Coach's Daughter

21.

Chapter 21.

"I got rid of Evan for you."

Those words had been haunting me since the game earlier, making it impossible for me to get any sleep. Had Kelsey ever really been my friend at all? And if she had been, how had she been so misguided and hurtful?

And the whole kiss with Dylan made things so much worse, not better. Had Luke seen me kiss Dylan? What if Kelsey was right, and Luke really did like me? Had I just ruined everything?

I felt like such a jerk. And worse, my best friend, the person I wanted to talk to more than anyone in the world, was no longer talking to me.

I glanced around my room at Cassie and Nixi, who were still chatting about juicy gossip that I honestly didn't care a whole lot about. They were super nice, but they couldn't replace my friendship with Kelsey.

"Hey Lilly, can I ask you a question?" Cassie asked, looking away from Nixi and towards me. "Are you dating Dylan?"

What? I sat up in my bed, looking over at them. "What? No."

"Really? Because Kelsey told me she saw you kiss him tonight. And she said that's why we lost."

I suppressed a groan. Had I really been sitting there, missing Kelsey, while she spread gossip about me behind my back? "It wasn't like that. Dylan kissed me. And he's a cocky flirt. It didn't mean anything."

Cassie let out a sigh. "Good. Because that just seems a little too coincidental. I don't want to see him use you just to get to Luke."

"We're just friends. He's my neighbor, and we hang out occasionally. Dylan doesn't actually like me romantically. We definitely aren't going to date or anything."

"Are you sure he doesn't like you?" Nixi pressed. "Guys don't usually go around kissing girls they don't like."

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say. Dylan didn't like me. He couldn't. Could he?

I stood up from my bed, heading towards the door.

Nixi raised an eyebrow at me questioningly. "Where are you going?"

Judging by the expression on her face, she must have thought I was up to something. Laughing, I opened the door. "Relax, I'm just going to the bathroom and to get a drink of water."

"Oh..."

I rolled my eyes, leaving the room quickly and making sure to shut the door behind me.

Tomorrow, I would talk to Dylan and see what's really going on—if anything. For all I knew, my friends were just seeing sparks where there weren't any. Either way, I would find out the truth.

—
"Can we talk a second?" I said, walking across my lawn over to Dylan's. I had noticed Dylan walking down his driveway to get the mail and decided now was as good a time as any to talk to him and set things straight.

Dylan glanced over his shoulder at me, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips. "Hey Lilly."

I quickened my pace to catch up with him. "I need to ask you something, but you have to promise to tell the truth and not make a joke of it."

"Am I in trouble for something?" Dylan joked giving me a sly grin.

"Not officially."

He stopped, turning to face me. "Okay, what's going on?" he asked. "Yesterday everything was fine, and today you're acting all weird."

A long sigh left my lips. I wasn't quite sure what to say. I felt awkward that my friends put this idea in my head that he might like me as more than friends, and it was bothering me so much that I had to bring it up.

"Do you like me?"

Just rip off the Band aid.

Dylan raised an eyebrow at me questioningly. "Of course I like you shorty," he smirked. "Why, don't you like me?"

I blushed bright red. "Not romantically," I insisted.

Dylan laughed. "Relax. It was just a silly kiss. I don't want to date you or anything. We're just friends, right?"

I nodded. That's what I wanted to hear. "Just friends." Friends that kiss? part of me wondered. But it was a small part, so I just shoved it aside.

"Why, did you want to date me?" Dylan laughed. He laughed. As if the whole thing were some kind of joke to him.

"No," I said, crossing my arms sassily. "But I know I can be pretty irresistible, and I wanted to make sure you didn't have the wrong idea. Especially since you kissed me yesterday."

Dylan took a step toward me, looking into my eyes. His gaze was mesmerizing, and even though I was sure I didn't want to date him, there was no denying how cute he was. "Would it really be that awful?" he asked. "Us dating?"

I shrugged. "Awful? No. A terrible idea? Definitely. Let's just stick to friends. You can be my Disney buddy, and we can hang out and just be the kind of friends that talk and don't kiss. I don't want it to be awkward between us and—"

Dylan cut me off with an amused grin on his face. "Lilly. You're overthinking this."

I felt my cheeks heat up as my eyes met his. The amused look on his face reminded me so much of the look that always seemed to be on Luke's face when I was with him.

"Sorry."

He turned around to get the mail, leaving me feeling like an idiot for even bringing the subject up.

"I'm sorry," I said again as I rocked backwards on my heels awkwardly. "I shouldn't have even mentioned it. I mean, it's not like we're dating."

Dylan chuckled, pulling the mail out of the mailbox. "No, we aren't. But I'm a little offended you think it would be that terrible if we were dating."

"I'm really sorry."

Dylan sighed, turning back to face me after closing the mailbox. "Don't worry about it. I should really get back inside. I've got plans to get ready for."

I nodded, mentally cursing myself for being such an idiot. That conversation definitely could have gone better. "Okay. Goodbye."

"Goodbye Lilly." Dylan gave me a comforting smile before walking back up his driveway to his house.

Why was I such an idiot? It was like I had to ruin every friendship I had. Right now, I was 0-3.

I needed lessons on how to keep my friends.