Stretching slowly, Dahven rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked at her alarm clock. "Hmm, almost ten. Must’ve been a lot more tired than I thought." She mused as she crawled out of her bed.
Picking her outfit of orange leather pants, a big light-green T-shirt, and a white long sleeved sweater to go underneath she grabbed her towel, and went into her bathroom to shower and change.
Walking out of the steaming bathroom almost thirty minutes later, she was ready for her day to begin. Well, so she thought anyway.
Popping a piece of gum in her mouth as she walked downstairs and into the breakfast room, Dahven was startled to see Julia there reading the paper and eating ubuttered toast.
"That hard long word that you are staring at is ‘the.’" Dahven helped as she sat down and accepted the glass of orange juice that Rosie brought over to her.
"Funny." Julia said as she continued reading.
Dahven smiled and took out the comics from the stack. She started smacking her gum, chewing as loudly as she could, and snapping bubbles as she read.
Julia started to squirm in her chair. Trying to ignore the noises that Dahven was making, but she couldn’t stand them. "Would you stop that?!" She snapped loudly.
Looking up from the comics, Dahven gave her a cool glance. "I’ll give you twenty dollars if you leave the room." She offered in kind.
"Really?" Julia asked surprised.
Dahven nodded. "Yeah. This is one of my favorite rooms and I’d like to have peace in it for a while." She said shrugging.
Julia held her hand out waiting for the money.
Leaning forward, Dahven shook her head. "Changed my mind." She said before she spit her gum into Julia’s hand, then got up and left smiling as Julia shrieked in disgust.
"We need to go to the mall again." Dahven said as she played with Zoë while Isaac was holding the newborn baby.
"Okay." He said shrugging as he started making faces at Zoë.
"She’s so little compared to you." Dahven said laughing.
"She’s little compared to a lot of things D." Isaac replied grinning.
She smiled back at him; "I know that. But you being so tall and all, she just seems so much smaller."
Isaac smiled at her. "You wanna hold her?"
Shaking her head instantly, Dahven backed away from him. "No. I’ll hurt her." She said holding her hands up.
"Oh, you will not." Mr. Hanson said as he sat up in his chair. "If Jessie can hold her and not hurt her, then you can too."
"Do you let Zac hold her?" Dahven asked tentatively.
"Yeah, I hold her." Zac said as he continued watching the TV.
Dahven still shook her head. "No, I can’t." She said backing away as Isaac started walking towards her.
"Isaac, I can’t. I’ll hurt her." She said quite scared now. "You saw what happened when I had dolls. Their heads popped right off in my hands." She explained still backing away from him.
Isaac stopped walking towards her. "It’s okay, D." He said softly. "You don't have to."
"Thanks." She said breathing a sigh of relief. "Can we go to the mall now?" She asked fidgeting, her nerves still stretched taut.
Isaac handed Zoë to his father. "It is okay that we go, right?" He asked.
Mr. Hanson nodded as he smiled down his new daughter. "Yeah, it’s all right that you go. But you should practice when you get back."
"We will, Dad." Isaac said racing out the front door with Dahven, Taylor, and Zac.
"Taylor, check this out." Dahven said as she and Taylor were looking around a music store by themselves.
Taylor walked over to her. "What?" He asked.
Dahven pointed to a dark green guitar. If the light hit it a certain way it looked almost black. "What do you think of this?"
He nodded, "Well, playing the keyboards I have no use for a guitar." He teased.
"No, not for you, doof. For Isaac." She said rolling her eyes.
"Oh, for Isaac." Taylor said smiling.
Dahven playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Our two month anniversary is in two days. And I need to get him something." She whined.
Taylor laughed at her. "It’s perfect for him."
"Good, cause I’ve had a friend working on one exactly like that. Come see." She said pulling him to the front counter. She pointed at the computer screen and there was the same green guitar he saw hanging on the wall.
"Okay. Now what?" He asked.
"Now," She said as she clicked on the guitar with the mouse. "This is what it’s going to look like." She said proudly. "Isn’t it amazing?" She asked excitedly as she clapped her hands together.
Indeed it was. With ‘IKE’ in large silver lettering on the back of it. Along with the letters ‘CIH+DCC=4VR’ right above it in smaller silver lettering.
"Wow." He breathed out in amazement. "He’s going to love it."
Dahven clapped her hands together happily again. "Great!" She said smiling.
Taylor had to laugh at her again. She looked like a little kid who just saw a huge Christmas present that belonged to her. He gave her a brotherly hug. "If he don’t love this, I’m gonna beat him over the head with it."
"No you’re not!" Dahven said as her eyes widened. "If anyone gets to destroy this, it’s me." She said firmly. "This is not some cheap gift." She said taking a breath.
She turned to the guy at the counter. "Is it almost ready?" She asked impatiently.
Taylor laughed at her again. Then he joined n the small conversation with Dahven and the worker about the guitar, when it was going to be ready, and if she should have spent that much money.
Isaac was strolling along with Zac down the crowded halls of the mall when he saw Taylor and Dahven in the music store. "C’mon Zac." He said walking over to it. "They're in there."
He stood and listened to them from the doorway. Waiting for them to get done when he caught part of the conversation.
"You don’t think that Isaac’s going to be angry with me for doing this, do you?" Dahven asked hesitantly.
Taylor shook his head. "If he wants to see you happy, then he won’t mind at all." He said shrugging off her worries.
"When will be the time for it?" Dahven asked the guy behind the counter.
"Tomorrow." He stated firmly.
She nodded, "Then I’ll just tell him that I need to tell him something first before I drop this on him." She planned as she rubbed her forehead.
"Good idea." Taylor replied. "That way he might not get all that mad, if even he does."
"I’ll come back tomorrow. You will be here right?" Dahven asked the guy behind the counter just making sure that he will be.
He nodded. "It’ll work out for the best. He shouldn’t deny you this. Especially if he loves you as much as you say he does."
"He does." Dahven insisted, annoyed by his doubt.
"Then he won’t have a problem with this." He said laying his hand on top of hers on the counter.
Isaac was shocked at first. “D wants to break up? And go with him?" He asked himself in confusion.
Then he exploded.
He walked a little bit more into the store. "That’s oka,y D." He said coldly. "I’ll save you the trouble from telling me." He turned to the guy behind the counter. "I hope you don't mind that I don't wish you two will be very happy with each other." He said stiffly.
Dahven gasped. "What are you talking about?"
Her voice markimg the pain that she was already feeling.
"Well, I don’t want you." Isaac said ignoring the hurt she felt, because he felt the same. Maybe even more, if it was possible. "You wanted him. I’m not going to stop you from being with him, Dahven."
He stressed her full name and Dahven reeled back in shock, pain, anger, and confusion.
She tried to get her thoughts straight, but they kept getting more mixed up.
Isaac looked at Taylor in pain. "Thanks for warning me, Tay."
Taylor got angry. "Now wait a minute." He started. "You’re jumping to conclusions. We don’t even know what you’re talking about!" He shouted defensively.
Isaac scoffed. "Yeah, I just imagined the whole thing." He said as he turned and stalking out of the store.
Taylor ran to catch up to him while Dahven stayed behind. Standing in stunned silence.
With the scene repeating in her mind she finally got why Isaac acted like he did. When it registered she started crying. "Why me God?" She asked out loud. Her voice was full of hurt and pain.
Tears started cascading down her cheeks as people turned and stared.
"Why me?" She cried out before she just started running.
She didn’t know where. She just needed to get out.
And running was the fastest way right now.
After taking a cab home, Dahven went to her room and locked herself inside. She had her phone unplugged and all the lights were put out.
She saw the picture next to her bed. It was an 8x10 of Isaac. He had given her it to her on their second week anniversary.
"Our anniversary." She said softly, her voice thick and hoarse from all of the crying she had done.
More tears slid down her cheek. Then she picked it up and threw it across her room. The glass front smashing up against the doorknob to her closet.
She started to cry harder and buried her face in her pillow. Trying to muffle her cries.
She hated crying. And she started to hate Isaac for making her cry.
"Ike, just listen to me would ya?" Taylor said as he sat down on his bed wearily.
He'd been fighting him since they got into the van at the mall. But he wouldn’t listen.
"Just go to sleep, Taylor." Isaac said calmly. "I’m tired and I wanna forget that today ever happened." He stated climbing into his bed after he turned off the light.
"Does that mean you’ll forget what happened?" Taylor asked hopefully.
"No!" Isaac shouted angrily.
Zac sighed loudly and pulled the blankets off his head, which he put there to block out his brother’s voices.
It didn’t work well. "Shut up!" He shouted. "Just shut up!"
"But," Taylor started.
"No!" Zac shouted. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." He said holding his hand up for Taylor to stop talking.
Taylor groaned and rolled over in his bed. Facing the wall, he ground his teeth.
Eventually they went to sleep. Each thinking about the dreadful mall incident and what was to come of it.