How We End

Chapter 7

Chapter 07

"Bye Grace!" Chris shouted as he went his own way.

"Bye boo!" I said, hurrying crazily to my class.

Chris and I had stayed up late last night and we overslept and lost track of time this morning. I was still feeling really sleepy, I hadn't eaten breakfast, I barely took a shower, my head hurt and I probably looked like a homeless person.

I was outside the auditorium walking to the back door. The class had already begun and our professor was standing in the front of the class, speaking. I threw my hood over my head and stepped into the class. I searched for a vacant seat and spotted one at the edge of the back seats. I walked over to the seat and sat, sinking lazily into it. I took out my laptop from my bag and placed it on the little desk after adjusting it up.

"Why'd you come in so late? That's unlike you." I heard an all so annoying voice speak beside me.

I looked beside me to see Kyle The Creep.

I groaned painfully, "Ughhhh, can my day get any worse?"

He placed his hand on his chest. "That hurt, Grace."

I placed loose strands of hair behind my ear, "Just shut up, please."

"You're so mean." He pouted, faking a sob.

I drowned him out as I listened to the professor.

"You haven't had much sleep, have you?" I heard him speak again.

"No!" I groaned. "I'm so f*****g hungry!"

He gave me a small smile as he picked his backpack and placed it on his lap. He dug his hand into the bag and brought out a MacDonalds takeout bag.

"Here." He handed the bag to me.

The gesture made me smile inwardly. I had been such a b***h to him and he was offering me his food.

Okay, maybe I don't dislike him so much anymore.

I gave him a faint smile as I took the bag from him, "Thanks Kyle."

"Ayee! I made you smile!" He said like he just won a medal.

"No, food made me smile." I joked. I took out the medium sized burger from the bag and bit into it, trying not to make it obvious to the professor that I was eating in class, that's if he ever looked at me.

The burger was half finished so I said, "You want some?"

"Sure," He took it from me and bit into it.

He handed it back to me but I shrugged, "Nah, you can eat it all."

"Oouu, you're being nice to me." He smiled widely.

I drank from the water bottle and shook my head, "Creep."

The professor glared at us and Kyle gave him an apologetic smile. He made small talk with me throughout the rest of the class.

When the class was finally over, everyone stood and exited the big room.

I was walking out of the class and down the stairs with Kyle beside me.

"So, was that our first date or something?" He smirked.

"You're delusional." I shook my head.

"But we just did all the things people do on dates."

"No, we didn't."

"We had food and we talked, and got to know each other better."

"No, we didn't."

"Well, I guess that we can do that now, let's complete our date." He said as we both walked out of the building.

"Don't you have someone else to bother?" I said, stopping in my tracks to look at him.

"Actually, no. And I also don't have any other class until 3:00 PM." He stated.

"I don't have any other class at all. I just wanna go home." I mumbled.

"Walk with me, would you?" He said.

"Okay."

We both started walking.

"So, where are you from?" He asked me.

"LA, California." I answered. "You?"

He smiled, "New York."

"Feel home sick?" I asked him.

"A little." He shrugged. "Do you like dogs?"

"Holy s**t, yes! I love dogs." I said excitedly. "When I was little, my parents got me this cute little puppy. I named her Vixen, she was absolutely adorable. When she died I was so heartbroken, I wore black for a whole month--" I shook my head at myself, "--it just hurt a lot that she died, you know. I was just so in love with her."

"Yeah, I get it. I love dogs too." He said smiling. "I have a dog, his name's Soldier. Really furry and big and friendly. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I lose him."

"Well, you will eventually." I said bluntly.

"Get a filter for that pretty mouth, would you?" He chuckled.

"I'm just saying the truth." I shrugged.

"My mom and dad told me that Soldier won't die, that he'd be with me forever."

"That's just another one of the lies our parents fed to us when we were little. My parents told me Vixen won't die but she did anyway. But they also made me believe in the tooth fairy and made me write to Santa Claus for 14 freaking years."

He laughed, "I gave up on Santa when I was 6. But the tooth fairy, I'd actually be praying to lose a tooth so that I could make a couple bucks."

"Yeah, little did we know that our parents did that just to make us feel better." I said taking a left turn, Kyle beside me. "Or maybe they just wanted us to fall for the same tricks they fell for, then everyone's a fool, right? I'd definitely do that to my children."

"You wanna have kids?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, of course. I really love kids and the idea of having a family."

"Our little Graces and Kyles will be so blonde, blue eyed and pretty. And they'd love dogs of course and poetry." He chuckled. "We'd have like 100 dogs or something like that, anything you want."

I let out a soft laugh, "You're crazy." He opened his mouth to say something when I interrupted him, "and don't you dare say 'crazy for you' that's literally the dumbest s**t ever."

He shut his mouth.

"I don't get why girls find that line romantic, if anything, I find it really stupid." I expressed as we continued to walk.

"I like the way you say stupid." He smiled at me.

I glared at him.

I looked away from him and my eyes landed on Dean. He was on a phone call and had his eyebrows knitted together, he stood beside his smoking hot Ferrari.

I started walking toward him, "Kyle, I'm just gonna say hi to my friend real quick."

"Okay, sure." He said. "Don't miss me too much, I'm gonna be over there buying a smoothie."

I stuck my tongue out to him, "I can never miss you, gag."

I turned back to my front to see Dean looking at me, there was a frown etched on his face and he spoke straightly to the phone and then hung up, putting the phone down.

I was in front of him, not knowing where the sudden excitement to see him was coming from, "Hey you!"

He didn't say anything, he didn't acknowledge my presence, he didn't look at me...

...nothing.

I placed my hand on his arm, "Hey, Dean?"

He flinched away, "Just leave me alone, Grace!"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Why was he acting like this?

"Dean, what's wrong?" I asked, sincerely concerned.

Whoever was at the other end of that phone call must have definitely pissed him off. But that didn't give him the right to take his anger out on me.

When he didn't answer, I said again, "Dean?"

"Leave me alone, Grace!" He raised his voice. "Just leave me the f**k alone!"

I flinched lightly from the way he said my name. It had never sounded so bitter coming from his mouth and mostly he'd just call me Chip.

People had started to stare.

"Just go! Go!" He shouted.

"Okay, okay. I'll go!" I had my hands up in surrender, his current attitude irritating me.

I felt big hands snake my waist, "Hey kitty, let's just go." Kyle said softly to me.

"O-Okay." I breathed out.

Dean and Kyle glared at each other.

"Take a chill pill, man. Geez." Kyle said to Dean then looked softly down at me. "Come on, I'll drive you home."

"Sure, okay." I said as we both turned around and started walking to wherever his car was.

* * * *

"Thanks for the ride, creep." I said to him as I got down from the car.

"Yeah, just take care of yourself, okay?" He said, seriously.

"Yeah, sure okay." I waved as I walked up to my front door. I looked back to watch his car driving away. I stuck the key into the keyhole and opened the door.

I stepped into me and my best friend's home and kicked off my shoes, not really caring about arrangement. Not really caring about anything.

The whole ride I was thinking about Dean.

Currently, I was thinking about Dean.

Why had he acted like that? I was angry and at the same time concerned for him. I knew he had been going through some s**t recently as much as he tries to hide it but it wasn't right for him to take his anger out on me.

He looked so furious, unlike the Dean I know.

I hadn't realized that I had started to care for Dean in just the little time that we've known each other. I guess that was how I am, with friendships and family. I rarely let people close to me but when I do, it always means something and believe it or not, I was a very caring person.

I can't imagine the number of times I've cared and been there for Christian and vice versa.

I can't imagine my life without Christian, honestly.

Dean was slowly becoming as important to me and I didn't know what to do. I ran a hand through my hair frustratedly and shut the door. I stepped into the kitchen, walking to the refrigerator, opening it and taking out a bottle of water.

I opened the cap of the bottle and started drinking its content.

I heard the front door open, in a very creepy horror movie way.

Panic shot through me. I reached for the beef knife and held it firmly, walking slowly out of the kitchen. I was hearing footsteps, it was getting closer. As soon as I was fully out of the kitchen, I drew the knife backward, ready to strike when I saw Chris' panic stricken face.

"Holy s**t, G! What the f**k?!" He screamed. "Put that down! Put that f*****g down!"

I breathed in relief, throwing the knife to God knows where. "I thought you weren't gonna be home till 4!"

"Well I decided to skip the class, I was just so f*****g hungry and tired. And I was searching for you everywhere. But Dean told me a 'f****d up blondie' gave you a ride home."

"You spoke with Dean?" I asked.

"Yeah. He looked pretty sad, and pissed. He looked sissed."

"He went all apeshit on me today. He f*****g yelled at me, can you believe that?"

"Whoa." He said walking past me to the fridge.

"I know, right?" I turned to him. Then, I was greeted with a fine view of Chris' butt.

"So who's the f****d up blondie?" He asked me.

"A guy in my class, Kyle. And he is not exactlyfucked up." I frustratedly ran my palm down my face. "You know what? f**k it, I'm gonna go hit the showers."

"Okay."

* * * *

It was after 12:00 AM and I was wide awake, doing a school project. My fingers danced on the keyboard of my laptop as I sat on my bed, finishing up.

Then my ringtone went off. I picked my phone from my side to see who was calling.

Ice-cream Man.

I set my phone on silent and placed it back down on my side, letting it ring out. I continued my work but I got tempted to look at my phone again.

And I did.

He was still calling me. I hit decline.

Didn't I have a reason to be mad?

He called again.

I thought about it for a while, then I hit accept.

I didn't say anything.

"Chip? God, thank God you answered. Look, I really am so sorry about today. I was pissed a-and, I let my anger get the better of me. There's nothing I will say to you that will justify acting like a madman to you today but I just want you to know how sorry I am. Jesus, I felt guilty as s**t immediately you drove off with that guy. Please don't hate me, Chip."

I remained silent.

"Chip? Are you there?" I heard his voice again.

I bit my lip.

"Grace," he said softly. "Please say something."

I finally found my voice, "I don't hate you."

He sighed in relief.

"I don't hate you, Dean." I said again. "You don't hide your emotions very well, I can tell you're going through some s**t right now and it's taking a toll on you. And you don't have to tell me what it is if you don't want to, I understand that."

"Ch--"

"But that does not give you the damn right to yell at me the way you did, especially when you see I'm putting in effort to see what's up with you. I am not your stress absorber and shouting at me like that in front of so many people was completely out of line. You had no freaking right to." I finished.

"I get that, I really do." He sighed. "I am so sorry."

"It's okay. I was more worried than mad. I hope it's nothing extremely serious." I said, referring to whatever's been bothering him.

"Don't bother yourself about that, okay?" He said. But, he sounded troubled.

I just hoped that whatever's going on with him, he'd be able to get past it.

"So, I'm forgiven?" I heard him speak again.

"Yeah, you are." I said.

"Yay!" I felt him smile.

"Okay, then. Goodni--"

His voice cut me off;

"No Chip, please don't hang up." He said, almost desperately. "Just-Just talk to me."

The vulnerability laced in his tone was what made me say, "Okay. I'm here."

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