Metal Chains {Dylan O'Brien}

Chapter 16

My heart nearly jumped from my chest; fire burned in my lungs. Why in the world would she be texting him? I sat up and looked at his face as if it would give me all the answers to the questions running through my head. Okay Katy, just breathe. Deep breaths. As the worst possible scenarios ran through my head, I realize that my breath was coming in short jerking lurches. In an instant, Dylan was waking out of his sleep to console me.

Tears were streaming down my face. I pushed his arms off of me and stumbled to my feet. "Katy, you need to sit down." He seemed to be fully alert now, jumping up to guide me back to the couch. The room has started to enclose around me so I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. I wouldn't be able to see his face if it weren't for the blue glow illuminating from the TV. "Katy, baby you have to calm down." I could feel his hands on my face. Everything seemed to get darker until nausea finally kicked in.

"Remember, breathe slowly. Slow, deep breaths. You can do this."

This went on for a couple seconds longer before I could feel my own heart beat slowing down. I was clinging on to him when I came back to my senses as if he was my consciousness. "Okay. You're okay." He was hugging me now, kissing the top of my head as he did. "You've been doing so good for the past couple weeks, Katy, what happened?" There it goes, the inevitable question.

"I- I... I just had a bad dream..." I realized that I was lying to him again and scolded myself for it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later." I answered. "Right now, I just want to go to sleep."

He kissed my forehead. "Okay. I'll call your brothers and you can s-"

"No." I interrupted. "I mean... I kind of just want to go home."

I felt bad immediately after I said it and wished I could take it back. His face fell a little, but he quickly picked it up and nodded. "Alright, then I'll drive you home." That's it. That's all he said, even after I was just completely rude to him. It made me feel even worse for thinking that Dylan would cheat on me. And with Scarlet, the same girl that he, himself, told me that he would never ever cheat on me with. "Are you okay? You sort of just blanked out on me there." Dylan waved in my face, snapping me out of my daze. I gave him a small, forced smile.

"Yeah sorry. Just thinking." was all I said.

A worried look fell over his features and for a moment, I thought he might have known that I've lied to him more than once— I mean, I was thinking, but there was so much more wrong than just that. So technically, it was a lie. I took his hand in mine, trying to convince him that I was okay and that nothing was wrong, but he knew. I quickly retrieved my hand when he didn't squeeze it like he usually did, and we stood there for a moment, staring at each other before he broke the silence.

"I guess I'll drive you home..."

"Yeah."

Suddenly everything between us was tense; neither of us spoke in the car until he was parked in my driveway. The only sound was the heavy rain hitting the windshield. "Katy... you would tell me if something was going on, right? I mean... if something was wrong would you tell me?" He seemed nervous, fumbling over his own words like a nerdy sixth grader. I nodded but realized he couldn't see me in the darkness of the night. I tried to keep my voice steady and calm when I spoke. "Yes." is what I said. I heard him turn toward me. He was waiting for something, for me to continue I'm sure. When I didn't, he cleared his throat.

"Goodnight Dylan." I quickly opened my car door and stepped into the downpour of rain and thunder before things could get even worse.

I called out to my brothers as I shut the door. "In the game room!" is what they called back. I half jogged up the stairs toward the game room. Tristan was just coming down with a couple of empty bowls and chip bags. "Guy day?" I asked. He nodded confidently so I laughed and pushed open the game room door. There sat my brothers playing video games like no ones business. "Don't you think you guys are a little old for video games?" I put a hand on my hip and looked at two of my three brothers. "Psh no." Austin said, making me laugh.