Disclaimer! I do not own Lemonade Mouth.
Dylan woke in his bed the next morning. He couldn't remember how he got there but he did remember Stella's words. Sitting up, Dylan put his head in his hands. How could I let it fall apart like that? A scream was building within his throat, filled with the anger and sorrow of his failure.
Sophia stepped into the room, dressed in a bathrobe. She had obviously gotten out of bed just to check on Dylan. 'How'd it go?' Sophia asked hesitantly seeing the look on Dylan's face. Looking away, he shook his head as tears welled within his eyes.
Sophia was at his side in an instant, wrapping her arms around him. Dylan turned and cried wishing it didn't hurt so much. Who knew that it could hurt worse the second time around? When he finished crying, Sophia slipped out of the room to give him time to himself. Falling on his back, Dylan slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Dylan spent the rest of the weekend in bed staring at the ceiling. Despite his efforts to forget, there were constant reminders of his failure everywhere. Every little thing reminded him of something and the worst part was the text messages he got from Lemonade Mouth.
Stella hasn't stopped crying. What happened?
What happened last night? Stella won't answer any of my messages
Dylan. Stella won't talk to me. What happened?
After the third text, Dylan was tempted to turn his phone off but he didn't want to move. Seeing Stella's name sent a new jolt through him every time he saw it. His phone continued to buzz with new messages until Trina walked in to turn it off. Her face was filled with so much pity Dylan could almost feel it radiating off of her. That didn't help him feel any better.
He didn't check his messages until Monday morning when he finally dragged himself out of bed. "Whoa" Dylan said looking at the number of texts. The phone glowed saying his inbox was completely filled which meant he had about three hundred to four hundred texts sitting in his inbox. Dylan skimmed through the first one hundred before deleting them. They all seemed to say something about Stella and he didn't feel like taking any more shots to the chest.
Dylan took his time looking through the next set of one hundred. These were more about what was going on and if he needed to talk. Smiling grimly, he deleted that set before checking a few more messages. Then he deleted the rest of the messages without so much as a glance. It was better if he cut himself off from Lemonade Mouth. That way Stella could be happy without him.
He got dressed slowly, pulling on dark clothing. When he walked out of his room, Trina took one look at him before handing him a note. "It's from Olivia. Well actually it's from Mo. She called this morning." Dylan looked down at the paper and smiled. In large letters that had almost pierced the paper were three words.
MEETING AFTER SCHOOL
"Yeah right" He chuckled starting to crumple the paper. Suddenly Sophia was there in his face. 'You're going to that meeting.' She signed furiously forcing Dylan to back up with her fierceness. 'I'm sick of you moping around the house.' Dylan held up his hands passively. "Alright I'll go! But if Stella is there I'm coming home." Sophia's expression didn't soften as she nodded.
Dylan watched his older sister leave the room with a bewildered look on his face. "What was that about?" He asked. Then he picked up his car keys and walked out of the house. It was time to get to school.
Things went smoothly for Dylan. After a lifetime of avoiding people, he found it easy to slip under Lemonade Mouth's radar. Dylan had already decided he'd honor Sophia's wish but that didn't mean he had to talk to them during the school day. Any time he saw any member of the band, Dylan would discreetly hide himself anywhere he could until they had passed.
The lunch bell cut through Dylan's illusion of being able to escape Lemonade Mouth the whole day. Five sets of eyes would be on the lookout for him. Dylan sighed as he walked out into the lunch room without a glance at the lunch line. After realizing that Lemonade Mouth would find him, he had lost what little appetite he'd had in the first place.
Wen was the first to spot him. It wasn't long after that Olivia and Mo appeared steering him toward the table. "You are not getting away until you answer a few questions." Mo said softly. Dylan didn't miss any of the venom in her words but he just answered with an exasperated sigh.
Olivia made him sit next to her while Mo claimed the seat on his left. "You guys really aren't gonna let me get away are you?" Dylan asked looking around carefully. The members of Lemonade Mouth just smiled and shook their heads. He noticed that Stella wasn't sitting here even though it was her table. "So where is Stella?"
Mo's expression darkened. "We don't know. That's why we wanted to talk to you" Dylan held up his hands but Mo cut him off before he could say a word. "Before you say that you don't know let me tell you something. You and Stella have been ignoring our messages since Prom. We know something happened we just don't know what exactly. All we know is that Stella took you somewhere in the school and when she came back she was crying. Now what happened?" Dylan shrugged which just seemed to infuriate Mo.
Olivia stepped in this time, giving Mo a look. "Stella won't talk to us and she didn't show up to school today Dylan." Dylan raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't known that little tidbit. "We're really worried because most of us have lost someone to suicide and a lot of them acted like this before they…" Dylan held up a hand to say he understood. "So could you please tell us what happened so we know what were dealing with after school?"
Dylan sighed. He was trapped into going to that meeting. With Stella there, it was going to be all he could do not to cry. Rubbing his face Dylan tried to remember what exactly had happened during Prom. "She kept trying to get me to dance…" He muttered to himself. Mo opened her mouth but Dylan held up a finger. "Just let me think for a moment. After that she…brought me to the roof." His head popped up. "She had set up…like a mini prom. We danced for a while and then we ended up kissing." Dylan could hear jaws hit the table but he was on a roll. He hadn't consciously thought about Prom over his few days of depression. "Then she was crying and…said we could be friends because it hurt too much."
Dylan put his face in his hands. He felt someone's hand on his back in a gesture of sympathy but he shrugged it off. The gesture just made him feel worse then he already did. "Well…maybe the meeting after school isn't such a good idea." Wen said softly. "Dylan looks like he's going to cry. I can only imagine what Stella feels like."
"We are having that meeting." Mo said fiercely. "We need to iron this problem out now before it gets any worse. I don't know about you guys but I'm sick of seeing my friends sad and not talking to each other after they were so happy together." Dylan looked up smiling wanly.
"It's not gonna work Mo. It hurts just looking at each other." Mo punched him in the arm.
"Shut up! You're going and Stella's coming if I have to drag her there myself. We are getting rid of this problem!" Dylan couldn't agree more but he only saw one way to fix the problem. Either Stella or Dylan was removed from the equation and Dylan was going to make sure it wasn't Stella. She had spent too much time away from her friends because of him.
After school, Dylan found himself herded into a car by Lemonade Mouth. "Jeez you guys I was going." The looks he got told him they had doubted Dylan would even think about it. "Fine but someone is going to have to drive me back. I drove my car" Charlie nodded from the front seat as they pulled into the pizzeria.
Again Dylan was herded to where they wanted him to go. To his horror, they stuck him directly next to Stella. She looked about as comfortable as he did, hemmed in by the other band members of Lemonade Mouth. "Hey Stella" Dylan managed past the lump in his throat. Stella just looked at him in disbelief. "This wasn't my idea." He pointed toward Olivia and Mo. Stella let out a small sigh and leaned forward away from him. Dylan tried not to be disappointed at the obvious need to get away from him.
"Alright" Mo said taking charge. "The band is sick of this" She gestured to the two of them. "Make up already. It isn't worth watching the two of you mope around all the time just to let you nurse wounded feelings." She glared at Stella who returned her stare with equal ferocity.
"It's obvious that you like each other" Olivia stepped in. "So why can't you just kiss and be happy?" Dylan chuckled softly leaning back against the seat. The entire band turned to glare at him and he held up his hands passively.
"Olivia has a good point" Charlie said looking from Dylan to Stella. "Why don't you two just kiss and make up? Isn't that what you guys want?" Stella finally looked at Dylan a small smirk on her face that he returned.
"Do it." Mo said after a long silence.
"Do what?" Stella and Dylan asked simultaneously. The band burst out laughing. It felt good to be laughing with everyone but Dylan knew it wasn't going to last.
"Kiss each other." Mo gasped wiping tears from her eyes. "Show us that the two of you totally loath each other and we'll get off your back." Stella was already shaking her head.
"What does that have to do with us wanting or not wanting to be friends?" She asked looking anywhere but Dylan. "Friends don't kiss." Mo shrugged, smiling at them while the group held its breath.
"No." Dylan said softly, his voice dark. "I won't put Stella through that again. If she still isn't ready to trust me I won't force myself on her." Stella opened her mouth but Dylan held up a hand. "I'm sure about this. I'm not that kind of guy. Now let me out." Lemonade Mouth melted away from him, hearing his tone.
"I'd like to be friends with all of you" Dylan said quietly. "But I won't come between Stella and her friends. Goodbye guys." Hands flew out to stop him but Dylan dodged them, flying out the door. He took a look around hoping for a quick escape.
"Dylan!" A familiar voice called. Dylan smiled grimly as he got into Kyle's car. As Kyle drove off, Dylan looked back to see all of Lemonade Mouth. They were watching the car leave with various degrees of disbelief. It's for the best guys Dylan thought turning back to watch the road. It's for the best.