Nothing But Wild (Malibu University 2)

With a bittersweet smile on my face, I pop the trunk door and begin organizing, making room for the boxes I have to haul back home.

“How was the opening?”

That voice...It’s like a tuning fork for the rhythm of my heart. It does things to me on a physical level that defies explanation.

Closing the trunk, I turn and give him my undivided attention. Dallas stands a few feet away looking very much unlike himself. Dressed in gray slacks and a finely-tailored white dress shirt with his initials embroidered on the cuff, he’s every inch the aloof, sophisticated, heir to a beer fortune. Conveniently, I keep forgetting that’s what he is. It’s easy to forget when I’m around him, having the time of my life.

He won’t meet my eyes, his gaze shifting away and back.

This is going to devastate me. He used to be my guilty pleasure, a fantasy, and yet he’s become everything I need and more. In my heart, I know I’ll never love anyone else the way I love him.

“Good,” I answer and let him take the lead. If he’s here to break up with me, he might as well get on with it.

His head tilts down and his hair falls across his right eye. It takes all my strength not to reach up and push it aside. He’s not mine anymore. I don’t get to do that. One day in the future, someone else will. The thought alone makes me sick.

Catching himself fidgeting, he shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants. His full pink lips press together tightly and his jaw tenses. Seeing him look so unsure, wearing not a stitch of his usual swagger, hurts. I don’t relish seeing him upset. If I could spare him all the pain he’ll ever feel in his life, I would do it without question.

“We had about a hundred people show up. T-Ten dogs and twelve cats got adopted…” He nods and shifts from foot to foot. “We missed you…I-I missed you.”

Tears threaten to embarrass me. I bite down on the inside of my cheek to stave them off, but it’s a losing battle.

Still nodding, his gaze keeps darting away and coming back to me. “I’m sorry I let you down…I need to explain––”

The grief-stricken look on his face sits like a cinderblock on my chest. “You don’t have to––”

“I do,” he insists. “I…I…” Shaking his head he looks off and huffs. I watch his lips move. Mustering the courage to end us. My stomach churns so violently I may throw up.

“When I found out that Beth left me for money I…it’s not…” He finally looks at me. Expression solemn, chin high. And yet to me he looks ready to come apart. “Everyone leaves me. She said she loved me and she left me for a hundred thousand dollars. That’s how much I was worth to her…she could’ve taken me with her but she chose not to.”

As much as I want to wrap my arms around him and make him feel better, I can’t.

“It took me a long time to get over her and then I got that letter…it was even worse…” He takes a deep breath, his eyes burning with emotion finally meet mine. “I love you, Dora. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone. What if you get to school and decide it’s too much work to have a long distance relationship? What if you meet someone else? Can you honestly say that can’t happen?”

Yes, I can honestly say it can’t. But I don’t say it because he’s so gunshy I’m not sure anything will convince him of that. “Do you t-think I’m weak?”

He looks confused for a moment, taken aback even. “No. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.”

“W-Would you say I’m fickle?”

Confusion blankets his face as he tries to figure out my angle. “No.”

“Well then w-why would you even consider the rest?”

He can’t answer. He can’t because it’s only his fear.

“T-These past two w-weeks have been p-pure hell for me––”

His head drops and he rubs the back of his neck. He looks so down and lost I almost reach out to hug him. But I stop myself. I can’t do this for him. He’s got to want to trust my love.

“For me too,” he murmurs, dejected.

I take two deep deep breaths to calm myself and start again.

“I love you. I love you like I-I never knew I could love someone…I thought Katherine w-was the l-last piece of the puzzle I was m-missing…I was s-sure of it. But she wasn’t…you were, Dallas.” Tears streak down my face and I wipe them away.

“You were the missing piece…I’m not psychic. All I can promise is that n-nothing outside of me and you”––I motion between us–– “is ever going to come between us. Nothing and no one will ever make me love you less. Only you can do that…Can you promise me you won’t fall for anyone else?”