Pain and Cigarettes|Dallas Winston|

Twenty seven

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬
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ISLA SCANNED THE room until she spotted him sitting at the bar, drinking a beer. She sauntered over to him, "Little early to be drinking isn't it?" She took the seat next to him.

Dallas looked at her and his eyebrows furrowed, "What are you doing here?"

"Just dropping by." She shrugged.

"For?"

"You."

Dallas chuckled, "Not interested." He took a swig of his beer. "Not like that you asshole, I'm here about you and Margot." Isla got serious, turning her body to face him.

"What about Margot?"

Isla's jaw clenched, now she understood why Margot had hated him so much. "Okay, listen Dallas, whatever game your playing with Margot you better stop." She snapped.

"What the hell are you going on about?"

"I'm talking about your little infatuation with Margot."

"There is no infatuation." Dallas scoffed.

"Oh don't bullshit me, you may be able to lie and hide your feelings from Margot but not from me, I don't play about the people I care about, especially when it involves their heart getting broken." Isla said.

"Jesus- broken hearts? There is nothing going on between me and Margot." Dallas snapped back. "Oh really? Because she told me how you showed up at her window looking like you had just gotten beat to death, why'd you go to her, Dallas? You could've gone anywhere else, but you went to Margot, why?" Isla questioned.

Dallas stayed silent and Isla kept going, "If you don't like her then what the hell is your problem? What's your game?"

"There is no game."

"Then what's your deal? You keep giving her these mixed signals, one day you're throwing insults at her and the next you're all over her, you're messing with her head and it's freaking her out!" Isla exclaimed.

"What does she even care if I like her or not? She hates me." Dallas defended. "See that's the problem! You haven't even noticed that she's been pining after you for months because you're so self-absorbed! Maybe if you cared about anyone other than yourself you'd notice how much she actually likes you!" Isla shouted at him.

Dallas blinked, "What?"

"What?" Isla snapped.

"She likes me?"

Isla let out a humorless laugh, "Yes, Dallas, she likes you, and I have no idea why because in my opinion, she can do better, she deserves better."

"And if you're not going to do good by her, if you're not going to be the man she deserves, then you better back off, before you hurt her." Isla stood up and gave him one more glare before she walked away.

Dallas sat there, Isla's words circling his brain. He slid his beer across the bar, no longer in the mood to drink. She was right, Margot did deserve better. He had spent years trying to fight off what he felt for her, and suddenly he couldn't fight it anymore.

He never hated her, he just made it seem like he did because he didn't want anyone to know his true feelings. He didn't want anyone to know that he was weak, because to him, image and reputation was everything.

If anyone ever found out that the Dallas Winston actually felt something for someone, he'd never live it down. It'd show that he actually had a heart and that just couldn't happen. Especially with all the enemies he had, they'd use Margot against him and he wouldn't let that happen.

It was better to have Margot hate him than to not have her in his life at all. The only reason he would annoy her so much was because he knew that she couldn't back down from a fight, it was the only way to get her attention, to make her look at him, even if it was with hate.

He was okay knowing that she hated him, he was fine with it. But now all of a sudden she likes him back? He didn't want to admit it, but it scared him.

It was fine when it was one-sided but now it wasn't, she liked him back and he didn't know what to do about it. He didn't want to make a move and then end up hurting her, because knowing him, he would.

He also didn't want to put her in any danger. And most of all, he was scared to let her love him, it was something he had never experienced before and he was scared of that feeling, of love.

Sure he had hooked up with a bunch of girls in the past but they never meant anything, they were just one night stands. Except for Sylvia, she was the only one who stuck around for long, really she was the only girl he could tolerate for more than ten minutes.

So he kept her around.

Now he wasn't too sure he wanted her around. God he really needed to work on this whole feelings thing, why did they have to be so difficult?

"I talked to him."

Margot looked up from her homework and turned to Isla, "And? What'd he say?" Margot questioned.

"He didn't actually confirm if he liked you or not, but after talking to him, it's pretty clear that he does he just doesn't want to admit it." Isla answered.

"So he does like me?"

"Short answer, yes, complicated answer...it's complicated, you know Dallas, he's a complicated guy it's like you said, he doesn't do feelings, probably because he doesn't know what they're like, I mean from how cold-hearted he is he's probably never had anyone truly care about him before." Isla shrugged.

Margot frowned, "That explains why he's so selfish, he has no reason to care about anyone else when all he's had his whole life is himself, I don't think he's ever had anyone to take care of him."

Isla narrowed her eyes at the girl, "You're worrying, don't do that, if you worry then you spiral and you do stupid stuff and then I start to worry and it becomes a whole thing." Isla said.

"How can I not worry? I mean all these years I've hated him for being a bad person when I didn't even know the whole story." Margot said. "Yeah but your hatred was valid, it's not like he was ever nice to you, and like you said you didn't know the whole story and it's not like he would've told you, Dallas would rather die than talk about his feelings." Isla said.

"Yeah you're right, I think the best thing is to just talk to him, even if he doesn't listen, I can't keep denying these feelings I have, I need to tell him before I go crazy." Margot said.

"If he doesn't listen then hit him in the head and knock some sense into him, because if he rejects you then he's the stupidest man I have ever met." Isla said and Margot smiled slightly.

"Thank you for being the best friend in the whole world, thank you for dealing with my bullshit and my craziness." Margot hugged the girl and Isla chuckled.

"Of course, we're all a little crazy." Margot cocked a brow and Isla's lip curled into a smile.

"Okay, maybe a lot crazy."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
We got to see some of what Dallas is feeling for the first time🤭