Out To Get Her

28| There Can Only Be One Victor

DEAN EYES HER, the tension in his shoulders obvious. It takes him a moment, but finally he relaxes and sighs.

"Well?" Alex prompts, slightly peeved that Riley just up and left and also relieved that there won't be a fight, which it seemed that the boys were building up to.

"Come with me," Dean says, running a hand through his sandy hair, "And I'll explain."

"Finally," Alex mutters under her breath, as he leads her to the bleachers.

He lowers himself onto the lowest bench and Alex plops down beside him, swinging to the side to face him properly. It still sucks that he's dating Sam, but there's nothing Alex can do about it so she may as well get over it. Besides, she saw a side of Dean that she hadn't ever seen before, a few moments ago, and it made her realize that she may not know him as well as she thinks.

"Dean," she says, "What's going on?"

"It's a soccer thing," he explains, "We clash. Earlier today, he made a call I wasn't happy with. And the award ceremony tomorrow... It really has me on edge. There can only be one victor, you know?"

Alex hesitates, his fury earlier had seemed like it was over more than soccer.... But what would Dean stand to gain from lying to her?

"There are multiple awards, you know," Alex nudges him, "That means multiple victors and all."

He sighs, clearly not in the mood to crack jokes, "You know what I mean. Riley and I both want the MVP for the season. It would look really good to colleges. We've been competing for it for ages."

"I know," Alex says softly, "There's a lot of pressure, huh?"

He nods complacently, eyes downcast.

"You'll be fine," She squeezes his shoulder, "You don't need an award to tell you how great you are, you're a huge asset to the team, any of the guys could tell you that."

"Thanks Alex," he lifts his head, hesitating for a moment before speaking again, "Hey, you bailed on us at Cherry on Top the other day, did something happen?"

Alex barely manages to hide her grimace. "Something came up, sorry about that." She hopes her words come across as casual and not as carefully selected as they are.

"Sure," he hesitates again, "And we're good, right? I feel like things have been a bit weird since the dance..."

Alex nods, although her heart squeezes at the motion, "Of course."

"Great," he breaks out into a grin, "I was just worried there for a minute. Sam assured me it was just me overthinking, but it's a relief that she's right."

Alex doesn't know what to say to that, so she nods, slightly disheartened by the mention of Sam.

"You know," he continues, "I'm glad we've gotten that out of the way. It's really great that we're friends."

"It is..." Alex smiles half heartedly. "Friends..."

He looks like he's going to say something more, but he shakes his head. Before Alex can question him, he slams his palms on the metal bench and jumps to his feet.

"Well, I'd uh, better head back, you coming?"

Alex shakes her head, not quite trusting herself to spend time alone with him right now. Her thoughts are jumbled together and latching on to the phrase 'it's great that we're friends.'

"Alright then, I'll see you later." Dean salutes with one hand and after shooting her one last dazzling smile, disappears down and around the stairs.

Alex's shoulders immediately slump—she hadn't even realised they had raised to her ears—and she rests her head in her hands, bracing her elbows on her knees. That was certainly something. And not the good kind. The relief in Dean's voice when she confirmed that they were just friends...

After taking a few minutes to compose herself, and just breathe in the fresh air, Alex rises and brushes off her jeans. Not that there's dirt on them, but she does it instinctively. Then she's stepping off the last step and shuffling back towards the school—and Dean. That realization has her immediately doing a one-eighty and marching across the field. She can't really explain why she feels so awful, it's just how she feels. Stupid Dean. Stupid Sam. Stupid Riley.

Why is she involving Riley in her mental bashing? Because he's Riley and there's always some sort of blame to be found in him, he's just that type of person. He's also super annoying, arrogant, loud, involved in every single thing that goes wrong, and Alex could go on for a while describing all his oh-so-wonderful qualities. But that's not the point, she's gotten herself sidetracked. The point is, that Dean will never like her, and getting her hopes up was one of the stupidest things Alex has ever done. Ever. And she's done some pretty stupid things—thanks to Dylan—so that's saying something.

Boys like Dean are not boys who you allow yourself to like, to hope will like you back. They're unattainable—unless you're perfect and named Sam—and getting your hopes up is just setting yourself up for failure, crushing, devastating failure.

~*~

"I can't believe you're actually ditching class right now."

Alex smiles, "It's not that surprising."

"It really is though," Rebecca nudges my shoulder playfully.

Alex rolls her eyes and steps into a blast of air conditioned air in the entrance of the mall. Rebecca snatches her wrist from Alex's side and drags her towards Forever 21. She squashes down her grimace and attempts to welcome the distraction, as was her intention when she agreed to go to the mall with Rebecca.

"How cute is this?" Rebecca squeals, running her palm over the silky material of a yellow dress.

Alex shrugs, "Very?"

"Very indeed," Rebecca eyes it hungrily.

Alex chuckles under her breath and steps through to the long sleeved tops, more admiring them than considering buying anything.

"Look at this," Rebecca materializes on Alex's left, holding up a white, off-the-shoulder dress, "I think this would look great on you!"

"I don't think so..."

"C'mon Alex! Live a little, wear a dress once in a while!"

"Fine," Alec snatches the hanger from her, trusting Rebecca's judgement more than she'd like to admit, thanks to her dance dress choice being a success.

After trying on a few things, the girls leave the store, arms laden with bags—although Rebecca's arms are significantly more full.

They wander around, window shopping and actual shopping and stopping for mini doughnuts at the food court. Alex is grateful for Rebecca and her incessant chatter and respect for Alex's privacy—she has chosen not to press Alex about her obvious distress, and Alex could not be more grateful. She never thought she'd be thinking this, but thank god for Rebecca.