You Make The Pain Go Away

Chapter 2: Date Me

Chapter 2

Danas moods often switched unexpectedly but always for a reason. She'd completed all of her homework and just as the flood of relief at finally finishing it washed over her, it ceased.

She became tired, exhausted.

I can't do this anymore. Dana laid her head down on the closed textbook, this was just too much. This was decades long pain. Festered and rotted.

Dana got up quickly even as her mind protested for her to stay and bury herself in her blankets. Skipping her socks and diving straight for the shoes, she made her escape quickly before her mind slowly drowned in her parents depression.

She snatched a hoodie off her desk chair, running out the front door before her mother even got to the top step.

"Bye I love you, I'll be back. I made lasagna! Check the oven!" Dana jumped down the steps as she shrugged the hoodie on.

"I'll be asleep around 8:30. Thank you baby." Christine waved at her daughter, understanding just how difficult it really was for Dana to be near her. Christine has been in one of her ruts for a while now and though she tried not to, her thoughts always hurt her daughter. Dana needed to get away from them.

Dana ran as fast as she could, hoping to get away from the thoughts of sadness and pain that licked at her mother's mind before it consumed her real thoughts. After 10 minutes Dana made it to the end of their property. Their front gate left open for when her father arrived.

Dana could feel the rage already, the constant feeling of not being enough.

She sank to the floor by the front gate. She needed to tough it out. Just a little longer. The headlights of her fathers car were already in view down the road. This was going to be alright, he would turn into their road and go down to the house and that wouldn't take long at all then she'd be free. Her only thoughts being those of the drivers passing by.

Then the headlights she'd been staring at blanked out.

That can't be right, Dana thought. She looked up from where the road was to see a tall figure blocking her view.

Oh god. She hadn't heard him mentally or even physically creep up on her but he had. The tall man squated in front of her.

Dana cursed herself for collapsing in such a vulnerable place. The large oak trees were a little off to her left, she glanced at them, judging the distance to see if she could make a run for it.

The small fence that divided her land from the neighbors was small enough to dive over. She'd just need to be ready for the impact.

"Are you alright?" The man asked, his face shadowed still from the headlights behind him. "I saw you fall."

The large truck with whom she guessed to be her dad was coming up on them and the last thing she needed to do was have him thinking she was off meeting men.

"I'm fine, get down!" She yanked at his jacket sleeve. He followed her pull and ducked behind the wooden fence in her yard. They both hid behind the fence, peering around the opening to view the road.

"What are we hiding from?" He asked, leaning back to get comfortable against the fence.

Dana hushed him just as the truck turned into their drive and headed down to her house. She turned to face the man next to her just as the truck in front of them braked. The red hue from the tail lights lit up their faces.

Dana almost screamed.

She caught herself. Falling down to her elbows in an attempt to jump away from him. "Oh god! You're that boy!" She clutched at the loose dirt under her hand. Preparing to throw it in his face.

"Oh" he grinned. The tail lights darkened, casting them into darkness again. "You're that dancing girl."

"I am not that dancing girl! I didn't even know you were there." Dana pushed herself to her feet. Clutching the dirt in her left hand. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were following me."

"I'm not. I live next door." He stood too, the light from the half moon casting a shadow over them.

"Liar. Betty and Louis live there." Dana folded her arms, keeping her left hand on top in case she needed to throw the dirt and run.

"I'm not lying, their my aunt and uncle."

"Then what is their last name."

"Woodlow. Same as my last name. I'm Clyde by the way."

"Well I don't believe you." Dana turned her wary eyes on him. I don't believe you because you're not thinking anything either! "Why are you here."

"Took a walk."

"Why'd you take a walk?"

"It's a pretty moon tonight."

"It's only a half moon."

"Doesn't mean it's only half as beautiful."

"..." Dana couldn't hear deception in his mind. The usually second layer of thoughts would have hit her as he answered each question. "Then..."

She was dying to ask the question. She'd never met anyone like this, someone so blank it the mind that she wasn't hearing his thoughts over hers.

"Then what do you think about?" Dana couldn't save herself now. She'd said it without even thinking. Usually she could blame her stupid mistakes on having too many peoples thoughts in her head but this was just her own damn idiocy.

"Not much, I'm a pretty solid person."

"I can see that, truthfully I really can." Dana leaned towards him, his peculiar mind coaxing her closer. "Truly extraordinary."

"Ah, well most people just think I'm dumb."

"But you might just be the only person in the entire world that I can stand to be around."

Within seconds, Dana's eyes widened. This could perhaps be the only possible way for her to be free of others thoughts. All her life she thought she could never create another relationship like Gwens without being smothered by the other person. This boy was heaven sent. This young man... is the answer to all her prayers. Her only option was standing right in front of her.

"You... you're... amazing." Dana grabbed him by his jacket collar. "Please, listen to me."

He looked startled. Staring down at her, his eyes shadowed by the hair that fell in front of his face.

"Date me." Then she pulled him down to press her lips against his.

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