The Way You See Me

Chapter Twelve

I stand outside for a moment, calming myself down. I didn't even have the chance to see if Dom worked today. Whatever, I knew I wouldn't be able to handle going back in there, even if he was.

I felt bad. I wanted to see him. I wanted to tell him how much I cared for him and how new this all was for me. 

I jump when a hand wraps lightly around my forearm. I turn and am face-to-face with Dom. I smile shyly. I hope he didn't see me walk in and then immediately out. I probably looked so stupid. I wish I didn't care whether I was in a room with people. But I do. So fuck my life. 

"Hey, what're you doing here?" He asks. I glance up at his smiling face. "I wasn't expecting you to show up today," He adds. 

Maybe he didn't want me here. What was I thinking? 

"I-I don't know, sorry," I reply, and shrug my shoulders a bit. His hand falls from my arm and he sighs. I almost think he's going to walk away when he then wraps me in a hug. 

I sink into his arms and sigh as well. I lay my head on his chest and lean into him a bit, wrapping my arms around his back. 

He kisses the top of my head. "Please stop apologizing to me, Cali." He whispers against my hair. He slowly rubs his hands along my back. 

This was so nice. Even if we were standing in the parking lot of a cafe that he works at. This was nice. 

"I really need to talk to you," I say, lifting my head to look up at him. His brown eyes are highlighted with green in the lighting. I swear I'd be happy if I could just stare into them all day long. 

He nods, glancing back into the cafe. "Well, my shift ends in..." Glances at his watch, "Twenty-five minutes." He looks back at me. "You can wait here, or drive home and I'll meet you there." He offers. 

I bite my lip and shrug as we stand there, still in each other's arms. "I took the bus," I stated as smoothly as I could. 

His eyebrows raise, as he leans away a bit. "You what?" He asks, frowning slightly. "You took the bus? Why would you do that? You know how many bad people ride the bus, and a pretty girl like you, all alone, how could you think that was a good idea? What would you have done if someone took you? You don't even have a fucking phone, Cali," He says, raising his voice slightly. 

I take a step back, my arms falling back to my side. "I-I'm sorry," I stutter, blinking a few times as I glance away. 

He cusses under his breath and runs a hand through his hair. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to flip out like that and I shouldn't have. I just want you to be safe," He says, his eyes searching mine.

I don't meet them right away, but when I do, he pulls me back to him gently, wrapping his arms around my lower back. I look up at him and I wanted to kiss him so badly, but I couldn't. 

"So. You'll wait here until my shift is over." He says, the question no longer there. 

I nod. "Okay, I'll wait here. Then what?" 

"Then, I'll take you home, in my safe car," He says with a smile, "And we can talk about whatever you need and want to, sound like a plan?" He asks. I nod again. "Okay, good. Now, I really need to get back in there, before I don't have a job to get back to," He says, and with that, he leads us back inside, my hand in his. 

Though it's a small gesture, to me it's huge. I haven't held anyone's hand since like... 9th grade or something. Not in a romantic way, anyways. 

We go back inside and I immediately remember why I left in the first place. It's packed in here, with people trying to get their afternoon caffeine fix. Since they don't have a drive-thru, everyone has to come inside. My hand tightens in Dom's and he leads us through the crowd of people. 

I feel my chest start to tighten and I close my eyes. Dom stops walking once we get to the opening at the side of the counter where he'll go behind it to work. I open my eyes to look up at him, and he turns to me, about to say something, but pauses. 

"Cali, what's wrong?" He asks, frowning as he looks down at me, holding his hands on either of my arms in worry. 

"I- There's-" I pause, trying to focus on what I was saying. I swallow hard and try to calm myself. I glance around and the panic comes back. I feel my head spinning and I breathe harder. 

He takes my hand again and leads me behind the counter and out the back door. No one else was back here, just a few cars driving around the building. 

I sigh, hanging my head low as I stand in front of Dom. His fingers tilt my head up towards his. "Stop acting like that around me," He says, looking down at me. 

"Like what?" I ask, not quite understanding what he meant. 

"Like your ashamed of how you are. Self-conscious. Stop it. I like you for who you are, Calleigha, and that means all of you. The perks come with the cons, and I'm good with that. So stop feeling bad every time I see a new side of you. I'm not afraid, I'm not going to leave as soon as things go bad, okay?" He says. 

I'm speechless. He's never been so... straight with me. I loved that he wasn't afraid to say it.

"I want you to be you, okay? I don't know everything about you, and maybe I'll never. But every day with you it's something new. And that's not a bad thing, for the record. I love learning about you. I love getting to know you. But you don't need to act ashamed the second that we're alone," He continues. 

I nod and I can feel my eyes starting to water a little. I bite my lip, trying to hold myself together. I'm a very emotional person if you couldn't already tell. It can get annoying.

Dom looks at me expectantly. "Thank you," Is what my brain decides to say. I hesitate a moment before going on. "I mean it, like..I've never met anyone like you, Dom. You're amazing. You make me feel like I mean something, and that's one of the greatest feelings in the world. I couldn't imagine myself doing any of this with anyone but you." My voice breaks towards the end, and I stop talking. I've never been this honest about my feelings before, it was absurd for me.

He pulls me closer to him, his arms around the small of my back. He slowly leans down towards me, his face approaching mine. Right before my eyes flutter closed, they were locked with his, which were more green then I've ever seen them. 

The kiss, oh my gosh. It was... wondrous. Unimaginable. I never knew a kiss could feel so good. Mean so much. I never wanted it to end.

But, of course, like all amazing things, it did. He pulled away slowly, and my eyes take a moment before they reopen, staring up into his. Now I was really speechless.

"I, um," Dom clears his throat as he grins down at me. "I gotta go back in, before they kick me out for good," He says, his voice soothing as his hands release me slowly. 

I nod, biting my lip. It was like I was in a daze. That kiss was...He was just amazing. Everything about him. 

I bring myself to the realization that now if I tried to push him away, I wouldn't be able to. I wanted him, my heart was set on him.

I want Dom Wixton to be mine.

*     *     *

I have a few ideas for further down the road in this book, but I don't have any final decisions, so I have no idea how long this will be lol

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