lily. How did she even deal with this?

"I can't believe you never told me," I muttered, unsure of how I should be reacting. What with Brian acting so calm, I wasn't sure if this was something stupid that would make me look as if I was overreacting, or if this was something I should really be mad about. All I knew was that I felt completely betrayed.

"I'm sorry, man," said Brian, taken aback by seriousness. "I didn't think it was that big a deal."

"Let's just go," I said, continuing my course to History, but going much faster this time.