Chapter 7
-------------------------------All I Could See Was How Beautiful You Were--------------------------------------------
"Dante, what's wrong?" He looks at her and smiles, but she can see the sadness in his eyes and something else, determination maybe.
"You know when you say my name, my real name, it drives me wild." Dante finally answers. Lulu is a little relieved to see some of the male bravado and cheesy one liners return, but she is apprehensive.
"I will say your name over and over again, if you tell me what's wrong." Lulu responds. And with that, Dante's smile becomes something sombre. "Is this about Sonny's case?" Lulu asks.
"It all comes back to that doesn't? The reason I came to this town in the first place. The same reason we met is going to be the same..." He can't even say it aloud.
"The same what?" questions Lulu. In her need to comfort him she has been absentmindedly rubbing Dante's leg. He can feel the heat through his jeans and her touch is sending tingles everywhere. He is sure there is a God somewhere trying to figure out the best way torture him, and Dante almost wants to stand up and applaud, because this God is sure as hell isucceeding.
"You remember that night at Jake's, the first night we met?' Lulu just nods. "All I could see was how beautiful you were. I didn't see the many million other wonderful things about you: How smart you are, how you never give up, how you struggle to always do the right thing, how strong you are, how resilient you are, how you can handle situations that make most people fall apart, or how brave you are in face of everything. You challenged me from the beginning. In chasing you all around Port Charles I learned so much more about you. You know what I admire the most about you?"
Lulu was speechless. Everyone she knew thought of her as fragile. Not Dante. He saw her as strong and capable. She was sitting so close to him now, so encapsulated with what he was telling her. She was sitting so close to him that she could feel his breath on her face.
With everything he was saying she was struggling to resist the urge to kiss him. Kissing him was the only way she could think of to express what she felt about him. She placed one hand on his face and looked into his chocolate eyes. And she knew what he was saying wasn't some line, he was being completely honest. What she couldn't understand was why he stilled looked so conflicted.
She managed to finally speak. Half jokingly and out of sheer curiosity she asked, "What is my most admirable quality according to Dante Falonconi?"
She is making this impossible he thought. How is he suppose to let her go when she looking at him like that, with her hand caressing his face? He had worked so hard to break down the walls she had build. Tonight he saw in her actions that all the walls had crumbled. He wanted to scream about the unfairness of the whole situation. Why did this have to be this way? But he was certain that if he didn't let her go she would suffer for it, and he knew he could not handle being the reason for her pain. He wasn't naive, he knew what he was about to do was going to hurt her, but it would be far less pain than if he didn't let her go now.