in which she swims to forget all the pain, but he sees it all because dallas edlen is not ok and, having loved her for years, seeing that was no task.
ONE BREATH
MINIMINTER
SIDEMEN
DEATHLIES 2016
[COMPLETED]
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THREE d a l l a s
Dallas pushes her hair out of her face and into a pony tail as she sits beside James at lunch. His hand rests on her thigh, higher than she thought appropriate, as he was looking down at his phone.
"Hey," Dallas says, biting her lip as he looks up at her from his phone to contain her grin. "I invited a few people to your party on Saturday, hope you don't mind." It was getting harder to contain her grin as the anger flickered behind his eyes.
"How many and who?" He asks. Dallas could hear him trying to keep his voice calm. He took his hand off her thigh and rested it on the table top.
"Oh, just nine more. But that's not a big deal, right? The more the merrier," She tells him, her eyes glistening as his face reddened. Winding him up was the highlight of her day, even if he was her boyfriend. But two years was a long time to be with someone you don't even love. So, Dallas got through it by messing with him until she got a reaction and today she could see the reaction brewing behind his eyes.
James' grip on his phone tightens. "Just nine? Who are they?"
"Just some guys from the football team." Dallas shrugs. "It could be more than nine now that I think about it. A few of them have girlfriends they might bring." Her stomach hurt from trying not to laugh as she looked directly into his eyes.
"Dallas," He begins. As he swallowed, she could see him holding back his anger. "Go over there and tell them that they're not allowed to come."
"That's not very nice, James," She pouts, but it only seems to provoke him further.
"I mean it!" His voice is louder now. People were turning their heads as the star couple argued. "Go over there and tell them that if they come to my party I will bash their heads in!"
"No," Dallas replies simply to her boyfriend who strongly resembled a sulking child, which highly amused her. "I can't just tell them not to come. They seemed really up for it," She lies and glances over at Simon, Vik and Harry all sat at the table in front of them, chatting away.
James follows her line of vision before bolting to his feet. Dallas grabs his arm and tries to pull him back down. When she isn't strong enough, she stands beside him and holds his arm in both of her hands.
"James, don't," She says softly, but her eyes do not lose their shine. She meets eyes with Simon as she looks over and he sees the glint clearer than day. When she winks at him, his sandwich almost falls from his hand. "Just let them come, they're not going to do any harm." She spoke loudly so that everyone knew exactly what they were talking about, especially the subjects of their conversation.
As if he could see Simon watching them. James rips his arm from Dallas' grip and grabs her right hand. He stars towing her after him as he storms from the canteen, she looks back at Simon, Vik and Harry and sends them a small wave, which James doesn't see.
It was like she was telling them that she was going to be fine, but that didn't calm the worry the three felt for her as they knew James' issues with his anger often got the better of him and Dallas seemed to have a knack for infuriating him.
-
When English class came around again that afternoon, Simon was more than surprised when Dallas walked in and plopped herself down in the seat beside him like it had always been her seat.
She doesn't say a word, which is unlike her. Dallas was always talking, whether that be to a friend or a foe. She talked quickly too. It was like her brain was on another system to everyone else; it worked at twice the speed and efficiency. She always knew exactly what to say without embarrassing herself.
So when Dallas didn't say a word, he began to worry a little more than he already was.
Dallas takes his pen from the pocket of her navy bomber jacket, opens her notepad and begins scribbling like there wasn't any notes on the board for her to copy down. The pen spiralled and swirled across the white, blocking it out bit by bit. It looked angry and harsh, like thunder in the summer, like a lightning bolt across the night sky.
"Dallas," Simon says. Her name felt odd on his tongue; like it wasn't his to use. She doesn't respond. "Hey," He tries again. "Are you okay?"
This time she stops drawing, his pen freezes between her fingers.
She speaks. "James doesn't want you to come to the party." Her voice is monotone and wooden. She looks at him now, her eyes no longer behold their mischievous glint. "But you'll still come, right?"
"Of course," Simon replies, not knowing what else to say.
"Good." A half smile crosses her face. "Good," She repeats. "Tell your friends they can bring anyone they want, as long as they go to this school." She laughs now, leaning back in her chair and pressing the top of the pen to her bottom lip. "That'll really piss James off."
"Is that a good thing?" Simon questions with uncertainty. The fear of insulting her was in mind, but there was also the fear of the conversation ending, which he definitely did not want to happen.
"It's amazing," She tells him, rocking back on her chair with the colour back in her cheeks and the shine in her eyes. He wouldn't have been surprised if she'd fallen back onto Josh and Ethan's desk from the way she swung on the chair. "There's nothing better than pissing off someone you h-" She cuts herself off and puts all four legs of the chair back on the ground.
Her tongue darts across her lips and he could almost see the cogs turning in her head. With one look over her shoulder to where James, Allison and a few others were sitting, she turns around and says, "That's it."
"What are you talking about?" Simon tries, but he doesn't get a response from Dallas as she's staring down at her phone, typing away.
Then she drops her phone into her bag and sits back in her chair again, swinging with a smug look on her face.
It wasn't until the sound of a chair flying backwards as someone stands up forcefully, that Simon knew what she'd done. James stood, staring down at his phone for a moment and then his eyes burn into Dallas.
She doesn't even look at him, but she knew he was looking right at her.
Then she turns around to Josh and Ethan and says, "Turns out breaking up with someone over text isn't the best way to do it." And then she mouths an 'oops' at them before turning back around and facing the board like nothing even happened.
Stunned, Simon watches her not even flinch as James storms past her and out of the class, with Allison hot on his tail.
"He was a cheat anyway," Dallas mutters as she rips the page out of her notepad and sets it to the side. Then she prints the date on the left hand corner like she'd never said a word as Mr Bird walks into the classroom, oblivious as always.
"Right, class," He begins, but Simon could already see Dallas had shut off. Her chin rested on her hand and she was grinning like a maniac. Mr Bird looks at her for a moment before continuing. He was clearly uncomfortable with Dallas grinning, even if it wasn't at him, but he continued nonetheless.
Dallas grinned for the entire hour; a result of her impulsive decision to end what she'd known for two years and she'd never felt better about herself.
