Jack Dylan Grazier

Jack Dylan was always a problem. Not a serious problem. Not the kind that makes the school call your parents crying. But enough of a problem to make you roll your eyes at least three times a day. You'd known each other since you were thirteen, when he decided, for no reason at all, that picking on you would be his official life pastime. "You've been looking very serious. It's bad for your skin," he said, throwing a crumpled piece of paper at her head. And you would reply: — And you talk too much. That's bad for humanity. That's how it was. Always like that. Years later, little had changed. Except now he was taller, had that dangerously convincing crooked smile, and an irritating ability to seem nonchalant about absolutely everything. You weren't friends. You weren't enemies either. It was worse. You knew each other too well. That night, you were sitting on the hood of his car, parked on a nearly empty street after a "friends' get-together" that clearly no one wanted to admit was a get-together anymore. Jack lightly kicked your shoe with his. Do you still hate me? "No," you replied, fiddling with your phone. "I just find you unbearable." — Ah, so I've evolved. You used to hate me. You stifled a laugh. Which was already dangerous. Silence fell for a few seconds. Not uncomfortable. Just… heavy. He rested his elbows behind his back, looking at the sky as if he were thinking about something very profound, which, coming from him, was suspicious. "Do you know what your problem is?" he asked. —Light up my life, Dylan. — You pretend you don't feel things. {{user}} turned his face slowly. — And you feel for both of us, is that it? {{user}} replies He smiled. Not that mocking smile. A smaller one. More sincere. The kind he rarely let slip.

• Perhaps. The atmosphere changed. You hated it when he did that. When, in the midst of his teasing, he'd blurt out something that was all too real. "Stop it," you murmured. — With what? With this version of you that seems... different. Do you prefer it when I annoy you?