LTTA-VALENTINE'S OVER

For some unknown reason Bryce woke up at six am. It probably had something to do with being the day before Valentines and no Dalila in his arms. Sleeping without her proved to be difficult but even more so on those extremely lonely nights. There was nothing stopping him from just going to see her for a few days. If he left now he’d get there around two thirty pm, in between her classes for the day. Why not? With that, he packed his duffle bad and was off to see his beautiful girlfriend on their first Valentines.



By seven am Dalila was only in Clearfield which meant she still had almost three hours ahead of her. She ran into some heavy snow on US-23 for about an hour, which held her up quite a bit. Even though the roads looked clear here she was only going 45mph for fear of black ice. Dalila had thought about pulling over and calling her parents to let them know she was coming but she didn’t want to waste any time. The sun was finally coming up with no clouds in sight. She pushed the pedal.

Amazingly she made it there by nine am, she didn’t even stop at her parents house, she went straight to Bryce’s. When she pulled in the drive-way she noticed his car wasn’t there, but thought that maybe his dad was using it. Almost skipping to the door she knocked and waited. No one answered. She knocked again and still no one answered. Finally Dalila pulled out her cell phone and called him. All she got was his voicemail.

“Hey B, it’s me… Call me as soon as you get this. It’s very important. I love you.” and she flipped her phone shut, heading to her parents for a nap, hoping Bryce would call back soon.



Bryce had made it to the college by noon, she should just be getting back to her dorm for a few. He ran as fast as he could to her room, by the time he got to her door he was completely out of breath. He wrapped on the door but when Steve answered his good mood quickly faded.

“Hey” he breathed. “Is D back yet?

“She’s not here.” he answered shortly.

“When will she be back?”

“Saturday.”

“Very funny. I’m serious.” Bryce could feel his patience running out.

“So am I.”

“Where is she?”

“Don’t know.” he said and tried to shut the door but Bryce stopped it with his foot.

“What the hell is your problem man?”

“Well, right now it’s you.”

“Just tell me where is Dalila is and I’ll be gone.”

“I wish” he groaned. “All she talks about is you, all she thinks about, dreams about. Not to mention she just sits around here and pouts when she’s not talking to you.”

“Look, I can’t help that part yet… I just want to find her. I just drove six hours to be with her.”

“Go to hell” Steve shoved him.

“Don’t touch me.” Again Steve shoved him. Bryce caught sight of Violet walking towards the room. “Finally” he mumbled. “Can you tell me where Dalila is?”

“Oh” Vi let out a giggle. “She went home to surprise you.” Bryce ran his hands through his hair.

“Shit. When did she leave?”

“Last night after class.”

“Thanks Vi…” He turned to face Steve. “And you, stay away from D… She doesn’t need your crap about how I’ll regret being with her. You and I both know that’s a crock of shit.”

“Yeah, sure… But I doubt she’ll stay away from me. The only reason she left was because she was confused about her feelings for me.”

The words stung Bryce and what made it worse was the smirk on Steve’s face. He knew Dalila had been confused but he didn’t know if Steve was telling the truth. Before Bryce could think, his right hand was clenched into a fist and hitting Steve right in the face.


Dalila woke up to her phone ringing at three in the afternoon and it was Bryce. She shot straight up and smiled, hugging her phone gently and flipped it open.

“Hey you! I’ve been…” Bryce cut her off.

“Do you have feelings for Steve?” His voice was angry and now Dalila’s head was spinning.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“No, of course not. Why would you think that? Where are you?”

“You might want to set him straight on that. I’m on my way back, I wanted to be with you… I’ll be there in a few hours, we can talk more then.” and he hung the phone. No ‘I love you’ or anything.

Bryce thought the long drive would calm his anger but it had only fueled it. He had so many questions for Dalila, for Steve… but mostly he wanted to go back and kick his ass like he deserved. He knew Steve was trying to get under his skin and he had given him the reaction he’d wanted. Maybe not the black eye he wanted… heh. He hadn’t meant to yell at Dalila, he’d tried to calm down before he called but the moment he heard her voice, it all came back. He hadn’t been thinking clearly to say the least.


It was almost eight and Dalila still hadn’t heard anything from Bryce. She tried calling Steve but he just told her to talk to Bryce first. She was pacing back and forth for the last hour, just waiting for him to call or show up. She kept twisting her ring and fidgeting when she tried to sit. Taking a couple of deep breaths Dalila tried to calm her nerves. It worked until she saw the headlights in the drive way. She ran out of the door and stood on the small porch.

“Oh thank God.” she breathed when he stepped out of the car. She wanted to run to him, hug him and kiss him, but the look on his face kept her right where she was. He stalked up to her but stopped a couple feet away from her.

“Why are you here?” blurting it out, venom on his tongue.

“Uhm..” she paused. “I wanted to be with you on Valentines.” Dalila spoke slowly.

“Well your little friend, Steve, seems to think it’s because you’re confused about who you want to be with.”

“Oh please” she snorted. “He knows that’s not the case.” Dalila paused. “He’s probably just mad because I couldn’t go to the party with him.”

“He asked you on a date?”

“No” she shook her head. “It was as friends.”

“Don’t be so naïve, it was a date to him.”

“And you believe him? And do NOT call me naïve.” she could feel her temper rising fast.

“I don’t know…” he finally looked her in the eyes. “I just don’t know D. I just know that when I got there he was pissed to see me. But this is what he wants… us to argue! Plus you told me you’ve been confused.”

“Not about my FEELINGS!” she sighed and looked at the ground. “But maybe…” her voice broke.

“Maybe what?” Bryce could feel his anger start to calm.

“Maybe he was right about something. Maybe we are too young for this. You seem to think so too.” There was a ball burning in her gut.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” he stepped closer to her.

“This distance is killing us both…”

Bryce cut her off. “Just wait until after this summer, I’ve been saving to move with you. After I work this summer I’ll have more than enough.”

“And then what?” she asked blankly.

“I’ll find a job, I’ll go to school, something… as long as we’re together!”

“What about Steve?”

“He doesn’t matter. No one else has to matter.”

“You can’t hate every guy I talk to!”

“I don’t!” his temper flared again, he took a deep breath trying to calm himself again. “It’s just the ones that try and get into your pants.”

“We can‘t keep doing this…” Bryce shook his head and Dalila felt her throat tighten. “ I love you Bryce, I really do but I want to try and save a friendship before we ruin it all.” Her fingers wrapped around the ring.

“Dalila, please don’t.” he pleaded. She shook her head, forcing her self not to cry.

“Then you drive all this way to be angry at me?”

“I’m sorry D… It’s just felt like you’ve been keeping something from me and I freaked.”

“I have a lot on my plate right now.” she tried to steady herself. “I don’t know if having a boyfriend right now is a good idea.”

“Dalila, I love you… Please, let’s just think about this.” She wanted to so badly but this whole thing had told her just how much it had been hurting Bryce. She couldn’t do that to him anymore.

“I need space…” She slid the ring off her finger and placed it in the palm of his hand. Bryce gently grabbed her wrist and looked straight into her eyes. He could tell it was killing her as much as it was him.

“You don’t have to do this.” he whispered. But Dalila only nodded. With his free hand he rubbed her cheek then pulled her in for a gentle kiss. D closed her eyes tight, kissed back then pulled back. Bryce rested his forehead on the top of her head. Still whispering he said “I love you.” And with that Dalila broke away and went into the house.

Bryce sat down on the steps, clenching the ring in his hand. He couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, he could barely breathe. Everything he had been working and living for was gone, for the past nine months he had been living in a dream. It just turned into a nightmare. Some how he pulled himself up and staggered to his car and drove home. At home he laid on the couch, ring still in hand. He didn’t sleep.


Closing the door behind her was the hardest thing she’d ever done. Bryce was gone now she reminded herself. Dalila pressed her back to the wall and slid to the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest, collapsing her head into her hands, she began to cry. She felt nothing but hot tears on her face. When she opened her eyes again the sun was shining through the window and realized that she was now on the couch. Rubbing her eyes she noticed she was still crying and that her mother was sleeping in the chair next to her.