CHAPTER 3
Kayla was laying passed out on Shannon and Seth's couch in the front room. Dean was kneeling by her side, dabbing her forehead with a damp washrag. Shannon and Seth were standing to Dean's right.
"Okay, so let me get this straight," Seth began. "She saw you in the kitchen and freaked out. She tried to run. You grabbed her by the waist, took hew down, and pinned her to the floor?"
"What else was I supposed to do, Seth?" he asked looking up at his friend. "She was hysterical." He looked down at Kayla. "I hope I didn't hurt her."
"There had better not be a mark on her or..."
"Seth," Shannon warned.
Kayla moaned and began to stir. Kayla slowly opened her eyes. She blinked until her vision cleared. She turned her head to her left and saw Shannon and Seth. She turned her head to the right and almost screamed again. However, Dean used his hand to cover her mouth to keep another sound from escaping.
"It's okay, Kayla. It's okay. Don't scream. I won't hurt you. It's me. Dean. Remember?"
"Mmm-hmm," Kayla mumbled.
"You're fine. Just take it easy. Now, I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth, but on one condition. No...more...screaming. Got it? Deal? Blink twice for 'yes'."
Blink blink
Dean slowly removed his hand from her mouth. Kayla began sitting up. She lowered her feet to the floor and started to rise from the couch with assistance from Dean and Seth.
As soon as Kayla was steady on her feet, she turned to face Dean. She stood there and just looked at him. "Dean Ambrose?"
"Yeah."
"I hardly recognized you."
"I've changed a little bit as you've noticed."
Kayla turned her attention to Shannon. "You didn't tell me he would be here."
"I didn't think you would come if you knew."
"Oh...I see."
Without warning, Kayla quickly whipped around and slapped Dean hard across the face.
"Kayla!" Shannon exclaimed.
Dean turned his eyes towards his former girlfriend.
"That was for leaving me 10 years ago."
Dean flexed his sore jaw. "Okay. I deserved that."
Dean's head snapped back from another slap. He had had enough and got up in Kayla's face. "Stop hitting me."
"You deserved that too. You never wrote me. Not once. Not a single letter from you. Not even a new address was given out to me so I could write to you."
"I had my reasons."
Seth stepped forward, placing a hand on Dean's right arm. "Come on, man. Back away." Dean took a couple steps back.
"What were your reasons, Dean? Tell me. I want to know."
"And you have every right to know. I didn't write because I thought you would be better off without me. I wanted you to move on without me. Start living your life without me. I didn't think our relationship would work with me being miles. I wanted you to do what you wanted without me in your way."
"You weren't in my way..."
"I wanted you to forget about me."
"Forget about you? How could I? You broke my heart when you left."
"I'm sorry, Kayla, alright? I don't know what else to say to you! Believe me, I didn't want to go, but what choice did I have?"
"You didn't even cry when you were saying goodbye to me," Kayla accused. "Not one tear fell from your eyes that day. Like you were emotionless."
That did it. "I cried when I was sitting in the backseat and the car was driving away, young lady! I didn't want you to see me cry. Trust me when I say that when I left, it was very hard on me. So don't you DARE stand there and tell me otherwise. Don't you DARE blame me for being emotionless."
Kayla lowered her eyes to the carpet of the living room. She knew she was wrong for what she said.
"Sorry, Seth. Shannon," Dean continued. "Thanks for having me over, but I have to go."
Dean stalked towards the front door, opened it, then slammed it shut causing the 3 of them to jump. Kayla didn't say another word. She, too, just walked to the front door and let herself out, letting the door close gently behind her.
Shannon's eyes connected with Seth's as she walked towards him.
"I should have told her Dean was going to be here," she said brokenhearted. "This is all my fault."
Seth didn't say a word. He just pulled Shannon to his chest and held her close.