My Dream Man | Book 1 | Sal Vulcano

Chapter Nineteen

But something jerked me back into reality. By the time I knew it, I was sitting on the couch with wetness on my cheeks. Sal and I were both staring at each other, and the other guys were gone.

Sal and I sat in silence, not knowing what to do. I had Lady snuggling up against me, so I pet her in comfort. Speckles, I'm guessing, ran off with the other guys, which I don't know where they went. There was a hard, awkward tension between Sal and I, and it hurt. My gut kept twisting and my mind didn't know what to do. Finally, after sitting there for a long while, I broke the silence.

"Where did they go?" I asked.

"Kitchen." Sal answered quietly.

I nodded my head. "Why?"

"I don't know, okay?! If I knew, I would've probably told you!" Sal snapped.

"Okay! Jesus, no need to shout at me!" I said back with wide eyes.

I guided Lady to get up as I laid my legs out on the couch. I then let her lay on top of my legs, her head resting right next to my stomach. I looked down at her and pet her head with a small smile. But through this, I could feel Sal staring at me. It was like he was looking through me, trying to figure something out. I felt my spine straighten as I shivered. I didn't like the feeling of Sal staring at me. Or it was probably because I was sick and cold. But I knew some of it had to be from Sal.

I took a deep sigh. "Why are you staring at me?" I asked, still staring at Lady, too scared to look at Sal.

After a long pause, Sal spoke. "I-I, I don't know." He replied quietly. I could feel that he was still staring at me. "Why won't you look at me?"

"I-I don't know." I replied with a stutter.

"What's wrong with you?" Sal asked. "Why aren't you looking at me?"

"Why have you been in such a pissy mood?!" I snapped, finally averting my head to look at him.

"Why haven't you been talking to me like before?! Why haven't you answered my calls for the past few days?!" Sal started asking.

I stared at him for a good two minutes. The way his jaw was tight and how much anger beamed from his eyes. I could see his cheeks adjust to the tension that he was giving his face. His hands were balled into fists, as if he was going to fight me. It made me scared. And I felt my jaw loosen and my eyes widen when I saw him.

It started to get me, thinking about the other night. Where he just left me for a good hour and a half, two hours in the cold. How earlier I asked for a ride back home and that he promised he would give me a ride. How I had to take a bus, and walk, back home. Or how the other week I was about to go to James' house and our conversation turned to shit. How we kept yelling at each other. I remember looking at each other from the window, both of us having a tear stained faces. I thought about when Sal snapped at me on the video chat. How he basically called me worthless. How he said I wasn't special. Then I thought about when we kissed. Oh how that kiss was sweet. My stomach fluttered with butterflies throughout that kiss. How his lips were so soft and perfectly matched with mine. The smile he gave me after he kissed me and how his eyes lit up were just a fantastic thing to look at.

A wet drop fell from my eyes. There, I saw Sal's jaw loosen and his face just drop. Instant regret washed over his face. His hands loosened from fists to a flat palm. I could see in his eyes that it changed. He was just full of regret and sadness. I could also see the urge in him wanting to wipe my tears away, but he didn't. I don't think he could.

"Why did you leave me the other night? I was waiting, but you never came." I said slowly, my voice disappearing by the end of my sentence.

Sal was lost in my eyes. They averted back and forth rapidly as if he was trying to figure out what to say. "Addison, I-"

"You promised me." I interrupted, tears just spilling by the second. "Do you even know how long I waited for you?"

Sal swallowed hard. "How long?"

"Almost two hours, Sal! Two hours of waiting in the cold! How do you think I got sick?! It's because you made me wait two hours before I took a bus near home, not only that, but walked the rest of the way back." I barked.

It got quiet. Sal couldn't believe his actions, and I could see that he wanted to take it all back. I was balling at this point, and I couldn't stop. And it didn't help that I had a cold on top of it.

"How would you feel if I left you two hours in the cold?" I asked.

"Awful." Sal said quietly, bringing his head down.

"Then why did you do it to me?! Especially on the day where the forecast said it would be the coldest out!" I cried.

"I-I, I don't know." Sal replied quietly.

I grabbed a tissue and blew my nose. I grabbed another one to wipe away some of the tears, but they were just pouring down.

"Why have you been such a dick to me Sal? Do you know how much I love you?" I asked.

Sal looked up at me again. This time, I could see that, he too, was also crying. "Y-you love me?" Sal asked.

"Well, at this point I don't know. But I know that before I loved you! You mean the world to me Sal! And now you've been awful to me. Why? Why are you being so mean and awful?" I asked.

Sal stared at me for a good few seconds before getting up of the chair and walking out of the house. My lips quivered and I started to loose it again. By this time, I felt arms wrap around me. I didn't know who it was and I didn't care. I wrapped my arms back around them, crying into someone's shoulder. A hand started to rub my back as they shushed me.

"It's going to be fine." I heard Joe's voice echo into my ear.

I heard whispering, then the front door closing. I lifted my head up and Brian handed me a tissue. I thanked him and gladly took it, blowing my nose. I was handed another one to wipe the tears off my wet face. I saw a stain on Joe's shoulder and felt bad.

"I'm sorry for staining your shirt." I said sympathetically.

Joe looked at his shoulder and shrugged. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Joe kept his hands on my knees as he was crouched in front of me. Brian was next to me on the couch, keeping his sad expressed eyes on me.

"Where's James?" I asked, wiping my eyes with a tissue.

"Went over to Sal's house to see how he is coping." Brian said.

I nodded. I felt the tears start to prick the corners of my eyes again. Brian grabbed a tissue and started wiping away those tears, as Joe did the same on the other side of my face. I chuckled.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I'm pretty sure this wasn't your intention for the night." I said with a small smile.

"Addison, it's totally fine. Trust us, this is a little peak in what we did want to see." Joe reassured.

I raised my eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"We wanted to see why you and Sal still haven't made up yet. That's why we kind of came over tonight. Don't get us wrong, we did want to come over and see how you were. But we also wanted to know why and what was keeping you and Sal so distant." Brian said.

I chuckled again as a tear slipped down. "Well, now you know."

"And it's something we'll have to talk to Sal about." Joe said looking at Brian.

Brian nodded his head. For a few more hours of that day, Joe and Brian decided to stay with me until they left to head over to Sal's. I let them go, for me I was ready to go to bed. When I got upstairs and into my room, I decided to take a shower before fully heading to bed. I cleaned myself up and braided my hair. I pulled on a new pair of pajama pants with a long sleeve grey shirt. I called my dogs in to sleep with me, something I rarely do. I needed company, and the company of my two dogs really helped me. I then fell asleep, leaving me to a deep rest.