Dorian DeLoughrey
Flashback, 6th April, around 2 am
The rest of the day, after being the good guy he is and returning Jessica’s purse, has been normal. If you consider making out in a car with a cheerleader, saving your ex best friend from a creep, then kissing her and staying the night in her room because she’s drunk normal, then that’s exactly what happened. A simple night, nothing more than that.
It was around 2 am when Dorian started getting phone calls he’d just ignore, decline even if he managed to do that because he was too busy running his hands all over Hailey’s body. Yeah, Hailey, Emily’s friend. The cheerleader that threatened him to let Emily live in peace because he was distracting her or something along those lines. Confusing… but fun. For him at least. It was just entertaining to see she wanted him for herself. Who wouldn’t?
“Turn it off,” Hailey mumbled desperately in between the kisses, as she was straddling him, her hands sliding up his t-shirt. Now that would be a perfect night, only if it wasn’t for those annoying calls. “Mm, wait, sorry,” he whispered before he pulled away and cleared his throat, grabbing his phone to finally answer it. He would keep ignoring it if he knew who was calling him, but as the calls continued he couldn’t help but feel a little worried… maybe something happened and he couldn’t ignore it. Even the make-out sesh didn’t help. “Hello?” He picked up, straightening up but still tightly holding Hailey, trying hard to ignore her lips that now moved to the side of his neck. “Hey, sorry for the late call. Girl here says she’s your cousin. She’s at Mclarin’s pub and is wasted…” He heard an unfamiliar voice saying something he didn’t really understand at first and only thought it was a mistake. Cousin? Nora wouldn’t get drunk at this time, right? Well, that was until he heard the one and only, Jessica screaming in the background. Without listening to that part, he moved the phone slightly away from him and rested his head back on the seat, closing his eyes for a second. Ffs. “Listen, you got the wrong number. The worst person you could call. Try Andy or… I don’t know,” He sighed, shifting his full attention to Hailey again, sliding his hand over her thigh. “Wh-“ But before the person could answer the phone call ended… or her phone died, which wouldn’t be surprising. So… this was the part where he should just laugh about it, forget it and continue whatever he started? Not really…
As much as he wanted to enjoy the night he felt bad. Worried. Yes, he disliked Jessica at this point but she was still someone he knew and he didn’t want anything to happen to her. And her phone died, how would they find someone to pick her up? “Sorry… can you leave please?” Was the only thing he said to Hailey before ending their sesh and leaving her alone at the parking lot of the mall. For someone that didn’t want to see Jessica, he’s been doing so much for her.
He got there when they were slowly starting to close the bar but there were still some people in there. But not enough to not notice Jessica and… a guy? That didn’t seem very friendly. I mean, he could tell what was happening, what he was trying to do and Dorian didn’t like it. Who would? Once again, even if he wasn’t friendly with Jessica, he cared about her and couldn’t let anything happen to her. If someone else was in her place right now he would actually do the same thing. Placing his keys in his pocket, he slowly walked over to the two of them, just watching the guy forcing her to go with him and he could feel himself getting more and more frustrated with every step he took. “Thank you for waiting for me,” he simply said, forcing a smile on his face as he stepped in between the two, pushing the guy but wrapping his arm around Jessica and pulling her into his side. “Uhm, do we have a problem here?” Dorian now looked at the guy with a serious expression on his face, an expression that wasn’t necessarily friendly. Not that he wanted it to be. Things would’ve been fine if only Jessica didn’t seem so confused, only p!ssing off the other guy thinking Dorian was trying to do the same thing as him. ”Dude, back off. I found her first, she even agreed to go back to my place,” words that made Dorian chuckle and look down at the ground, shaking his head before punching the guy without hesitation. He immediately turned to face Jessica, wanting to get out of that place as soon as possible but what she was wearing caught his attention. Now that he was standing face to face to her, he could have a better look. “The fck are you wearing? No wonder you have creeps hitting on you…” He mumbled, avoiding looking at her eyes and ignoring her poking him. He felt… weird, just standing there. Sad because of what he saw, frustrated because that actually happened, frustrated because she got wasted and he was the first person to find out and come “save her”. But glad that she was okay.
Letting out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding, he looked up at her as she mentioned how she liked what she was wearing, even doing a little spin. “Nice men,” he repeated after her through a chuckle, looking down at her finger as she poked him again. Of course, the next thing he said is how he is taking her home but she, unfortunately, but not to his surprise, didn’t like that idea. He just didn’t expect she’d ask to go to the club. “You want to go to the club? To dance?" He repeated, laughing lightly to himself. There was no way he would take her to the club, especially not in that state. “That sounds good, let’s go to the club,” he spoke up with a friendly smile, lightly nodding. But he also knew there was no other way to get her to follow him, he had to lie.
And once again, he was stuck in a car with her. Once again he was quiet as he started driving to Daniel’s house. But this time he wasn’t mad. At least not as much as he was that time before they got arrested. She was wasted and he just wanted to get her home, to make sure she was safe and well. It was easier when he thought she wouldn’t remember most of the night. He didn’t have to pretend he hated her so much, didn’t have to pretend like he didn’t know about what she did before she left. Didn’t have to put the blame on her. He was just calmly driving.
Until she mentioned how kissable his face was. His face was what? She would do what? It was a… it was confusing. Everything became confusing after she came back. After he found her voicemail. He didn’t know how to react, what to say, how to act, so he did what he’s been doing all along - he stayed quiet and continued driving. From time to time he would look at her, or stare for a couple of seconds as she was focused on other things, her words repeating in his head.
What she did when they reached the gate of the house was the last thing he expected. He has never seen Jessica act the way she did at that moment and he was… concerned. He just didn’t understand why she didn’t want to go back but he could see that there was something extremely wrong. And he couldn’t keep up the serious act - that was the first time he looked at her, showing he was genuinely concerned and sad. “Hey, it’s okay,” he mumbled, being lost for words but that didn’t stop him from wanting to take her home. And he could see her shuffling in the seat, trying to get out as he continued driving, passing the gate but luckily he locked the door thinking that would stop her. WRONG.
When he saw what she did he stopped the car immediately, for a few seconds just staring at her in absolute shock. She rolled down the window to get out of the car. “What the fck, Jessica?! Are you insane?” He finally yelled as he got out of the car, watching her now sitting down on the ground. Sitting without moving, staring at him. “Get back in the car,” he almost threatened her as he walked over to the other side of the car where she was, but now she was laying down as if it wasn’t raining. Even he ignored the rain because of the shock, but just standing there, waiting for her to do something, to say something, to get up was when he realized that the weather was getting worse. But he didn’t care much about it. It was almost fitting.
Remembering what she said back in the car, he did what he never thought he’d do - he found himself laying down beside her, looking up at the sky. And it was peaceful. It felt right, even if he would never admit that. It was a little moment he missed so much. Needed. And God knows how long they’ve been there, but they were both soaked and if he didn’t notice her shivering they’d be there even longer. “You’ll catch a cold, Jess. Let’s go inside,” with gentle words he looked to the side, at her, hoping this time it would be easier to get her to do something but once again he was wrong. And once again he held his breath as she moved closer to him… but only to pull another stunt. Before he got a chance to react, she got up and started running away from him. Cursing under his breath, he sat up and ran his hands through his wet hair, just watching her. He wasn’t really in the mood to chase her, but he did it because he just wanted to get her inside. If they were still friends, he’d take this moment to joke and call her a child, to joke about her age but they… weren’t? And it wasn’t really a time for that. So getting up and running after her, he did another thing he never thought he would.
It wasn’t easy to catch her. Maybe she was actually having fun or maybe she really didn’t want to go inside. And for some reason, his mind found just one way to deal it with it, to calm her down. When he finally caught her, he pulled her towards him, his hands moving up to cup her cheeks as he gently placed his lips on hers. And he didn’t regret doing that. Hell, he couldn’t stop thinking about the last time he did that… she did that. And he was swallowing his pride at that moment. There was no going back but he didn’t want to go back. Everything that happened, everything that was happening was just one big mess in his head and what he just did made it even worse. But as soon as he felt her giving in, wrapping her arms around his neck he just let it happen. He deepened the kiss, moved his hands to her waist to pull her in closer and close any distance that was between them, if there even was any. The moment his hand slid to her lower back was when he noticed how cold she was and what they were doing. That was when he pushed her away and immediately looked up to meet her eyes, but she was looking somewhere else. Even if she kissed him back he expected her to be mad at him but the look on her face only left him confused. Everything did. And maybe he didn’t want to stop. Maybe he did it just because he didn’t want her to catch a cold or because she was drunk and he did want to seem like he was taking some kind of advantage of her. Well, he didn’t know and that’s why he stayed silent until she spoke up. “You promised me a dance.”
“I did,” was the only thing he managed to say, smiling softly at her. He was still confused with everything happening that he didn’t think about what he was doing. He just knew he wanted to make her happy, before dragging her inside. So without complaining, he let her rest her head against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to protect her from the rain or at least warm her up a bit. That was the cheesiest thing he’d ever done. Who would’ve thought he’d be dancing in the rain to imaginary music? Not him. It wasn’t long before he finally got her to go inside. He helped her take her shoes off, tightly holding her arm so she doesn’t trip over, and then continue doing that as he lead her upstairs, to her bedroom. If he remembers where it was. It’s been a long time since he was in this house, he wouldn’t be surprised if some things changed but luckily they didn’t. It just felt unreal to be in that house again, with her. It was like he could remember all the things they’ve done in there, just looking around.
“You need to change, you’re soaking,” he whispered, leading her to the bed before walking towards the dresser to find her something to change into. Something warm. “Here,” quietly adding, he handed her the clothes and turned almost right away when he saw she didn’t even think twice about changing right in front of him. Well, he already saw everything he could so there was really no need to turn but he had some respect. He wasn’t that bad. When he heard her moving was when he looked back at her, seeing she was dressed and ready for bed. So walking to it, he pulled the covers down, tapping the bed as a signal for her to lay down. “C’mon now.”
Dorian’s day started in a weird way but ended even weirded. The girl he’s been arguing with that morning was the same girl he was in bed with now, playing with her hair as he waited for her to fall asleep.
When he got her in bed and tucked her in, he felt her hand on his, stopping him from stepping back. He’d never expect her to beg him to stay with her, not now after four years of not seeing him. After being a complete jerk. What she said in the car, about not wanting to be alone tonight was still replaying in his mind so it wasn’t hard for him to say no. That’s how he ended up in her bed. “Of course,” was the only thing he whispered, laying down next to her and letting her wrap her arms around him. Once again, the memories of them came back to him - he was remembering all the little things they’d do together. At that moment he felt like everything was the way it once was… but it wasn’t. And with that he remembered the night he found her voicemail, he remembered what she said and for some reason, laying there next to her, he said the same thing she did a while ago. “I loved you too.” Maybe it was a good thing, maybe it wasn’t, but at that point, he could see she was already asleep so it didn’t matter, she didn’t hear that.
He didn’t know how long he’d been there. It felt like hours since he was just laying, tightly holding her in his arms and looking at one spot. He didn’t close his eyes for a second or tried to fall asleep. He waited for her to do that so he could leave, even if she fell asleep right away. Having someone seeing them, especially Daniel, was the last thing he wanted but he was still there. After an hour, if he could correctly remember the time, he slowly and carefully moved her arm to get out of bed and go home. For a few seconds, he was just sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her (not creepy like Edward Cullen), for the millionth time going over everything that happened that night. The way he acted that morning and the way he was acting just hours ago. A mess. Everything felt like that.
Before leaving, he wanted to at least get her a glass of water for when she wakes up so that’s what he did. Getting up and leaving her room, he went downstairs to the kitchen but what he discovered when he went back was the last thing he expected. If they were still best friends that would’ve been the perfect thing he could later tease her about but…
Quietly walking towards the nightstand, as he was about to set the glass down he heard a moan that made him immediately freeze and look towards Jessica. At first, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him but soon he realized it wasn’t. Was she… dreaming about someone? Awkward - how he would describe that moment and the way he felt. He’s had many dreams like that but this was the first time he’s witnessed it happening to a girl, his old friend. It was both awkward and entertaining, but he wanted to leave as soon as possible. Especially when he heard his own name. And connected everything. She was… dreaming about him. He slowly put the glass down but his hand was still on it, his gaze on Jessica. Now that was what made everything even more confusing so he quickly left, leaving her alone in that house.
Tuesday 8:00 am, 7th April, Cerulean High Courtyard
Jessica missed school the other day and he was, in a way, happy about it. That night kept replaying in his head and he wasn’t ready to face her and if she could remember what happened, she’d probably feel the same way. That’s what he thought, at least. He thought she could remember it so now she was avoiding him. Was that smart? Well… he didn’t know, because he also didn’t know how to feel about it. Hell, he even tried to ignore Hailey and Emily because he was so lost and he never does that.
He also wanted to avoid Jessica but for some reason, as soon as he arrived at the courtyard with Elodie, he looked around searching for her. He didn’t plan to say anything to her he just… he just wanted to see her. It was a weird feeling but feeling disappointed was the last thing he expected when he realized she wasn’t there. That her name wasn’t on the list.
Pushing those thoughts away he looked for his name to see who he’d be sitting with. Kai. Not bad. They knew each other because of Elodie, of course, but they were more acquaintances than friends. He had nothing against the guy, he just didn’t like what happened with him and Elodie. So after saying hi to his friends, he got on the coach and immediately spotted Kai.
“Good morning,” Dorian enthusiastically said with a cheeky smile on his face, looking at the empty seat next to Kai. “Great. I hate window seats,” he commented quietly, dropping his little backpack on the ground next to him as he plopped down. And he did hate window seats - he didn’t like to be “trapped” without a way to communicate with people around him. “It’s totally not weird seeing you around here,” jokingly adding right away, he laughed lightly looking up at Kai. “How’s the school treating you? You staying away from Elodie, huh?” With a smile still on his face, he continued teasing Kai even if the last part was meant to be serious.