˗ˏˋOur Differences Sequelˊˎ˗

-33-

One day with Dylan in California felt like an eternity. He had already attended all of my college lectures as well as my workplace, and he somehow managed to develop a personal relationship with each of my coworkers only by knowing them for a few hours. Obviously, him and Trent clicked almost instantly. They're both idiots.

I sat on my bed with my back against the brick dorm wall, while Dylan laid on the floor with his laptop resting on his stomach.

"So, do you want to do anything today?" I asked curiously, since it was Saturday and neither of us had any plans and have been sitting here for nearly 4 hours now doing nothing.

He looked up and then started laughing.
"I was wondering if you'd ever ask, Madison. It's 5 PM and we haven't eaten or said a word the entire day."

"Well, that's college for you." I replied casually.
"When I have a day off, I do nothing."

He sat up and shut his laptop before setting it to the side.
"On a scale of 1-10, how badly do you miss Devin right now?"

I made a weird face at his random question.
"He's been gone for like 2 days... I don't miss him at all."

I hated the smug look on his face. And I hated that he knew shit that he didn't need to know. It genuinely made me want to die.

"You're so pathetic for waiting this long. He's been waiting for you to make a move for years."

I wanted to punch him.
"Dylan, stay out of it. You're like 80% of the reason we haven't dated."

I didn't want him to forget about his meltdown 3 years ago when Devin and I kissed in the hospital while Alexis was giving birth. The drama of that was so uneccesary and stupid. He's to blame for all of the tension between him and Devin. And the tension between me and Devin.

"It was weird as hell for me, Maddie. You have to understand that. It was horrible to watch my douchey best friend go after my little sister. And you were so young at the time — god. You were too young."

"He wasn't taking advantage of me." I reminded him.
"Devin would never do that. Ever."

Dylan nodded at my statement.
"He wouldn't. But... you know, he's Devin. The guy can't commit to anything. You saw how fast he broke up with Lauren. And then Jennifer."

"Jessica." I corrected him.

"Yeah, whatever. My point is - he has a history. And most of it's not that great." he explained, letting out a few sighs here and there dramatically.
"I just want you to be aware of that before jumping into sex with him and whatnot. It's not always worth it if you know there's a chance you could end up getting hurt."

I smiled at him.

Instead of smiling back, he gave me an uncomfortable glare.
"The fuck are you grinning about?"

"You're a really good brother, Dylan."

He started laughing. Really hard. For a solid minute.

I watched in amusement, but also confusion.

"Remember when I tried to drown you when you were like 6?" he snickered.

I scoffed while joining him in laughter.
"Yeah, what the fuck was wrong with you?"

"I hated you." he added, laughing harder than he was before.

I shook my head at his stupidity.
"You still do."

Dylan was so concerningly bothered by my existence through our entire childhood. Forming a relationship with him this far into our lives was easier than I thought it would be, though. I guess we have more shit to laugh about than most siblings with a normal relationship do.