Chapter Text
“Great question. Beau, who is that guy?” she asked, panicked.
The last thing Allie expected was for Dean to confess his feelings for her. She couldn’t lie to herself that she wasn’t having the same feelings towards him and that terrified her. Maybe that was the reason she proposed the whole “assignment” thing. She was terrified of admitting that, mostly because she never imagined Mr. self-proclaimed “six-flags” would ever feel anything more about her.
She instantly regretted it when she got that phone call the previous night. She assumed that was him alerting her that he had completed his part. She wasn’t surprised by the intense amount of jealousy she felt, but this had to be casual. She could not be the girl who jumps from relationship to relationship. Especially not into one with him. Again, she never in her wildest dreams imagined Dean was in this for anything more than a good time.
Of course, now, she is realizing that her response to her jealousy – jumping into bed with a mysteriously ripped stranger she met at a bar – may not have been her best decision.
“That is Hunter Davenport”, Beau responded, with a clear level of concern in his tone.
She didn’t know who Hunter Davenport was, but she knew this was bad. Out of everyone she could have possibly slept with, of course she slept someone Dean seemed to have history with. Bad history. She watched the fight. Logan was holding Hunter back, and Garrett and Logan were struggling to keep Dean away from him.
“And that is our new starting line…” Jules commented, watching through their phone screen.
Fuck. Allie knew this was only going to end badly.
She was frozen, watching as the fight stirred. Part of her felt guilty, like she should do something to stop this.
“Let me get the fuck out of here!” Dean yelled, pushing his way past the guys. He stopped and looked back at Hunter, “You know what you did, and you better stay the fuck away from me or I will beat the living shit out of you.”
As he stormed out the door, Hunter yelled after him, “Just as dramatic as your fucking sister…”
You could see it click in everybody’s eyes. There was nothing Dean wouldn’t do to protect his little sister, and Hunter obviously did something bad. Garrett, Logan, and Tucker immediately ran after Dean.
“Hannah, Allie, let me give you a ride…” Beau offered. Allie was confused. Why wasn’t Beau running after him? “The guys can handle Dean, but they would kill me if I didn’t make sure their girls got home safe.”
Allie was still in shock. She knew this was only the start of something, and she had no idea what could possibly happen next. She wanted to run after him, to tell him that she meant what she said, that Hunter meant nothing. She needed him to know that she cared about him, that she, fuck, she didn’t just care about him. She wasn’t sure she was ready to admit that though. So instead, she took a short, deep breath. Beau knew Dean best, and if this is what he thought was best, she figured she better just follow along.
As they walked out of Malone’s, Beau grabbed her shoulders as they walked past Hunter. After the fight ended, instead of running as far away as physically possible and hiding (as Allie would have done), Hunter had decided to grab a drink. She saw him notice her. She saw him notice Beau, his hand placement, and immediately redirect his eyes to his drink. He may not have known why, but he knew approaching her was not an option.
Allie grabbed Hannah’s hand as they walked down the street to Beau’s car. She was trying to act like she didn’t know exactly which car was his, to keep up the act that she hadn’t gone on an 8-hour road trip with Dean and his best friend in the same vehicle. Hannah and Garrett had just gotten back together, and now they were already dealing with the aftermath of Dean and Hunter’s fight. She didn’t need Hannah to also find out about her and Dean. Hannah was incredible, and she deserved to have her fairytale. Allie knew she could sometimes steal the spotlight. She never tried to, but sometimes being the loud, passionate, actress she was, she sometimes just naturally did, and she didn’t want that to happen here.
As they approached his blue Bronco, she saw him. Dean. He was arguing with Garrett and the guys. They were trying to get him to get into Garrett’s car, and for some reason, Dean was seemingly trying to go back to Malone’s.
“I need to talk to her,” he said, “I need to tell her…”, he stopped. He saw her. They looked into each other’s eyes, and it was like they both could finally breath again. They guys must have realized he calmed down, because they allowed him to slowly walk up to her. “Allie-Cat” he whispered under his breath, just loud enough for only Allie to hear, mostly because she was listening for it. She slightly smiled and it was like they both knew everything the other wanted to say. Everyone was staring at them, confused, except for Beau who obviously knew that they were both trying their hardest not to jump into each other’s arms. They knew they were being watched, and for a second it didn’t matter.
Dean took a deep breath and switched his attention to Hannah. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized, “I never meant to distract from your big night. We were supposed to be celebrating you. I shouldn’t have…” he paused, “Hunter hurt my sister, bad. He…” He didn’t know the words to say. He told his little sister he would never tell anyone what that terrible man did, but now, in this position, he felt like his actions needed a justification.
Hannah interrupted, “To get that reaction from you, he must have deserved it. I can’t really be mad when Garrett did the same thing for me.”
Dean immediately looked back at Garrett. So did the other guys. They were so mad at Garrett for picking a fight with Delaney, for ruining their season, for fucking everything up… and suddenly everything made sense. He did it for his girl. Logan placed his hand on Garrett’s shoulder, and it was like a mutual understanding that all was forgiven.
“Dean,” Allie mustered up the courage to say out loud, “are you okay?” The bruise on his face lit up in the streetlights. She instinctively reached up towards his cheek, wanting so badly to hold him, to make everything better, to tell him.
Dean nodded slowly, “I –,” she paused, overthinking the words she wanted to say. “I was worried about you.”
Dean looked at her with guilt in his eyes. He knew what she was saying, she cared about him. She wanted him to know that. He never wanted to worry her.
He grabbed her hand, that was still hovering over his bruised cheek. “I’m okay baby…” the words slipped out of his mouth. He didn’t need to break eye contact with her to know the shocked looks on everyone’s faces, including Allie’s. He had never called her baby. He had never called anyone that. He used to make fun of people in relationships who would use what he thought were gross pet names. Over his time hanging out with Allie, though, it all seemed to make sense. She looked at him, and he understood every rom com, every cliché, everything. She made him want to grab a boombox and stand outside her window. To declare his love for her in a dramatic public way. Fuck, he didn’t even understand himself how in love with her he was.
Luckily Beau had their backs, as always, “Dean, are you sure you’re not concussed? That’s Allie, not me.” he stated, allowing Dean a second to back-pedal publicly some of the love was trying to not let escape. Dean let out a little laugh before, dropping Allie’s hand slowly and passionately kissing the cheek of his dear friend. It was enough of a charade to distract the others from his previous comment.
Dean wished he could just openly be with Allie, but he also wanted more than anything to respect her wishes to keep things quiet. That was probably better anyways for now.
The group stood in silence for a second, all taking the time to recap what the heck happened. Dean kept his eyes, subtlety on Allie, watching her every little movement. He could tell Allie was doing the same thing. There was so much unsaid that they were both so desperate to let each other know.
Garrett ended up driving the girls back to their dorm, while Beau drove the rest of the guys back to their house. Allie and Dean remained their subtle eye contact until their cars headed in opposite directions.