The Heart Of Solitude ✔

Chapter 44

Leighton's POV

I slowly walked to the booth that Dallas was sitting in, sliding onto the bench across from her.

" Hi."

She smiled. " Hey Leigh. I'm glad you came."

" Me too. I've missed you. How have you been?" I asked.

She shrugged. " I've been okay. The past couple of weeks things have been getting better. How about you? How are you?"

" I'm okay. Things have been difficult and a lot has changed, but they've been getting better."

Before either one of us could get another word in the waitress came over. " Hello girls, I'm gonna be handling your meals today. Can I start you out with some drinks?"

We both nodded. " I'll have a strawberry smoothie." Dallas said.

" And for you?" The waitress asked jotting it down. " I'll just get a water please."

She nodded. " I'll be right back out with these drinks and to take your order." She said about to walk away.

Dallas waved a hand. " Erm, actually I'm ready to order now."

The waiter stopped, back tracking to our table. " Are you sure? I can give you some time."

Dallas looked to me. " Are you ready?" I nodded. " Yeah."

Anytime I came here I knew immediately, without looking at the menu what I was going to get. It was a stable of mine.

The waiter pulled out her notepad. " Okay well you can go ahead then."

Dallas gave me a looked signaling that I could go first.

" I'll have the bacon cheeseburger with a side of extra fries."

She looked over to Dallas. I expected her to order her usual, but the words that came out of her mouth surprised me. " I'll have a triple ham and cheese sandwich."

It was Nova favorite meal every time we came here. She raved over it, but we only found it extremely disgusting with the amount of cheese piled on it.

I waited until the waiter walked away to mention it. " I thought you hated that?" I asked.

" I used to, but after Nova.." she paused. " Well ya know. But anyway, anytime I come here I order that. At first I wanted to know what was so special about it, but now it's just rolls off my tongue."

I smiled. " Did you ever find out what was so special about it?" She shook her head. " Nope. It's still harsh on the stomach, but over time you get used to it."

We both laughed. " I've missed this."

" Yeah me too." She agreed.

I started to anxiously mess with my straw. " Why didn't you answer any of my text? Or even call just so I knew you were okay?"

She sighed. " I can't tell you a straight answer to that because if I was to give you one, I'd probably be a lie. I just.. I blocked out the world mostly."

Before I could answer the door rung, and in walked the people I once called my friends, along with Zion.

Dallas turned around spotting them.

They walked to the other side of the diner, sitting in the normal booth.

" Are those your friends from school? And your girlfriend?" She asked turning back around.

Zion noticed me, and gave me a small smile in which I returned.

" Speaking of shutting the world out. Remember when I said a lot has changed?"

She nodded. " Yeah, well that's one of them. When Nova died I just hit rock bottom, nothing was making sense. I was so confused and hurt. They never fully understood why I was so... distant.. I guess, and neither did Bexley. When I finally came around to explaining to them on my I was feeling the way I was, they wanted to help me, they were willing to stay by my side. But by that time I had already decided that I needed to be by myself, I needed to heal on my own time. Not on the time of my friends because if I did that, I was never going to heal. I would've just pushed it behind me."

" They were all extremely mad at me, especially Bexley. But I handled them being mad because I knew it was what I needed to do to get to the place I needed to be."

She nodded. " Wow."

" Yeah." I said. " What about you? Has anything changed in your life."

She nodded. " Matter of fact it has."

.....

Dallas and I sat there, across from each other, munching on our food while we talked, laughed, and maybe even shedded a few tears.

Happy ones, and a couple of sad ones.

But overall it was a good visit.

The bond we had is not quite as it used to be, but that just because we were missing another part of us.

Eventually we would get to have a bond that was just as strong, maybe even stronger than before.

I was really hopefully for us.

We even agreed to start hanging out more, and with the lack of my friends on my end, she even brought up bringing a friend or two of hers along some times.

Laying in my bed I stared up at the ceiling with the biggest smile painted on my face.

It had been like this since I had left Beaties, and it was yet to fade even the slightest.

I was excited for what was to come.

3 month ago everything had fell apart. The walls we knew just tumbled down. Now I feel like those walls are slowly being built back up, creating a stable ground for us to walk on.

XOXO PARISBESTIES