Chapter Text
‘Aaand we are five minutes early’
‘Which means, five more minutes of peace before I have to be force fed bunch of lame boy band tracks in full volume’
‘Ryan,-‘
‘In fact, it’ll be so full volume, that the speakers won’t even have the suitable settings to play One Direction that loudly’
‘That doesn’t even make sense,’ Dylan ignored the rhetorical tone in Ryan’s complaint, ‘And besides, what’s wrong with One Direction?’ he asked, almost offended, humming ‘you and I’ as Ryan pressed the doorbell, letting him win the argument.
Kaitlyn was the one to answer the door. She looked very… concentrated and cautious, yet her face mischievously lit up when she spotted Ryan, rushing the boys in and giving instructions on where to seek for the drinks, how to find anyone they were actually familiar with in the crowd of rave and insanity and that most bedrooms were already very occupied. Ryan wondered why she had to add in that detail, but he shrugged it off as her being her.
They saw Emma drunkenly singing happy birthday for herself on the table nearby, surrounded with Abi, Jacob and a few unfamiliar faces. She spotted the two, awkwardly whistling and giving them an energetic wave before breaking out in her song again, her party hat slipping off and her butt nearly ending up in the cake behind her, which thankfully, Abi whisked away.
Dylan gave Ryan a heads-up he’d go say hi to Emma and properly congratulate her. His own plan was to give her time to settle down and come down from not only her adrenaline high, but also the table. He turned around to get to some of their mutual friends for a drink or two, but it only took a step forward for his arm to be violently pulled to the right. In the dim room full of annoyingly flashy neon lights, Ryan managed to barely make out it was Kaitlyn kidnapping him somewhere.
‘Nice to see you too, damn’ Ryan looked around confusedly, following the girl behind. Once Kaitlyn was sure everyone was too busy making out with their other half to eavesdrop, she began explaining.
‘I never thought that three shots of Vodka would be more than enough to get me to somehow agree on the stupidest bet in my hazy, drunken state, but apparently I was particularly vulnerable and extremely bored this evening.’ A bit disappointed in what she was about to say, Kaitlyn rubbed her face with both of her palms, exhaling. ‘Not sure what kind of a conversation one must go into during a casual chit-chat with literal acquaintances to be this down bad, but I agreed on a bet.’
Ryan’s heart sank. He knew Kaitlyn was a level-headed, smart woman. This was the person who had single-handedly carried their horror-adventure at the camp to keep everyone safe when needed, - hit all the targets with the shotgun she knew how to use, avoided making stupidly emotional decisions and actually gathered everyone at a relatively safe shelter at some point. So if Kaitlyn were to fuck up, it would be ultra rare, and ultra bad.
‘Is money involved? We can figure something out, just don’t do something reputation-shattering for your own pride, it’s just a bet,’ Ryan began, already trying to convince her to find ways around the bet.
‘Listen for a minute, before you start trying to bail me out of jail, dumbass’ Kaitlyn scoffed. ‘The bet was about who could find a partner the quickest. I obviously said myself, most of them agreed, what a shocker, and now I have to pull a boyfriend out of my ass.’ Kaitlyn paused, definitely hoping Ryan would have the rest figured out.
‘…Yeeeeaaahhh, no’
‘Ryan, come on!’
‘And here I was ready to fight a gang of furious Emma’s friends because of this. I’m afraid to inform you that you have to solve the problem the ego-maniac inside of you caused yourself’ Ryan exclaimed, putting out the fire in Kaitlyn’s hopeful gaze immediately.
‘Boooo. Fake friend.’ She rolled her eyes, generating a plan B.
‘Ask Jacob. Pretty sure he’d be more than delighted to play house.’ He chuckled. Kaitlyn poked her tongue out at him, which only made him laugh harder. ‘Let me know how that goes. I should find Dylan’ he pointed to his back with his thumb, throwing her a salute as Kaitlyn vanished to find her next victim.
Dylan had found himself in a rather scandalous situation meanwhile. A guy that had randomly decided to leave him his number at the café he was a casual guest at was also at the party, claiming he was a course mate of Emma’s. That Dylan believed, but the clearly flirtatious intentions were doing hell of a good job throwing him off his radar. The guy was rather conventionally attractive: a blondie with a bright smile and a muscular build; could crack a joke or two here and there and communicated with awful pick-up lines.
He’d definitely noticed the guy from afar, recognizing him as the cute barista he hadn’t gotten a chance to properly talk to outside of his usual coffee order, so fixing him a drink, he waved at him the minute they glanced at each other and handed him a poorly made cocktail when Dylan approached to say hi. He was anything but a rude man though, so he appreciated the gesture. They got talking, and within the first few minutes, Dylan had his fourth drink and the guy’s name.
‘But like, define commitment,’ the guy asked after Dylan accidentally overshared his situationship with Ryan, trying to think of every possible descriptive adjectives to avoid saying his name; ‘Did you consider the thought that you might have asked for something he wasn’t ready for?’
Dylan sighed, hardly believing the guy that was supposed to have a crush on him was slowly but surely transforming into a relationship guru. ‘He seemed.. interested in me. The switch in him was so sudden and there was such lack of closure that I just felt played. And I don’t like being played. Usually I’m the heartbreaker, you know. Or used to be. In middle school.’ He remembered, words just slightly slurred. The guy who’s name turned out to be Kyle gave him a pitying look.
‘What? I could charm the pants off anyone.’ Dylan announced with full confidence.
‘I believe you, really, I do man’ Kyle threw his hands up in the air, taking a sip from his drink as he scrunched up his nose. ‘This tastes like balls’
‘Leave the drink making to the professionals’ Dylan spit the sip he had taken back into the glass, getting behind a bar.
‘So, what are you planning to do?’ Kyle asked, clearly expecting Dylan to reply with something groundbreakingly exciting.
‘There’s something I don’t like the way you’re saying that’ Dylan squinted his eyes, somehow avoiding a massive tipsy accident all over his shirt as he miraculously caught a glass full of tequila. ‘It’s like you’re about to tell me to be more bold and adventurous’
‘You should be more bold and adventurous’ Kyle confirmed with a proud smile. Dylan put the glass down, looking at him as if he had heard the dumbest take of his existence, shaking his head.
‘The last time one of us tried to give a failed relationship a second chance, it got every Hackett counsellor look right into the eyes of death, so no thank you’ Dylan rejected the offer.
‘If this Is about that Jacob guy you mentioned earlier, I’m pretty sure he was just desperate for a girl that didn’t like him back, so he obliterated a car to spend one more night in the great wild. You’ve just been crushing on a guy that… you know, needs a little push and a fuck load of reassurance to snap out of his,’ Kyle waved his hands around, looking for the right words, ‘terror of hurting you in the process.’
‘I don’t know, Kyle. Having a conversation about this in the first place is weird. Didn’t we start off with you giving me a flirty note with your number on it?’
‘You can use it to update me on when and how you sweep that dude off his feet and finally share a piece of your heaven’
‘That sounds awfully inappropriate for someone who’s only shared his first kiss with a dude.’
‘what? This was your first?’
‘I’m referring to uh. The rejector’
‘Then it makes even more sense, why he’d act like a deer in headlights the minute he was exposed to something serious. Here, let’s reenact your confession,’ Kyle took his hand as the music conveniently got louder, him now having to yell the words near Dylan’s ears as the operation began.
Being completely honest to himself, the main reason why Ryan refused Kaitlyn’s request was because of a potential conversation that kept him awake at most nights, that had to be done with Dylan, no questions asked. Whether it was an apology, an explanation or an offer to finally try something, it’s all he could think about. He had planned the ways their talk could go and made up at least twenty different scenarios, knowing that the actual dialogue would probably flow completely differently.
Muttering the conversation-starter to himself, Dylan went into the enormous living room where they had the bars set up, hoping he’d spot Dylan. And spot him, he did. The boy had both of his hands interlocked with some blondie, dancing with him, way too close, way too rhythmic, way too much like the mysterious prince-looking stranger had become his new distraction. Something Ryan probably should have expected, when it hit him like a flying truck. Dylan was swayed closer to the man as his face was buried somewhere in his neck, or at least that’s what Dylan saw, feeling his insides melt, then freeze, then set on raging fire.
Fuck.
‘Can you hear me now?!’ Kyle screamed in Dylan’s ear, holding onto his shoulders as Dylan nodded, laughing, ‘alright, so the next thing you do is make it clear who’s the boss. Pat his back, grab his waist, or settle with a feather touch on his arm. SOME PEOPLE ARE INTO THAT. FEATHER TOUCHES. I THINK IT’S A KINK,-‘
Ryan felt his legs rapidly escaping from the scene before Dylan could notice the boy. He didn’t exactly know where he was headed at first; He wasn’t thinking, letting the hurt and the disappointment sink in. What let him down exactly, - he didn’t understand. It was his decision to end things between them, his decision to ‘play it safe’, so what exactly made him so angry at Dylan? It was unfair, unfair to no one but the guy he was supposed to fancy.
Wrapped up in the mess of the thoughts, Ryan didn’t even realize how within minutes, he was back to Kaitlyn and her little group of friends. A bit dazed from being impossibly overstimulated by the atmosphere, Ryan looked around to meet Kaitlyn’s confused glance, rightfully puzzled at Ryan’s frantic walk to the sofa she was sat on. His cheeks were flushed, breath quickened, eyes dark with something even Ryan couldn’t figure out. Jealously? Unjustified jealousy?
‘Can we talk?’ Ryan cut it short, Kaitlyn sensed the tension and immediately walked over to him.
‘Just so we’re clear, no, I’m not helping you out. Karma’s a bitch’ Kaitlyn joked to lighten the mood.
‘I’m here TO help actually,’ Ryan scratched the back of his neck, puffing out his cheeks and reconsidering his decision for the very last time. ‘Yeah, uh, I might take up that offer of yours after all’
‘You got your heart broken, didn’t you’ judgmentally placing both of her hands onto her hips, Kaitlyn somehow managed to read right through him. Ryan just wanted a meteor to hear him out and magically fall on top of his head. Thinking of every possible way of avoiding the upcoming unpleasant conversation. ‘You wanna do this or are you trying to give me just enough time to rethink and refuse?’
‘Alright, alright. Wrong timing I guess. But deal’s a deal, just don’t you dare tell anyone about this. ANYONE’ she poked him in the chest with her pointer finger, ‘especially Dylan, I love the guy, but I just know he’s going to completely unintentionally, run his mouth and tell someone about this.’
Ryan fought the regret crawling its way inside. ‘And do you know how all of this is going to… y’know, end?’
‘I accidentally fall in love with you in the process, confess my feelings in midst of tears, we hug, kiss, maybe French a little and then the fake dating turns into a magical love story’ Kaitlyn paused, looking at bewildered Ryan, who was gaping at her before Kaitlyn burst into a chuckle. ‘No. I’m not close to either of them, so they’re simply not going to find out about this, like ever.’ Ryan nodded, letting out a small sign of relief.
‘Our iconic love story begins tomorrow’ Kaitlyn informed, ‘I’ll let you know the deets when I know ‘em.’
‘You’re the boss’ Ryan shrugged, eventually walking back to let her mix back in with her newfound squad. Digging his palms into his pockets, Ryan headed off for the exit, coming across the exact person he was looking around to carefully avoid.
‘Since when are we sneaking out of parties uninformed? Maybe your friend drunk out of his mind requires assistance?
Friend.
‘Yeah. You seemed totally fine with that dude’
‘huh?’ Dylan’s face changed from playful-drunk to confused-drunk.
‘Didn’t think you’d try snogging the first guest you’d come across here. Unless that’s a friend I don’t know about?’ Ryan muttered through gritted teeth.
‘What’s wrong with you, man?’ Dylan got even more confused, and the intoxication definitely wasn’t helping.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow. Try not to end up at the hospital with alcohol poisoning’ Ryan warned.
‘Party pooper’ Dylan complained, taken aback by his sudden cold demeanour.
Ryan left without an answer. Dylan assumed this was one of his strange mood swings, letting it go for that night. Ryan usually preferred being left alone on days like these.