thirty four

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CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR" WHATEVER YOU SAY, LOSER

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CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
" WHATEVER YOU SAY, LOSER. "

DYLAN STARED OUT THE WINDOW, HOPING TO SEE A FAMILIAR CAR PULL INTO THE LOT. But knowing it wouldn't. She always invited Steve to study with them and he always said 'maybe' then never showed. She figured it was because Steve felt awkward being with his ex girlfriend and her new boyfriend but it was starting to bother her either way. It was starting to warm up, reminding her that senior prom was approaching, which meant summer was approaching, and then she'd be going to California, without Steve. She wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

"Maybe I shouldn't go." Dylan blurted out. Nancy gawked at her.

"No, no, no," she instantly protested. "If you don't go, why'd we work this hard? Dylan, you went from being a C student to a good student. You scored 1250 on the SAT's. You deserve to go."

"I'll be all alone."

"Everybody's going to be all alone," Nancy said comfortingly. "Dylan, you used to not care about school. You skirted by with passing grades because you cared more about popularity, and I don't blame you, I almost fell into that trap myself. Now, you're going to college. Don't give it up."

Dylan frowned, letting out a breath. She tipped her coffee mug to her lips, only to find it empty. "Whatever, I'm hungry. When will Jonathan be here?"

Nancy glanced behind her at the clock. "He should be here soon. He had to pick up Will. Can you hold out? I told him we'd wait to order food."

Dylan groaned in faux-frustration which caused Nancy to give a playful eye roll. "I didn't know you to be so impatient about food."

Dylan looked around to distract herself. It was almost empty since it was a Monday night. "Do you think we come here too often?"

"It's either here or the library," Nancy said. She lifted her mug upward. "And the library has no coffee."

"God, I don't think I could have done any of this without the coffee."

The waitress came over with the steaming pot, offering it to the two girls. Both of them accepted the top up. "You girls want anything else?"

Dylan looked to Nancy who reluctantly gave her the go-ahead. "Look, Nance—he orders the same thing each time. I'll order for him. He's going to have the Roane Burger, no lettuce, extra cheese with the fries," she took another glance Nancy's way, who was smiling, a hint of disbelief on her features. "I'll have the same but keep the lettuce this time. And I'll have the mash potatoes instead of fries."

The waitress hummed in acknowledgement. "And for you?"

"I'll have the BLT, please. With fries."

"Coming up."

When Jonathan arrived, his food was in front of him, still forming rings of steam in front of his face. He looked to Nancy graciously. "You ordered for me?"

Nancy shook her head and leaned forward.

Jonathan's brows lifted as he glanced at the girl across from him. "Dylan? You ordered for me? And you got it right?"

Dylan rolled her shoulders and focused on her own food. "It wasn't hard. You get the same thing every time."

A smirk replaced his incredulity. "You really are starting to like me."

"I was hungry," Dylan said, tone filled with blatant denial. "Nancy said we had to wait for you. I instead ordered for you to speed up the process."

"Nope, you can't deny it anymore—we are officially friends."

Dylan opened her mouth. Jonathan held up a finger in protest. "We are friends, Dyl. We like the same music, we eat here together like three times a week, you've memorized my regular—you like me."

Dylan scoffed. "Whatever you say, loser."

Their eyes met. She couldn't stop the corners of her lips from turning upward. Jonathan had a shameless smile on his face.

"Okaaay," Nancy drawled out. "You two lovebirds better not forget who's actually dating who."

She wasn't angry, she was smirking along with her boyfriend, finding just as much humour in their irregular friend group as him.

Nancy was the one to first change the subject. Dylan was relieved she no longer had to talk about her feelings. "You know, Dylan's debating not going to college."

Jonathan's eyes widened, flashing between the two girls. "What—You're kidding?"

Dylan stayed silent.

"Yup," Nancy said with a nod. "She said she might miss Steve too much."

Dylan glared. "I did not say that."

"You practically did."

"It sounds stupid when you say it." Dylan slumped back in the booth.

Jonathan still had urgency etched in his features. "Yeah, 'cause it is!"

Nancy nodded in united agreement with her boyfriend. "Look, Dylan, Steve's not going anymore. We all love Steve but," Jonathan made a noise and Dylan chuckled, "he made his choice, he differed from the plan. Not you. You gotta make the choice for you."

Dylan deflected Nancy's honesty. "You know he's got a job? He won't tell me where, says it's embarrassing."

Both of them were instantly bewildered. "He won't tell you?"

Jonathan seemed to find this funny, as well. He had quite the sense of humour. "I wonder where it could be if he's that embarrassed?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed in frustration. "Like, it couldn't possibly be that bad, could it?"

The three of them delved into theories of where he could possibly be working, each of them funnier than the next, and then snickering attempting to picture Steve in each different uniform. None of them could understand why he had kept his new occupation a secret and while Dylan was genuinely irritated Steve was keeping random secrets, it felt like a relief to poke fun at her anxieties with Jonathan and Nancy.

"Do you think he works kids birthday parties?" Jonathan suggested. "Like full costume—outfit, face paint, wigs—and does skits and show tunes?"

"God, I would die." Dylan replied, an image of Steve surround by children, dressing up as some superhero and flamboyantly staying in character.

"I think the intrigue is better than knowing," Nancy said, catching her breath from laughing too much. "Like, it's fun to picture him as some sort of birthday clown or a suited-up door-to-door insurance salesman. I think if we were to know the truth now we'd be disappointed."

"Literally only Steve would do this." Dylan sighed, she was done being upset by it now, instead she found herself feeling a weird stir inside her, a happy, bubbling feeling as she thought of her boyfriend and his oddities. He could be frustrating but he was always Steve and that was a chaotic ride she loved it be on.

Then the bubbling feeling burst and she was back to square one—she had to leave for school at the end of the summer, without him and neither of them were willing to talk about the consequences of that.

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