1 | ONE BREATH | MINIMINTER ✔️

TWO

T W O
s i m o n

"Was that Dallas Edlen?" Ethan asks as soon as they're out the doors of English class.

Simon swung his bag over his shoulders and shrugs. "Yeah." His answer was short and an attempt to push the opinion of disinterest, which was the complete opposite. Simon was more than curious to know more about Dallas, she was not the open book everyone thought she was. He wanted to read more.

"She hasn't been in school for weeks. No one knows why," Josh says after taking a sip of water. They walk down the stairs and out of the double doors, taking a right to the changing rooms. They had training after school most days and today was one of those days.

"Maybe she just went on holiday?" Ethan suggests, but Josh shakes his head.

"Nah, Allison spoke to her this morning and said she thinks Dallas was just off school because she was sick," Josh tells them. He always knew the gossip because he knew Allison would tell him anything for a moment of his attention. Allison liked attention. "So, who knows where she was before today and where she'd been since her training this morning."

"She only came in for last lesson?" Simon frowns.

"That's what it seems like." Josh pushes open the door into the changing room and dumps his bag in the same spot as always, right in the middle of the bench. "Allison didn't seem like she knew much about it."

"Why don't you just ask Dallas herself?" Ethan asks, dropping his bag next to Josh. Simon follows, taking a seat on the plastic bench not far away.

Simon laughs at Ethan's question. "That's ridiculous. Everyone knows not to question Dallas unless you want your head bitten off."

"Remember the last time Allison nagged her too much about something she clearly didn't want to talk about?" Josh shakes his head with an airy laugh as he begins unbuttoning his white school shirt. "Allison got an earful. Everyone heard it. Dallas is not someone you want on the wrong side of you because she knows exactly how to degrade you and make you feel small."

Simon sighs, resting his head back against the wall. They had such bad opinions of Dallas. The only good opinion they had of her was that they thought she was hot, but she was off limits to them. Her boyfriend would knock anyone out who looked at her in the wrong way, which she seemed to find frustrating. Maybe she wanted to knock them out herself, that sounded like Dallas.

-

The fluorescent bib hung over his black football shirt. He jogged to the edge of the pitch after the ball as Ethan had sent it flying past him again.

Simon bent down to pick it up, but when he straightened out again he was met with a pair of deep brown eyes and a smirk that everyone knew too well.

"I had a feeling you'd still be down here," Dallas says. She still hugged her textbooks, even if there were less now, and between her fingers was his pen.

"Yeah, we're almost done," Simon replies, unsure what to say to her. Sure, they knew each other, but not well and not to the point where he ever imagined she'd come down to the pitch to find him. "Did you um, did you need something?"

For a moment, her smirk wobbles, but before he could tell if it really did shift it was back in full force. "I came to watch and give you back your pen," She explains. "I also need to talk to you after about the party on the weekend, but that can wait until after you're done." She pauses, looking over his shoulder and waving at the on looking boys with a glint in her eye. "because they look like they want their ball back."

Simon looks over to the boys who were all laughing at something. He could hear Ethan and JJ's laughing from here. "Oh, ok."

"Yeah." She smiles. "I'll wait for you, ok?" And then she turns and struts away like she was putting on a show.

Simon swaps the ball between his hands as he watches her go. He looks over his shoulder at her walking away as he jogs back to his friends.

"So," JJ starts. "Dallas, huh?"

"Shut up."

-

Simon was back in his uniform. He'd never changed so quickly in his life. As he walked out of the changing rooms, Dallas was already there. She was looking down at something on her phone and her text books were brashly stuffed into her bag that hung off her shoulder.

She looks up when he approaches and plasters her smile across her pink lips. "You took your time," She jokes, flicking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Sorry," Simon mutters because of his uncertainty of what to say.

"I'm only messing with you, Simon," She says and the sound of her saying his name seemed unreal. She made it sound so soft and simple. "Let's go for a walk so we can chat." Dallas folds her arms across her small body and starts walking away from him, not giving him a chance to respond yes or no.

He starts off after her with a quickened pace to reach her side and slowing to match her speed. His long legs allowed him to catch up easily.

"James is having a party on the weekend. We, no, I  want to know if you and your friends want to come?" Dallas asks. Then the familiar glint sparkles in her eyes as he looks at her from the side and she takes her lip between her teeth. "Who knows? Maybe you lot will liven things up a little. The same old people are boring."

"I'll talk to the guys, but I'm sure they'll want to come," Simon tells her and she smiles. It's not her usual smirk when she gets what she wants. No, it's a relieved smile as if she'd expected him to decline.

"Great," She chirps, stopping in her tracks and pulling a small slip of paper out of her pocket. Dallas grabs his wrist and presses the paper into his palm. "Call me when you know for sure who's coming and who isn't, yeah? Thanks, Simon."

Her fingers on his skin sent pulses of electricity through his veins. His fingers fold around the paper and she releases him. His skin is cold where she had once held him. "I'll let you know as soon as I can."

"Thanks," She says again before she turns and strides away from him, jogging up the stairs and then disappearing around the corner like she was never even there. The paper in his hand was the only evidence she'd left behind.

-

oh dallas
[NOT EDITED]