Best Friends

5 Still Beating

"hey" Dom said softly though it still made me jump
"Don't sneak behind the sofa like that you idiot. Giving me a heart attack" he moved his way round and sat down beside me wrapping an arm around my waist
"We need to have a talk" he said sounding serious
"About what?" I asked moving further up the sofa away from him forcing him to retract his hand to his side
"About what happened."
"I don't wanna hear what happened Dom."
"I'm not saying I'm going to tell you in detail how I did it. I just want to talk to you about how scared you are that I'm going to do it again."
"You say you're not gonna do it and I do believe you but I'm just fucking scared. All the other times I moved on from but this time I wasn't there. And you needed me the most. So now I've got to make sure Im there for you just in case." I sighed "I don't know Dom ask my fucking brain. My stupid. Fucking. Brain"
"There's nothing stupid about that" he pat the small gap on the sofa between us and I moved up beside him "No one cares like you. They all care just as much but not in your way." He brushed my hair behind my ear and hugged me tight "You can't be so fucking scared all the time. I hate seeing you so fucked up. I want my happy lil' Lexi back"
"She's gone Dom."
"We can move on from this too lex I kn-"
"She's been gone a long time. Since I left in fact" I wrapped my arm around him"you made her."
"She's not a separate person lex. It's you." He placed his hand over mine and brought it to his chest "my heart's still fucking beating. I'm still here with you right now. You're allowed to be happy about that." He went to pull his hand away but I quickly pulled it back and rested it there
"Your heart rates going up." I said "you're really passionate about making me believe this aren't you?"
"Yes. Course I am. Lexi I want you to be happy."
"I'll try. I'll try my fucking hardest to get through this" he kissed my temple and smiled "see that's it. That's my girl."
"Yknow you don't really help the fact that Adam thinks there's something going on"
"Let him think that."
"Yknow I shouldn't even be mad. Any girl would be lucky to have you. But my Trainwreck ass gets in the way."
"You know I'll always choose you. You don't  get in the way lex. Most girls just think what Adam does. That there's something going on."
"Not ash. I liked her. Made me feel included. Till she broke your heart"
"It's not that simple lex. Besides she's coming over next week to see me. Says she's happy to see you after so long"
"Are you okay with being friends then?"
"Yes Lexi." He said sounding like he was trying to contain a laugh
"What?" I said getting up and crossing my arms across my chest
"The way you're all serious about it"
"I'm only trying to make sure you're okay."
"Awe I'm sorry." He cooed
"You're not. You think bossy me is funny as fuck"
"I do indeed but I'm sorry if upset you. Look me and her are fine and she's coming to see how I'm doing"
"I'm done talking" I stated blankly
"That's fine. We don't have to talk anymore." He sighed and opened his arms for me to fall back into them "She's bringing someone with her too. Well kind of. They're gonna meet each other at the airport then come here"
"Who is it?"
"I don't know" he said though I could tell he did
"Just tell me"
"You'll have to wait till Monday"
"But that's ages away" I whined
"It's only two days. I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides it's someone you'll be excited to meet."
"Oh great. Is it one of her friends" I said sarcastically
"Just wait" he said simply "You'll be happy when they're here"

"You two plan on getting up from there?"
"No Adam. If we did don't you think I would have done it by now?"
"Well we're thinking about going somewhere. Yknow for a fun day out? Make you feel a bit better" he seemed a little nervous
"Okay. Let me get dressed and I'll be with ya right away" I returned back downstairs soon after in a pair of jeans and a hoodie "Why'd you all look shocked?" I asked genuinely confused
"You did it without being dragged out. When you were upset. You never fucking do that"
"Well lucky for you" I walked up to him and patted his cheek "today I did. Now where are we going?"
"We don't know yet. Maybe the arcade?" I nodded smiling a little
"Right so I'm driving us" Mikey said stepping towards the door "you wanna ride shotgun?" He asked me.
"You know me Mikey. I always sit up front when you drive"
"Cmon then."

"What ya doin?" Dom asked walking over to me
"Trying to win that unicorn" I said pointing to the teddy in the claw machine
"Let me have a go" he stepped up behind me and reached around to put money in the coin slot and reach for the lever "Yknow I quite like that pink one" he said before directing the claw towards it and grabbing it first try
"Nah it's rigged" I declared. He spun me round and smiled cupping my face gently
"Why'd you care?" He gave a quick peck to my forehead  "You got a free unicorn out of it" he picked it up from the prize chute and handed it to me before taking my other hand and leading me off somewhere
"Where you taking me?"
"Here" he said stopping right in front of a photo booth "I wanna take some pictures with you. Yknow since we're both happy right now and we always take pictures in photo booths wherever we go" he looked down at his feet "it's okay if-"
"Let's do it" I said excitedly before pulling him in and forcing him down on the seat "howany we doing?"
"Two strips of three? That way we get one each"
"But I get to choose which ones best for myself"
"Deal" we took two of us just smiling, one on each strip, and the rest were of us doing silly faces. I pushed past him to grab them out of the slot and I smiled "what- oh" he said when he saw them. He wrapped his arms round my waist from behind and watched intently as I babbled on about how I loved each one and why I thought it was my favourite.
"Are you guys ready to go?"
"Where are the boys Mike?"
"Back at the car. Said they weren't waiting around to find you both. I figured this would be where you were" he did raise an eyebrow at Dom's hands around my waist but a quick shake of the head discouraged him from pursuing it further "cmon. We've been here all day. You riding in the front again?" I shook my head and yawned
"I'm hungry as fuck" I whined "how long have we been here?"
"About four hours" he gave a sympathetic look "I'll stop by a drive thru and get you something to eat. We could probably all do with something too and it's about an hour drive back"
"Sounds good."
"Cmon let's go" he turned around and began to walk off but Dom crouched down Infront of me
"I'll carry ya back to the car."
"Well I'm not gonna refuse that" I jumped up and wrapped my arms over his shoulders whilst he held my legs up. I let my arm dangle down holding my unicorn as he caught up with Mikey who'd walked ahead of us.
"Seriously Lexi?"
"She's tired Mikey leave her alone" Dom said sounding pissed off at the harmless remark. I rested my chin on his shoulder my cheek brushing his
"I wanna go to bed" I whined though it came out more of a tiny whisper because of how tired I was. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh
"Cmon let's get ya home." Dom said softly "are you staying in-"
"With you" I interrupted
"Yknow you should really sleep in your-"
"No. With you."
"Okay. Let's get back and we will make that happen"