Status: Active

Dan Western Stole My Girlfriend

Chapter 14

I was woken up by the words "Oh my God, what the fuck Avery?" being yelled into my ear as Dan pushed me away from him, resulting in my face and body being very quickly acquainted with my hard, wooden floor. I groaned in pain. I had landed awkwardly; my knees would definitely be bruised and my nose and forehead hurt.

After a few moments deciding whether I was okay or not, I picked myself up off the floor and glared at Dan, who had stood up from the bed and was mirroring my facial expression. He was also rubbing his injured shoulder, which made sense as he’d slept on it the night before.

"What the fuck?" he asked – demanded – again.

"You fell asleep in my bed! I wasn’t going to sleep on the floor or the couch, so what was I supposed to do?"

"You should have just woken me up instead of sleeping with me!"

I let out a brief, but slightly hysterical laugh. "I tried, Dan. You just ignored me!"

"You should have tried harder. I wouldn't have fallen asleep if I'd known you'd try and get into bed with me. For fuck's sake, I'm not like you! Okay? I'm not a f– "
He cut himself off, knowing exactly when he'd gone too far, but I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.

"Not a what?" I asked fiercely, my hands rolling themselves into fists.

"Nothing," he mumbled, looking down at the floor. He looked ashamed. Good.

"No. Say it. Say what you were going to say."

"N-no I... Avery, I'm sorry, I didn't mean – "

"Yes, you did. You know what, Dan? I actually thought you were gonna be mature about this and maybe even accept me, but I guess I was wrong. Did you think I was going to try and touch you while you slept or something? Did you think it was like that bullshit notion that every guy who isn't straight automatically wants to fuck every man they come in contact with? This is exactly the reason I didn’t want anyone to know, especially homophobes like you," I ranted. My eyes had filled with water while I was speaking and now angry tears were flowing down my face.

"I'm not homophobic," Dan said quietly but forcefully.

"Oh, no? Okay, what are you then? Homo-intolerant? I'm not an idiot. I know what word you were going to call me, Dan. And for someone so good at English, that was the most unimaginative word you could have possibly used, so congratulations."

"Avery, please... I just... I'm sorry, okay? I was surprised and I got caught up in the heat of the moment. I would never call you that otherwise," Dan said, his eyes pleading with me to understand. I almost gave in. Almost. He kept going; "Please believe me when I say that I'm sorry. I don’t think you're a... that word."

I considered Dan for a long moment. He did look truly sorry and honestly, ashamed, which is a first. He would have had to have been a brilliant actor to pull off the emotions he was conveying as he stood in front of me, silently begging me to accept his apology. I believed that he was sorry but that didn’t change what he was going to call me, even considering the fact that he stopped himself before he actually said it.

I didn’t know whether I could accept his apology just yet, so I did the thing I'm very good at doing in awkward situations. I changed the subject.

"We need to get ready for school," I said bluntly. I walked over to my wardrobe and opened it, looking for a new uniform, since I'd slept in mine the night before.

"What?" My response must have shocked him.

"You heard me. It's past 8 o'clock." I pulled a shirt off its hanger and slung it over my arm before turning to my dresser to look for some pants and underwear.

"But, Ave – um, Avery, shouldn’t we, I dunno, resolve this?"

"What do you want me to say, Dan? You apologised. Great," I said.

"I know, but do you accept it?"

"I don’t know," I told him honestly. "Your reaction this morning cemented why I never wanted to come out. What if my friends react like that? What if they think that using that word is acceptable? I don’t think I could handle that."

"I don’t think they would."

"You don't know that."

I didn’t let him reply as I walked out of my room and locked myself in the bathroom so I could change my clothes. I spent much longer in there than necessary, thinking over the events of that morning and the night before.

I had actually felt like last night had been some sort of turning point in mine and Dan’s relationship. Maybe it wasn’t going to make us automatic best friends, but I thought that maybe we would at least be able to tolerate each other when we saw each other at school and when our families got together for one thing or another. We were certainly playing the X-Box last night like we were actual friends; joking around and teasing each other when one of us beat the other.

And then there was the cuddling situation when I finally made up my mind to sleep in my own bed next to Dan. I made sure there was distance between us when I laid down. Dan was the one that had slung his arm over me. He was the one that held me closer when I tried to pull away. Granted, he was fast asleep, but it’s hardly my fault that he’s stronger than me and I couldn’t get away.
Obviously, I could have tried harder. I know that. I would never admit it to Dan but I didn’t want to escape his grip, especially after his mumbled “Avery, don’t leave me”. I wondered if he would remember saying that and I very briefly considered mentioning it to him when I finally emerged from the bathroom just to see his reaction. However, that plan went out the window when I came back into my bedroom and found Dan sitting on the edge of my bed with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

I cleared my throat so that he would know I was there and his head immediately snapped up. I frowned, noticing that his eyes were rimmed with redness, as if he had been crying.

“Are you okay?” I asked cautiously.

Dan cleared his throat and sniffed once. “What? Yeah, I’m fine, why?”

“You look like you’re, you know…” I gestured to his face with my hand, “…crying.”

“Oh, nah, I’m not. It’s just… allergies, you know? I had an attack. I’m fine.”

It seemed that Dan had briefly forgotten that I’ve known him for almost his whole life because I knew for a fact that he does not have allergies that cause red, watery eyes and I would have been very surprised if he somehow managed to have an allergic reaction to prawns while sitting in my bedroom. Plus, he’d be dead. But, it was clear that whatever he was crying about, he didn’t want to talk about it, so I let it go.

“Right… Well, come and get some breakfast,” I said, turning and walking out of my bedroom and heading down the stairs to the kitchen. I heard Dan get up and follow me shortly after.

My siblings and parents were already seated at the table with food in front of them, and they all turned to look at me and Dan when we arrived to join them. Willow choked slightly on her food when she saw Dan and started coughing to clear her lungs. Jamie raised his eyebrows at me as his eyes flicked between me and Dan. My parents smiled and Mum got up to put some extra slices of bread in the toaster.

“Good morning,” Dad said, breaking the ice. “Toast, guys?”

“Yes please, Brad,” Dan said immediately.

“Avery?”

“No, thanks. I’ll just have coffee. I’m not hungry,” I replied. I walked over to the counter where the machine sat and set about making myself a large, strong coffee. While the machine was doing its thing, I got out my anti-anxiety medicine and took it as normal, completely forgetting for a moment that Dan was there, and watching me intently.

“What’s that for?” he asked curiously.

“I told you the other day. Anxiety,” I said, and he replied with a nod, remembering our conversation.

Breakfast came and went and soon Dan and I were on our way to school in his car. I half expected him to kick me out when we were getting close so that nobody knew he’d taken me, but he surprised me and took me all the way there.

After he parked, I thanked Dan quickly and went to open the car door.

“Hold on,” he said. I waited for him to continue speaking. “Just… thanks for last night. For letting me stay. And I am really sorry about this morning.”

I sighed. “I know. Thanks for apologising. And thanks again for the lift.”

With that, I got out of the car and made my way into the school. I tried to act normal when I met up with my friends, but my mind was whirling. There was definitely something about Dan that he wasn’t telling me, or anyone for that matter. I knew from how ashamed he was when he almost spoke that derogatory word to me. From how I caught him crying in my room. He was desperately trying to hide something but the cracks were forming. I could see them. I wished I could just get a glimpse into his mind so I could figure out what he’s hiding, that way maybe I could help him.

~

The next few school days went by quickly. Dan and I barely spoke two words to each other while we were in detention. It was like we were both trying to avoid each other and I was fine with that.

Dan’s bruises started to heal and by the time Friday, the last day of detention and term, came around, his arm was out of its sling and seemed to be functioning normally again.

Our final detention consisted of cleaning the whiteboards. Mr Ferguson was kind to us this time and allowed us to choose separate rooms to clean so that we were able to get the job done quickly and we could go and start our school holidays along with everyone else.

Once we were finally dismissed, Dan and I walked out of the school and into the carpark together.
Neither of us spoke, but it didn’t seem to bother either of us. Jamie was waiting in the carpark for me in the fixed Corolla and I was quick to head over to him. I hesitated when I got to the car and turned my head to notice that Dan was still in earshot.

“Have a good holiday,” I called to him. He looked up at me and showed me a brief but genuine smile which made my heart skip uncomfortably.

“Thanks, Avery. You too.”

Then he waved and got into his car while I got in the passenger seat beside Jamie, who already had the engine running.

“You ready for a break, Ave?” Jamie asked me as I fastened my seatbelt.

“More than I’ve ever been ready for anything,” I replied, closing my eyes and leaning my head back on the headrest.

I silently prayed to whatever God was listening that I when I came back to school in two weeks’ time, it wouldn’t be to another term like the one I had just finished. What I really needed was the rest of the school year to be drama-free and easy-going. Was that too much to ask?
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I didn't realise how long it had been since I updated last. My apologies for that, but I hope you like this chapter.

Thank you so much for reading, and thank you to those who are subscribed, and who have recommended and especially to Sarcastically Blunt for commenting on the last chapter :)