A Way Out

Chapter 25

Three weeks went by in an utter daze. Christian kept on pondering what he did wrong but couldn't seem to find a fault in his actions. He grew extremely worried by her absence. What if she moved away or worse, what if something bad happened to her? He didn't know where to look for clues of her disappearance and felt hopeless, because of it.

He occupied her usual spot on the brown couch, just like he had done the three weeks before, while hoped for a sign of her. As he waited, he lost himself in his thoughts, shutting out the world around him. He thought about the moment they shared at the lake when he told her about his father. Did that story scare her away? Should he have kept quiet and waited for a better moment to tell her? At that moment, it felt right. He felt comfortable around her and wanted to share things with her. Things he often kept to himself.

The chiming of the bells of the front door disturbed his thoughts somewhat, but not enough for him to look up. His hope of Dallas walking through the door grown scarce, so he didn't see the use of looking up at every single sound.

To be completely, perfectly honest, he'd thought about giving up, but then he reminded himself of how she made him feel. He didn't want to let go of that, not yet. Not when she didn't give him a chance to fight for her. To show her they were worth it.

With a sigh, he looked up, ready to leave when one particular person caught his eyes. She headed for the door and he couldn't let this chance go by, even when he felt the fear of him being the cause of her leaving.

"Dallas?" She immediately stopped but didn't turn around just yet. Christian noticed her trembling hands behind her body, and he thought he scared her, something he would never want to do to her. He wanted to be the reason for her smiles and the cause of her laughter.

Dallas turned around and faced him. The moment her grey eyes collided with his brown ones, ease settled within his veins, calming every part of his body. She was here, she didn't leave, and she was okay. That she stood before him told him she didn't forget about him. Dallas came here with a reason today, and he was all too eager to find out what that reason was.

"Hi," she said almost apologetic.

"I haven't seen you in a while," he said. She bit her lip as she looked down, strands of red hair falling in front of her face. Was she ashamed?

Talking right here wasn't helping both of them, so he asked, "Do you want to get out of here?"

"So how are you holding up?" Daley asked before handing me a cup of coffee. It was Friday afternoon, and I spent it with Daley and Jasslyn. It's been a while since I last saw her, and it was good to catch up.

I shrugged my shoulders, snuggling myself further into Daley's sofa. He sat down next to Jasslyn and they both eyed me curiously. I considered telling Daley about what happened with Jake, but eventually, I decided against it. Jake left me alone for now, and he had some demons to battle. Although I despised him greatly, I didn't want Daley to add to those demons. Everyone deserves a chance to heal.

"Everything is just more of the same. I work, I write, and I try to keep Raleigh in control. That's about it." Of course, I was lying. My life turned upside down and messed itself up in a way I couldn't imagine. The only problem was that I didn't know how to clean that mess.

"What about you guys?" I asked, blowing on my coffee before taking a sip.

"Well," Jasslyn said with a smile, her bright red lipstick matching her fiery hair. She held up her hand and around her ring finger shone a small, but a gorgeous diamond. I gaped at it, not knowing what to say yet.

With widened eyes, I looked at Daley, who shot me a sheepish grin. "You guys are going to get....?" I asked, not even finishing my sentence as they both nodded at me.