Dances of Angels
By: Dana Lynn
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
Chapter 12
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~


Dakota watched JC intently while he chatted up about Courtney in the old days, his family, and his friends. After about an hour of talking, JC stopped.

“Am I boring you? I feel like I’ve been rambling?” He asked, smiling. Dakota laughed. “No, no. It’s nice being on the other side of the conversation for once.” She said. Now it was JC’s turn to laugh. “Ooo. You sound a little bitter there, D.” he smiled.

“No, really, I wouldn’t be. But, if I wanted to have a conversation about myself to myself, I’d stay at home, in more comfortable clothes instead of across the table from some guy that hit on me at a bar where I was probably feeling lonely and desperate, so I agreed to a date.” She breathed, finally.

JC laughed again. “Do you practice that?” “What?” she asked. “You’re little monologue?” he asked, still smiling. “Funny Chasez. But no, I’m just that quick.” She smiled.

“Well, I’ll tell ya. I was gonna ask you a question, but after that, I don’t really think I wanna chance it.” He said. “Go for it,” She laughed. “I won’t bite. Promise.” “In that case…” he smiled. He was playing with her now. He enjoyed it, quite honestly. But even more surprising to him, she seemed to as well. She wasn’t at all intimidated by his eagerness to talk. What a relief! But, back to the matter at hand.

“So… where did you grow up?” he asked, finally snapping himself out of his own thoughts. “I grew up a near Atlanta. But I moved down here with my, um… boyfriend, right after high school.” She glanced up at the ‘boyfriend’ word, only to see his reaction. He didn’t fail her. His face dropped slightly, and she went on in attempt to explain. “After we broke up, I need a place to stay. That’s how I met Courtney. We went to school together for awhile, until I left to continue dancing, and when I got back and had nowhere to go, she told me she had an extra room and was looking for a roommate. The rest, as the say…”

“…is history” he finished for her. “Exactly.” She smiled at him. He seemed to accept the story as it was. It was the truth; no one could ever call her a liar. But, some information was left out. They’d just met, no need to burden him with her life troubles.

“And your parents? Do they still live in Atlanta?” he asked, innocently coming to his own conclusions. She looked at him, then to the floor, perhaps in search of an answer.

“Uh, no. My parents died almost six years ago. Pretty much right before I moved down here, actually. I didn’t have any other family, so moving out of there seemed like the only possible thing to do, aside from driving myself insane.” Dakota answered, as though she’d answered the question before a million times. A rehearsed answer that seemed to flow out emotionless, yet the pain still cut like a knife every time she had to tell another person. Another person let into the depths of her soul. Another person to look onto her with pity in their eyes. Another person that would inevitably detach themselves from her because of her mess of emotions. Another…

“Dakota” he interrupted her thoughts. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t want you to have talk about anything that you didn’t want to. Courtney never told me…” She put her hand up to interrupt him. “I swore her to secrecy. And, thank you. I know you didn’t mean anything by asking about my family. But, if it’s all the same, can we change the subject?” she asked.He smiled, with obvious forcefulness, but nevertheless, she responded with her own smile, completely genuine.

continue >>


"Dances of Angels" main page       Stories page