Thank you to Alexandria M, justkimmy, jessica619, DeeMarie426, and corbettluv for reviewing :)

Thank you as well to justkimmy and corbettluv for reviewing on the previous chapter!

A/N: Roman's POV will be added to this chapter.

It was Monday and I set my sights on finding Vanessa. I'm not one to usually care about what others think, but when it involves me and Leah, that's when I'll care.

"Vanessa!" I exclaimed when I saw her doing something in her locker. "Why are you putting things into Leah's head?"

"Putting what into her head?" She asked when she looked up at me. "The fact that you've never been a one woman type of guy? I'm absolutely correct on that, Dean. You've never been in a relationship with anyone and now all of a sudden, you want one?"

"Why does that matter to anybody?" I asked her. "What goes on between Leah and I is of nobody's concern."

"Leah's my friend, Dean." She told me. "I've known you longer than she has."

I scoffed and shook my head as I looked around, beginning to pace back and forth. "I don't have to prove anything to anyone except for her and myself. But know that I can change and for the better. It just so happened to be because Leah and if you or anybody for that matter doesn't believe me, they can kiss my ass."

Walking away, I didn't care who saw that little spat between her and I. Vanessa didn't have a right to get into my business and it got the better of me for a moment there. Seeing Leah standing by her locker, she opened it a moment later, revealing a note that I had left for her before going to look for Vanessa.

Seeing her smile, I knew that she liked it. Walking up behind her, I hugged her feeling her jump a bit but relax when she realized who it was. Turning around in my arms, she smiled up at me.

"I like your little notes." Leah said. "And I really liked this weekend."

I gave her a full kiss and then placed kisses on her cheek. We spent the entire weekend together and we were inseperable. We weren't sure of what we were though since it was only two dates over the course of three days. It started out as me trying to prove something, but it then turned into just me asking her out because of my feelings for her and realizing that it may have been the push that I needed to finally ask her on a date.

"We should do that more often then." I mumbled against her lips as I gave her another kiss. She had just finished up with her second final for the semester and it was for her AP Physics class.

We talked in hushed tones as students began pouring out into the hallways from their classes. Vanessa made her way towards us and I almost groaned, knowing that she suddenly hated me.

O.O

"Hi, Vanessa." I said as she walked up to us. She looked at Dean and made a face at him before smiling at me.

"Did he get in your pants yet?" She asked.

I looked at her. "Don't start. I don't wanna hear it."

"Because you know that the negative things that are said about him are true." Vanessa replied.

"No, they're not!" I exclaimed. Dean growled and I knew that he was starting to get upset when he began to walk around in circles. "Why are you doing this?"

Vanessa scoffed. "Doing what? Telling you the truth is what I'm doing."

"The truth about what, Vanessa?" I asked her. "If you had an issue with Dean all this time, then why are you telling me this now instead of when you saw that you knew that him and I were friends?"

She said nothing as Dean stopped to listen to what she had to say. "Please enlighten me on why I'm suddenly the bad guy. As far as I know, I've never done or said anything bad to you or about you since the day we met. I've always been good to you and now, out of no where, we have a problem?"

I looked up at Dean and when I looked up into his eyes, he genuinely wanted to know the answers to what he was asking.

"I just don't think you're right together, Leah." Vanessa said. "He's never been in a relationship before, so how do you know that he'll be faithful?"

"Ask anybody around here." Said Dean when he turned to look at me. He walked backwards with his arms spread out and looking around, getting people's attention. "Go ask anybody that you want that knows me, right now and see what they tell you about me. Right now, without me going to any one of them and giving them a heads up. Go ahead. Yes, you may hear that I've never been in a relationship before. Everybody in this school who knows me, will say that about me. But you know that as well, Leah. They may tell you that they're not sure if I'm able to commit. Completely understandable for said reason."

I felt something growing inside of me as I heard him speak. There was something about the way he spoke and something about the sound of his voice that made him get into my heart a bit more than what he already was. It made my heart skip a beat.

"Show me why I'm such a bad guy!" He exclaimed as the late bell rang. "I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad for saying what they want about me. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. But if you're gonna talk shit about me, then have a damn good reason for it. Not some bullshit excuse. Make me look bad, talk bad about me, you're entitled to do so. All I'm asking is that you have a valid reason for doing such thing."

Dean looked at me with that same look in his eyes that he had when he asked me out last week. I felt butterflies in my stomach with that look and couldn't help but try to hide the smile that wanted to form on my lips. Dean walked away, leaving me alone with Vanessa.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked her. "Did he do something wrong that I don't know about?"

Vanessa looked down and said nothing. I closed my locker, wanting to look for Dean. "I thought you'd be the one person here who would always be honest with me. You're not even telling me what's really going on with you right now and I need to understand what's going on because I don't."

Walking away, I began to look for Dean but to no avail. I asked a few people that knew him, asking if they saw him, only to be told by some that he had left. Looking for Roman, I was relieved when I finally found him as he quickly walked over to me.

"Did you see where Dean went?" I asked.

He looked at me as he raised his eyebrows. "I just saw him leaving the school. I told him not to, or at least to wait for you because I know that he may listen to you. But he just kept going. I was hoping that I could find you to tell you to see if you'd know where he could possibly go."

My heart sank when I heard what Roman had said. The guy I'm falling more and more in love with everyday, just walked out of the building and I have no idea where he's going or even if he's coming back. My heart was breaking all over again. Roman took me aside and pulled me into a hug when he realized that I truly may not have any idea as to where he may have gone.

O.O

"We're going to find him." I told her. At least I hoped that we did. Sometimes Dean could be unpredictable, and this may just be one of those moments.

I thought that he would at least try to stick around for Leah because of how easily she makes it seem to calm him down, but he didn't. Dean paused when I mentioned her name and kept walking after a few moments.

The rest of the school day went by without a word from Dean. He didn't show up to the rest of his classes and nobody's seen him since what had happened earlier in the day. Leah and I looked for him in as many places in the building as we could. We looked in his favorite hang out spots throughout the school, and even the lunchroom to see if he came back into the building, but to no avail.

"What places does he go to when he's with you?" I asked Leah as I waited for her to get her things out of her locker.

"We could try the library." She responded.

I looked at her confused. "You know you said the library, right?"

She smiled. "Dean goes because of me. He knows that I love going to the library and that I'm almost always there. We should also try the park, the Chinese restaurant that we always go to and the pizza shop."

We got into my car and began to drive around. I drove slow to see if we could see Dean walking around on our way to the places that Leah had mentioned that we could try. Looking over at Leah, I started thinking about the things that Dean says about her and saw how true they were.

She really was beautiful and had a big heart. Thinking about it, I could see why he's changed for the better. There was something about Leah that made him change and I thought about how she was like an angel. Maybe Leah is what Dean needs in his life and right now, he's not doing that great of a job to make sure that he keeps her.

When we got to the library, Leah went inside while I stayed in the car in case I saw him outside. She came back with no good news and we went on our way to the park. After going to all of the places that Leah had mentioned, we still couldn't find him anywhere.

I took her to my house so that she could have a place to stay instead of being outside with no where to go and in the cold and by herself. We didn't know when Dean would be back and I wasn't going to keep Leah out in the street.

O.O

I went back to school when I knew that there was nobody left except for some teachers that may have stayed behind doing some work. Getting my things from my locker, I saw the picture I had on the door of me and Leah. I had her in my arms and we were both happy.

I knew she wasn't in school because she would have waited for me outside or by my locker if I had not been around for a while that day. Thinking about what was said by Vanessa earlier in the day, I remembered how I reacted. It's not that I hate Vanessa, because I don't. I just want to know why she's trying to make me look like I'm the bad guy and as if I'm the idiot.

Wanting to be alone, but not wanting to be without Leah, I went on my way to Roman's first to see if she was there. He promised that he would make sure that she was okay if I wasn't around her for whatever reason.

...

Getting to his house, it was beginning to get dark and more cold than what it had been during the day. Knocking on his door, Roman answered and pulled me in when he grabbed me by my coat.

"Where the hell have you been all day, man?" He asked with his teeth clenched, in an effort to keep quiet. "We've been looking all over for you, Dean."

"I needed some space." I replied. "Needed some time to think."

I took off my coat as Roman started to walk around. "Think about what, Dean?"

Staying quiet, I thought while I had nothing to say. Looking around, I didn't see Leah anywhere down here.

"If you wanna go, that's fine." Roman continued. "But at least let Leah know where you're going. She's been going crazy looking for you, wondering if you're okay and now she's up there thinking about when she'll be able to see you again."

I just stood there, not answering to what was being said. "Dean,why are you acting like you don't care?"

"I do care!" I exclaimed.

"Then act like you do, Dean." He told me. "If this is about what Vanessa said, then forget about it. Everybody is entitled to their opinions, but if you keep caring about their's when it comes to you and maybe even Leah, then your relationship with her is over when it barely even begun."

Running my fingeres through my hair, I groaned. "Why is this so difficult?"

"What about this is difficult?" Roman asked.

"I'm scared of commitment." I replied quietly. "I've gotten this far with Leah, but I don't know anything about relationships. What am I going to do?"

He looked at me. "Take it one step at a time, Dean. You don't have to rush into it. Leah's been by your side the entire since she met you. I'm sure she'll understand that you want to go slow. This is where communication comes into play. You have to talk to Leah. Just don't leave her like that. Do you want her to hurt the way you did when she left? Leah's been by your side and has seen your weird little habits and your craziness and whatnot, and yet she still stands. Don't fuck it up with a girl like that, Dean."

I thought about what he was telling me. Roman had a point. "What about everybody else?"

"What about everybody else?" He asked. "You've never been one to care about what they think, Dean. Why are you starting now? You want to prove that you can commit to Leah and to a relationship in general, then go ahead. But you need to prove that to Leah, not the whole school. So focus on you and her before it causes you to lose her."

Going upstairs with my bags, I passed by the room that I always stayed in and noticed something on the bed. I went in to see what it was and saw that it was an envelope with writing on it.

'To Dean, from Leah'

Curious to know what it was, I opened it and saw that it was a birthday card. Opening the card, I smiled at Leah's neat handwriting.

'I know your birthday was at the beginning of the month and I already told you 'Happy Birthday', but I just wanted to give you something anyways, even though you said it wasn't necessary.'

I put the card back in the envelope and put it down. Looking for her, I saw her in the room across from mine, laying down in bed and staring up at the ceiling as she played with her hair. I knocked softly on the door and saw her look and sit up when she saw that it was me.

"Dean, you're okay." She said as she came up to me for a hug. "Where have you been?"

I immediately wrapped her up in my arms and dug my face into the crook of her neck, taking in her scent. It felt as if I haven't seen her in days, even though it had only been a few hours, leaving me to hold on to her for as long as I could. Leah pulled her head back slightly to look up at me.

"You are okay, right?" She asked.

All I could do was nod. "I'm sorry for leaving. I just needed some time for myself. To cool off and to think."

She grabbed my hand and had me sit down next to her in bed. "Tomorrow's the last day of school. You don't have to worry about them until we have to go back next semester."

Leah knew I had something on my mind and was waiting for me to tell her. I kissed her cheek and rested my hand on her thigh.

"I'm not the kind of guy who cares about what others think." I told her. "You know that very well, as does all of my friends. But the reason that I care so much about what they say when it comes to relationships is because I want one with you. I want to fight back and show that I really am capable of being in one and being faithful and I don't want them to make you think that I'm not."

"No, I don't believe them." Leah said. "I wouldn't still be here if I did. I get to see you, the real you, every day that I'm with you. I get to see that Dean that makes me laugh, even when I don't want to. The Dean that makes me happy. You want me, then you want me. Why let what others say ruin us? I care about you, not people who don't take the time out of their schedule to see the real Dean."

O.O

Dean stood up and closed the door. Walking back to me, he stopped and looked into my eyes with his blue orbs. Leaning down, he kissed me gently at first before it became passionate. Feeling myself going back into the mattress, I pulled myself up to where my head was laying on the pillows.

He continued to kiss me when he fixed himself on me, placing his hands on my hips. I dug my fingers into his hair and gently pulled at it, making him place his lips on my neck. I bit my lips and closed my eyes, feeling my mouth being pulled into a smile. Feeling his mouth on my collarbone, I softly moaned when I felt his hands on my skin as my shirt began to ride up.

Dean pushed himself up and took off his shirt. I've seen him without a shirt on plenty of times but it wasn't until now that I realized how much I really liked it. His abs, the muscles in just every part of his body from the waist up and I couldn't help but touch. He leaned back down and crashed his lips against mine. I felt him shiver when my hands touched his bare skin once again as he nipped my bottom lip.

Someone suddenly knocked on the door and a deep voice made it's way into the room from the other side of the door.

"Guys, dinner's almost ready." Said Roman. "Can you help set up the table?"

Dean groaned against my neck as he gently nipped at the skin as his warm breath tickled it. Getting up, I suddenly missed the warmth of his body pressed against mine. Fixing my hair while he put on his shirt, I got myself together and sat at the edge of the bed.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

I looked up at him. "Please don't leave me."

"I won't." He replied. "Don't leave me."

I shook my head and saw the vulnerability in his eyes. "I won't."

A/N: Why would Vanessa all of a sudden say to Leah all of these things about Dean? Does Leah have a reason to worry anytime soon or should she stand her ground and give Dean a chance? Do you think Roman is right when he tells his best friend to stop worrying about what others think before it ruins what he has with Leah? Do you think Dean will ever fully commit to Leah or will it just remain as it is?