On the Run: The Texas Files ✔

Chapter 34.3: The Pretty Girls

This is a reminder that this a short chapter about Izzie and Del's Valentine's Day evening from a third-person omniscient perspective.

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Del and Izzie are in Parker's dining room. Parker and his parents are both gone for the evening, and they have the house to themselves.

Izzie spent an entire week planning an extravagant night for the two of them. She took the time to make their favorite dinner, with Parker's help, and she made a cake for the two of them to share all by herself. She was proud of the work she had done. She had just finished lighting the two candles at the table.

Izzie sat down in a peach dress with matching heels. Her hair is done up on the top of her head, and she had spent an hour before Del's arrival doing her makeup to perfection. She looks like a goddess.

Del is wearing a lowcut, crimson dress with black, strappy heels. Her hair was in an adorable updo, and her makeup was done too.

Del is nervous when she sits down. No one has ever done anything this detailed for her, whether it was a holiday or not. She has only been with Izzie since Halloween, and their relationship is still in those beginning phases. She isn't ready to commit to someone.

At 16, Del knows that she didn't want to settle down until her late twenties or early thirties, if at all. She wants to spend her time traveling and being with whoever she fancied. She's a free spirit, and nothing was going to deprive her of that.

Maybe her issues stemmed from being in the foster system. Once her foster parents found out she wasn't heterosexual, they booted her out so fast, it made her head spin.

Or maybe she just knows what she wants.

Either way, Del is sweating from nervousness just sitting across the table from a love-struck Izzie.

Izzie had a plan for the evening. Romantic dinner, laughing and talking, and maybe something interesting for dessert.

Del doesn't know what to expect as they sit across from each other. Izzie has a big smile on her face, and Del is doing her best to keep a small smile on hers.

As they eat, the room is silent. You could hear a pin drop.

"Iz," Del says, after what she feels is an uncomfortable silence. "This is delicious. Did you do this?"

Izzie smiles. "I can't take all the credit. Parker did help some," she says. "Well, he did like 98%, but still, it's the thought that counts."

"So, Parker took Jackie out on their first big date, huh?" Del asks.

She really doesn't want to keep the silence going, and if she distracts Izzie, maybe she can avoid what conversation she thinks is coming.

Izzie nods. "Do you think they'll...you know?"

Del shakes her head. "No. Parker is too much of a goodie-two-shoes for that. Besides, we're here, and Noah is at Jackie's apartment with Marissa. They have no place to go, even if they wanted to do it."

Izzie raises her eyebrows. "He has a car, Del."

Del rolls her eyes. "You really think sweet ole Parker and skiddish Jackie are going to do it in a backseat of a car?"

Izzie can sense Del's attitude, which isn't pleasant. The aura of the room, by almost the snap of a finger, is completely awkward, filled with almost a sense of anguish. 

 "Okay," Izzie says, quietly and defeated. "You win. They probably won't."

Silence.

"You thought 'bout what you're doin' after graduation?" Izzie asks.

Izzie is ready to talk to her about defining their relationship and talking about what the future has in store for them. Del knows what's coming, and she doesn't know how she's going to dodge this question.

Del shrugs. "I'm gettin' the hell outta here, I can tell you that."

"College?" Izzie asks.

"Maybe," Del answers. "I haven't thought about where I could go. College is expensive, and I have no money to my name."

It's true. Delilah Vaughn has a minimum amount in a bank account set up by her social worker for when she turns eighteen. She doesn't have the time to work, so she can't put any money into the account.

Izzie sighs. She wants to help her, but she can barely afford to help herself right now. She was supposed to go to Princeton, like her parents, but obviously, she wants nothing to do with them or any of their traditions, so she will have to make her own way.

"Listen, Delilah," Izzie says.

She's mustered up the courage, and she's ready to talk to her about what she's feeling.

Del tenses up, almost wincing, at what's coming. She knows.

"I never thought things were going to be, uh, exciting for me. I assumed my parents were going to have me marry Ty, we'd be lawyers, open a practice, I'd pop out a few babies to carry the bloodline, and that would be it for me. Now, with you, things are wild, exciting, amazing even. I didn't expect any of this to happen, especially with a girl. I didn't think I would be so, um, into you, but I don't think I want to live in a world where you and I aren't together. That world would suck." Izzie says.

Del is wide-eyed, unsure of what to say.

"I guess what I'm tryin' to say, is that I love you, Delilah," Izzie says, confidently.

Delilah shakes her head with a wry smile and laugh. "No. No, you don't. Love doesn't come to people like me. It's just attraction; it'll fade."

Like it always does. It fades for Del, anyway.

Izzie's confidence shatters, as she's left hanging. Her eyes well up with tears. "Delilah." she chokes.

Del shakes her head, blinking tears away too. She doesn't want to commit to someone. She never has, and with her life being as unstable as it is, she can't bring anyone down that hole with her. She won't have it. She's a free spirit.

Like she does when things get difficult, she stands up, and walks out the front door, leaving it open.

The wind from outside blows the candles out, leaving the entire house dark.

Izzie is left, with tears streaming down her face silently.

The promise ring she had planned to give to Del is still in her hand. The only noise that can be heard is the small clink against the floor when she drops it.

Del looks at up at the house once she pulls down the driveway in her old yellow bug. She puts her hand over her mouth to stifle the sob.

What did she just do?

~~~

I'd just like to note that I broke my own heart writing this short chapter.

What will happen to Delilah and Izzie? Comment!