Rebellious

Chapter Four: Punishment Peaches

Chapter Four: Punishment Peaches

"Mia?"

I snapped out of my reverie when Dylan's voice reached my ears. I shook my head a bit and opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Closing my mouth I took a deep breath and tried to make sense of what was going on.

So Dylan worked at Derek's Desserts? That was mine and Blaire's favorite ice cream parlor, how could we have never seen him around before?

"Um..." was all my voice could utter. Words were stuck in my throat like the cork in a wine bottle. Clearing my throat, I opened my mouth once again to speak. "What, uh... What are you doing here, Dylan?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant and detached, but even I know I sounded stupid. I was supposed to be mad at him, not happy and excited like the Happy Elf.

God I hated that elf.

Dylan gave me a sheepish smile. "I work here," he said while laughing a bit. Yeah, I know I asked a stupid question, but what else was I supposed to say? You jackass, why'd you stand me up?

That's something Blaire would say, not me.

I rolled my eyes and breathed a laugh. "Psh, yeah, bet you're working pretty hard, especially with all these customers..." I said sarcastically, taking a glance around the empty cafe area purposefully.

He gave a mocking laugh before stopping abruptly, causing both Blaire and I to laugh at him. "Yeah, because this place is packed!" he yelled for exaggeration. Blaire and I laughed. We calmed down a bit and Dylan continued. "But, seriously," he said, looking down while running a hand through his dark hair, "I'm sorry about not being able to come to the beach with you today. When you didn't text me back earlier, I thought you were mad..."

Um... What?

I shook my head a bit and knit my eyebrows together. "You texted me? When?" I asked.

"About an a half an hour before we were supposed to meet. My boss called me last minute and said that Kale couldn't make it, so I had to fill in. I'm really sorry, maybe we--"

"So you didn't stand her up?" Blaire suddenly popped in. I jumped a bit, forgetting that she was there since she'd been so quiet. Her blue eyes were wide and full of confusion. Then again, she was always confused. That girl seriously needed to carry around a GPS and dictionary at all times.

Dylan immediately shook his head. "No way, I would never do that. Honestly, if I didn't want to come I would've said so or made an excuse," he laughed. His dark brown eyes connected with mine and his smile was replaced with a frown. "Wait, did you think I stood you up?"

A hot blush grazed my cheeks as I felt embarrassed. I broke eye contact and looked down at my feet awkwardly. "Well... Yeah, kinda," I laughed nervously before looking back at Dylan. "Blaire and I had left, like, an hour before we were supposed to meet and I didn't have my phone on me," I explained. Dylan's expression was so apologetic and guilty, it was heartbreaking to be honest. He was like a puppy who'd done something wrong and thought you were mad at it.

If Dylan was a puppy, I'd be the first in line to adopt; I'd never be mad at him.

"Oh, God..." Dylan sighed while rubbing his hands across his face. Blaire and I glanced at each other with the same 'aw' expression. After a minute, we looked back at him to see his guilt struck face. "Mia, Blaire, I am so, so sorry. I would've--"

"It's okay!" I interrupted with a short laugh, trying to lighten the atmosphere a bit. "We still had an okay time. Blaire made a new... 'friend,'" I smirked, putting air quotes around the word 'friend.'