Chapter Ten.

Evan doesn't look the least bit phased by Van walking in on us. I, on the other hand, push away a little. The look on Van's face changes, like for a second it might actually bother him to see another guy kissing me. That look is gone within seconds.

"I thought you were 'beat and turning in for the night', Abby. This isn't your room," Van presses, like he's trying to tell me to get out.

I glance at Evan who's sitting on the bed next to me and quickly think of some snappy comeback. I can't let Van be a problem to my relationship and that's exactly what he is right now. "Well, since you're quite the prankster, my bed is still outside, in the snow," I smirk. "Kyle's sleeping with Lia now, and I'm sleeping with Evan," I explain.

"Aw, you mean we aren't having one of our annual sleepovers? The other side of my bed is free. Though, it's not as comfy as yours." Van teases, pretending to be disappointed. "Rule number six is hands above the covers, Evan," he warns, chuckling.

"Are those her rules or yours?" Evan questions, his voice filled with venom. I'm shocked at Evan's tone, but I kind of like it.

"Actually those are her dad's rules. Although, me and Abby aren't really the type to follow the rules, are we, Abbs?" Van smirks, wrangling his eyebrows at me, and Evan's attention goes to me.

Evan's just looking at me for some sort of an explanation, but Van is doing it to get a rise out of me. Is he doing this to make me feel bad? Because that's how I feel; bad. I'm the type of girl that hates the feelings that come along with, in fact, being a girl. And Van is the one person that agitates those feelings. I try not to show how affected I am by the way he's treating me, but it's hard to do. And I probably deserve it. I guarantee that I acted this way when he was with Kendall. I was a bitch, but I was also joking, which isn't what Van is doing.

"Why do you have to be such a jerk?" I ask, rhetorically. "You know what, Evan, that's rule number three, to always remember that Van is a jerk," I state.

"Relax, I was just kidding," Van says, shrugging off what he just said. "Besides, Evan's not the type to let a girl give him rules, are you, Ev?"

Evan shrugs. "I don't know, but I'm liking rule number three right about now."

I laugh and reward Evan with a quick kiss for being a smartass to Van.

"Hey, I have an idea," Van exclaims, like he just discovered the secrets to the universe. "Why don't I sleep on the floor and then Abby, you, can have my bed?" He offers.

I furrow my eyes at him, baffled at his suggestion. "Thanks, but no thanks," I reply.

"Abbykins, I'm only looking out for you," Van explains, glancing at Evan, using one of his pet-names for me on purpose. "I mean, unless Evan has a problem with that."

I stand up from Evan's bed. "Can I talk to you for a sec? In the hall," I state through clenched teeth.

Van is making both Evan and I uncomfortable and he knows it. "Why certainly, babe, anything for you," he smirks.

I roll my eyes in disgust and walk towards the door, feeling Van following close behind.

I shut the bedroom door once Van and I are both in the hallway. "What the hell is your problem?" I whisper yell, but it comes out a little louder than expected.

"Look, Abby, you may not be aware of his intentions with you, but I am," He responds sternly. "I'm just trying to be a good friend."

I impatiently cross my arms over my chest. "If you want to be a good friend, maybe you should mind your own business," I snap.

"A good friend doesn't mind their own business," he states.

"Why do you even care?" I question.

"Abby, I don't know this stupid kid, are you even sure that you do?"

I start laughing. "Stupid kid?" I repeat. "You're a stupid kid, Evan's older than you," I remind him.

"Yeah," Van agrees, "which means that he's been stupid longer than me."

I have to give him points for that comeback. "Was I in your business when you were dating Kendall?"

"Yeah," he answers, nonchalantly.

I sigh. "Fine, but that was different."

"Exactly, which is why this," Van motions at Evan on the other side of the bedroom door, "is a bigger deal. One; I'm not a girl, two; I don't trust him and you shouldn't either."

"Why not?"

"Rule number seven, you can't trust anything with a penis," Van states.

"That's not one of my rules."

"Well, it should be."

"Then I guess that means I can't trust you," I throw at him, knowing that he hates it when I use his words against him.

He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.

I smile and whisper, "I win," then walk back into the bedroom. Instead of him leaving, walks right back in with me, looking a little frustrated.

I don't even understand why he's so... pissed about it? I'm sleeping in a bed with Evan, sleeping being the key word. Does Van really think that lowly of me, that I would actually fool around with Evan while he was in the room? That's what pisses me off.

You know, I've admitted my feelings to Van once, so it's his turn. If he actually has feelings for me, which I doubt a lot of the time, he will have to own up to them and tell me. I need him to tell me. Until then, I'm not going to waste time and perfectly good feelings on somebody who can't return those feelings. Evan likes me, really likes me, and I like him, not to mention that he doesn't have a problem with telling me he likes me, unlike Van. The more I get to know him, the more I can grow to like him. Evan's smart, and funny, we have a lot in common, which means that we won't have many arguments. I like not fighting.

Van knows just want to say to make me mad, and I hate that, because he will actually say those things to see me mad. I'm the same way. All Van and I do is find ways to hurt each other, sure, we may make-up, but that's not a good relationship, even for a friendship.

"Maybe we should go somewhere a little more private...the shower perhaps," Van suggests, bringing up past events.

I feel my cheeks getting hot. "Kiss my ass, Van," I snap, turning the door knob to walk back into the room.

"Gladly, bend over," he grins.

Before walking in, I punch him in the gut, hitting nothing but muscle. I didn't hit him hard enough to hurt him, just enough for him to grunt in pain. Hard enough so that as long as it keeps throbbing in pain, he'll think of me.

Evan's making up a spot on the floor for somebody to sleep on. "What are you doing?" I question.

"I'm sleeping on the floor," Evan tells me.

"What? No you aren't," I state.

"Yes, I am," he replies, looking past me, at Van.

"That's right, grow a pair, show her who's boss," Van jumps in.

I take a deep breath. "Van, do you want me to hit you a little lower?"

"I think I can sleep on the floor for one night," Evan assures me.

I sigh, fed up with fighting with Van for one night.

I wake up in the middle of the night and look around the room. Van is where he's supposed to be and Evan's on the floor. Van's such a jerk for making Evan sleep on the floor. I would've offered to sleep there, but I'm not the one with the problem.

I quietly sneak out of the room and go downstairs into the kitchen. I need a glass of chocolate milk to knock me back out again.

I grab a glass out of the cabinet and the chocolate milk out of the fridge. Halfway full, I stop and put the carton back on it's shelf in the fridge.

Just as I'm about to take a sip, Mitch walks in. "Can't sleep?" I ask.

"Actually, it's almost five, I thought I'd get up and get the gang motivated," Mitch tells me.

I nod along, finally taking a long gulp.

"So, how'd the sleeping arrangements go last night?" Mitch chuckles lightly.

I glare at him. "You don't want to know."

"I already know, Dex heard you two in the hallway and told me," he explains.

"He didn't..."

"He did," Mitch states.

"I guess the only question is, who's side are you on?"

"Neither. You and Vance will figure things out, without our help because we're done interfering."

"What are you talking about?"

"Abby, Vance is the one that told us to get Evan out of the way yesterday," he tells me.

"Why would he do that?"

Mitch stares at me like I'm stupid. "You see, even when guys make an attempt to show a girl how much they like her; girls are still too oblivious to notice..."

"That's stupid, if Van liked me, he wouldn't be such a jerk."

"Abby, do you think that Vance would go through all of the crap he has, to keep you from getting hurt by Evan, just to piss you off?"

"Duh, Mitch, it's what we do, we piss each other off," I say bluntly.

Mitch sighs. "You did the same things when he was with Kendall because you like him, how is this any different?"

"Evan isn't a slut-bag," I point out. "So there isn't any reason to be rude to him."

"Whatever," he finally gives in. "Just know that Vance isn't going to lose, so if you really want him, sometimes you have to lose some, to win some."

My first thought is our bet. Surely Van didn't tell any of the guys, did he? I'll kill him, if he did. "Lose what? What do you know? Who have you been talking to?" I interrogate, paranoid

"What are you talking about?" Mitch asks confused. "I meant that he isn't going to cave in first. Why? Is there something else I should know?"

I shake my head. "Nothing that concerns you," I tell him, quickly leaving the room before he can get another chance to say anything else.

I walk up the stairs with my chocolate milk in hand and I decide on waking Dex up first. I knock on the door a couple of times, but nothing. He must really be out. I mean, after Van, Evan and I went to sleep last night, who knows what happened.

"Dex! You better be dressed, I'm coming in," I warn, but still nothing. I open the door and see Dex sprawled out on the bed, snoring loudly. "Dex, wake up."

A groan escapes from his mouth. "Too early. Head hurts."

"I think you need to lay of the booze, Dexy," I say nicely. "Now get up, we're leaving in an hour. Go wake up Michael and The Slut." I start to leave, but I don't hear him getting up. "DEX!" I shout and he jumps in the sitting position.

"I'm up," he says, pushing the covers off of him.

Once my eyes take in the tight, leopard printed underwear he's wearing, I burst out into a fit of laughter. "Dex... why are you... wearing... those?" I ask in between laughs.

Dex looks down at himself while rubbing his eyes. "Dammit, Mitch!"

"How is that Mitch's fault?" I question, still laughing.

"He dared me to go outside in the snow with them on," he informs me. "I guess I forgot to put pants back on."

I still can't stop laughing. "Come with me," I demand, pulling him by the arm into the room Van and Evan are sleeping in. "Go jump on Van and wake him up," I whisper to Dex.

"He's not going to hit me, is he?" Dex checks.

I shake my head. "I got your back, Bro," I assure him, walking closer to Evan. I bend down and sit on the floor to wake him up. "Evan," say softly, shaking his shoulder. "Come on, you're going to want to see this," I tell him. Evan sits up and stretches, flexing his arms.

Yeah, I get it your manly, you have muscles, put a shirt on...

I watch as Evan takes in the current situation. "Is he wearing-"

"Yes," I confirm.

"Why...?"

"It's Dex, there is no other explanation," I giggle.

Evan chuckles lightly.

"Alright, get him Dex!" I say, setting my chocolate milk down.

Evan and I start laughing as Dex jumps on the bed, and jumps up and down. He starts screaming at the top of his lungs like Tarzan as he pounds on his chest. After a few seconds, Van wakes up and is looking around confused. Mean while, Evan and I can't stop laughing.

"What the hell, Dex?" Van grumbles. "Knock it off, man!"

"It's time to get up, we're leaving soon."

"So go put on some pants!" he orders.

Dex stops jumping and gets off. "Are you mad, Vance?"

"No," Van says annoyed.

"You sound mad," Dex replies.

Van sighs, realizing he's mad at the wrong person. "I'm not mad, Dex, just go put some pants on and burn those underwear."

"You mean they don't turn on the ladies?" Dex asks seriously.

"No, Dex, just... no," Van replies, finally laughing. "Do they turn you on, Abby?" he puts the spotlight on me.

"OH, totally, Dex," I tease.

"I like them, I think that they show of my wild, cheetah-like personality," Dex states, looking down, admiring the underwear. "I should get more of these things," he says, pulling the fabric and letting it snap back against his skin.

We all start laughing. "Okay, shows over, go put some pants on, for real," I tell him.

"Yeah, before they cut off the circulation to your balls," Van adds.

"No kidding, talk about nut-huggers," Evan says, getting Van to laugh even harder.

"They really aren't that bad," Dex attempts to explain. "They really comfort my-"

"Dex, why don't you go wake up Kendall and show her, she always was a kinky little thing," Van suggests.

"Michael better watch his back, he's got competition," Dex grins, leaving the room.

"He's so crazy, I would never wear a pair of those," Van announces.

"I'm right there with you, man," Evan agrees.

What is it with these two. One minute they hate each other, then the next they're "bros." I like it when they don't get along. I guess that just goes to show that when guys get in fights, it's whatever, but when girls do; it never ends.

By the time we actually make it back to my house, it's already eleven thirty at night. We had to drive really slow out of the snow. And of course, I got stuck in the car with The Slut, Michael, Evan, and Van. Talk about awkward moment, that was the longest moment of awkwardness ever. Van was driving in his truck which left me up front and Michael, The slut, and Evan all in the backseat.

To my surprise, Van actually goes to his house, I figured that he would just stay here so that neither of us have to be alone since his dad and my mom are out of town.

After taking Evan to his dorm, I leave as fast as I can to get back to my house. Today has been the longest day of my life and I'm too tired to function properly.

Right when I pull into my driveway, I notice Van starting to walk over to my house.

I get it, he was waiting or Evan to leave...

Shutting off my car, I get out and meet him in the middle of the road. "You could've just stayed, you know."

Van nods. "I didn't want Evan to think that there was something going on between us."

"Yeah, I could see how he would get that idea," I agree. "Considering you didn't really help the situation this weekend."

"I'm sorry I was a jerk," he says simply.

I shrug. "It's who you are, I didn't really expect anything else."

"It felt like the right thing at the time..."

"On the bright side, I thought you'd be a lot worse," I smile.

Half a smile forms on Van's lips. "You want to know the main problem I have with Evan?"

I sigh, getting annoyed. "Not really."

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Nothing's wrong with him," Van states. "I tried getting something out of him, the guys tried, Kendall even came on to him, but nothing. He's a genuinely good guy," he explains.

I nod, knowing all of this already. "I know he is."

"That's why I can't stand him," Van mumbles.

"Why? Because he's a nice guy?"

"Because he has..." he trails off into thought.

I cross my arms over my chest. "Has what, Vance?"

Van takes a deep breath before saying, "nothing, forget I said anything."

"No, Van, what were you going to say? What do you have on him? I mean I don't see what your problem is. Would you rather see me with some douche bag that didn't deserve me."

"Abby, no guy deserves you," Van corrects, like it's a fact.

"If only you could be sweet all of the time," I laugh.

"I'll work on it, for you," he says.

I lean in closer and wrap my arms around him, but he doesn't respond. "What's wrong?" I question.

"Nothing, sorry, I still can't get the image of Dex in those underwear out of my head," He chuckles.

I smile, finally feeling his arms snake around my waist.

It's times like this that get me in trouble. When it's just the two of us, I don't trust myself with him. I can't.

****

<3 JustKaylay..