Chapter 16.

I had no plans to do any black Friday shopping, but the morning after the Thanksgiving debacle, I awoke to the sound of my phone going off. I glanced sleepily at the display. Four a.m. Ugh. I rolled over and had every intention of going back to sleep, but a few minutes later, my dad called out from the other room.

"Lilly, Dylan called for you. He says you have plans to go black Friday shopping with him, and he's out front waiting for you," Dad yelled. "Get out there before he calls me back. I'm trying to sleep."

I bolted up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and wondering why the heck Dylan was here so early in the morning, when I knew for a fact that we were barely speaking and did not have any plans. I threw my hair back into a messy bun, slid a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt on, and slipped on my shoes before trudging downstairs to the front door.

Sure enough, Dylan was sitting in the driveway, and as soon as I approached his car, he rolled down the window to talk to me.

"Get in, loser, we're going shopping," he said.

I laughed. "Did you seriously just quote Mean Girls? What kind of straight guy does that?"

Dylan shrugged. "One whose best friend is a girl? I've watched that movie with you at least a half dozen times." He offered me a brilliant smile. "Come on, you're already up. You might as well come black Friday shopping with me. I have to find gifts for my family, and I thought you might appreciate a chance to get out of the house and away from all of your family drama from yesterday."

With a sigh, I opened the door to Dylan's car and slid into the passenger seat, buckling my seat belt before I turned to him. "This doesn't mean I've forgiven you," I informed him grumpily. "You've been a jerk all year."

Dylan nodded. "I know," he admitted. "I'm a complete idiot, and I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I miss you, Faye. You're my best friend, and I want to spend time with you. It's not the same without you."

Truthfully, I had missed Dylan too. He was easily my best friend, and although I had enjoyed seeing Luke again, my friendship with Luke was nothing like my friendship with Dylan. Luke and I had never had the same easy closeness that Dylan and I had. But, it wasn't as easy to forgive Dylan as he made it sound. Hesitantly, I asked a question that had been bothering me ever since Avery had shown up to Thanksgiving dinner.

"Did you know?" I asked quietly.

Dylan glanced over at me before starting his car and backing out of the driveway. "That Avery is your stepsister? No. I can honestly say I did not see that coming."

"Why did you date her?" I asked. "I've been over it again and again, and it just doesn't make any sense to me. I know that you can date whoever you want, but why did it have to be her? I don't think you realize how much that hurt me."

Dylan sighed heavily, his gaze remaining fixed on the road as he worried his lip between his teeth, presumably searching for an explanation that would make sense of it all.

"It was stupid," he said finally. "I guess at first, I thought you were just being melodramatic, and Avery really wasn't that bad. In my defense, she's actually not that bad when she's not around you. I'm not sure what it is, but you really do seem to bring out the worst in her. It's jealousy, maybe, or maybe she was just extra nice around me because she was using me to get to you. I don't know. And then, once I realized that Avery really did seem to hate you, I thought I could help if I was close to her, like I could reason with her and help her see how amazing you are. I still don't understand how anyone could hate you. If Avery just gave you half a chance, she'd see that she couldn't have asked for a better roommate."

I half smiled at the sweetness of Dylan's words, even though he was still a complete moron who had really hurt me.

"Aww," I said. "Careful there, or you're going to lose your tough guy reputation. Quoting Mean Girls and giving sappy speeches? Who are you and what have you done with Dylan?"

Dylan smirked. "If it means getting you back as my friend, I'll gladly hand you my man card," he said, winking at me.

"That won't be necessary," I assured him. "Just promise me you're done with Avery. Seeing the two of you together made me physically sick. I don't like to think about you with any girl, but it was especially horrible with Avery."

"Right now, I'm all yours, Faye."

I pushed a strand of hair that had fallen out of my bun behind my ear, wondering what Dylan meant by that. "Can I ask you something?"

"I think you just did," he teased.

"If you broke up with Avery two weeks ago, why didn't you say anything?"

When I glanced over at him, Dylan was fidgeting in the seat, looking uncomfortable. "I didn't think you'd care," he admitted. "I thought I'd blown it, and you would never talk to me again. That's why when your dad invited me to Thanksgiving dinner, I went even though we weren't on friendly terms. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. I thought maybe we'd be able to bury the hatchet, since you wouldn't want to get into a heated argument with all of our friends and your family there."

I arched an eyebrow at him. "So you were trying to trap me into a conversation so you could force me to forgive you?"

"Well, it sounds so horrible when you say it like that," he said, spreading his hands defensively. "I just didn't want you coming after me again with your fists of fury."

I laughed. "As if I actually hurt you. You must take harder hits than that during football practices."

"I barely felt your punch," he teased. "It was your words that hurt. Not that I didn't deserve them, because I did. I get that now."

With a chuckle, he added, "Besides, I'm really glad I was at that dinner. It was by far the most interesting Thanksgiving dinner I've ever attended."

"Me too," I agreed.

Dylan pulled into the parking lot of the town mall, and I gaped at all of the traffic. I knew it was Black Friday, but I somehow hadn't expected there to be quite this many people.

"Don't you find it ironic that the day after everyone talks about how grateful they are for everything they already have, everyone goes out and fights each other to buy more stuff at rock bottom prices?" Dylan asked, looking around at the pandemonium with clear amusement. "It's just so...American. 'Yeah, I'm grateful for everything I have, but give me more!'"

"We're no better," I told him. "Or, at least you aren't. I was planning to sleep in like a normal person. You're the one who dragged me out of bed at this awful early hour."

"That's different," Dylan insisted. "Think of this as a social experiment. We're merely observers. We aren't here to fight over specials on big screen TVs and electronics. We're just casually browsing and laughing at the idiots who are fighting each other."

I frowned. "Well, I'm staying close to you," I said, grabbing his arm so that I wouldn't be separated from him as we headed towards the crowd. "I don't trust people not to trample me. You hear horror stories on the news about people getting hurt Black Friday shopping. I hope it doesn't bother you, but I'm not letting you go."

Dylan muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "You never have to let me go," but when I asked him about it, he refused to repeat it, and I didn't bother to press the issue.

"So, do you have any idea what you want to get your sisters?" I asked. Besides Kelsey, Dylan had two younger sisters, Jamie and Kim, who I used to babysit for occasionally.

Dylan laughed. "I was hoping you might have some ideas," he admitted. "I have no idea what any of them like. Guys are so much easier to shop for."

"That's such a lie," I laughed. "Guys are impossible to shop for because they don't like anything. I always get my dad something stupid, like a new tool or grilling stuff, and he never really likes it, but feels obligated to thank me for it anyways. Girls are so much easier."

"Just get a guy sports tickets, a jersey, or something for his car. That will make most guys happy. And if you aren't sure what else to get, food is always a safe choice."

"I'll have to remember that," I said with a wink. "Maybe I'll even get you a Christmas present, if you keep being nice to me."

"Oh, you'd better," Dylan threatened. "I already got you something awesome, and you'll feel terrible if you don't get me anything. Of course, you'll probably feel terrible anyways, because no matter what you get me, it won't be as awesome as your gift. Trust me, it's really that good."

"Cocky much?" I asked.

"No, just confident," Dylan smirked.

I hadn't realized until now just how much I had missed bantering with Dylan. I felt more relaxed than I had since I had first started college, and for the first time in too long, I was actually having fun.

"Let's see," I said, thinking. "Kelsey is super easy. Just go to Sephora and pick out an eyeshadow pallet or something. Probably a nude pallet, since that's what she wears most days."

"Nude?" Dylan asked, fixating on that word. "No offense, but I don't want to think of my sister with nude anything."

I laughed. "Nude, as in neutral colors. Kelsey doesn't like bright, obnoxious eye shadow colors. Gosh, Dylan, get your mind out of the gutter."

He turned a bit red, which surprised me, because I hadn't realized that Dylan was even capable of embarrassment. "That's easy enough," he said. "What about Jamie and Kim?"

I shrugged. "I don't know yet," I said. "Let's just go in and look around, and we'll see what we can find."

Our first stop was Sephora, since we knew that's what we wanted to get Kelsey. I picked out an eyeshadow pallet that I was confident that Kelsey would love, and then Dylan and I waited in line for what felt like a lifetime before we finally checked out.

Our next stop was Macy's, where I found a great friendship bracelet making kit for Jamie. Jamie was at a hard age to shop for because at eleven, she was starting to get a little too old for toys, but she wasn't quite interested in clothes or makeup yet. I thought she'd like the friendship bracelet kit, since the last time I had seen her, she had been really into crafting. For Kim, I chose some toys from her favorite TV show. She was only seven, so she would be happy with pretty much anything.

We were almost ready to leave when Dylan stopped, staring at a dress on display in the window. It was a bold cut red dress with light embellishments around the neckline. Dylan turned to look at me, a smile spreading across his face.

"What?" I asked, not liking the way he was looking at me.

"You have to try it on," he insisted.

"Why? I don't have anywhere to wear a dress like that."

"Just do it," he told me. "If you like it, I'll find you a place to wear it. Come on, that dress is perfect for you."

The dress was not at all my style—it was much bolder than anything I would usually wear. But, it was pretty much impossible for me to say no to Dylan when he was giving me the puppy dog eyes. In a moment of weakness, I found myself walking into the store and over to where the dress was hanging on the rack. Dylan rifled through the stack of dresses, pulling one out and handing it to me.

I glanced down, surprised to see that it was my size. "How do you know my dress size?" I asked.

Dylan smirked. "Really, Faye?" he asked. "I know everything about you."

"What are you, some kind of stalker?" I joked.

"Nope, I'm your best friend. And you've made me help you with laundry a few too many times."

I laughed, stepping into the dressing room and pulling the dress on. It slid snugly over my hips, hugging my curves in all the right places, and when I looked in the mirror, I was surprised that I actually did like the dress. It was beautiful without being too much.

"Well?" Dylan called. "Aren't you going to let me see?"

I grinned. "Nope," I said, shucking the dress off and returning it to the hanger. "You were right, though. It looks amazing, and I'm definitely getting it."

"Come on, Lilly, that's not fair!" he protested.

I changed back into my own clothes before stepping out of the dressing room, slinging the dress over my arm. "I guess you're just going to have to find someplace for me to wear it if you want to see it on," I teased. "It will be a surprise."

Dylan shook his head. "You're a cruel woman, Faye," he said.

"But you know you love me."

"You're right," he agreed. "I do."