Page 63 of Rise & Fall
He’s right…again. And I hate that I actually called him, because I should be grown enough to figure this shit out on my own. But I’m also glad that I did call him, maybe it’ll bring us back closer together.
Just then I hear a little girl stirring in her bed, yawning noises coming from inside the house.
“I gotta go, Mitch. I’ve gotta get Aria ready to go meet Jessica. But thank you for this.”
“Anytime, brother.”
The line hangs up and I decide to send Dakota another quick text.
Can we talk?
I know I just texted her thirty minutes ago, but I don’t want to wait and risk her not knowing how serious I am about this. That I want a real shot with her.
It’s up to me to make that move.
I’m staring up at the brick building, the birds chirping in the late morning sun. I drove around the neighborhood like a creep for a few minutes before deciding to man up.
She told me I could meet her at her house, but something told me thathemight still be here, especially after she told me that hedidstay the night.
I get to the door and I ring her unit number.
I don’t wait long before hearing her voice.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dakota. It’s Nolan.” I speak into the speaker and wait for her to respond. There’s a pause that seems long enough to make me reconsider standing here.
I know she probably didn’t expect me to be here so quickly, but I was already out dropping off Aria.
“Yeah, come up,” she finally says, and the door clicks open after the sound of a buzz.
I walk up the steps to her floor and before I can even reach the end of the hallway, she’s already exiting her apartment, quietly shutting the door behind her.
“Hey,” she offers in a whisper.
Her red hair is thrown into a messy bun, her freckles are popping out against her cream colored skin. She’s wearing a pair of tiny pajama shorts and a tank top with no bra under. I pause a beat, almost afraid to get too close to her, but I continue to make my way to her until we’re practically toe to toe.
“Are you okay?” I ask, watching as she dips her head down to the ground.
“I don’t know.” Her breathing is light, like she’s afraid to talk too loudly or be too open about the situation.
“Is he still in there?” She looks up at me slowly, her green eyes boring deep into my dark ones. Light to dark.
“Yeah, he’s just getting ready to leave. I have an Uber on its way for him but it’s running late. I’m sorry, I thought he’d be gone by now.” She’s suddenly shifting uncomfortably and I can't blame her. This situation must be weird as hell.
“What happened?” I ask her, reaching for her hand. She pulls it away slightly, most likely on reflex, and then takes a deep breath.
She looks over to the door frame slightly before bringing her eyes back to mine. She lets out a little breath before answering.
“I don’t really know. He just showed up at my job last night. One of my co-workers took over my shift so that I can deal withthis. He told me he had plans of getting me back and didn’t plan to stay anywhere else.” I reach for her elbow, and this time she lets me touch her.
“Sounds a little unhinged,” I say, running my fingers up and down her arm.
“Tell me about it. And immature. And so fucking frustrating.” She reaches out for my hips and wraps her arms around me. I won’t lie, I don’t know how I feel about the contact knowing that her ex is just on the other side of the door. But it’s also fucking exciting knowing that he could come out and see us together.
I rest my chin on the top of her head, her hair smells like lavender and some kind of amber cashmere.
“Nothing happened between us, I promise. I told him I wanted nothing to do with him and he needed to be out first thing in the morning. But he had nowhere else to go and I wasn’t gonna waste my time or money trying to find him a place.”