"What are we going to do about your car?" I idly asked him as we walked. It was cold, but the alcohol was warming my blood.
"We'll come get it tomorrow, yours is still at my place anyway." He answered me softly, but a muscle ticked in his jaw.
"Alright," I sighed. "Lay it on me."
"You never let on that he cared for you in that way..." He trailed off, but it was obvious that he hadn't moved past the situation with Stetson.
"I didn't know, Dorian, honest. Nothing has ever happened. We just hang out. That's all."
Dorian stayed silent for a few long minutes while we walked. When we stopped at a crosswalk to wait for the sign to turn he continued, "Do you love him?"
I scoffed. "Well of course I do; he's my best friend."
"Do you love him like you love me?"
I stared at him in disbelief as the sign behind me turned.
"I don't even know if I feel the way that you think I do, Dorian."
He huffed a quick laugh and started crossing the street. "You do, I have no doubts about how you feel. The only doubts I have are if you will accept it or not and how you will respond to it."
I caught up to him to even my pace one step in front of him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You had some really hard stuff happen in your last relationship. Some really hard stuff to get over by yourself. And now, you push people away rather than put yourself in danger of being controlled again." Dorian said it so matter-of-factly that I was suddenly angry.
"Since when do you psychoanalyze people? As far as I could tell you push everyone away. Except for me. Why?" I tried to steer the conversation away from me to stave my anger. No luck.
"We're not talking about me," he deflected.
"You know... we never talk about you. You want so badly for me to open up, but I know one story about you from your teenage years, and you are about to graduate college. I know nothing of the last four to six years of your life."
"There's nothing to share," he stated simply.
"What about past girlfriends?"
"Stop trying to turn this on me. You didn't answer my question."
"Do I love him?" I threw my hands out to my sides. "I don't know, Dorian!" I yelled exasperated of the conversation. "I don't even know what love feels like."
He suddenly picked up up his pace and stared straight ahead, but he didn't respond. So I picked up my own speed to keep up.
"You asked me once if I had ever been in love. I told you that I didn't think I had because what I had with Niko wasn't love. It was fear."
He still didn't respond, but he didn't race off.
"The way you explained it when we talked about Jules was so absolute." He winced at her name. "I've never felt what you explained to me that night."
I grabbed his arm and whirled him toward me. He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and looked me in the eyes.
"Before... before I was afraid of being alone. Now, that I have been on my own for a while... I'm afraid of being trapped again. Controlled."
"Do you think... do you feel like that is what I'm trying to do?"
"Well..."
I didn't even have time to explain before he was walking again and I was chasing behind him. "You saw one conversation between me and Stetson and automatically assumed that I had feelings for him that were strong enough for me to admit over what I feel for you."
He stopped.
I nearly ran into his frozen frame as he stood there staring out ahead of us.
"Um..."
He slowly turned to face me and smiled at me. "Wh–what did I–I say?"
"You just admitted that you feel something for me." He plastered a smug grin onto his face.
"Well... yeah. But you said you already knew that."
"Of course I did, but that's the first time you've said that out loud."
"Wait, wait, wait. I just said I feel something for you. I don't want to hurt you. I don't know what this is that I feel, but I–"
He cut me off by pulling me into a two-armed embrace. He rested his chin on my head and I wrapped my arms around his firm torso. He didn't move, and it felt like he didn't breathe for several seconds before he kissed the top of my head.
"Let's go, it's cold as hell." He turned me around and kept one arm around my shoulders to finish our walk.
"Cold as hell?" He chuckled.
"You know what I meant."
A/N: Short, but sweet. The next one will be a bit smutty with a HUGE change. Brace yourself. No, really.
As always, love you 3000,
~A
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Our Soul Connection
Romance"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." ~Aristotle Athena Peril is a survivor, but she's lost inside herself and the only person who can help get her back is lost in her as well. "We've had many faces, but only one soul, and it's...
