AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s right,” Dahlia said. “You have and I’m proud of you. It was hard at first.”
“Very hard,” she said. “But then it got easier. I mean I wanted to share things with him because I like him. I love him. And don’t you want to share things with people you love? But I told myself there is a time and place to do it and then when we were together I’d share it. If I forgot, then I guess it wasn’t all that important.”
“Those are very mature words,” Dahlia said.
“I know I have a lot of faults. More so with men. I know I always wanted attention. But I think being with Brooks made me realize that I can have friends and a relationship at the same time. I don’t need him to go out and have fun. I can go out with you or Heather and Daisy. They don’t do everything with Luke and Theo either.”
“That’s right,” Dahlia said. “A healthy relationship is one with boundaries and space.”
“I gave him all that. Yet he still said he needed space. I don’t understand it.” She stuffed more of the sweet concoction in her mouth. “Over a week ago he got so mad and upset when the condom broke and I laughed and told him it was fine. I was on the pill.”
“Why did you laugh?”
“I just found it funny that I was the responsible one for once. And it felt good to know there wasn’t anything to worry about. But then he just changed. I told him I wouldn’t trap him if I got pregnant or anything. I wouldn’t do any of those things and to relax since it wasn’t going to happen anyway.”
“I can see where he might not like hearing that. He’d want to do the right thing whether he felt trapped or not. Do you think that just scared him enough to realize things are moving faster than he wanted?”
“I think so. I got mad and told him he has more insecurities than me.”
“Good for you,” Dahlia said. “I’m never going to sleep tonight if I finish this whole thing.”
“You’re going to do it though for me, right?”
“I am,” Dahlia said. “Because it’s addicting.” Her sister took another bite and smiled.
“Why did you say good for me for saying that to Brooks?”
“Because you need to stand your ground. You can’t be someone who is walked all over. You did that too much in your life before. I think men treated you poorly becauseyoulet them. You did everything they asked so they wouldn’t leave you.”
“Oh my God,” she cried out. “Could that be it too?”
“What?” Dahlia asked.
“Brooks and I talked a while ago. He said the same thing. That he worried I was only giving him space and not being clingy because he asked me to. That he didn’t want me to be someone I wasn’t. I told him there wasn’t anything wrong with changing and I was fine with it. I thought he understood, but maybe not. Maybe you saying that is just the same thing and I suck at relationships.”
She put her half eaten sundae down and got another tissue to blow her nose.
“You don’t suck. Being clingy and wanting men to like you regardless isn’t a good thing. That isn’t the case with Brooks. You set rules so to speak and you were following them. If he can’t see the difference, that is on him.”
“You’re big on rules,” she said. “I know you are.”
Dahlia laughed. “Rules aren’t a bad thing in life.”
“No,” she said. “But it seems to me no matter what I do I always end up in the same situation with a man. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do to get someone to love me back.”
“You need to be you,” Dahlia said. “If Brooks can’t see what a great person you are, then that is on him.”
“I told him that he said he didn’t want to date or be in a relationship, but he’s the one that made all the moves toward it. He made some comment about now he’s having holiday dinners like it was this huge shock he let himself be dragged to one when that didn’t happen.”
“Didn’t look to me as if you forced him there or that he was having a bad time. You didn’t even spend the whole time talking to him. He was talking with Wesley for most of it.”
“That’s right,” she said. “I even told him that he didn’t have to go. He’s the one who brought up the holiday and wanted to know what I was doing. I read into it that he just wanted to know if I’d be with him that weekend. He could have said he was going to his parents and I would have been hurt but fine with it. I told him what I planned and said he could come too if he wanted and he quickly said yes.”
“It sounds to me like he doesn’t know what he wants at all,” Dahlia said.
“When I told him he had more insecurities than me he asked what that meant. I was childish and told him he’s an investigator, he should investigate it.”
Dahlia started to laugh and then choked on her ice cream. “That’s funny.”
