4.

I gently shut the door to my room, attempting to be as quiet as possible so that I didn't wake Avery. It was only 8:00 am when I got back from taking a shower, and Avery was still sound asleep.

Things between Avery and I were still tense. We would get into petty arguments over the littlest of things. For example, yesterday she told me that I needed to clean up my side of the dorm room when the only thing that wasn't clean was my desk... that I was doing schoolwork at.

I tried my best to keep as much peace between us as possible, but she made it hard.

My phone began to vibrate in my pocket as I walked over to my  bed. Taking a seat on my bed, I pulled out my phone to see a text from Dylan.

I'm on my way up to your room. Breakfast? -Dylan

I smiled to myself. It'd been a few days since the last time Dylan and I had hung out so this text was a pleasant surprise. I'd kept myself occupied with schoolwork and phone calls to Ben that I hadn't seen Dylan, or talked to him, in a few days.

There was a knock at the door before I had the chance to respond and tell him that breakfast sounded great. I jumped to my feet and scurried back to the door, forgetting about my sleeping roommate.

"Hey," Dylan greeted with his signature side grin. "You up for a breakfast date?"

I returned the grin, nodding my head. "Sounds perfect. Let me just put on my shoes. Give me just a second."

I shut the door and turned to my closet to grab my sneakers, pulling them onto my feet.

"Was that your boyfriend?" Avery suddenly asked, causing me to jump slightly. I thought she was asleep.

"What?" I turned around to see Avery was up from her bed and standing behind me with her arms crossed over her chest. "The guy at the door?"

Avery shrugged, a few strands of her brown hair falling out of the messy bun on top of her head. "Is he not?"

Dylan was not my boyfriend, and I knew that, but I could tell that Avery was suddenly interested in  him. The thought of the two of them becoming friends did not sound very appealing to me. So, against my better judgement, I lied.

"Not that it's really any of your business Avery, but he is my boyfriend." I turned to the door, pulling it open with a self satisfied smirk on my face seeing the annoyed look on her face. "So paws off of him."

I could see the look of sudden amusement on Dylan's face as he caught on to the tension that was growing between Avery and I.

Avery's eyes were cold as she shot me a glare, unfolding her arms as she walked up to Dylan. "What would a handsome guy such as yourself be doing dating a girl like Lilly?"

A girl like me? What the heck was that supposed to mean?

Her hands snaked up to his shoulders and down to his biceps as she shamelessly checked him out. "I mean seriously, you could do so much better."

"Oh please," I huffed irritably, smacking her hands off of Dylan. "Better as in you? You are with a different guy every other day."

Avery brushed me off as if I was some annoying fly, continuing her flirting with Dylan. "With these impressive muscles you must be some sort of an athlete." Her hand went back up to Dylan's right arm as she squeezed his muscles once again. "Let me guess, football player?"

Dylan's lips curved into a toothless side grin. He was enjoying this whole situation a lot more than I was. "That'd be an accurate guess."

I knew that Dylan and I weren't actually dating, but seeing Avery flirt so shamelessly with him and him not seeing bothered by it was frustrating. Dylan was my best friend and he knew how much Avery got on my nerves and yet he wasn't putting a stop to her flirting.

"Receiver?"

"Quarterback," Dylan corrected, causing Avery's eyes to light up like a Christmas tree. I rolled my eyes. The more interactions I had and saw of Avery made me grow to like her even less.

Avery lowered her hand from Dylan's arm, taking a small step backwards. Her eyes briefly glanced in my direction, her attention then turned back onto Dylan. "Seriously though, what would a guy such as yourself be doing wasting your time with her?" She proceeded to nod in head at me.

Dylan's gaze followed her head nod until his eyes met my own. I could see a flash of sympathy in his eyes for a split second before it disappeared as quick as it had appeared. His hand suddenly reached over to mine, intertwining our fingers. "I happen to think I'm lucky to have landed myself a girl as amazing as Lilly."

A smile found its way back onto my face at his words, restoring my faith in our friendship. Dylan did still care about me even with a beautiful girl practically throwing herself at him. We weren't actually dating so in reality, if he wanted to get together with her, he would have every right.

"Now as nice as it was to meet you Avery, Lilly and I have a date." Dylan gave Avery a cheeky smile and pulled me out of the doorway of my room. Pulling his hand out of my own, he then snaked it around my back and began guiding me down the hallway, calling over his shoulder, "Have a good day."

Once we were down the hallway and out of hearing range for Avery, Dylan leaned down to my ear and whispered, "You're welcome."

I let out a small huff of air. Dylan was a good friend for playing along with my white lie. "I'm sorry for telling Avery that you were my boyfriend."

"I don't really care about your little lie, but why did you do it? Did you forget that you have an actual boyfriend?"

I shook my head, "I didn't forget about Ben."

I really hadn't forgotten about Ben, but when I saw how intrigued Avery had suddenly seemed when she saw Dylan, I didn't like it. The thought of her and Dylan together made my stomach twist so I lied to her and told her he was my boyfriend. I should have realized that Avery was the kind of girl who wouldn't care about that.

"Then why would you tell her that I was you boyfriend?" Dylan's eyebrow quirked upwards and he grabbed a hold of my arm, pulling me to a stop right in front of the stairs. A lighthearted laugh left his lips, his eyes focusing on mine. "Is this about the little rivalry between you two?"

I looked to the stairs, breaking eye contact with him. "When she was suddenly interested in my life because of you, I didn't like it." If she couldn't be civil towards me, the thought of her all over my best friend annoyed me. I didn't care if he wanted to be with any other girl, I just really didn't like Avery.

"Lilly," he laughed, a highly amused expression on his face, "why do you let her get to you so much? She didn't seem that bad."

She didn't seem that bad? Was he serious? I told her that he was my boyfriend and she still shamelessly flirted with him directly in front of him. If he really was my boyfriend, I would have smacked her upside the head the second she tried to touch him.

My eyes shot back onto his, shooting daggers at him. "Tell me you are joking."

"What?" Dylan shrugged, "She wasn't bad."

He was serious. I rolled my eyes, harshly pulling my arm out of his grip before starting my way down the stairs. I was both frustrated and a little disappointed that Dylan didn't understand the serious dilemma I had with Avery. As much as I loved him as a best friend, I was seriously missing Kelsey and my other girl friends.

"Oh come on,  you can't seriously be mad at me for saying that she didn't seem bad." Dylan called after me, waiting at the top of the stairs for a moment before decided to follow me down. "It's not like I didn't play along with your little white lie."

I ignored him, picking up my pace. How could he not see why I was mad?

"Seriously Faye?"

Reaching the bottom on the stairs, I stormed out of the dorm building, Dylan following behind me.

"Faye," Dylan repeated, catching up to me and grabbing my hand to spin me around to face him. The amusement on his face had been replaced with a look of slight annoyance by me ignoring him. "Why are you mad me? All I said was that she didn't do anything that bad."

My lips pierced into a tight smile as I ripped my hand away from him. "That's exactly why I am mad at you. You don't see why what she just did was bad."

Dylan crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows, "Enlighten me then."

A moment of silence came over us, our eyes locked onto each other's in a challenging manner. It was not often that the two of us fought, but I couldn't let this slide. I inhaled sharply, preparing myself for the long mouthful of lecture that was to come.

"Avery was hardcore flirting with you and not only did you not seem to think to stop it, you encouraged it," I finally hissed through gritted teeth, my frustration and anger shining through in my tone.

Dylan rolled his eyes, "We aren't actually dating. You do realize that, don't you?"

My blood began to boil. He just wasn't getting this.

"Yes I know that!" I snapped. My arms flew up to gesture to the dorm building, and more directly that Avery was inside, "but she didn't!"

My anger and frustration towards Dylan wasn't coming from the fact that Avery flirted with him and he didn't care. He had every right to like her and flirt back if he wanted. Dylan and I were not dating so he could feel whatever he wanted for her but Avery didn't know that. I had told her that we were dating and yet she still shamelessly flirted with him and he didn't see that? Avery purposefully flirted with him directly in front of me because I said we were dating and he didn't see why I was mad?

"As far as she knows, we are dating," I fumed, gesturing my hand between the two of us quickly. "Even though we aren't, she didn't know that when she still flirted with you directly in front of me, and you think that's okay?"

"But we aren't dating."

"She didn't know that!" I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air. How was he not getting this?

I took a large breath to try and calm myself down. Closing my eyes, I counted to five before I released the air and opened my eyes. Feeling slightly calmer, I took a step towards Dylan and tried once again to explain my frustration.

"The point is that she thought you were my boyfriend and regardless of that fact, she still flirted with you. Now I do realize that you aren't my boyfriend, but Avery didn't know that. As far as she knew she was feeling the muscles of my boyfriend." I took another deep breath, controlling my annoyance with Avery before finishing. "If you really were my boyfriend, I would have lost it on her the second she tried to touch you. If you don't see what's making me mad about all of this, well then I pity your future girlfriend."

Dylan's annoyed look fell from his face as he uncrossed his arms. "I'm sorry."

His voice sounded genuine and I couldn't help but suddenly feel guilty for even putting him in this position. If it wasn't for me lying about him being my boyfriend then we wouldn't be in this position.

"I'm sorry too," I admitted, lowering my head like coward. "I shouldn't have lied and put you in that position to begin with."

Dylan let out a soft chuckle, stepping closer to me and wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. "No, you shouldn't have lied to her. But I do understand why you are mad at her."

"So you see now why I hate her?"

"You did still lie to her."

I huffed, "she brings out the worst in me."

"That's a very accurate statement, I don't think I have ever seen you so mad," Dylan teased, pulling out of the hug.

My phone began vibrating wildly in my pocket, causing both me and Dylan to exchange a confused look. I laughed, pulling my phone out. "What could someone possibly want?"

OMG LUKE HAS A GIRLFRIEND
she tagged him in a recent photo on instagram
I feel so betrayed that he never told me-Kelsey

I raised an eyebrow. Luke hadn't posted anything on social media in well over a year and to my knowledge, he hadn't had a girlfriend since me. Although I was over him and happy with Ben, my curiosity got the best of me. Who was his new girlfriend?

Ignoring Dylan's confused look, I quit out of my messages and went straight to Luke's instagram, clicking on his tagged photos. Sure enough there was a recent photo posted from a few days ago of him with a pretty blonde. It was taken at what I assumed was one of his football games as he was in his uniform and she was wearing a hoodie with the same logo as his jersey on it.

My smile faded. The picture was similar to some that I had with him. With his arm wrapped around her shoulders, her right hand on his chest, and the two of them looking at each other laughing; they looked really happy together. I moved my finger to scroll slightly, reading the caption: 'You were right, football games can actually be fun. But only when I get to watch you win."

"No, no, no," I abruptly shrieked having accidentally double clicked on the photo to like it.

It would seem even worse to unlike the photo because then I would surely come across as though I was stalking, so I did what I thought would look the least suspicious:

I followed Lia Holloway.

----

HELLOOOOOO guys! I am so so sorry for taking so long to get this update to you, but I hope that it didn't disappoint. Dylan and Lilly had their first somewhat big of a fight, and Luke's mentioned for the first time.

I hope you all are excited to keep reading as I am to write both of these stories. Thanks for reading!