Airport (Dan X Reader )

Chapter 22

~ Dan's pov~

"I know it's a little early for dinner, but shall I make us some spaghetti?"
"Yum, spaghetti. Yes please! Can i help with anything?" She asked.
"No, I'm okay with it."

We sat there together until we finished our hot chocolate, then we both climbed down the ladder. I put some music on my MacBook as i began to make spaghetti bolognese. I sang along, but Ellie didn't. When i looked at her, she seemed distracted. She was biting her lip and staring intently at her phone screen.
"You okay?" I asked and her head snapped up. She smiled.
"Yeah, fine."
It didnt take too long after that to finish the bolognese, and by the time I served it up in two bowls I was really nervous. I placed the bowls on the small table and lit a candle that i put in the middle.
I walked around the side of the table to pull out Ellie's chair for her.
She beamed. "What a gentleman. Thank you!" She sat down and i pushed in the chair.

We didnt talk much during the meal, we seemed to be silently communicating through smiles. I hoped that how I felt wasnt showing, i felt like i could burst with excitement and nerves. When we finished, Ellie thanked me for the meal.
"Could you just stand there for a second? I want to take a picture." I gestured vaguely to the centre of the room.
"Sure!" Ellie did as i asked. I got out my phone and took a quick picture, then put it away again.
Right. Okay.
You've got this Dan.
My heart was racing.
"You know, there's something I've been meaning to ask."
"What's that then?" El asked.

"Well. I wanted to say that ever since I've met you, everything has been made so much better. So much different. Things have changed. Ive changed too. And its all down to you. To you, my beautiful, crazy, adorable, incredible, amazing girlfriend. I love you, so much, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And so..."
I took the ring box out of my pocket and got down on one knee. Eleanor was crying silently.
"Will you, Eleanor Jade Bretel, make me the happiest man alive? Will you marry me?"
I opened the box to reveal the ring.

The room was silent apart from the quiet sobs escaping from Eleanor's mouth. Tears were running down her face and her shoulders were shaking up and down with her weeping.

I was smiling, but she was not. My smile lessened slightly.
"Eleanor?"
Eleanor tried to stifle her cries to talk to me.
"D-Dan. I d-don't know what t-to say."
"Say yes then."
There was a terrible feeling rising inside me.
"Y-you don't unders-stand, I... I can't."

And then it felt like I was falling, falling fast with nothing to save me.

"I can't..."

I crashed to the ground, my heart shattered into a million pieces.

Eleanor's PoV

Oh no. Please. Don't cry Dan, I'm so sorry, you don't understand. I can't.
A single tear falls down Dan's cheeks.

The mysterious texts that I was so afraid of. My mother telling me that my father was back. A memory, clear in my head.

"Eleanor, will you marry me?"
"J-josh? What do you mean?"
"I mean, will you marry me? Look I bought you a ring!"
"I don't understand."
"We get married, we live together, have children."
"Josh, you know I can't."
"What?"
"I'm only just 20, what will my parents say?"
"I don't give a fuck."
His tone was different now, and he was standing up, the ring box discarded on the floor.
"Josh... no. You know I can't-"

A slap to my cheek.

"You are pathetic!"
He towered over me.
"Look at all this trouble I went to for you, and you're just being selfish!"
He advanced on me.
"Josh, stop!"

A punch to my stomach.

"You are a selfish bitch, Eleanor Bretel. You deserve to be punished."

A kick to my ankles, making me fall to the ground.

"Josh, I'm sorry, please leave me alone!"

"LEAVE YOU ALONE? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COST?"

He kneels and grips my chin in his fingers.

"No, Josh! I'm sorry!"

Tears streaming down my face.

"You deserve everything you are about to get."

Punch. "Slut!"

Kick. "Whore!"

Then screaming, his fists smashing into my body. Pain above any pain.

"Ungrateful bitch!"

I'm lying on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
Him, standing above me, his hands slightly bloody.

"You don't deserve sympathy. You disgust me."

A final kick.

A door slam.

Everything fading to black.

"Dan, I can't..."