Always Second

Chapter 20

"What??!!!! He asked you out on a date?!!"

Blushing, Delilah turned away from her friend. She couldn't handle everything. It was too much for her already and now Scarlett was making a big deal out of it.

"Oh my god. Stop it. Stop it!!!" Scarlett was screaming at the top of her lungs with the biggest smile on her face. Her hands were in the air shaking and all Delilah could do was laugh at her priceless reaction.

All of a sudden, Scarlett stopped, "Wait when?"

"He wants to take me to dinner tonight."

Scarlett's whole world stopped, "Tonight?!!!!!" 

Frowning at her best friend, Delilah didn't get what the deal was. "Yeah."

"OMG, I have to call Savv." Sighing to herself, Delilah knew she shouldn't have said anything about it. Then, she was going to hear the same thing from Savannah too which would be twice the volume.

******

After all the torture, Scarlett and Savannah finally got Delilah ready who was wearing a beautiful green cocktail dress, had dangling silver earrings on, black heels, and her hair was put up in a sophisticated bun. 

Delilah was nervous as it started nearing the time Jace was going to pick her up. She had never been on a date before and she thought their confession to liking each other yesterday was a bit embarrassing. She hoped it wasn't awkward. She would die if it was.

Breathing in and out, Delilah tried to prepare herself but as always, ran out of time for Jace rang the bell to her apartment. Delilah started panicking as she tried to fan herself with her hands. Scarlett and Savannah squealed as they went over to let him in.

As Delilah walked over to the door, she saw Jace standing in front of her looking effortlessly handsome as usual.

Jace took Delilah in and felt his heart swoon. His heart was pounding and his nerves were setting in. It was his first time feeling like this, it was all new to him. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," Delilah said shyly.

Jace cleared his throat, trying to calm himself down. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." Delilah took the hand that Jace held out for her and all the while she did, the two girls behind her were squealing like teenagers. 

The car ride to the restaurant was surprisingly nice and peaceful filled with light topics and laughs that Jace would take every chance to hear from Delilah. 

Over dinner, Delilah heard a lot about how he became friends with all his best friends and Delilah told him of how she came to meet Scarlett as well. 

The two laughed the night away as they ate their dinner. Delilah really enjoyed Jace's company, he made her laugh a lot and he was a hard person not to like. He was so alluring and was the biggest family person. It was the cutest thing to her to see him talking about his family. 

Jace smiled at the brunette in front of him whose eyes were sparkling at him. "So, enough about me and my family. I want to know more about you. Tell me about yours?"

Delilah's face twisted a little as the conversation was turned over to a topic she disliked. She didn't like talking about her 'family' or whatever one would call it on the outside. "Well...my mother was certainly not like yours. Maybe once upon a time she was, but that all disappeared when my father left us." Delilah bitterly chuckled as she looked at the table's stunning centerpiece, "I was 8 at the time, you know. It all happened in a flash. The three of us, were an actual happy family before that happened, but after my father was gone, my mother was never the same. She couldn't move on, she couldn't get her life together, not even for me. All she did till her death was cry over him and work. She worked and worked, just to pay for the poor apartment we stayed in and to feed the both of us. That is probably the only thing I am grateful to her for." 

Delilah let out another sour smile as she went back to her past. "On her funeral, I couldn't even cry for her. Yes I was grateful to her for providing for me, but that's all I could feel for her. She was practically a stranger to me. She was never there for me, ever. She never came to any of my sport events, school events, outside events...absolutely nothing. I rarely would even see her. She'd get up before me to go to work and when she'd come back, I'd be in my room and she'd go straight to hers. She was like a walking zombie, she'd do the same thing everyday and the only thing that was ever on her mind...was my, father. He was her absolute world and I...she didn't even have enough room for me to be even be second."

Jace saw the anguish on Delilah's face and knew what the source of it came from. It pained him to see her like this. How she had to suffer through life with no one to be there for her. It sucked, it really did suck. He would do anything to give her the life he had. 

Finally looking up at him, Delilah saw the look of guilt on Jace's face. He had been blessed with an amazing life. He had it all, money and riches, and a loving family. Delilah on the other hand....wasn't. Delilah gave Jace a comforting smile, she didn't want him to feel guilty for her misfortune. After all, it wasn't his fault. "It's depressing isn't it? You shouldn't have asked?"

Jace tried smiling back but nothing would come out. His mother always told him to be thankful for everything he had, but he never truly realized what other people didn't have. "No. I'm glad you told me. The good and the bad, I want you to tell me it all. Only then can I understand you and take away all that pain."

In that moment, Delilah knew she was in trouble. She didn't want to believe it and she wouldn't admit it, but she felt something deep inside of her tell her something she never even thought was possible for someone like her. She didn't know whether to be happy or not. 

*****

The next few weeks had passed by in pure bliss to Delilah. Jace had took her out every weekend and made her laugh at every turn. It was so easy for Delilah to be around him. She had a hint of it, but didn't fully realize how much she was starting to fall for him as each day passed by. 

But they were finally nearing Thanksgiving break, a holiday. Delilah hated Thanksgiving and she hated Christmas even more. For the past three years, Scarlett had tried hard to get Delilah to join her family for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and although she decided to join the Hilton's for Thanksgiving, she absolutely would not do Christmas. She preferred being alone on that such day. Those two holidays were all about family. So, what was there to celebrate for Delilah? She didn't have a family to go to, have dinner with, and share what they were thankful for. She didn't have a family to go home to and open presents with. All of that stopped when she turned 8. 

She had spent majority of her life paying no mind to holidays. She spent it as a regular day. It didn't bother her, but now that she went to college and saw her friends and everyone around her become exited to go home and spend time with their family's, it made her a little bitter. 

Today was also the day, along with those two other's that she despised. It was November 24, the day to Delilah, that although many would be celebrating, it was the day that Delilah shut herself from everything and everyone. Today was the day Delilah would turned 21. It was her birthday and she hated her birthday.

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