Two

DYLAN'S POV

"I cannot believe you did that to Morgan. You know she hates you even more now, right?" Tyler said. He has been going on and on about how much hatred Morgan felt towards me ever since we left the court. Her brother had almost beaten the shit out of me and if it weren't for coach, he probably would have.

"Well I had to do something to get her attention. She hadn't looked at me once since she entered the gym." I opened the front door to my house and closed it after Tyler got in.

There was no one at home and I sighed in relief. This just meant Tyler and I had a few hours to play video games before my mom got home with my little sister and she nagged me about doing my homework.

"If you want her to like you, you gotta stop pissing her off man. The ladies don't like that." I rolled my eyes and dropped my car keys in the bowl by the door.

"Like you know about girls, Mr. I-don't-wanna-have-a-girlfriend-till-I-become-a-senior-and-that's-only-if-she's-into-basketball." It was his turn to roll his eyes.

"Morgan doesn't like me…"

"Because you keep making her mad and you keep calling her Squeaks." I smiled at the nick name I had gotten for her. She hated that nick name as much as she hated me.

I opened the cupboard in the kitchen and brought out a bag of Doritos. I emptied the bag in a bowl and Tyler took out two bottles of coke from the fridge.

"If I don't push her buttons, there's no way she would acknowledge my presence. I can't live without her knowing I exist."

"There are other ways to make her notice you, like if you stop taking her front row seats…"

"I can't do that. That's what makes her talk about me more. I noticed that she was looking at me today in the cafeteria." There was a huge smile on my face as I remembered turning to see her eyes already on me. I couldn't stop thinking about her throughout Literature class.

"Maybe if you do something nice for her, she'll stop viewing you as a jerk face."

"The time for me to redeem myself in the eyes of Morgan has long passed. She'll never see me as anything more than an asshole." I picked up the controls and popped a few Doritos in my mouth before hitting 'play' and starting the football game that was on display.

"That is why I have decided to just go along with her feelings. At least I know that she thinks about me even if she's just thinking up ways to end me. It's nice to know I'm on her mind." I flashed him a smile and he shook his head while muttering, "Sick bastard."

We continued playing for ten more minutes until my phone buzzed and I called for a time out. A smile appeared on my face as I read the message.

"The only person that can make you smile like that is the person that wants to annihilate you and I doubt with every fiber of my being that she'll text you."

I put my phone down and picked up the controls for the PS.

"Morgan didn't text me. It's from my dad." A frown appeared on Tyler's face and he dropped the controls. I paused the game and looked at him.

"Now what?"

"Nothing," he said and stuffed his mouth with Doritos. He was looking at the picture of my mom, sister and I that was hanging on the wall in my living room.

"Ty, I know that face. Just tell me what's on your mind. I will get it out of you one way or the other." He sighed and scratched his head before turning to face me. His expression was neutral and he stared at me keenly.

"What did he say?" His voice was low and barely audible.

"He's coming home this weekend."

"And you're happy about that?" I raised my brow at him.

"Shouldn't I be?"

"You know he's not gonna show, right?" I frowned at his tone. Tyler was always pessimistic when it came to my dad. I get that he was only trying to look out for me but sometimes, I just felt like he hated my dad so much, even if he did do the right thing, it'll never be good enough for him.

"Dude, come on," I said and stood up from the couch. Tyler followed me to the kitchen.

"So you do know?"

"He's gonna come. I even told him about the big game we were having next month and he promised he'll be there." Tyler sighed in frustration and grabbed the edge of the counter so tight, his knuckles turned white.

"You told him about the game?"

"Of course I did. If I hadn't told him, he wouldn't have cleared his schedule."

"Dylan, this game is the most important game for us for the season. I don't want you to be distracted by his not showing up. You need to focus." I opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

"He's gonna show. He already promised. Look, I don't mind that he doesn't come for any of my other games, but he knows how important this game is for me so he's gonna show. He already promised."

"Just like he promised to come for your birthday two months ago," he muttered. I pretended like I didn't hear him and walked back to the living room.

"Are you gonna come let's continue this or are you going keep sulking there?" I asked when I sat down and Tyler was still in the kitchen. He showed up seconds later, his face still like when I left him.

"I think I'm just gonna head home."

"Are you kidding me? We're almost done with this game. I have only one and a half hours left of sanity before Forest comes home and makes me wear a fucking tutu with her. Dude, you cannot bail on me right now." But he was already bailing on me. His bag was slung over his shoulder and he was twirling his motorcycle key he had left in my house when he came this morning in his index finger.

"I'm sorry, but I have home work to do. Linda hates late submission." We both knew he wasn't leaving because of homework. It was because of my father. Each time we talked about him, he always had this sad and depressed look on his face and he preferred to walk away than talk it out with me.

"I'll see you tomorrow man. Say hi to Forest and Evie for me." And with that, he left. I heard the sound of his motorcycle revving before it skidded away from my drive way. The silence that followed was deafening and I started regretting not having that many friends. Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to do what Tyler said he was going home to do. My chemistry textbook was already out on my desk in my room so I decided to do that instead.

Half way into reading about polymers, I heard the front door open.

Oh no.

A few seconds later, the sound of the door closing was accompanied by a tiny squeal and tiny footsteps bounding up the stairs. I heard my mom yell "No running up the stairs," but that didn't stop Forest from running and reaching my room in record time.

"Hey there…umph!" She was on me like a freaking Monkey and was screeching about something that I just did not get because she wasn't exactly speaking proper English. My mom was at my door looking at the both of us.

"I thought you guys still had an hour outside the house." She gave me a flat look and I quickly added, "Not that I don't like that you're here now." I finished off with a tight smile.

"Her ballet class got cancelled because their teacher got food poisoning or something."

"Dilly, guess what?" I looked down at the bubbly six year old that was sitting on my lap.

"Mom got you ice cream?" I asked as I spotted the pale vanilla color on her dress. And she kinda reeked of it too.

"How'd you know?" she asked, her surprisingly large eyes growing wider. I chuckled and set her well so she was facing me.

"I told you before I was psychic. I know things," I said and tapped her nose. She giggled.

"Well then, Mr. Psychic, did you know that you left a bowl on the center table with two soda bottles there? Who's the second bottle for?"

"Tyler. He left early to go do homework." My mom gave me a knowing look.

"So, what did your dad say?" Forest gasped and put her hand in her mouth.

"Daddy came?" I shook my head and she pouted.

"No sweetie, but he said he was coming this weekend." Mom didn't say anything. I knew she wanted to but she held her tongue, probably for Forest's sake. I knew she was going to say the exact same thing that Tyler said.

"Dylan, honey, I'm really tired, so I'm just gonna order pizza."

"Pizza!" Forest screamed. I chuckled and threw her over my shoulder. She giggled and squirmed as I ran down the stairs with her.

"Do not drop her young man," my mom yelled from upstairs before I heard the door to her room closing echo in the hall.

"Do you wanna hear about my special girl?" Her brown eyes lit up immediately and the way she nodded made me think her head would fall off her neck.

"I got her to say…" I thought back to my encounter I had with Morgan today. The glaring…and more glaring and even more glaring…

"Well, zero words to me…" Forest sighed and face palmed herself.

"But she did look at me longer than twelve minutes in total so that's a plus." She shook her head and grabbed my face in those tiny hands of hers.

"You are not making progress." She let go of my face and went over to where our home line was and picked up the phone. Then she handed it to me.

"Pizza." I snatched it from her and dialed the pizza place. After I had placed my order, I gave her back the phone.

"What do you think I should do?" To some, asking my baby sister for girl advice might sound crazy, or absurd or to some people, ethically inappropriate, but Forest Park gives the best advice. Well, it would have been the best if I actually used them. And if they could actually be applied in my situation.

"Did you buy her flowers like I said?" I scoffed and rolled my eyes. If I did that, Morgan would have set them on my fire. She would never accept anything from me. Never.

"It didn't work." She gasped.

"Really? I thought all girls loved flowers."

"It's not the flowers, Forest, it's me. She doesn't like me." I stood up from where I was sitting on the couch and went over to the window. I peered out into the street that was slowly being consumed by darkness.

"Any girl who doesn't like you is big dummy." I spun around quickly and held up my index finger to her.

"Now, now, I would agree for any other girl but not this one. She's special. And she has the right to not like me." I sighed and bent my head in shame whispering, "I treat her like trash." I looked out the window with a wistful look on my face. I hated that Morgan hated me, but the only way she was ever going to talk to me was if I pushed her buttons.

"I did tell her I liked her though." My little sister's eyes widened.

"Really? How did she-wait," she said with a frown growing on her face. "Was it…"

"Yes," I said before she got to complete her sentence. I already knew what she was going to ask.

"You can't keep telling her you like her like that. She doesn't understand Korean. Tell her in English."

"And have her laugh at my face? Hell no! I'll keep telling her in Korean. She keeps thinking I'm insulting her though which, to be honest, cracks me up. If she really wants to know the meaning, she'll Google it."

"Neo babo-ya." I looked down at that really tiny creature calling me stupid. If only I could wring her.

"You shouldn't be talking to me like that. I'm older than you." Forest rolled her eyes stuck her tongue out at me.

"Then act like it. If you like her so much, man up and tell her. In English."

Since when did this little one become so wise? And loud mouthed? What the hell are they teaching her in that ballet class of hers?

Forest tugged at the sleeve of my hoodie and I looked down at her

"What?" I said with a little edge to my tone so she would get the hint that I was mad at her.

"I know what could make you feel better." Her big brown eyes were rounded and her little pink lips were pursed. I couldn't stay mad at her for the life of me.

"What's that?"

"Braid my hair." I groaned and fell back on the couch. This was one of the reasons I didn't want her home this early. I wanted her to be so tired she wouldn't be able to feel her eyelids. I was just glad she didn't ask me to practice ballet with her this time around.

"That'll only make me feel worse. Besides, your hair's already braided." And just as I anticipated, she unbraided it.

"I like when you do it. Mom doesn't know how." She crinkled her nose and put her index finger to her lips.

"But don't tell her I said so." I chuckled and lifted her up to the couch.

"Fine, but I'm eating half of your pizza." She nodded.

"When you're done with mine, I'll braid yours."

"No!" But she didn't listen and kept going on and on about how many hair pins she's going to use. She said something about using the pink and purple princess type for my hair. I was just silently praying that the pizza guy came before I was done with her hair.