Happy Ever After

One more fucking love song, I'll be sick. – Maroon 5.

I know I should be working on my other story, but I was listening to this song and the idea just jumped into my head, and refused to leave until I wrote it down. I'm not going to spend ages on this story, it is a rough draft, and so if you want me to edit it, once it's up, let me know.

I own nothing. They are both a little OOC, but it wouldn't be fan fiction if they were the exact same.

Dylan had to get out of that house. Her dad had his girlfriend over, even though he knew EXACTLY how Dylan felt about HER. She felt sick thinking about them sitting on the couch, acting all lovey-dovey. So she ran, she put on her old sweats, grabbed her iPod and went for a run.

She hit the shuffle button, and after running for about half an hour, round the local park. Several happy pop songs had been playing, Dylan right now was cursing her playlist, this is not what she needed right now, and this was not improving her mood in the slightest, but things changed after Maroon 5's "Payphone" started playing.

"If 'Happy Ever Afters; did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick."

Dylan stopped running, and just listening to the lyrics. She could feel the tears pricking at the back of her eyes. She was done pretending; she stumbled over to a bench in the park, collapsing on the cool wool, and completely broke down.

She hated her dad for moving on, even though her mom had been dead for years, it still hurt Dylan to know that he could find someone else; she felt as though he's forgotten her mom completely, like he's just forgotten all about how he felt about her mom.

She hated Asher, he never cared about her; she knew that. He used her, she loved him, and he pretended like she didn't exist half the time. He liked the idea of having a girlfriend, but when it actually came down to having one, he didn't seem interested. That's why Dylan tried so hard to get his attention…she wanted him to care.

She hated herself; she hated who she had become. She was never this person, and inside she was still the nerdy Dylan, she would never escape her, and on some level, Dylan was happy about that. She needed to return to reality sometimes, and put her classes back on, or study for a really important test, while telling Lola and Hannah that she was shopping. Josh's film had shown her just how fake she really was, how terribly she treated her friends, how desperate she seemed for Asher's attention.

Suddenly there was a very large dog sitting in front of her, licking her hand as though it was trying to comfort her. Dylan looking up in surprise, at the big gentle dog that had appeared from now where and seemingly had no owner. She rubbed the dog's head, as he placed it in her lap; Dylan sniffed, a few stray tears sliding down her cheeks.

"MOUSE!" "MOUSE!" "HERE BOY! COME BACK, YOU BIG GOOF!"

Dylan's head shot up, she would recognise that voice anywhere, and she watched him jog into view. Even from a distance, she could see the confusion written all over his face, his eyes widening as he got closed, drinking in her dishevelled appearance. Josh sat down beside her, and let the awkward silence engulfed them, the only breaks in silence was Dylan's sniffs, and Mouse's heavy breathing.

Dylan was trying so hard not to cry, and she was failing, the tears were falling thick and fast, her vision was becoming obscured because of the constant tear fall. She could feel Josh's eyes on her, she tried to hide the fact that she was crying, but it wasn't working. Josh picked up a stick and threw it for Mouse; the big dog bounded off after the stick. Josh slide closer to Dylan, before pausing, giving her enough time to tell him to get lost before putting his arms around her, and letting her collapse against him.

Once Dylan was in the safe warmest of Josh's arm, she completely broken down, she was full on crying, with a boy she barely knew the only one there to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay, it relaxed her for some strange reason. Josh was rubbing her back, and shushing softly in her ear, he moved them, so that Dylan was basically sitting in his lap, sobbing on his shoulder. Mouse had returned for his stick fetching, sensing something was wrong, settled against the pairs feet in what looked like a protective stance.

After what felt like years, Dylan finally calmed down, and moved off Josh's lap, she played with her fingers in her lap, suddenly feeling over exposed towards to boy who has had far too much access to her life as it is.
"Thanks" she muttered, "I needed that, but you didn't have to stay." He looked at her funny,
"Yes, I did Dyl, I wasn't going to leave you here by yourself, in this way. I'm not a completely asshole."
"You're not an asshole at all Josh! You're one of the few people that I know that are completely honest and happy with whom they are."

Josh just smiled at her, before standing up and offering his hand to her, Dylan took his hand without hesitating, she trusted Josh not to hurt her. They started off walking back towards Josh's house; the silence was more comfortable this time, their hands, still interlinked swing comfortingly between their bodies.

"Josh? Do you think happy ever afters exist?" Dylan blurted out, cringing at how cliché, the question sounded.
Josh smiled at her, shaking his head at the strangeness of her question. "I don't believe in the Disney version of a happily ever after, but sure, if two people love each other, and are completely loyal to one another. Then they can live happy together, in their own version of a happy ever after, why do you ask?"
Dylan watched her feet, chewing her lip. "I don't know" she started, "It's just something I've been thinking about, I mean, I thought my dad would always love my mom, but he's at home with his girlfriend right now. And there is NO way that Asher and I will ever have a happy ever after."
Josh stopped walking, and looked at Dylan, his eyes filled with realisation. "That's why you were crying, you thought your dad didn't love your mom anymore, and because you don't think you'll get your happy ever after." Dylan avoided his eyes. Josh sighed before pulling Dylan into his arms for a hug, "Your dad is ALWAYS going to love your mom, and nothing is ever going to change that..EVER! And Dyl you will find someone to have your happy ever after with, don't worry, you're still young. Hey, you never know! You could have already met your perfect guy, may he's closer than you think." He wiped a couple of stray tears that had escaped her eyes while he was talking, before taking her hand again, and continuing their walk.

Dylan let herself be led to Josh's house, she wasn't really paying any attention to where she was going, she trusted him, but her brain was going a million miles an hour. Something that Josh had said caused an almost epiphany like state in Dylan, she watched him lead her up to his front door.

"Mom is working nightshift tonight." Glancing round at the darkened house; Mouse bounded off to his bed, before settling down for a sleep. Dylan watched Josh move round his house, turning on lights, and making sure that the heating was on, and at the right temperature. She followed Josh up to his room, before sitting down on the seat at his desk, looking round at the small room. Josh was running around tidying things up, and shoving things under the bed, on Josh's computer was Dylan's face, he was editing more of the film, and that thought made Dylan cringe, she wasn't honest on those video clips, and the side of her that was on those tapes wasn't a side that she wanted to show an audience.

She watched Josh make his bed, or at least attempting to make his bed, he was trying to untangle his sheets from his comforter. Dylan walked over to him, and put her hand on his arm causing him to look down at her with a smile.
"You okay, Dyl?"

She looked him in the eye, and suddenly everything made sense, she smile up at him nodding.
"Yeah, everything is fine Josh, I just realised something…"

Before he could register what she had said, she stretched up on her tip tops and pushed her lips against his. It took a minutes before Josh reacted, he slide his arms around her waist, pulling her close, allowing her arms to go around his neck, and play with the hair at the nape of his neck. Dylan muttered against his lips.
"It's you, it always has been, I'm just realising it now."
She could feel his smile against her lips; he pulled her even closer than she thought possible, as they fell on to his bed.

Dylan pulled away and smiled at him.
"You're my happy ever after Josh."

He grinned at her before pulling her back towards his lips.

FINISHED

It's not my best one shot, but this plot bunny was refusing to leave me alone. I'll try and get the next chapter of Trust Is A Funny Thing up soon, I've just finished all my exams, and I have all summer to write for you guys.

Much love, Mia x