1 | ONE BREATH | MINIMINTER ✔️

TWENTY TWO

TWENTY TWO
s i m o n

Simon couldn't focus for the rest of the day, but even before that concentration was made difficult when all he could think about was what his mum had said to him once Dallas left on the evening of their meal together.

-

Simon closed the door behind him just wishing he'd asked her to stay. But she was gone now. Out into the cold wind to dream just like he would of what had happened.

His mum comes into the hallway drying a plate with an old patterned tea towel and a sad smile embroidered into her expression.

"Such a shame," She said, shaking her head slightly. "She must be going through so much. It's nice she came tonight. Probably took her mind of the divorce."

"What're you talking about?" Simon asked, standing up straighter with concern.

"Oh, I thought she would have told you, sweetie," She replied with raised eye brows. "Her dad has called for a divorce. Julie down the road told me about it. It's so sad. Dallas must be going through so much, she's such a brave girl. It was brave of her to tell you."

"She hadn't told me."

"Oh," His mum said. "I'm sure she was planning on it."

"Yeah," Simon replied, but he couldn't deny the hurt. Just when it seemed like she trusted him, she put the walls up again and cowered just like she always did.

Dallas Edlen was a coward. She hid behind her white teeth smile and her fluttering eyelashes, acting like she was ok. He understood that it was difficult to say, but he thought she knew he was there for her. He would cross oceans for her if she so much as asked him to, but she couldn't even open up her heart to him?

All he'd gotten from her was a weak friendship and a kiss, which now he wasn't sure even meant anything to her. Maybe it was her way of avoiding telling him about her parents. How much else was she hiding from the world?

Simon didn't expect her to sit him down and tell him everything that's happened to her in the last few years since they'd been apart, but it would have been nice to know what happened when she'd jetted off so suddenly. Leaving him after reconnecting. It put a sour taste in his mouth as he lay in bed that night just thinking about it. It tainted her return.

Although he would never admit it, it hurt that she didn't tell him. That he'd had to hear from his mum instead of from her. It made him wonder if she would have ever told him. He liked to think that she would, but now he wasn't so sure.

And suddenly he was angry. Angry with her, but angry with himself too for not asking her how she was, what happened and why she'd had to leave so suddenly.

That night, he went to sleep angry and dreading the next day as if it were about to be the worst day of his life.

-

"What was that?" Ethan asks as they walk out of English Class.

Simon shrugs his shoulders. "It wasn't anything."

"What do you mean it wasn't anything? You guys were hooking up, right? But now she's storming away from you like you're her new James," Ethan says, not even trying to keep his voice low as they walked up the corridor towards their next lesson.

"She's just a friend," Simon replies simply and shortly.

Ethan and Josh look at one another before dropping the subject because both of them clearly knew it was more than that. In fact, all three of them did because Simon could still remember vividly how her lips had felt on his. How her mouth had felt warm despite the cold around them. If he could kiss her again, he would. But the way she'd hurried out of the classroom wasn't angry. It wasn't something he could fix with a simple sorry. No, it was disappointed and sorry doesn't cut it when someone is disappointed.

As they climbed the stairs, he wondered if that was it. If he'd ruined it all by ignoring her. He'd heard the way her breath caught in her throat when he didn't even look at her. He couldn't do it. And now he wondered if she was thinking the same. Maybe she couldn't do it anymore either.

-

simon is so dramatic smh