I look at him. Observing how he looks the other way, away from her and onto another person. I take a deep breath "Everything okay?".
He immediately turns and looks at her. She looks down.
"Yeah, I just …. I didn't get enough sleep."
Tension builds.
"Howcome?… you couldn't stop thinking about Jo?"
He frowns his eyebrows and looks at her intensely. "What?"
"You keep looking at her…" she couldn't sound more direct.
"No, I just .." he starts and stops.
"What's wrong?" she feels her heart sink..
"Nothing." He replies .
She starts feeling her eyes tear up. She immediately grabs her bag and heads out of student lounge.
"Wait. Where are you going?!"
She speeds up not looking back. She feels rapid steps following her. "Don't Follow me!"
"Stop! Please." He begs as he follows her through the hallways.
She stops. Slowly turns. She couldn't hold back her tears. She had always been so strong, why was she so weak now?
She looks at him. He looks back at her.
"Are you in love with her?" She barely can speak.
He nods. "Don't ask me-"
"Are YOU IN LOVE WITH HER?" She raises her voice, stronger.
"No. No, of course not. It's not about her. I've just been confused lately.." he replies uncertain. "No" he reassures himself.
She bites her lip. A tear rolls down her eye. She wipes it off. "I'm sorry"
"Sorry?" He couldn't and didn't want to understand.
"I'm sorry. That I practically forced you to be with me. Obviously our feelings aren't mutual, you don't feel the same way about me anymore … we are not on the same page … and I get it, I totally get it" She replies hurt.
"No that's not how it is … I just-" He doesn't know what to say.
She can't hold herself back "You just what? You Want both of us, you want the two of us huh?!"
He looks at her, shocked. It killed him to know she thought that. He cared for Jo a lot, more than anything but not in the way she was implying.
She nods her head no, her heart was breaking.
A student suddenly leaves the girls bathroom and looks at both at them and looks away instantly. She immediately starts walking fast and heads to the bathroom, where she was going to the first place.
"Wait! Wait" he pleads going after her.
She opens the door to the girls' bathroom. And he follows her in aggressively.
"You can't just come in here!" She hesitates looking around at the stalls.
He locks the door from the bathroom.
"Listen to me" he begs her, his eyes say everything.
"I don't want to hear it anymore" she says the truth breathing heavily, her words hardly came out.
"I need to tell you how I feel" he persuades.
"Danny please, I just want to be alone right now" she demands.
"Lacey, when I first saw you when I came back. When I first saw you and Jo,. I was so happy, happy- for that moment it felt normal again. I care for you two so much. Our friendship… in juvy ..… I would think about you guys all the time. Always wondering what you two were doing, how was middle school. When I finally got to talk to Jo, yeah she was still unwary of me, but she tried the hardest to believe in me, especially after the Regina's murder. Lacey any moment I was able to talk to you …. When you rejected me,, over and over again ... I felt I was being stabbed. I wanted our friendship back you know. I needed to talk to you. When we kissed at the Festival …. then you told me it was mistake … there was no mistake for me. All I thought about was that kiss. I had to see you with Archie after … him touching you …. The raging feeling I felt inside , how could he be around someone, touching someone that was mine. The truth is you were never mine Lacey … he was your boyfriend, not me. When I wasn't around you, I had to wonder if you were with him. The moment you came over to my house, that you told me you had broken up with him, I was relieved. Nothing else mattered, even if our love was in secret. It was better than anything. I felt bad hiding it from Jo. When I told you both the truth about my Aunt Tara's necklace ….. both of you shut me out. It's like I was back in square one. …. I want to be with you Lacey. I've always wanted to be with you. I've wanted you. But right now everything is more complicated than before"
Lacey's wipes the tears running face. "I was stupid you know. Selfish. I wish I can take it back, ….. I'm sorry. I am truly sorry"
He looks at her, you can see the hurt in his eyes. "Don't cry Lace. Please. You have nothing to apologize about"
Danny steps closer.
"Stay" he says after.
Lacey tries to hold back her tears
"Stay?" she hardly gets out.
His eyes couldn't be more into hers.
She takes a deep breath. " … things are different now you know … when we were keeping it a secret , we were both more together than when we are out in the open. W e don't feel the same way"
"You're right. I don't feel the same way" he replies lowly.
She blinks a couple times, making sure she does not shed another tear.
"And that's because whatever I felt for you back then, has intensified even more now" he tells the truth and steps closer
"Lacey believe me, that I'm trying my hardest-" Danny sounds hurt
She looks at him "Whatever are your problems … whatever you're going through, I want to fight the battle with you, but you're not letting me, you just keep pushing me away. I want to meet halfway, and I just keep putting myself out there and I keep getting the sensation you don't want me there! "
" It's not like that. You don't understand what's going on .." he is feels against the wall.
"Then tell me, explain to me! Nothing can be worse than what we've been through. We can get through anything." Lacey begs.
He nods his head no, he can't.
"I'm holding on, I feel like I'm holding on to a thread. And I, I am tired Danny. I 'am tired of trying to figure out what you're thinking, tired of wondering what we are. I feel exhausted. – and then I think to myself …. If Danny was there for me, even when I tried to shut him out, why can I not do the same?" she looks at the marble of the bathroom floor and back up. She takes a deep breath and licks her lips.
"You mean so much to me …" Danny assures.
They both stare into each other eyes, so much unspoken words.
Lacey nods her head, almost assuring him that she knows.
She tries to smile at him "You're a good person Danny. And – If you ever need anything … I'll be there for you. I f you ever need to talk about anything. We were best friends."
Danny shakes his head no "This not necessary …. Look I've just …. So much stuff has happen in a little time that it's a little hard to handle, we can –"
"I agree" Lacey nods her heads . "I get it. You need time to process everything. We've all gone through a lot, You've gone through so much, I understand."
Danny grabs her hand.
Her mind says to pull away, but her body didn't.
"Don't give up on me" he supplicates.
Lacey gulps. She slightly opens her mouth. She feels she can't breathe.
Danny caresses the palm of her hand.
She finally lets go.
Silence for a few seconds, felt like eternity.
Both slowly lean in and hug each other.
The touch, the feel, her soft skin, her scent drove Danny crazy. The desire. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to stay in that moment forever. He wanted her forever.
Danny's chest feels when she takes in deep breath
"I won't" Lacey finally says leaning a little back.
Their noses almost touching.
She fully pulls back. She tries to look somewhere else, she feels a shadow moving close to her. She looks back at him.
He moves quickly and takes her against the bathroom wall. He pushes himself onto her. They look one more time into each other's eyes and quickly close them as they feel the touch of each other's lips. He pulls her in even more, like if there was such space left. She grips on to his shirt. His hands move up and down the small of her back. Both moan softly.
Two bodies had become one.