2 | ONE MORE | MINIMINTER

TWELVE

TWELVE

Dallas felt as if she were suffocating within herself as she walked out of the restaurant ahead of Simon, her heart thumping in her throat restricting any attempts to breathe. She'd never felt this nervous in her life. The feeling hadn't even come close when it came to telling her dad she wanted to move back to the UK. In fact, she'd almost been excited to tell him about her dramatic decision.

But this was unmistakably nerves. There wasn't a doubt about it as they simmered in the pit of her stomach, reminding her of everything she wanted to say but really couldn't find the words to articulate.

Chewing on her nail, she carried on walking. Having this conversation right outside the door of a popular restaurant wasn't something she wanted to do. Hell, she didn't even want to have this conversation, but it seemed like he did, so she had no choice but to open her mouth and talk feelings with the boy she'd left behind.

"Are you just going to keep walking?" He said, stopping in his tracks. The sound of his shoes against the pavement had been comforting because it meant she didn't need to talk yet, but now the time was here and she wasn't ready. For him, she needed to be ready. He deserved her honesty after all her mystery she'd woven around him. "Or are we actually going to talk about this?"

Dallas stopped walking and folded her arms, looking away from him.

He stepped closer.

"You can't even look at me. How are we going to talk about something serious when you can't look me in the eyes?"

Dallas' jaw clenched as she forced herself to look at him. She wouldn't be belittled by him, even if she deserved every word of it. She wouldn't be belittled by anyone.

"I don't know what you want me to say," Dallas replied. Her voice was soft, but her words had a sharpness that matched her eyes. "I already told you how I feel about you, Simon."

"I can't be the only reason you came back. If I was, you'd have come back sooner." Now she looked at him properly, she could really see the hurt that ran through him.

Dallas knit her hands together in front of herself and stepped forward towards him, wanting to be close to him, relieved when he didn't move away. Smiling thinly and sadly, her head tilted sideways as she admitted, "You aren't the only reason I came back, but you are a large part of the reason I've been telling myself."

He frowned, shuffling on his feet as he thought about what she'd said. "What do you mean?"

She swallowed, trying to push back the tears that rose to her eyes. She didn't want to cry, but it seemed like her heart did. "I've managed to convince myself that coming back here was all for you: so that we could try what we failed at once before, but Violet... She helped me to see that you were only a small part of why I'm here."

When he took her hands in his, she barely flinched, but she felt her heart skip a beat within her, betraying her mind that told her this wasn't why she was here. Her hands were cold in his, the rings bound around her slender fingers colder.

"Then why are you here?" He asked, much more gently than before. Seeing those tears in her eyes, swarming like rain clouds, sprung a little sympathy into him, even if seeing her still hurt.

"Because my dad is getting remarried."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"No, I mean yes, but not for me it isn't. He's in love with that woman. He'd do anything for her, but what if that meant her over me?" Dallas sighed heavily and turned her hands over in his, gripping onto him. "What if he replaces me?"

"He's not going to replace you, Dallas, you're his daughter," Simon said, comforting her.

She laughed suddenly and shortly, pressing her lips together at the sound of her own laughter. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand. "He can and he will, even if it's not intentional, and then I'll have no one. My dad won't need me, my mum doesn't want me and never has, my brother is dead, and I messed everything up with you years ago. I have no one. I can't lose him."

"You have more than him, even if he does replace you. You have Violet, you have the rest of the guys, even Julian, and you have still got me." He looked down at their hands wound together just like they used to be in the days before she'd gone. "I'll be honest," He said, looking back up to meet her eyes. "You've always had me. I was in love with you long before you ever said those words to me. I was in love with you for years and just when I finally thought you were just as in love with me as I was with you, you were gone."

"Well," Dallas replies, breathlessly, winded from his words. "This time, I'm not going anywhere."

"Good." He smiled.

And she smiled back.

"Simon, I know you said we were just friends for now and I know this is a lot to ask of 'just a friend', but I really need to know whether you'll help me when I feel like the time is right to try and see my mum." She gulped. "I want you to be there when I see her again."

"Yeah," Simon said, already nodding. "Yes, I'll be there."

"Thank you," Dallas responded, slipping her hands away from his. "But we should probably get back before Violet leaves without me. You know what her and Cal are like." She rolled her eyes playfully as they started to walk back, not so distant this time.

"They're the worst, but they really do care about each other, don't they?" He glanced over to her, stuffing his hands into the rough pockets of his jeans.

"They really do." She met his eyes with her own that crinkled at the sides as she smiled in honour of the love her best friend and Cal had fallen into.

And, upon all the stars in the sky, she wished to be thrown into love, too.

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