the secret » david dobrik au

T H I R T Y - F I V E

David smiled when I climbed out of Lydia's car as she dropped me off in front of the Delt house. I pulled my suitcase out of the back seat and waved her off. David was not able to contain himself; she was barely pulling off by the time he was wrapping his arms around me from behind. Though we had Facetimed almost every night of our winter break, he had clearly missed me.

"Never again."

I giggled, spinning around in his tight grip so I could wrap my arms around his neck. I said, "I told you you could come over."

"My mom told me I shouldn't ruin your family time."

"Your mom called me on Christmas. Did I tell you that?" I asked, attempting to pull away from him so we wouldn't be the gross couple PDA-ing on the side of the road.

"She what? No, you didn't tell me that. Why did she call you? How'd she get your number?"

"I gave it to her when I was at your house," I explained with a laugh. He was shocked that his mom was even interested in talking to me, which was kind of rude. She really liked me, from what I could tell. That feeling was amplified by her Christmas day call. "She was just wishing me a Merry Christmas. She told me if I ever needed to talk to someone, she was there for me. It was really sweet. I almost cried. Can you fucking take this suitcase? Why am I dragging it up the steps when I have a boyfriend to do it for me?"

"Because your boyfriend is weaker than you are," he grabbed the handle and together, we dragged it up the front steps. We decided to leave it by the front door instead of trying to drag it up the steps to David's room. I left a note on it (boys please don't steal this! It's Evan's!!! Thank you!!). "Oh, babe, look. Our pictures came in."

Hanging on the wall by the steps was a huge white poster with all the boys' pictures, their little logo, and... me. Me. I was on the picture.

"What the fuck?" I pointed to myself, turning to look at David, who was just smiling at me. "Why am I on here? Sweetheart? What does that mean?"

"It means we didn't even hold a contest this year to decide who our sweetheart would be because we all knew it was you. It just means that you're basically an honorary member of the frat, and we all love you."

"Oh, so I'm a frat rat?" I raised my eyebrows, laughing as he rolled his eyes.

"You don't like anyone to tell you anything nice, do you?"

"I love you," I cheesed, kissing him on the lips. "I love everyone. I'm definitely making dinner tonight. And dessert! Let's go to the grocery store. I want to make something nice. Like lasagna. I've never made that before for them. I can't stop smiling. I can't believe they wanted me on their little thing forever."

"They knew you'd make them dinner if they made you sweetheart."

"I would've made them dinner anyways, asshole," I smacked him on the arm. "Let me have my moment. I feel fucking famous. I'm like a princess."

"A sweetheart, but close enough."

I cooked for all the boys that night for dinner. They must've sent in their group message that I was over and in the kitchen, because almost every boy that was in the frat showed up. They were on their best behavior, thanking me a hundred times and telling me how amazing the food was. I proposed a toast, tapping my plastic fork on my plastic cup and standing on the wobbly chair so they'd see me.

"Hi," I awkwardly giggled when I got all of their attention. "Um... I don't know why I thought it'd be a good idea to make a speech, but I'm already on the chair, so. I just wanted to say that you guys are the best ever, and I love you all, and I can't believe that I am a sweetheart. I don't really know what it means, but I do know it means you love me, so thank you. You make me feel like the most popular girl in the world. I love you all! Okay, that's it. Keep eating. I made too many lasagnas."

David helped me down, then stood on his own chair. He raised his red solo cup and said, "To our favorite sweetheart of all time, Evan."

"To Evan!" the boys all cheered, sloshing their cups together and laughing as beer, soda and water spilled over onto the tables.

They all cleaned up after themselves while David drove me back to the apartment. He asked multiple times if I would just stay over at the house, but I told him that I hadn't seen my roommates as long as I hadn't seen him, and they were equally as important to me. We finally decided on him sleeping over with me, even though I had an eight AM lab the next day that I knew he wouldn't want to wake up for.

It turned out that I didn't even need to come home. Corinna and Natalie were set to come back to campus in the morning, since Corinna didn't have any Monday classes and Natalie's didn't start until late afternoon. It blew my mind that only I got stuck with a shitty schedule.

David and I smoked out my bedroom window and then got into bed for the night. It was quiet and peaceful for a while, until he asked, "Where are you living next year?"

"I haven't thought about it," I admitted. Everyone around me, especially my friends who lived in the dorms, had been freaking out since October about where they were living. Natalie and Corinna never said anything about it, but I kind of just assumed we'd live together again. We got on each other's nerves sometimes, but we were solid roommates.

"You should live with me."

"I'm sorry, what?" I raised my eyebrows, laughing at his joke until I realized it wasn't a joke.

"I'm not living in the house my senior year, and we basically live together anyways. It'd be easier if you just moved in with me."

I stared at him, trying to figure out which direction I could take my answer that wouldn't hurt his feelings. I finally said, "We've only been dating for two months. I don't want to agree to something and then have it blow up in my face. Plus I like living with Natalie and Corinna."

"So you're just waiting for us to break up?" he looked offended. It was clear that I didn't take my answer in the right direction. "That's good to know."

"I didn't say that," I rolled my eyes, flopping my head down onto my pillow with an annoyed sigh. "I'm just saying it's probably best for us to stay in our own space for a while, just in case. We could always look for places in the same complex."

He stared at me. He was mad.

"Don't be mad."

"I'm not," he said. He was. "If you don't want to live with me, that's fine."

"Is it? Because you're acting like it's not."

"It's fine, Evan. Go to bed."

That seemed like the only good idea at the time. So I did.

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Xoxoxo abby