Dylan collapsed on the grass beside his mom as other runners from the 5k slowed around them. Adam flopped down on Victoria's other side and Tyler sat beside him.
"You did great!" Victoria praised Adam and Tyler as she handed them bottles of water.
"What about me?" Dylan asked, pretending petulance.
Tyler lowered his water after downing a good bit of it. "That's cute." He joked. "You think they all came to see you. They always see you running."
"He's right." David supported Tyler's theory, all of it in jest.
All the men and their families, except for Amanda and Olivia, whom no one had met yet, had shown up to cheer them on.
"Don't worry, Dylan," Jade said sweetly, smiling, she handing him a bottle of water from out of the portable cooler. "I came to see you run."
Dylan took the water and smiled back. "Thanks." He sniffed dramatically, as though holding back tears. "I know at least you love me."
Jade's smile widened almost imperceptibly. Today was Saturday, the first day of their summer vacation, and they were both glad to be out of the trap that school had become.
It had been hard for them both. Having made very few friends in the time she had been in Albany, and none close enough to her to stick up for her, Jade had practically been shunned and certainly gossiped about. It had happened as they had expected it to, and it had only pulled Dylan closer to her and her to him.
They weren't sure how to label it anymore: what they had. And he was pretty sure that holding hands every day as they walked to school, even only as a comfort for her, hadn't helped anything.
David looked at them sideways, a small, knowing smile on his lips.
Jade caught it and asked, "What?"
Dylan groaned. "Don't. Ask. Him."
"All I have to say is, 'famous last words'." David pointed a half accusatory, half joking, finger in Dylan's direction. "And, in advance, I told you so."
"We're just friends." Dylan defended himself. "I haven't done anything to try and change that."
"Oh," David smirked. "You don't have to tell me that, I all ready know it. You haven't done anything on purpose, anyway."
"And what have I done on accident, then?" He couldn't help the edge that crept into his tone.
"Let me ask you a different question. How was your last couple of weeks of school?"
Dylan's jaw clenched and Jade instantly became quite and still. "It was school."
"How about you, Jade?" David turned to her.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"That bad?"
"Leave her alone." Dylan heard himself say, looking at his hands. "You don't know anything about it."
David raised his eyebrows and turned back to Dylan, but thankfully dropped it. "All right."
"Can someone please make sense of that for me?" Nathan asked. "You were having a hard time at school?" He looked at Jade. "With your grades?"
Jade shook her head, studying her hands.
"Her boyfriend's in jail. Prison, actually, and now that's the reputation she's dealing with." Dylan spoke up; mad now at the men he knew had put Derrick there.
"Look, guys," David spoke before either father could. "I'm sorry you've both had such a hard past couple of weeks, but we have to do our jobs, no matter who we're dealing with."
"I know." Jade said quietly.
"Yeah." Dylan agreed. "I'm sorry, I just…" He inhaled and let it out slowly, his anger deflating along with it. "I don't know."
"It's okay." David smiled. "I do. And anyway, it's over."
Dylan rolled his eyes. "Don't even start with me. I say we just let it all go."
Jade nodded eagerly.
"One more question." David demanded, before asking Dylan, "How many guys did you punch over it?"
"I didn't actually hit any of them." Dylan informed him.
"Did you want to though?"
"Leave him alone." Jade commanded.
David's smile widened. "That's what I thought." Then he became quiet for a second before saying, "You've got a good thing going here for you two. Just… be careful."
Dylan laughed, though he tried to hide it behind a cough, and spared a glance towards Nathan.
"I thought he wasn't scary?" Adam asked, catching the action.
"I don't know what I want. I'm afraid I lied to him though."
"You wouldn't be the only one." Nathan spoke up. "I distinctly remember hearing the words 'I never really loved her, you know?' Do you know where the man who said that spends the majority of his weekends now? With the girls that he don't love."
Dylan smiled. "It does sound like you were lied to."
"Actually," Nathan sat back against a tree. "I think that he believed what he was saying at the time, but as time went on, and he got to know her better, he found himself loving her." Nathan shrugged. "It just happened. And that's all right."
Dylan smiled, it was really a half-smirk, and downed the rest of his water. The conversation was over.
"Okay," Javi spoke up. "Who feels like a celebratory lunch?"
"Where at?" Adam asked.
"Pearly's!" Tyler crowed.
Most soon agreed and they were off. David stayed seated on the grass, as they picked up their things.
"You coming?" Dylan turned and asked as they walked away.
David nodded and picked himself up from the ground. If they did meet her there, where she worked, it would probably be a good idea for him to be there as well. "Yeah, I'm coming."
Pearly's was the mother of all country kitchens and a local legend for its breakfast food. David knew the place like a third home, but when he spotted her behind the counter on her shift, he wasn't sure whether or not he'd be able to eat anything. He came in ahead of the others, and shared a smile with her when she glanced over from ringing up a customer. When she was done there she came around the counter towards him. And then the Mitchells came in and behind them the rest of the group poured in. And she went from smiling to rubbing her temples.
"Sorry." He mouthed.
Amanda waved the apology away as if it were a pesky fly, and went to refill some guy's coffee. David purposely headed for her section and took a seat around the biggest table he could find there, which, remarkably, wasn't taken. The others took seats around the same group of tables.
In a few minutes, she came around with a pen, a notepad, and a cup of ice tea. She set the tea down in front of David, who thanked her before he took a long drink of it.
"What can I get for the rest of you?" she asked, pen poised.
Answers flew from all directions as she tried to keep up. She paused for a millisecond and closed her eyes, fighting a headache.
"Do you think that going one at a time might be a good idea?" David asked over their noise, the aggravation in his voice startling even him.
Amanda gave him a grateful look and took a deep breath. "David, what can I get for you?"
He gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile and ordered his sausage-link biscuit. She smiled back, but her eyes were dead-tired. It worried him.
Ever observant, Jade gasped when Amanda got close enough that Jade could read her name-tag. She leaned over and whispered to Dylan, who was sitting beside her, as soon as Amanda was out of hearing range. Both David and Amanda watched out of the corner of their eyes as the teenagers indulged in a whispered conversation. Dylan motioned for Tyler to lean in closer to him. When he did, Jade whispered something to the two boys. Tyler's eyes widened until they took up most of his face, and Dylan choked on nothing in particular. Feverish whispering flew between the trio. They each sat back, looking a little stunned.
They'd figured them out.
Great.
Okay, so this is a reposted version of my original story with the same title, just in case you read that. Please review this! I really need the motivation right now! Thank you in advance!:)