nineteen

Dylan shook, and the adrenaline that had been surging through his body ebbed away. The crowd that had gathered dispersed as quickly as it had formed, now that the action was clearly over. In no time, only Mike, Connor and the students from the ground floor of the hall remained.

"Come on, Mike, we should get gone before that lock-in becomes a lock-out."

"Good call. You, try and stay out of trouble." Mike pointed at Dylan.

"Go easy on him, Mike. He was just doing what any of us would have done for the wee lass." Connor turned to address Dylan and Jo, "If that moron comes around again tonight, give me a call. We'll be in Nag's Head. Don't look like that, I know it's a local's pub, but I know some locals. We've got a wee after hours bet, if you know what I mean. In the meantime, Dylan, I suggest you take Joanne home and look after her."

At that, Connor and Mike turned and left, leaving the ground floor alone.

"Your coat, Dylan," Nat said, handing it to him. "You ought to put it on, even if you are already soaked."

"Thanks Nat," said Dylan, pulling it on. "Connor's right, it's probably a good idea to get back to halls."

"There's just one problem, Dylan," Jo replied. "John's got my keys."

"What?" Natalie said so loudly that some of those that had formed the watching crowd turned around, wondering if they had missed the next episode.

"Come on Nat, you know what he's like. He insisted. That's probably why he backed off so easily; he knows he's got to go back up the hill anyway. His stuff is in my room; his car is on the car park. He wasn't lying when he said it wasn't over."

"We should go and get Connor," said Mark.

"Oh, he'll love that," said Dylan. "Excuse me, but could you just forget your lock-in and wait in Jo's room for the idiot you just ran off to turn up again? I can already tell you what he'll say, and the second word is 'Off'."

"What about tomorrow?" asked Nat. "We could get him to chase John off tomorrow."

"That's a better idea," said Dylan. "Jo can just stay with you tonight."

"I don't know," said Jo. "John came up with me earlier. He knows where Nat's room is. If he comes looking and finds me in her room, I don't know what he'll do. To either of us."

"Have my room then," said Dylan. "I'll kip on Mark's floor, if that's okay with you?"

"Fine by me," replied Mark. "But bring your own pillow."

"Thanks, you two," said Jo, relieved.

They crept back up Penglais Hill to the hall. Dylan and Jo hardly said a word, but the others chatted excitedly. When they arrived, Dylan unlocked his room to let Jo in.

He pulled back the bed covers and fished around in his drawers for a few seconds. He pulled out a pair of short pyjamas, plastered with pictures of Homer and Bart. He handed them to Jo.

"They're clean," he said, "and they should keep you warm. I'm just sorry about the motif."

"That's fine, I love The Simpsons."

"You get ready for bed, and I'll go and nick some hot chocolate off Mark. It should help you sleep, especially if I put some whisky in it."

"Thanks," said Jo.

Nat passed Dylan on his way to the kitchen and asked if she could talk to Jo for a while.

"I just want to tell her that I'll be in Frank's room if she needs me. Don't give me that look, he's just concerned in case that nutcase comes looking for Jo."

"I didn't say anything."

"So you don't mind?"

"Why would I mind you talking to Jo? It's her room tonight after all."

"I meant about sleeping on Mark's floor."

"Nat," said Dylan earnestly, "you were right. I couldn't bear it if Jo were to leave. If I had to kip on the cold, hard ground outside, with the rain beating down and threatening to give me pneumonia, to help to keep her here, then I would. It's the least she deserves."

Nat scurried off to say goodnight to her friend while Dylan made the drink he had promised. He made one himself at the same time, and then carried them both back to his room. Nat came out just before he got there.

"Goodnight Dylan, and in case I forget later, Thanks."

"For what?"

"Like you need to ask," she replied. "You came through, Dylan. You're a hero."

"I don't know about hero," he said, embarrassed. "It was really down to Connor; he chased him off in the end."

"And he wouldn't have gotten involved if you hadn't stood up to John the way you did. I knew you'd know what to do."

"I just did what..."

"Don't say anybody would have done the same, because you know that not everyone would. You even gave people the chance to, and nobody did anything, except you. Do you remember that I said I didn't know what Jo found so special about you?"

Dylan nodded.

"Well, now I do." Nat kissed Dylan on the cheek. "Goodnight, Dylan."

Before she skipped off down the corridor, Nat opened the door for him. Inside, Jo sat on his bed, her back against the wall and TV remote in hand.

"I put the telly on," she said. "I hope you don't mind."

Dylan shook his head. She was wearing the pyjamas, and her legs were stretched out in front of her. Dylan tried not to stare when she bent her legs up towards her chest.

"The jim-jams fit then," he said, walking over to her with the mug of hot chocolate.

"They're great. Oh thanks," she said, accepting the mug as Dylan offered it.

"Did you put some whisky in it?"

"Just a little."

"In yours too?"

"Of course. I think I'm still a little hyper. I could do with it to calm me down."

"I'm sorry that you have to sleep in Mark's. It doesn't seem fair somehow after what you did."

"It's not too bad. Turns out I'll get the bed at least. He's sleeping down in Andrea's room tonight. She's scared that John might go on the rampage looking for you."

"You'll stay until you finish your drink though, won't you?"

"If you want me to."

Dylan sat on the chair next to the bed and sipped from his mug. He winced. It was a little too hot. He rested it on his lap, leaning back into the chair and staring at the TV.

"Dylan, I just wanted to say..."

"Don't. Don't go thanking me. Nat is already casting me as the hero, and I suppose everyone else will when they hear about it, but I'm not. I'm not a hero. All I did was give you a way out. It was down to you to take it, and you grabbed it with both hands. You made that decision, even though it was really hard for you. Him standing there, watching. You're the hero here, not me."

"You're a hero to me."

"No, I'm not. I'm selfish, yes, but not a hero. I didn't come chasing after you to save you or anything like that. I did it because I didn't know how I'd cope without you. You've been Dennis to my Maggie. I'd have quit a long time ago without you to keep me going. I need you here."

They sat and sipped the whisky-laced chocolate.

"We seem to end up here a lot, don't we? Except it's usually me on the bed and you in chair."

"It was easier for me when it was. All I had to do was listen."

Dylan finished his chocolate and got up to leave. Jo leaned forward and reached out to him.

"Don't go. Not yet. I really don't want to be alone."

Dylan put his mug on the desk and sat back down in the chair. "I'll stay as long as you want me to."

"All night might be about long enough."

"Are you really that scared?"

"Yes. I wouldn't put it past John to bang on every door in the hall until he found me."

"I don't think he will. I think he knows that it's over. But if you'll feel better, then I'll stay a bit longer."

"Thank you."

For the next two hours they sat in relative silence and watched one of Dylan's videos.

"Dylan. You know earlier, when John was saying all those things about me, and you said that no-one would believe him?"

"To be honest Jo, the details are all a bit of a blur. I was angry."

"That's an understatement if ever there was one. I've never seen you like that. You looked ready to kill him. But I don't want you to try and spare my blushes by pretending that you can't remember what he said."

"Okay, I remember what he said, and I stand by my words. Anyone who knows you will find it very hard to believe any of the things he said. It just didn't sound like you."

Dylan got up and took the tape out of the machine, carefully putting it back in its case, and back in its place on the shelf.

"You know differently though, don't you?" Jo said as he sat down again. "You know that every word he said was the truth."

"When you couldn't tell me before, I guessed it was something sexual. But I didn't think it was going to be anything like that."

"So you understand why I couldn't sayt anything? And you're not upset with me?"

"I understand. And I'm not upset. How could I be? You're still here, which is what matters."

"It was horrible, Dylan. Not at the time. At first, he had me convinced it was fun, and that everyone was at it. But looking back," Jo shuddered, shaking away a bad memory. "He used to pass me around his friends like a piece of meat, sometimes just one of them, sometimes two. Sometimes he'd join in, other times he'd just leave them to it, telling them to do whatever they wanted with me."

Dylan listened as she finally got things off her chest.

At the party he talked about, there were seven guys. Two of them I didn't even know, and I still don't know their surnames. They all had a turn, and some of them came back for seconds. The next morning I felt so sore. So dirty. That's when I realised that everything that Natalie had been saying about John was right. He didn't care about me; he just wanted some bitch to use. But what could I do? If I tried to leave him, he'd have told everyone at college everything. I'd never have been able to go back there. The only thing stopping his so-called friends from blabbing was that they were all scared of him. I was stuck."

"So how did you get away?"

"The tutors were encouraging everyone to apply for Uni. You know how they do?"

"Tell me about it."

"That was the perfect opportunity. Nat and I both applied here, and got offered places. I told John that I'd been offered a place at Bath, which was true. I just didn't tell him that I'd turned that one down to come here. That was when he issued his ultimatum, and started threatening to tell everyone at college about me. By then, I didn't care. Nat stuck by me when the gossip started, and she was all I needed. She was the only friend I ever had anyway."

"So if John thought you were in Bath, how come he turned up here this weekend?"

"Nat and I bumped into him at a New Years party. Nat wanted to leave, but I wasn't about to let him dictate where I could and couldn't go, so we stayed. Later on, I got separated from Nat. I don't know how, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was down to him. Anyway, he was different when I left. He was as sweet and charming as when I first met him. He brought me drinks, we chatted, and everything seemed to be fine. He seemed like he'd moved on. He even talked about his new girlfriend, who it turns out he had made up. It was all an act. He sweet-talked me, and I let slip I was here in Aber instead of Bath. When he said that that explained why he couldn't find me, I knew I'd made a mistake."

"So you've been expecting him since we got back?"

"Yep."

"Why didn't you say anything, we could have been prepared."