Right There || Dylan O'Brien

chapter thirteen; sale

"Was it alright?" Clara leaned against the door frame, gazing at Dylan who was standing in front of her. She wanted to know how he felt about meeting them, even when there were a lot of awkward silences and not to forget the odd questions. He literally answered everything. For example when Chris wanted to know his part of the story, Dylan told him how beautiful he had Clara back then at Ikea and wanted to talk to her.

Of course it was confusing her a lot; he did like her, or didn't he? By what he told it seemed like he did, but did he still do. No, it couldn't. They weren't acting like normal friends would. She wasn't holding Chris' hand, for example, or moving his hair out of his face like Dylan was doing right now with her. It had to be more than just friendship.

"It was better than I thought it would be," he nodded, continuing to caress her cheek with his warm hand. He kissed her forehead, "only if you wouldn't worry so much. The only thing that kind of freaked him out was why you didn't tell him I was an actor."

"How do you know I'm worrying?"

"By your voice," was the only thing he said as he took a step back. "I hope you have fun with Hayley tomorrow. Remember I have to start going to work on Monday, okay? I'll call you."

She was still very confused when she closed the front door after her. Now it wasn't only about if he liked or not, but what changed in her voice when she was worried. She had to pay more attention. She saw Chris and Sandra sitting on the couch, when she started walking back to the living room. "And what do you say?"

"He seems like a good guy," Chris sent her a wink as he smiled, gesturing to the smaller couch for her to sit on. "But it doesn't matter what I think about him. It's your man, not mine. It's been a week since you've met him, from 1 to 10 how much do you like him?"

"8."

"Why an 8 and not a 10?"

"Because I don't know him that well," she giggled awkwardly, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know. Like you said, I've known him for a week. I don't know what is normal if you've known a guy for a week. It's a week. That's short."

"Not if you hang out almost every day," Sandra joined in the conversation, shaking her head at her little sister. "Dude, don't tell me you don't want to be around him all the time. I know you do."

"That's why I need to slow it down-..."

"No, don't you dare." Her sister obviously knew what was going on. Their relationship was growing closer, getting more emotional and Sandra didn't want Clara to push the guy away. He seemed to care a lot for her, she deserved someone like him. "School is fine, your friendship with Hayley is perfect. Everything's perfect and I don't want you to screw this up."

"Don't put pressure on her," Chris defended the blonde, shaking her head at his girlfriend. "If she isn't ready yet and she wants to slow it down a bit, it's totally fine." Then he turned to her, "But please don't push him away before you even talked to him what you're anxious about."

"I'm not going to talk to him about it," her eyes grew wide, running a hand through her hair. "I'm going to be fine, don't worry about me. I'll figure out what to do."

"Just because you're social anxious and have difficulties with getting close to people doesn't mean you're a crazy person." His Australian accent was well heard in that sentence, but it wasn't the only thing she smiled about. He had to be right. If something was on her mind she had to talk about it with him, if he couldn't handle it, he didn't deserve her. "Make sure to tell him how you feel about him. I'm sure he feels the same."

"Why are you perfect?" murmured Sandra against his skin, kissing his cheek with a dreamy smile on her face. "Who are you? A love doctor?"

"Whoever you want me to be," he kissed her lips, cupping her cheek with his big hand. Clara let them have their time, putting on her shoes before grabbing her bag from the ground. When she was about to leave, she heard Chris calling her name. "Clara, make sure, if you meet one of my favorite bands, you tell me, okay?"

She laughed and closed the front door behind her. 

 ---

"Oh, look at that!" Hayley smiled widely, pointing at a mannequin in a store wearing clothes. It was the black dress she wanted her friend to see, but she wasn't sure if she would actually try it on. Just like her, she didn't like wearing dresses. "If you go on a date with Dylan, you could wear it."

"It's pretty, but pretty isn't enough to make me wear it." She continued to walk through the clothing racks until something caught her eye. Sale.

She walked to the racks in excitement, looking through the clothes to check if there was anything worth trying on. She liked shopping, searching for new clothes, but trying them on was what she totally didn't.

"Oh, you like the color blue, right?" Hayley grasped a dark blue dress that wasn't too expensive, and showed it to her. "I find this really nice. It matches your eyes."

Clara took it from her, looking at in awe. The dress was absolutely gorgeous; it wasn't just blue, it was a floral dress, something she absolutely adored. "Let me try it on."

"Yay!" The girls walked to dressing rooms, Clara walking into one to change. A minute later when she saw herself in the mirror, all excitement was gone. The dress looked terrible on her, it just wasn't meant for her. Way too colorful.

She changed back into her own clothes, hang the dress back and they went to another store. "Let's go to H&M or Forever21. In some way those are the stores I always succeed."

There was a silence when they walked into Forever21, of course the brunette broke it instantly. She was a little stressed, Clara noticed but she assumed and hoped it would be over soon. "How is everything going between Dylan and you?"

"Fine and please, let's not talk about him for once. This is a girl's day."

"Fine?" while talking, she noticed another dress hanging in the racks and showed it to her best friend. She just shook her head. "How can everything be fine when you're afraid to fall in love? You told me on the phone Monday. I was actually worried about you, I don't think you realize I do."

"That is the reason you're all busy in your head?"

"One of the reasons, yes," she hissed, not interested in somebody else hearing their conversation. Some people tend to that because of boredom, including Clara. "I want you to be happy, I want him to take care of you when-..."

She had stopped herself before she could blurt it out and that was on the exact moment when Clara found the fabulous skirt. It was an A-Line, a dark blue one that would fit perfectly with a blouse. "Oh my god, you should buy it! Well, just make sure to try it on first."