corrupted lungs | d.w #Wattys2016

t h i r t e e n

"Tell me something about yourself."

"There's not much to tell. You've probably already heard it all."

"Heard what?"

"That I'm insane."

"That's not true."

Dallon looked over at me as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "And how would you know that?" He questioned quietly as we were back walking down the street again. It was almost like he believed it himself.

"Because I've learned to never trust rumors. Especially about someone that no one has ever cared to spend time with." Just talking about it made me irritated. I tried my best not to show it to Dallon, but he could sense my vibes.

"They're not completely wrong..." He mumbled and shrugged his shoulders. "I am a freak. I mean I'm..-"

"No." I cut him off and grabbed his hand to stop him from walking. "You're not a freak. You're so much more than what they tell you, Dallon." I said and he looked down.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" He asked and bit his lip.

"Because you're not like everyone else. You're different." I told him and slowly released my grip from around his hand, but he stopped me.

"If you don't mind.." He began slowly and grabbed my hand. "Could I hold your hand? I-It felt good..."

I was a bit surprised by that, but just smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah, sure." I said softly and intertwined our fingers together. We started to walk again, leaving a distance between our bodies but our hands held on to each other.

Dallon's hand was tensed and he occasionally glanced at our hands, like he was making sure he wasn't doing anything wrong. I realized that he must've been alone for the most parts of his life since he was so unused to touching and contact. It must be so hard for him having someone like me around him since I'm kind of... clingy. But it made me happy that he trusted me enough to let me get this close to him.

We arrived way too soon at our street and once again, he followed me all the way to my front door. His hand slipped out of mine and into his pocket again, but his eyes focused on mine.

"Thank you.. for going with me." He said as our eyes met and I nodded a little.

"Thank you for asking me to go with you. It was nice." I told him with a little smile and he looked down as he started to back away.

"Dallon?" I said before he could turn his back on me. He looked up at me, his eyes shifting a little.

"Would you like to meet my parents?" I asked him and he looked kind of shocked. He stayed quiet for a while.

"I don't know if I..." He then mumbled and looked down. "I don't know if I can."

"You don't have to." I quickly added to make sure he didn't feel pressured to do something he wasn't comfortable with. He nodded a little.

"I promise I'll think about it." He assured me and bit his lip. "Goodnight, Gabrielle." He said, before making his way over to his own house and disappearing into the dark.

"Goodnight, Dallon."

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well this was a weird chapter

anyways i hope you enjoyed even if it was rather short. thank you for reading, i appreciate it a lot. <3