Pastries, Tats, and Memories

Twelve

I twist my body around when I hear a knocking at my bedroom door. The large window in the wall behind me is letting in a lot of brightness into my room. I blink and squint at the sunlight and release a little grunt. I feel something tighten around my waist and I freeze. With a frowning face I turn to see what it is. Oh, duh, it's Dalton. He's completely snuggled into my back. I can feel the pressure of his head in between my shoulder blades.

There's a knock at the door again. "Dakota, why is your door locked? Are you awake?" My mom questions through my bedroom door.

I quickly say the first thing that comes to my mind, "Mom, I'm 23 years old! I think I can lock my door if I want to." I make a face at what I just said. Yes, that wasn't suspicious. Inching away from Dalton slowly, I slide my right leg out from under the blanket and off the bed. Dalton breaths onto my back and tightens his arm around me, not letting me leave. I turn around and decide to just wake him up. "Dalton," I call to him softly as I press my hand on his bicep. I rub my palm around his arm in a large circular path.

He moans defeatedly and opens one eye to peek at me. I raise an eyebrow at him and smirk. "What do you want?" Dalton asks tiredly. He rolls over onto his back and closes his eyes. I just smile at his exhausted self for a moment because he's just so... Him.

"Oh, so you do just wake up like that," I mutter more to myself than to him.

With his eyes still shut, he scrunches up his face and then turns his head to look at me. "What are you talking about?" His hands go up and he runs his finger through his hair and down his face.

"Yesterday I was wondering if you put thought into your hair or if you just wake up with it looking awesome. And I can see now that you do just wake up looking sexy," I say nonchalantly. He laughs inwardly with a spout of air pushed out of his nose.

"So, you're saying I look sexy right now?" Dalton asks, and I know where it's heading because he reaches over and strokes my thigh.

Landing my hand on his adventurous fingers, I warn, "My moms home and wants me to come down." I have his undivided attention after I say the word 'mom' and he pulls the covers over himself. "Yeah, exactly. So, what do you want to do?" His eyes dart around the room as he thinks.

"Let's just get dressed and I'll go down with you. She probably already saw my car outside and my shoes too, so," Dalton reasons to me.

"Okay." I climb off my bed and begin my search for new clothes. When Dalton starts pulling on his pants from yesterday, my eyes go the the bed and suddenly something dawns on me. "Dalton," I start carefully.

"Yeah?" He prompts while slipping on his shirt. I blink a few times before I go on.

My pupils shoot to his. "I didn't bleed," I just flat out say it because I'm too confused to be embarrassed about it.

"What?" He asks me, perplexed. I point with my eyes to my bed. "Oh," Dalton says with realization. "Well, I've heard that it's different for everyone," he tries to reason.

"Yeah, I've heard that too, but it's still suppose to be at least a little uncomfortable. But it wasn't," I tell him, now a little nervous. "I mean, you could be right, and I just got lucky, but that's highly unlikely."

"Are you telling me that we might've already had sex, but we can't remember it?" He says with a little bit of irritation laced on his tone. I just nod.

"I mean, I could be wrong but, I don't know. We'll figure it out today, I guess." I look to the floor and reach into my dresser. As I drag on my pants, I can't help but think about the possibility that I haven't actually been a virgin this whole time. Hot rage sparks up in my ribs and I try to contain it as I pull a shirt over my body. Just keep your calm until you get down stairs, Dakota.

"Is it just me, or are you a little pissed off too?" Dalton asks me from across the room. My back is turned towards him and I lift my head at the sound of his voice.

Turning around to face him I answer, "Not just a little." His jaw clenches and I look away. "Come on let's go," I say irritably.

I try to walk down the stairs without stomping even though I really want to. Dalton treads close behind me. As soon as my feet hit level ground I walk quicker and barge into the kitchen. "When is his mom getting here because we need answers to a lot more things that we thought."

My mom turns around and when she sees both of us she makes big eyes and then points them to the floor. She swallows whatever spit is in her mouth before replying, "She's already here." Her hand points to the dinning room. "That's why I was trying to get you down here." My eyes flick to Dalton. "And I was told that was your car out front," my mom says pointedly to Dalton.

"Yeah, I came to drop her off yesterday..." I grab his arm and squeeze it.

"She gets it," I mutter to him. I think it's reasonable to say that I'd really rather my mom not be included in what happened. Dalton closes his mouth and then looks towards the dinning room.

Turning turning half way to me he lets me know, "I'm just going to-" he finishes by pointing with his hand to show me what he's doing. I nod and cross my arms. Dalton's hand caresses my shoulder and then slides down my arm as he walks to the dining room.

I watch him leave the room but when the door shuts I just look to the floor. I don't want to look at my mom. No matter how bad whatever happened was, I have a right to know about my life's events.

"We should've guessed that this would happen," my mom peeps as she leans back against the countertop.

"That what would happen?" I ask softly.

"We should've known that you and him would somehow find each other again," she says tiredly but at the same time there's a sweetness in her voice. I lift my head to see her expression and she's wearing a little smirk.

"Not really, it was probably a one in a million chance," I say, realizing how crazy it actually is that me and Dalton found each other. But before I even finish my sentence, my moms shaking her head to disagree with me.

"No it wasn't." I frown at her because it really was. "When we explain everything to you, you'll feel the same way. It was bound to happen," she tells me as if it's simple facts.

"Why was it bound to happen, then?" I question her logic.

A smile flutters over her face but then disappears before she speaks. "Because there was never any doubt in my mind that you and Dalton were meant to be." I finish her train of thought in my own mind, And what's meant to be, will be.

• • •

My mom has us all move to the living room after I meet Dalton's mom, Kiva. She seems apologetic but never actually says she's sorry for anything, and that's okay with me. She's extremely nice, but maybe she just knew me so well five years ago that she felt comfortable enough to hug me after re-meeting me.

Me and Dalton now sit side-by-side on one of the two couches in the living room. His hand trails over to my thigh in the small space between us and I wrap my hand around his for support.

My mom sits by Kiva on the couch across from us and let's out a little breath before saying, "Okay, well, I guess I'll go first." I just stare at her and wonder what she's going to tell me.

A/N
Quick! What do you think they're going to say? Vote and comment your guesses!