Chapter Seven: Only Love Can Break a Heart
Danny couldn't breathe; his entire body felt like a giant sumo wrestler had slammed him against a concrete wall. Those words kept echoing inside his brain, 'marry me' that was what that pretty boy had asked her- for his Lindsay to marry that other guy….not Danny.
How many times had Danny dreamt of one day being able to ask Lindsay that question- 800, 900, 1,000, too many to count and always she said yes because she loved him. Danny couldn't seem to stem his pain; if it was possible he believed that the hurt was increasing with each step he took further away from her.
By the time he stumbled into his apartment his entire body was throbbing with betrayal, anger and jealousy. Without a second thought Danny whirled and nailed his fist into the mirror next to front door. The shattering of glass eerily echoed the shattering of Danny's heart, and ignoring the bloody cuts across his knuckles, he dropped to the floor and whispered her name, 'Lindsay'.
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'This can't be happening,' Lindsay told herself for the zillionth time. Grant had shoved her in the cab immediately after seeing her reaction to Danny, needing no explanations- - Lindsay's eyes had given her feelings for the man away. Grant only hoped the man would give Lindsay a chance to explain.
Lindsay barely kept it together as she frantically dialed Danny's number again and again during the cab ride towards his apartment. She kept remembering the expression in his eyes, and that she was the cause of his pain. She needed to get to him, to explain what he'd seen. "Oh God Danny- I'm sorry," she whispered to the cab's empty backseat.
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Danny had no clue what to do. He sat on the floor of his apartment wondering how he'd ever be able to be around Lindsay knowing she belonged to another man. Knowing that he'd never get to hold her in his arms again, never get the chance to kiss her, to take her on a real date, to make love to her- - all of it made Danny's insides twist into knots.
He wanted to go back in time and interrupt their reunion earlier in the lab; maybe then he could have stopped this from happening, maybe then he could have made Lindsay realize that he loved her, maybe then he could have made her see that his life had never been the same since the day she entered it, maybe then he could have…
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Lindsay jumped out of the cab almost before it came to a complete stop in front of Danny's building. She tossed the driver money, telling him to keep the change and ran towards the entrance door. 'Crappy door buzzers,' she thought angrily. She pressed the button for apartment #208 and waited anxiously for a response. 'Come on, come on Danny,' she prayed silently.
Fate must have heard her plea, even if Danny didn't, because a young girl walked up to the entry door with her key in hand.
"You meeting someone inside," the girl asked.
"Yeah actually, but he's not answering, so…" Lindsay trailed off hoping the lie wouldn't come back to haunt her later.
The girl gave Lindsay a closer look and deciding she seemed non-threatening offered her assistance.
"I can let you in. There's no point standing outside in the dark," she offered cheerfully.
"Thank you so much," Lindsay said breathlessly. She mentally restrained herself from dashing up the stairs like a crazed woman as she slipped in the door.
The girl gave Lindsay a half smile and a wave as she headed towards her first floor apartment, and Lindsay took a deep breath and ascended the stairs.