Chapter 29.
Once we went to my dad, mom and step-dad with the proof of Avery's psychotic torment, Avery was grounded. Big time. More importantly, she wasn't going to be bothering me anymore. I didn't quite convince my dad to go for a restraining order, but Avery was no longer welcome in his home unless she sought mental health counseling and had a major attitude adjustment towards me. My mom and step-dad had even cut their trip short so that Avery could stay with them for the remainder of break, Since I was no longer going to be rooming with her at school either, it meant that I was finally free, once and for all.

To celebrate, Kelsey invited our small group of friends over to her house for a party. It was just Kelsey, Zach, Cassie, Dylan, Luke, Madison, and I. I snuggled up next to Dylan on the couch, twining my fingers through his. It felt so right, and I wondered how I had been so oblivious for so long. Dylan was my best friend, and everyone knew that in the best relationships, your best friend and your boyfriend are one and the same. Dylan wrapped his arm around my shoulders, squeezing me lightly, and a grin spread across my face. How had I gotten so lucky?

Kelsey eyed the two of us, a small smile playing on the corners of her lips. "I guess I should probably come clean now," she said.

I froze, sitting up. She had said that once before, right before revealing a hare-brained scheme to get Luke and I together, one that had involved breaking Luke and Madison up, making Luke jealous of my friendship with Dylan, and ultimately, getting Luke to ask me out. I was getting a serious case of deja vu here. But surely not. No way would I have been stupid enough to miss another of Kelsey's matchmaking schemes. Right?

"Come clean about what?" I asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at her.

Kelsey drew in a deep breath. "Just promise me you won't hate me after this," she began.

I shrugged noncommittally. "I promise I won't hate you," I agreed. "But, I can't promise I won't be annoyed, irritated, or upset with you."

Kelsey smiled. "That's probably fair," she admitted. "Okay, so this all started way back in high school, the summer before senior year, when I noticed that you and my brother were awfully close friends, and would make the cutest couple ever. I thought you would get together on your own, but then you started dating Ben, and I backed off. I learned my lesson last time," she promised. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt by my meddling."

I laughed disbelievingly. "I appreciate that. But did you honestly want me and Ben to break up?"

Kelsey smiled sheepishly. "Sort of?" she said. "It was just so painfully obvious that he wasn't right for you. But I was good. I minded my own business, and waited for you to figure that out on your own."

"Get to the point, Kels," Dylan said beside me. "As much as I'm sure Lilly appreciates hearing about you not meddling in her dating life, you wouldn't be coming clean if you hadn't meddled somewhat."

I smiled at Dylan's words, snuggling my face into the crook of his neck and planting a soft kiss there.

"Eww, get a room!" Kelsey squealed. "Just because I think you two make a cute couple, it doesn't mean I want to watch my best friend make out with my brother."

Luke grinned at her. "I think you asked for it by meddling."

Kelsey shook her head, glaring playfully at me. "So anyways, as I was saying, I had decided to take the high road and not meddle. But then, you called me distraught because Dylan was dating Avery, and Ben had broken up with you, and I realized you desperately needed my help. So, I meddled. A little bit."

Kelsey's gaze swept over to Luke. "I knew I needed to get Dylan to break up with Avery, so I enlisted the help of Luke. He was already going to be at your school for a football game, so it worked out perfectly. Since they're so competitive with each other, I thought seeing you with Luke would make Dylan pretty jealous. Maybe even jealous enough to make him break up with Avery."

I turned towards Luke. "So, wait, you were in on this? What about that kiss? I kind of thought you might still have feelings for me."

Luke winked at me. "If you'll recall, you kissed me. And I do have feelings for you, but they're feelings of friendship. You were right to end things between us. We were good together, but we didn't have tons in common. But I wasn't complaining about kissing you, especially since I had a score to settle with Dylan. He did the same thing to me, remember. I couldn't let him win."

I snorted. Of course not. Kissing me to make a point was such a guy thing to do.

Dylan glared at his sister and cousin. "You do realize my team lost to Luke's because of that, right?" he asked.

I smiled up at him. "Aww, I didn't even know you cared about that kiss," I told him.

He smiled down at me, tapping me on the nose. "Of course I did, you goof," he told me. "I only dated Avery to make you jealous. You're the one I wanted. So anyways, I broke up with Avery. Then what, Kels?"

Kelsey was silent for a long moment, biting her lip as she struggled with what to say. "Well, you see," she began, "this is where things start to get interesting."

I quirked an eyebrow, glancing around the room to see how everyone else was reacting to the news. Dylan was sitting there with a smirk on his face, looking a little amused. Zach and Cassie were shaking their heads at Kelsey, clearly not surprised at her antics. And Luke and Madison...didn't look all that surprised.

"So, when things blew up at Thanksgiving, it was pretty obvious that you had no intention of forgiving Dylan anytime soon, Lilly. I needed to nudge things along, so I convinced him to drag you Black Friday shopping with him. I thought spending time with him one on one would get you to forgive him and make you realize he liked you. But, you can be a little dense about that sort of thing. You forgave him, but didn't seem to realize he liked you as more than a friend."

"That's when I recruited Madison. I started having her hang out with Dylan to make you jealous. And, at the same time, Luke was still hanging out with you to make Dylan jealous. I was working both sides of the equation, see?" Kelsey looked a little too proud of herself for this.

I looked over at Madison and Luke, who were both smirking. "You were both in on this? Really?"

Madison laughed. "I couldn't resist. The last time I was part of one of Kelsey's schemes, I was Avery, and you were plotting to get rid of me. I wanted to be part of you getting your happy ending."

The corner of Luke's mouth turned up into a half smile. "I just wanted to mess with Dylan."

"This is so messed up," I muttered to Dylan, who nodded in agreement.

"So yeah, it wasn't a coincidence that Luke came to stay with you for the last week of the semester. I needed to make Dylan jealous, and nothing would make him more jealous than Luke sharing a room with you, even if it was platonic. And I suggested that Dylan ask Madison to the dance, knowing that it would make Lilly jealous, and since Madison was in on it, she wouldn't expect to start dating Dylan."

Kelsey shrugged. "The rest was pretty straightforward. Lilly spent time with Luke and realized he wasn't the guy she really wanted to be with, Dylan finally manned up enough to tell Lilly he has feelings for her, and now the two of you are cuddled up on the couch, acting like the cutest couple ever. You're welcome."

"I can't believe your plan actually worked," I said disbelievingly. "Again."

"You are really manipulative, Kelsey," Dylan added, glaring at her.

I sat quietly, my hand still entwined with Dylan's and he stroked the back of my hand with his thumb soothingly. On one hand, I was annoyed and a little angry that Kelsey, Luke, and Madison had all been so manipulative in pushing Dylan and I together. But at the same time, it was hard to argue with the results. I really liked Dylan, probably more than I had ever liked a guy. Maybe I even loved him, although time would tell.

As much as I thought my friends were wrong for meddling in our lives, part of me wondered if Dylan and I would have ever ended up together without their interference. Maybe eventually? But Dylan had been my best friend for so long, I hadn't even considered him as boyfriend material. And Dylan hadn't ever told me his feelings. So if our friends hadn't sped things along, there was a good chance that Dylan and I would never have ended up together.

Kelsey let out a soft sigh. "I know this is the part where I'm supposed to say that I'm sorry, and I promise to never meddle again," she said. "And I know that this is going to sound terrible, but I'm really nor sorry. I didn't break anyone up this time. I learned my lesson about that last time. I only gave you guys a gentle shove in the right direction. My idiot brother didn't seem to be in any hurry to make his feelings known, and Lilly, I love you like a sister, but you can be completely dense when it comes to guys. In this case, I think the ends justify the means."

I pulled my hand out of Dylan's, turning on the couch so I was facing him. His face had a bemused expression, and I could tell that he wasn't really angry about Kelsey's plan, even though she had been a little out of line.

"I would have told Lilly how I felt eventually," Dylan insisted. "When the time was right. But admittedly, you did help speed things along." Turning to face me, he said, "If Kelsey hadn't meddled, then I might not have had the confidence to do this." He grasped my chin gently, pulling my head up towards him as he lowered his lips onto mine. The kiss was warm, soft, and full of promise, and I felt like I was going to melt into a puddle of goo right there in his arms.

When he pulled back from the kiss, a wide smile spread across my face. "Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean we have to thank them for it," I said.

Dylan smirked. "Definitely not. And I think since Kelsey has seen fit to meddle in our love life, it gives us full license to meddle in hers."

"Oh, absolutely,"" I agreed. "Kelsey, brace yourself, because we are setting you up in the future. No way am I letting you stay single and depriving you of the full Kelsey matchmaking experience."

Kelsey's face paled. "That won't be necessary," she said hurriedly. "My dating life is fine. And look, you don't even have to thank me. Just be happy together, and that's all the thanks I need."

"I don't know, Kels," I teased. "It's been quite a while since you broke up with Austin, and since you've gotten me together with not one, but two boyfriends now, I think it's only fair that I return the favor."

Luke cleared his throat. "While we're all coming clean about everything, I have something I'd like to add," he said, and I looked over to see that Luke was grasping Madison's hand in his own.

Kelsey's eyebrows shot straight up. "Wait... are you and Madison...?"

Madison smiled broadly. "We've been keeping our relationship under wraps, for obvious reasons, but now that Dylan and Lilly know everything else, there's no reason for secrecy. Luke and I are back together."

"What? How?" I asked, glancing back and forth between them.

Luke shrugged. "Remember that party we went to together, Lilly? Madison helped me get you home safely after you'd been drinking. We talked for hours that night after you passed out, and we started texting and talking on the phone again. We made things official last week."

"So, you're going to do the long distance thing?" Dylan asked, raising his eyebrows at Luke.

Madison shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "Actually, I'm transferring to Ohio. I was already thinking about it. They have a great nursing program there, and I could earn my master and bachelors degree at the same time. I had already applied to transfer there, and since Luke and I are together and he goes to school there...it's sort of a no-brainer."

Kelsey looked shocked. "Wow. I did not see that coming," she said. "I guess I owe you two an apology then," she said meekly. "If you still like each other all these years later, I probably shouldn't have worked so hard to break you guys up. Especially since Luke and Lilly weren't destined to be together."

Luke smiled at her. "No, you shouldn't have," he said. "But I'm glad that Lilly and I dated. I really liked her, and I wasn't ready to commit to any relationship seriously in high school. Madison and I probably would have broken up anyways. But please, keep that in mind for your future matchmaking schemes. Just because a relationship doesn't make sense to you, doesn't mean it isn't real."

Luke pulled Madison in for a kiss, and Zach and Cassie followed suit and started kissing too. Dylan observed the other couples with a smirk, and, not about to be outdone, lowered his lips onto mine once again, and the whole world faded away. All that existed was me and Dylan, his lips on mine. His tongue gently prodded my mouth, and I opened for him, feeling like I was going to spontaneously combust as he deepened the kiss.

Kelsey let out a harsh cough. "Okay, okay, you can all stop now," she groaned. "I think I need to get some new friends. You are all disgusting."

"Or you could just get a new boyfriend and join us," Dylan teased her. "Kissing is actually fun when you have someone and don't have to awkwardly watch all your friends making out."

As I laughed with my friends, I realized that I really did have it all: an incredible group of friends, a supportive father, and an amazing boyfriend--the guy who had been my best friend for years, who wasn't perfect, but was perfect for me. I had started the year with an idea in my head of what I'd thought college would be. What I had found wasn't at all what I had expected, but I was thankful for it nonetheless. My life felt like a fairy tale. If this was a dream, it was one I never wanted to wake from.
—
I'm really excited to see y'all's reaction on this chapter and everything that went down.

Kelsey flipped the tables and worked with Luke to get Dylan and Lilly together instead of the other way around.
What are your guys thought on this??

Just one chapter left now!

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