My Mute Mate

Ch. 48 - THE END

We prance through the wood, playing tag and taking chase after one another. We must have been out there for hours because by the time we take pause, the sun has finished setting and the stars are out. We had dropped our clothes off here earlier so we shift back and get dressed.

"So what's up with the sudden run?" Daniel asks from where he's laying in the grass, his skin glowing in the starlight, "Not that I'm complaining."

"I wanted to be me for a little longer. I feel guilty lying to the boys, but honestly I dont think I'm going to tell them for a while, if ever."

"What? Why?" He eyes me curiously, pulling a sigh out of me as I walk over and take a seat next to him. I look to the stars, hoping they'll give me some insight of how to say this without sounding like a bitch. They just twinkle back at me blankly.

"I guess there's no nice way to put it. I don't want to tell them because then they'll tell people and I don't want everyone to know at school." I explain, not taking my eyes off of the stars. Daniel sits up and gives me a confused look.

"Why wouldn't you want people to know? You'd be able to go back to being yourself at school and not have to be attached to a writing utensil all the time anymore."

"That's true, but I don't want the people who did this to me think is okay because I'm 'all better' now. My voice being back doesn't take away the trauma or the nasty scar that came with it." I look at him and realize how close we are, our noses only inches apart. He turns away quickly, instead looking towards the stars. I look at the grass below me.

"I guess. When will you tell everyone? I'm assuming you don't want to be silenced forever."

"I dont know. I'm not really thinking of it being me silenced though. I got back a really special part of me that they took away, and I think it's fair I keep it to myself. Blake ruins everything he touches, so I'm keeping this out of his grasp for as long as possible." I clutched my knees to my chest and Daniel looks back to me. He starts rubbing my back in what I'm assuming is his way of trying to comfort someone, "But! I also wanted to talk to you. I feel like whenever we're having a conversation nowadays someone is always cutting in. I just wanted to go back to how it was when we could just talk."

"Yeah, but I guess that's what happens when you shove half a dozen people with super hearing in one house." Daniel agrees, chuckling, "So, what did you wanna talk about?"

"I don't know. Anything. Everything." I say and he shrugs, "Plus, you've been trying to tell me something this whole trip and we keep getting interrupted." I feel him tense next to me.

"Yeah..." We fall into silence. A tense, heavy silence.

"But I know it's pretty huge, so we can talk about whatever, and whenever you're ready to tell me, you can. I trust you."

*-*AH SHIT DANIELS POV YA'LL*-*

Hearing her say she trusts me sends an icy shard into my heart. I have to tell her.

"I was afraid of losing you. You're really important to me and I didn't want to lose you as a friend." The words fall out of my mouth and I internally kick myself. Wow, way to sound stupid. Dove looks to me, her face so close I can feel her breath on my nose. I swallow the toad that's planted itself in my throat. She could get anything with those starry eyes of hers. I'd end the world if she asked me to.

"You could never lose me, Daniel." She says softly, her breath smelling of the sundaes we just had. There she goes again, ripping my heart out and holding it in her hands. But I know she deserves so much more than me. She won't want me anyway after she knows.

"You say that, but this is pretty big friendship ending news." I warn her, my stomach twisting and turning into knots. She has to know. She deserves to know. The thought of losing her kills me inside, but after everything she's been through I can't not tell her.