Subject Me To Love [Book Two]

Chapter Forty-Seven

*Not edited* Not proofread*

Chapter 47– I brought you flowers:

The night is cold as the wind blows, my hair blowing every which way possible. It's a short walk from my car to the entrance of the little bar of the Hangout— thirty seconds tops— but before I can reach my car door and unlock it, the familiar rough tone of Dakota's voice is heard behind me in a short shout.

"You're going?" He asks as he jogs over, coming to a stop in front of me. His eyes wander around my face as a crease in his forehead appears. "Were you not going to say goodbye?"

"I wasn't planning to, no. Do you need something?"

Dakota looks confused, a little put off by my hostility. "Did I do something?" His head shakes vaguely. "You seem... annoyed. Did Ricky say something?"

My eyes roll as he goes on about going back in there if Ricky's said or done something to offend me, and I refrain from letting out a scoff. He knows I can handle Ricky on my own, why does he still try? Or is that just him as a person?

"Look, shouldn't you go back inside?" I cut him off, folding my arms across my chest. "I think your girlfriend's wondering where you've gotten to."

He furrows his eyebrows. "My girl—? Are you talking about Zoe? What makes you say that?" He has a smirk on his face, almost as smug as Ricky's.

"Because she's standing over at the door pretending to speak to Landon, but all she's doing is staring at us.". Someone should teach her the art of subtlety, the thought crosses my mind as I watch her eyes dart back to Landon as he inhales another lungful of smoke.

Dakota's head whips around so fast I'm surprised it doesn't fall off. He looks over her at her for no more than three seconds before he turns to me again. I raise an eyebrow. "I don't—."

"You don't have to explain anything to me," I assure. "It's your life, so it's up to you how you decide to screw it up."

"We're not together," he informs me anyway. "We're—."

"Working things out. I know," my lips purse for a second. "And I don't really care".

"Ricky has a big mouth, huh?" He chuckles bitterly before sobering up and letting out a sigh. "She's all I've ever known, you know? She's always been there. I needed to forgive her at some point. For me."

I don't know what to say, don't quite understand what it is he means. I've never forgiven anyone before.

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Dakota. As I've always said, the way you choose to ruin your life is your business, and your business alone." I mean it as I say it; truly. But there's a voice in my head that protests his choice of companion, his choice to keep people in his life that he should not keep, his choice of her.

My left foot lifts off the ground, it's slight and hardly noticeable, but Dakota notices the small shift. "Hey- you don't have to go, you know?" His hand hovers in the open space between us, and as my eyes flicker to Zoe's spying figure behind us not too far away, I see her eyes trained to his movements. So close to touching me, but not quite. I wonder if he refrained from touching me out of respect for me, or her. "It'd be nice if you could stay."

"When do I do anything I have to?" It's rhetorical as I begin walking backwards. "I'll see you in English tomorrow."

"Kody..." He drifts off and his words separate in the air between us. "I had to forgive her at some point."