Disclaimer: I do not own the Clique.
What happens when something that isn't supposed to last does? Like what would have happened if Leo had come out of that water in one piece and had become king of the world, complete with his queen Kate? Nobody quite knows. I was never supposed to fall in love with Dylan Marvil, but somehow I did.
I had always known of Dylan, but somehow we always came within inches of actually meeting, but always avoiding it somehow. Just the way I knew her name, her face, her parents, I knew she had the same association with me. We didn't live in an enormous city; everybody met at least once in his or her life. I knew every time she inherited a new boyfriend, and I simply assumed word reached her whenever I picked a new blonde to be my distraction from life itself. In that way we were the perfect couple, sharing everything, knowing each other's history without a single confrontation or even a spoken word.
That all changed one day when we were both seniors in high school. I was in the cafeteria innocently eating some fries when she walked over to my table and sat down in one smooth movement. I wasn't opposed to her sitting next to me; I had learned a long time ago that cooties existed only in first grade. I gave her a simple nod as an acknowledgement, I was all for being hospitable.
"Cam?" she asked in an even tone as she fiddled with the sleeve of her cardigan.
"Yes?" I didn't flinch at the fact that she was able to use my name with such comfort. I'd have spawned more of a reaction if she had stumbled or stuttered, trying to dig my moniker out of some deep dusty archive.
"Will you take me to the prom?" she asked. The very second phrase she uttered to me in our entire lives was an invitation to what was supposed to be some sort of milestone. I internally flinched, being taken aback a tad, but in her face I could see she was a hundred percent serious and calm. I supposed she figured she could trust me to show up and not rape her, so I made it to the top of her list. I also knew that this wasn't some sort of silly dare since she had come over so smoothly that it was as if she were simply asking for directions or the time. I had not been previously attached to any other commitments or engagements for the event, so I was content to oblige.
"Sure." I agreed as I offered her some of my fries. She refused with a simple turn up of her palm and slight shake of her head. "Do you have a dress yet?"
"I do...its jade green," she added, already knowing the purpose for my question. I nodded.
"Okay." I dipped a few fries in ketchup and munched thoughtfully. She nodded then got up just as smoothly as she had sat down.
"Thanks." she smiled genuinely. She always had a very easy smile.
"No problem." I assured her.
The fact of it was that it was just that simple. A few days later she asked when I'd come around to pick her up, and I told her I'd be at her door by 7. And I was. I put on my stupid suit and threw the green tie on like we were back in the seventies. I bought her a white corsage figuring I would never be able to pick matching colors.
"Hi Cam." Merri-Lee Marvil smiled at me as she let me into the living room. Up the stairs she called "Dyl...you're date is here!"
While I waited for Dylan to put on her finishing touches, I thumbed through an old People sitting on the coffee table describing the latest news on some octuplet's mother who was obsessed with Angelina or something like that. It took me a solid minute to realize just how quiet the Marvil house was. I had heard in grave detail the whole story of Merri-Lee getting divorced from Bob Pattinson, the girls' father when Dylan was only three. Now with Dylan as the youngest she was the only daughter left to keep Merri-Lee company.
"Hey Fisher." Dylan smiled as she negotiated the stairs in her sky-high heels. I had to admit that she looked very pretty; she and her mother had obviously spent a long time putting her together. Her dress was chiffon with a halter strap, sparkling with tiny flecks of silver. Her hair was piled into a flaming mound on top of her head and secured with an emerald brooch and her ears were dripping with emeralds of the finest quality. I think she also had body glitter, or maybe she was just Edward from that Twilight book.
"You look beautiful." I stated cordially as I slipped the flowers on her wrist. She and her mother smiled approvingly, as if I were a little puppy who learned a new trick. Merri-Lee then proceeded to snap a million pictures, no doubt to show off on her show to get an edge over Ellen.
I helped Dylan down the three steps onto the sidewalk (seriously where do girls buy their shoes? The stilt store?) and opened the limo door for her, the two female onlookers still seeming pleased. We waved goodbye to Merri-Lee and started on our fifteen-minute excursion to the restaurant.
I never really gave much thought to how I had ended up at the prom with my arms wrapped around Dylan's waist as we stepped around in a circle to some schmaltzy love song. I noticed some dubious looks and some whispering, but then again those expressions could always be directed at Massie Block and her latest boy toy, who by the way was Derrick today. When Dylan and I separated to go mingle with friends, Plovert and his blonde-of-the-moment Olivia had quite a mouthful for me. Plovert claimed it was a trap; Livs declared Dylan was just a tramp (forgetting that she is scrawled across all of the men's rooms). I just waved them off, but of course they didn't pay much attention to my reaction having taken more of an interest in each other's lips.
Dylan and I re-found each other eventually for a few more dances. I held her shoes as she and Kristen got into a Cotton Eye Joe speed dance off. After claiming her well-earned crown she sort of leaned on me as we smoothed our way through some Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston ballad. We took lots of pictures. We ate chicken. We dared everybody at out table to be the first to taste the cream and wafer cake. It really was a very nice time for all involved, especially Livs and Plov who I didn't see after the second hour. People weren't very quiet about their disapproval of Dylan and I as a pair, but we didn't care much.
After the clock struck one and we were thrown out of the restaurant after an extremely awkward sex lecture from Principal Burns, I piggybacked Dylan out to the limo (not by my consent...she literally hopped on me from behind and used her sore feet as an excuse.) On the ride home we compared notes about the events of the night, the disappearance of Plolivia, Derrick doing The Worm, Layne giving Claire a homoerotic lap dance and beyond. I smiled as I walked her to her door (she decided to put her shoes on in the limo...probably a good idea for when Merri-Lee was to see us...) and we said our witty and pithy parting words. Then something came over me, I don't know what, and I lightly pressed my lips against her cheek, a cordial and gentleman-like goodnight kiss. We just stood there wordless but not awkward for a second absorbing my action. She then grinned and leaned into my lips. It was only three seconds, but then she put her head down with a silly little smile and went inside. And I was in love.
All right so I wasn't in love per say, at least not at the moment, but I definitely felt something strange. Had I just kissed and been kissed by Dylan Marvil, a girl I only formally knew for two weeks? My head was in a terrible conundrum; I didn't even know what to think. I didn't sleep that night; I just sat up and kept replaying every memory, every snippet of an event that involved this girl. I decided I needed to call her, see her again, if only to convince myself that I was just a little punch drunk.
"Hi Mrs. Marvil...is Dylan there?" I whispered into the receiver as I hunched up over a bowl of cornflakes in my room. It was 7 AM, which I figured was late enough to call despite the fact that I had to keep my voice down as to not wake Hibernating Harris.
"Oh sweetie I think she's still in bed...but I'll tell her you called." Merri-Lee was surprisingly pleasant since it was obvious by the tone of her voice that I had waken her up.
"Thank you." I hung up feeling so stupid for even trying. As I munched a spoonful of flakes trying to strategize my next move, the ring of my landline made me jump.
"Cam?" I heard a sweet angelic voice on the other end that made my heart flutter so much that even I gagged.
"Hey Dylan...did I wake you up?" she was whispering too which clued me in that her mom had indeed went back to sleep after my little disturbance.
"No...I didn't really sleep last night...I was thinking about prom."
"Me too." I'm sure my voice was a dead giveaway that I was thrilled.
"Thanks again for taking me..." she said this so sweetly, sort of like a coy toddler.
"Thanks for asking me." We stifled our giggles. After a reflective moment I said something so immature that is bears repeating.
"Does this mean that we're...an item?"
"I'm not sure..." she trailed off. But that was enough for both us and the rest of the school. When we returned to school that Monday, tongues were wagging about our "hookup". We were the hot new couple and I had to admit there was something consuming about it. I became complete putty for her; I'm ashamed to admit. Whether it was just us holding hands in the halls or the stolen glances in chemistry, I knew there was something so real about us. There was something truly special about her...and I knew it. It was only one week after we stumbled through an agreement to be a couple that I whispered in her ear 'I love you.'
And I did. I have absolutely no clue what was compelling me. There was just something different about out relationship then all of the kiss-offs I usually had. Maybe it was because I had known her name and face for so long that she was the best of both worlds; the comfort of trust and knowledge with the spark of something new and mysterious. She didn't say anything to me in words. She just pressed her lips against mine in a familiar way.
We were absolutely inseparable. In a short two weeks we had become the power couple of BOCDHS. It sounds really silly now, but I was so strung out on the high of our new relationship that I didn't notice some funny behavior right under my nose. The fact of it was, I credited myself for knowing absolutely everything about Dylan before I'd even met her, but I had forgotten one very vital detail of her history, Josh.
Josh and Dylan had been lovers at the beginning of senior year. They were a pretty tumultuous couple, always breaking up and making up weekly over something so petty that it never reached my ears. The fact was Josh had completely slipped my mind because I hadn't seen him for a while because he had repeated his middle-school act and pulled the fire alarm in BOCDHS. He was suspended for two months, starting three weeks before prom. He was banned from the school and all school events, which of course included that magical evening under the stars.
In recent days and weeks, while Calan still reigned supreme, The Hotz was allowed to return to school, which was the absolute worst thing that could have happened to me. Dylan still spent the school day with me, but she would detach from me the second the final bell rang. She had also stopped taking my calls, blaming schedule for both acts of ignorance. I should have realized then what I know now, but I was too blinded by love and a mass of fiery curls.
Dylan never truly loved me. She never even thought of me in more then a platonic way. I was just her stand-in until her real lover reentered her life, and then I'd just be her arm candy to make him a little jealous. It had been the plan from the very second she sat down at my table, but I didn't realize it. But everything came to light one day when I was making a quick locker run for my Trig notebook after the final bell when I saw Josh and Dylan talking against her locker, with his palm supporting him against the metal and her hip tucked inward. The he put an arm around her.
He enveloped her in a hug.
And he kissed her.
In a burst of jealousy I sprinted over to the offender and pulled him off of my girl, knocking him against the metal with a bang.
"CAM!!!" Dylan screamed, both in shock to see me, and in horror of what I just did and intended to do. But before I could sock him in the face like I wanted to, he knocked me in the nose, quick and powerful, in retaliation.
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" he grunted as I tried to whack him randomly.
"JOSH STOP!!!" Dylan shrieked. He stepped back.
"DYLAN..." I looked at her for answers, for validation, for ANYTHING.
"Get the fuck out of here." Josh snarled as he put his arm around Dylan's shoulder in possessiveness.
"DYLAN..." I yelled again, feeling like I was at the bottom of a well screaming out for help with no answer from anyone.
"STOP!!" there were tears in her eyes.
"I'M YOUR BOYFRIEND!" I blinked, still recoiled from the uppercut to my schnoz.
"DON'T YELL AT HER!" Josh bellowed at me, giving me a good shove.
"I'M WITH JOSH!!" Dylan wailed as she clutched his chest. "I ALWAYS HAVE BEEN...DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!?!" she was strained for breath between sobbing and yelling. "I always loved him..." she said softer this time. Josh then tenderly led her out of the building as she leaned against his polo.
"But I love you..." I whispered as I sunk into the lockers, a bleeding, shocked heap.
"Come on baby...we're going to take you home." Olivia whispered tenderly in my ear as she and Plovert helped me up.
Well, I always was a man to lean toward, and be saved by, a beautiful blonde girl.