Continuation from last chapter - enjoy guys :D
"Step one, you say we need to talk, he walks.
You say sit down; it's just a talk.
He smiles politely back at you; you stare politely right on through.
Some sort of window to your right, as he goes left and you stay right.
Between the lines, of fear and blame that you begin to wonder why you came.
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend,
Somewhere along in the bitterness.
And I would have stayed up, with you all night,
Had I known, how to save a life.
The Fray – How To Save A Life.
I sigh as he squeezes my hand, as we walk down a covered area of trees in Central Park
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine" I smile.
"Tell the truth," he said simply, staring me down.
He knows me too well. "I feel like some of this is my fault." I say, honestly. I take a deep breath, knowing that I'm about to admit something out loud I have barely thought about myself.
"What? Why?"
"If I hadn't of called you to see how it had gone, getting his bike blessed, he wouldn't have been out of your sight, because you wouldn't have been talking to me and fiddling with your phone."
"Lindsay, how long have you been thinking this?"
"Ever since you left. I kinda pushed it out of my mind beforehand. I thought you might have been blaming me a little. And I didn't want you to, I just-"
"Lindsay, the only person that is responsible for Ruben's death is Lucy Scott. Not me, or you, or Ollie Barnes. Lucy pulled that trigger. It was an unfortunate accident,"
"I know, but I just felt like-"
"Well, you might have felt like it's your fault, but I'm telling you now, it wasn't. Alright? It wasn't either of our faults."
"I know, but-"
"There ain't no but about it, Montana."
I sigh and walk forward a little, letting go of his hand. I don't think I had prepared myself for such a talk.
Within seconds, I can feel him taking my hand, stopping, tugging my hand, and pulling me back. "Dance with me, Lindsay"
"Danny, there's no music" I laugh, "I'm not dancing with no music."
"That didn't stop you last time, you don't need music to dance. We can make our own"
I sigh and wrap my arms around his neck. We sway gently in sync with the other. I rest my head against his chest and bite back a sob. "Why is nothing ever easy for us, why is everything always a upward struggle?"
"They never said it would be easy Linds, but I can promise you it'll be worth it."
"You stole that from a bumper sticker on facebook." I smirk as I prod him in the love handles.
"I might have." He said as he kissed the top of my head "things go wrong Linds, so we can appreciate them when they're right."
"Again, another bumper sticker." I chuckled.
"Okay, so you need to get out more, like seriously, the obsession you have with them is unhealthy" He laughed, "but honestly Linds, if everything was plain sailing, then sure, we would have been happy, but for how long?"
"I'm missing your point" I sigh, still swaying, letting him lead, "what's wrong with being happy?"
"It's routine, we aren't routine. There's always been something to mess us up. There's constantly a spanner in the works, and we always get over it. Both together and separately. It's what makes us, us."
"So you're saying that without bumps, we wouldn't be who we are?"
"Not in so many words. If we suffer and deal with things, it makes us stronger, it makes us realise how much we want to be with the other. Not just because we're happy, but because we love and need the other."
"You've been doing a lot of thinking, haven't you?" I ask, head resting on the crook of his neck, I take a deep breath and inhale his scent. Even though we haven't been together in what seems like, forever. Nothing's changed. We're still Danny and Lindsay.
"I've missed you putting your head there." He said softly as he placed a kiss to my temple. "I've felt like something was missing these past few months,"
I nod silently against his body. Afraid that emotions will take over and words will fail me.
"I'm not good at this type of thing," I whisper against his neck. "I want to be, but I'm not."
"How can anyone be good at grieving, Montana? We've both proven we pretty much suck at it. I've never expected you to help me. But I knew you were there for me, just like I hope you know that I was there for you, when you needed me"
"You didn't let me help you," I cry as I beat against his chest – "You didn't come to me. You pushed me away."
"I was selfish, in my grief I didn't see anything other than me, and ways in which to make me feel better, rid myself of the pain. I didn't think about how I was destroying you."
"You destroyed us," I cry as he wiped the falling tears away
"I know I did. I ruined everything we had worked for. I might not have loved you in the past like you've deserved, and I have probably been the reason why you've cried one too many tears"
I glance down as a tear falls down my cheek and hits the floor.
"But I'll take what's wrong and make it right, if you'll give me the chance. I want to earn everything back that I lost."
I take a deep breath. My eyes are stinging from crying so much. "I still love you," I say simply, looking up at him "I want it to be like how it used to be."
"So do I, Montana. So do I."
"I've missed that" I sigh as he takes my hand and leads us further into the park.
"Missed what"
"My nickname. It was something only we shared. Everyone calls me Linds, or Monroe. Only you called me Montana."
"I've missed calling you it. I had to stop myself a few times. I didn't feel like I had the right."
I grip a little tighter to his hand as a chill rips through my small jacket.
"You cold?"
"No" I smirk, voice unconvincing, and then I laugh as he cocks his eyebrows "Okay, freezing"
"You should have said" he laughs as he takes his leather jacket off and drapes it over my shoulders "put it on properly, you'll catch your death out here. It's freezing."
"Says you in a green t-shirt. Practice what you preach, Messer." I grin as he playfully punches my arm. "In all seriousness, thanks, for the jacket"
"Don't mention it," he smiles as he wraps his arm around me, and pulls me close. "Looks like it's going to rain," he commented.
"Forecasted it earlier in the week" I shrug. "Wouldn't be a first to rain in February" I add, grinning.
"It's your birthday in like two weeks, isn't it? March 12th?"
"You know when my birthday is?"
"Linds, you were my girlfriend, of course I know."
"Why'd you forget last year then?" I ask, eyes parallel to the floor, tone a little harsh.
"I was an asshole last year. I was in a dark place, and didn't appreciate what was right in front of me."
I shrug. "All you had to do was open your eyes"
"Maybe so. Doesn't change what happened though."
"Rich coming from you, don't you think? Shouldn't I be saying something along the lines of that?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he spat, letting go of my hand and stopping abruptly.
"What does it sound like?" I ask, "It sounds exactly how it is. You make it sound like it's my fault or something. I didn't sleep with someone else"
"You figured it out?" he said in an almost whisper. It was more of a statement rather than a question.
"Well, you weren't about to tell me, were you?"
"I wanted to, believe me, I did. But I felt like I let you down."
"Oh yeah, let me down?" I close my eyes and take a breath "I'm sorry. You don't deserve to have to deal with me being angry. You've had it tough and I'm sure you've beaten yourself up about it enough, and I guess it just hurts still, especially about how much I was thinking about how I could help you, how I could get over my issues to help you with yours," I shrug as I walk ahead in front, every intention in the world to just walk away from him. "I thought I meant more to you"
The sound of thunder breaks the silence between us, and I hear him call out to me "Don't go, Linds, come on. Stay, please, come on. Just stay"
I stop, still facing away from him, and I close my eyes. Another clap of thunder sounds and suddenly, the heavens open and we both stand there, soaking up the rain.
"Lindsay," he calls to me over the loud sound of the rain "I love you."
I turn slowly, and take a deep breath "Do you mean that?"
"With all my heart. I love you, Lindsay. Please Linds, don't make this goodbye."
"It was never goodbye Danny" I say as I walk towards him "It was never, ever goodbye" I yell over the loud claps of thunder and rain. "Not for me, it wasn't."
I rush over to him, and he pulls me into an embrace, for a second, I feel as though he's gonna kiss me, but instead, he wipes the tear that was slowly moving down my cheek, and takes a deep breath, "Don't leave me, Lindsay. I need you." He whispers as he rests his forehead against mine. "I love you."
"I wish I didn't love you. It would make everything so much easier" I sigh as I let my lips hover over his. "But I wouldn't be the person I am today if I didn't love you."
"We're gonna do it right this time, no more messing around." He says, "Because I swear to you Linds, I'm not letting you go again. I'm not gonna be the person that screws us up again. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get my shit together"
"I forgive you for taking your sweet, freaking, time" I smile as he flicks me in my arm. "Ow"
"Wiseass." He smirks as he kisses my forehead. "Can I ask you something?"
"Mhmm." I nod. "What?"
"What is this?" he gestured between us both.
"What do you want this to be?" I ask,
"I want this to be us."
"So do I." I nod in agreement. "But I have something I need to say, first."
He nodded, silently. I think it was because he was afraid of either what I was going to say, or his own voice failing him.
"I want to – I need to-," I say before taking a deep breath, once I say this, there's no going back. "I'm just trying to find the right words"
"Take your time" he smiled as he pulls me close "You're freezing." He commented.
"I'll live" I say, not wanting to get off topic "I need to say this, so shuddup" I smile as I stick my tongue out at him "I want to forget what's happened in the past."
His eyes bulged "Linds, don't you-"
"Let me finish. I think we have both messed up, royally, in the past three years. You forgave me when I pushed you away, and now I'm forgiving you."
"Linds, what you did was nothing compared to-"
"Danny. Shut up and listen, alright?" I scolded as my teeth chattered. "We have made mistakes; some worse than others. I'm not gonna help my case here with the obsession with bumper stickers, but we don't forgive people because we're weak – we forgive people because we know that people make mistakes. And – I want to forget what happened. I've lost too much in my life to lose you aswell."
I could tell he was trying to keep on top of his emotions "Lindsay, are you sure you're willing to forgive me, just like that. I hurt you, I did something terrible. You should be kicking my ass right now."
"Yeah, you're right. I should" I nod "But I know what it feels like to want to do anything to get that pain to go away - Granted I never went as far as you, but I had my moments. I was just lucky I was headstrong, and I knew that they would have wanted me to pick my butt up and carry on with my life, it wasn't my fault why that monster came in, and took them away from me. Just like how it wasn't your fault with Ruben was taken away from you and Rikki."
"Who's 'they', Linds, your friends?"
"My friends" I say, quietly. "I don't want to lose you like I lost them, Danny. I don't want to keep screwing this up. I – I"
Finally, from all of this happening, and him leaving, I actually break down, and let the tears properly fall, while he holds me. Not holding anything back – raw emotion spilling out of me. All for him to witness.
"Let it out, baby."
I stand there, sobbing into his chest as he holds me and rubs my back in circular motions, soothingly.
I clutch onto his chest, "I don't want to have to say goodbye again, Danny. I don't think I would be able to say it again."
"I promise, I wont make you say it again. I swear. Here." He smiled as he handed me an envelope.
"What's this?"
"Well, it's actually tickets to-"
"The Empires game?" I ask as I open the envelope
"Well, I know last season we wanted to go to the final against the Mighty Montanan's"
I chuckle "You're still getting a kick out of that?"
"Mighty Montanan's come on Linds, it's hilarious!"
"Yeah well there's one Montanan right here, ready to kick your ass" I chuckle as he wraps his arms around me from behind and nuzzles into my neck
"Like to see you try, Montana." He whispers against my neck, sending shivers down my spine. "So you'll come?" He asks as he presses a gentle kiss to my shoulder as I try to walk forward, him hanging all over me...
"I'd love to" I smile as I reach for his hand, and pull him to my side. "I'm cold, get me out of the rain"
"It would be my pleasure, Ms. Monroe"
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So, as far as i know, this will have two more chapters. Me thinks... But then again, i thought it was a oneshot. So who knows.
R&R? It's much appreciated :D
