As Dakota Akihara crashes, Rhea Walton falters.
While one is drug away from a life in the 1%, the other finds it increasingly-unbearable to put up with the crushingly-expected and dependable monotony of slow business, bills to pay, and mou...
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"So," Dakota leant in and tore off a piece of my cookie, popping it in his mouth. "Damn, these are good." He then eyed the sugary delicacy on her plate, turning to glance at her and opened his mouth.
"No."
A sliver of annoyance and defense of accusation crossed his face.
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
Sammy ran a hand through her hair and glanced at him, looking pleased with herself. "Get your own if you want one so bad."
He slumped over the table, straightening his arm and resting his head on it. "Dude I'm broke, we've been over this." He waved his hand for emphasis. She shrugged.
"I'll let you know; been there done that. No sympathy. Get a job or something."
He made a disgruntled noise. I rolled my eyes. "You're so lazy."
He stuck a finger up in the air. "I prefer to call it energy conservation and stress avoidance. The less stress I have, the longer I'll live." He perked up, playfully acting as though he had just had a breakthrough. "Maybe I'll make it to 105."
"Energy conservation my ass." I muttered under my breath. I knew he heard me because he rolled his eyes but to my surprise he didn't nite back with something witty.
The last weeks weeks had been as usual for me: work, taking care of siblings, and hanging out with my friends. Liam had taken to dragging Dakota everywhere with him. He outwardly blamed his mother for that, but I was pretty sure that a lot of it secretly had to do with the apparent fact that Dakota was just growing on him, as he was on everyone. He acted sort of...bubbly, and he could be funny when he wanted to. Well, not as funny as me but he could give the average clown a run for their money with a little effort. Overall, he just seemed pretty down to earth–that was probably why him, Mathew, and especially Sammi hit it off instantly.
It was just a little harder for me to accept his persona. My first impression of him had been a little different from theirs. I didn't know for sure, but I had a gut feeling that what I'd seen had been a level of raw vulnerability he rarely doled out. The Dakota I'd met, albeit a little cocky, had been melancholic, quiet, and reserved. That was why I wasn't sure if the kid in front of me was an alternative extension of Dakota or a carefully crafted and realistic mirage. In fact it was hard for me not to suspect that.
