Another Love You'll Hold

At seven, I arrived at Dakota's house. It was a simple house in a nice neighborhood. She came out of her house and got into the passenger seat of my car.

"Hi, Munro," she said.

"Hi, Dakota," I said.

The whole ride to Bertie's Popcorn and Beverage Spot was silent. Dakota had this, eerie look on her face. Like she had just seen a ghost or something. As we arrived, I picked a parking spot and we sat in my car, the silence was so long, I didn't know what to do.

I finally broke it. "Are you okay?" I asked. She looked at me.

"Yes," she said, "everything is fine."

I could tell she was lying. Just by her facial expression, I could tell there was something wrong. She looked lost, scared. I nodded my head and we proceeded to go inside.

"What do you want? I'm paying," I said.

She looked at me and said, "No, I'll pay. I invited you."

"No, really, I'll pay. A gentleman always pays," I said.

"Then I get next time," she argued.

I smiled. "Alright, deal."

We both got the same thing. Hot chocolate and popcorn. They're famous around town for their food. It's really good. We got our stuff, and looked around for an empty table. I looked over to my right, and to my surprise, Brett and his two friends were at a table. I silently prayed that they wouldn't see us. Dakota said she saw a table in the back corner, so we took that one.

"Um, I have to use the rest room. I'll be right back," she said as we put our stuff down. I nodded, and she proceeded to the girl's room. I looked over to where Brett and his friends were. He was looking over at Dakota. Then, he started scanning the room. He found me, and got up. I tried looking like I didn't see him. He was just standing there, watching me. Most likely trying to see if Dakota would come back to where we were.

When she did, she sat down and started eating her popcorn. I looked over and saw Brett walking toward us. 'Shit...' I thought. He walked up to our table, grabbed Dakota by the arm, and stood her up. He pulled her away and out the door. She was so small, which made it easy for him to violently pull her out of the restaurant. I got up and followed them out, actually scared of what he was going to do to her. I got outside and what I saw disturbed me.

He slapped her hard across the face. He was purely angry. I could hear her sobbing. He slapped her again even harder, causing her to fall on the ground.

"Brett, stop. Please," she pleaded.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch," he said as he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up. "You listen to me, you fucking whore. You're mine and only mine. No one else's. You love me. I see you again with him, you'll be sorry. Got it?"

She nodded, still sobbing.

"Good. Remember, I can't live without you. You can't live without me."

"Brett. Please stop doing this to me. If you keep doing this I'm going to break up with-"

She was interrupted when his fist hit her cheek. She fell onto the ground once again. This time, it was it. I couldn't let him do that to the girl I loved. She was too fragile. Next thing I knew, I was running towards him. I stepped in front of him and punched him as hard as I possibly could. I helped Dakota up and we ran back to my car. There, I quickly put my keys in the ignition and drove away.

I drove back to her house. I pulled into her driveway and we just sat there. She was still crying. It felt like forever, when she broke the silence.

"Y-you...you saved me," she said.

I sighed. "I couldn't let him do that to you."

"Thank you so much."

I hesitated. "Does he do that often?"

She nodded.

"Why are you still with him? You deserve so much better." I asked.

"I don't know...I can't leave him. It's my fault he hits me. But I love hi-" she didn't finish her sentence. I felt like my heart had been beaten into a million pieces. He abuses her, and she still loves him. She looked over at me, said thank you, and got out.

I drove back to my house, heartbroken. 'How could she love him?' I thought.