From Eden.

Zacky didn’t respond to what I said. His whole body stiffened and for a moment, I thought about taking a peek into his head to see if Matt was talking about the Gena I knew.

“Gena Paulhus. She goes to Huntington. She’s my ex.” Zacky muttered through gritted teeth, glaring at his little brother.

“Oh.” Was all I could reply. I was suddenly thankful I hadn't tried to take a look in his head, for I was certain I would have been crushed. The feeling of hurt spread throughout my entire body, but so did the feeling that I had done something very, very wrong. Gena had been the only person to ever really be nice to me, and last night I had been cuddled up to her ex-boyfriend and enjoyed every second of it. It made me feel dirty.

“Come on Del, let’s go.” Zacky mumbled, pulling his car keys from his pocket. I followed him to his car, and climbed into the passenger seat, my hands shaking as I buckled my seat-belt. The look on his face was not pleasant.

“Ignore Matt.” he grumbled as he started his car. I nodded, letting him know I had heard him and looked down at my hands.

“Are you two going to get back together?” my voice sounded small and squeaky, and I silently cursed my mouth for allowing the question to fall from my lips.

“It’s...complicated.” Zacky said, sighing and running a hand through his mane of wavy black hair. I believe that’s the moment you could hear my heart break.

This is why you don’t open up to anyone, didn’t I tell you? a voice in the back of my head nagged. It only took me one night and morning for me to learn this lesson the hard way. I wasn't blaming Matt for bringing it up, he was probably just looking out for Gena.

“Are you mad at me?” Zacky asked, noticing I hadn't said anything.

“I don't know what to say,” I mumbled, looking out at the window. It was the truth, because I really didn’t know how to approach this topic with anyone, much less him.

Zacky stayed silent for the rest of the drive until we pulled into Brian’s driveway. Matt’s truck was there, along with another car that I guessed was either Jimmy’s or Johnny’s. Upon hearing Zacky’s car pull up, Johnny came out from Brian’s front door, a grin plastered all over his face. He looked happy to see me getting out of Zacky’s car, thinking that he had done something right. He did, sort of, but he didn’t think that it would end like this.

Everything okay? he asked, noticing the changes. The fact that Zacky and I weren’t speaking, even though he had brought me here was a big red flag to him.

Get out of my head Johnny, please. I told him, sitting down on the black leather couch in Brian’s living room.
“Ugh, I'm so bored!” Jimmy exclaimed, throwing his bag of chips in the air, and yet he didn’t spill any of them.

The entire room was quiet, each of the guys were wondering what was up with me and Zacky. I could see the confused looks on their faced and noticed that Jimmy wasn't someone who liked to be in quiet places, that I could tell from how loud his voice was when it broke the eerie silence that filled the entire living room of Brian’s house.

“Maybe we should play a game.” Johnny grinned, grabbing the remote out of Jimmy’s hands and shutting off the TV. Jimmy threw a handful of chips at Johnny, that exploded all over Brian’s living room floor.

“Y’all fuckers are cleaning that up.” Brian said as Matt moved from the chip assault and sat down beside me. He had noticed something was up between me and Zacky. He was definitely the most logical one out of all of the guys. Zacky sat across the room, on the love-seat next to Jimmy, who was still stuffing chips in his mouth. I would catch myself staring at him every once in a while, but, at the same time, I would catch him looking right back at me.

“Like what?” Brian asked, getting up and walking into his kitchen to retrieve a broom and dustpan. He held them out to Jimmy to clean up his mess and a groan escape from Jimmy’s throat as he stood up, crumbs falling off his shirt as he swept the mess up.

“How about Dare?” Jimmy smirked, as he bent over to sweep the chips up and everyone rolled their eyes as they groaned.

“What’s that?” I asked Matt, wondering why Jimmy’s suggestion sounded slightly scary at how everyone reacted.

“He means Truth or Dare, but no one ever picks Truth, so we just changed it to Dare.” Matt stated, sighing slightly as everyone agreed eventually. I realized that this must be the kind of game to play if you really got bored. Perhaps that’s why Jimmy wanted to play it.

“Oh come on guys! It’s perfect!” Johnny said with enthusiasm. I looked at Zacky, and he didn’t seem so affected by it. He probably would play this just to get his mind off of what his brother had said. I still didn’t know what to think, after how last night went. My heart sank at the thought of just being friends.

Everyone climbed off their seats and sat on the floor to begin the game. I’ll have to admit, it was pretty funny. Matt dared Jimmy to run through the neighborhood naked, and to be honest, I didn’t mind it one bit. What Jimmy lacked in wits, it was totally made up for in the downstairs department. Brian dared Johnny to walk over to his neighbors house and ask for a bra, which, poor Johnny, had to do. I felt so bad for him asking Brian’s neighbor for a bra that he could use. The neighbor, who I’m guessing felt bad for Johnny, considering he was probably stuttering up a storm, actually lent him one. We all almost died from laughter at that one. Johnny dared Zacky to call a random number and tell the person who answered if they wanted a sexy lap-dance with cake. I wasn't sure what kind of dance that was, but it sounded pretty funny. I was happy no one had picked me yet, but I had a feeling it was coming.

“Delilah.” Jimmy smirked, looking at me, causing everyone else to smirk and look at me as well. Well, everyone except Zacky. I stared at Jimmy with a worried look on my face, I was the only girl here so who knew what he had in mind for me. I watched as Jimmy thought up a dare for me to do, and saw Zacky stiffen and his eyes widen. Jimmy looked at me, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face, and in that moment, I knew I was screwed.

“I dare you to straddle Matt and make out with him for five minutes.”

The look on my face, I'm sure, was priceless. I felt like a deer in the headlights, as everyone - even Zacky - had their eyes on me. “And touching is required.” Jimmy said, as a giggle escaped his throat.

“Get to it!” Brian elbowed me in the arm as I stood up and made my way to Matt.

Matt and I sat down on the powder blue love-seat Brian had in his living room, shifting uncomfortably. I felt uncomfortable with them watching me, but I knew they had to, because if I wussed out of this dare, they’d never let me live it down. I looked at Matt, and he looked at me. We both knew there was no way getting out of this one.

I slowly sat up on my knees, facing the side of Matt and draped one leg over both of his. I sat down on his lap, facing him, as I straddled him just like Jimmy had told me to. My breathing became uneven as I awkwardly stared at Matt as he stared at me back. Everything was quiet in Brian’s living room as I placed my shaking hands on Matt’s forearms, his hands on my thighs. Every part of my brain was screaming no, and I could feel Zacky’s eyes burning a hole in my back.

I leaned my head in, hoping Jimmy would call off the dare, but he didn’t. I leaned in, moving my head a bit and closed my eyes, hoping this five minutes would pass very quickly. Soon enough, I felt Matt’s lips press against me and grimaced as we kissed. Matt’s hands went down lower and grabbed my butt as he tried to force his tongue past my lips. I scooted myself back a little, wanting to get away from him, but it was no use. His hands were locked on me, and it seemed like every time I turned my head, his mouth was still on mine.

Matt, stop, please. I begged him, hoping the other guys couldn’t hear my thoughts. Matt didn’t let up, and he had zero intentions of letting me go before the five minutes were over.

“ENOUGH!” the sound of Zacky’s voice rang like a bell when I felt a pair of hands on my arms yank me off of Matt’s lap. I fell to the floor, my bottom stung as I hit it, and I looked up at Matt. His cheeks were a deep crimson, and the rise in his pants was no trick of the eye.

“Uh, sorry, uh, Delilah.” he mumbled, standing up from the love-seat and walking to Brian’s bathroom. I looked around awkwardly, not sure what to do. Johnny extended his hand to help me up. The silence in the living room was scary, but the anger seething out of Zacky was even scarier.

“Hey Delilah, what’s your middle name?” Jimmy asked, trying to defuse the situation, seeing he would be at the receiving end of Zacky’s rage.

“I-it’s Faye,” I muttered, giving him a confused look as to why he would be asking me that, and then looking down at my hands.

“What the fuck kind of middle name is Faye?”

“I was named after my grandmother.” I told him. It was the truth, Christina’s mom had been named Faye, while Laura’s middle name was Jacob’s mother’s name as well.

“Ew. I like Ellie better.”

My brows furrowed slightly at what Jimmy had said. “What’d you call me?” I asked.

“Ellie,” Jimmy shrugged, “your middle name is too boring and Delilah is just too fucking long.” Everyone - except Matt, who was preoccupied in the bathroom - agreed, and I was officially stuck with a nickname that wasn't a shorter variation of my name.

At that moment, I had forgotten about the kiss with Matt, and the fact Zacky would rip Jimmy a new one once they were alone. For the first time, in a long time, I had friends.

Notes

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