Chapter Thirty-Nine
Dominic
“I can’t believe you went to jail,” Candice said to me as the two of us took a walk down the road. I’d just finished a long practice, and I’d called her up to see if she felt like going for a walk. We were talking about everything that had happened since we’d gotten together, and how crazy life had become. It was sometimes hard to imagine that we were the same people that had been through all of that. I often felt like it was someone else that had been to jail, someone else that had stood up to her father.
I laughed. “Tell me about it. I never in a million years would’ve thought I’d find myself there. And, as strong and tough as I thought I was, I do NOT want to go back to that place. I was petrified.” I thought about the two men that had sat beside me. I often wondered what had happened to them and whether they were out or if they had been locked up for good. Although, no matter how much I wondered about it I wasn’t interested enough to go and find out. It was better not to know.
“Oh no, don’t tell me. I don’t even like thinking about it,” she said. “I’m glad things are back to normal. Now we’re just two people in love walking to the ice cream parlor.”
I chuckled. “Oh, is that where we’re going?”
She laughed. “Yeah. It feels like an ice cream sort of day, don’t you think?”
“Isn’t that every day with you?” I asked. I loved how childlike she was sometimes.
“Absolutely.”
“Well, at least I know what makes you happy. If we ever fight, I’ll just go out and buy you ice cream.”
“I like that plan. But, I don’t plan on fighting with you very often, so do you mind if you get me ice cream even when we’re happy?”
“I think that’s a fair plan.”
We made our way to the ice cream parlor, taking a detour through the park, and spent some time on the swings. It was like we had reverted back to our childhood, making up for lost time. Candice had never been carefree. She’d always had her father watching over her, making sure that she did everything according to his book. But she was very different now to the girl that I had first seen that day in Professor Jackson’s class. I watched her now on the swings and laughed. The higher she went, the more she screamed. Then, when she finally stopped, she turned to look at me.
“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream?”
I laughed. “Come on, let’s go get some. Now you’ve got me craving it too.”
We walked over to the parlor, a popular place that had seen a resurgence in popularity over the past year. It seemed all the college kids went there after classes, and we had to force our way through the crowd to place our order. The place had been in the area since we were kids, and we had even been here a few times together back when we were eleven. It had gone down in business for a while, and everyone thought it was going to close its doors once and for all. Then, out of the blue, the place had been revamped, and it had become popular all over again. I was glad that a part of our history had now made its way to our present day. I loved how everything had come full circle for Candice and me. We made a promise to ourselves to visit the parlor as often as possible and to spread the word to everyone we knew. It was suddenly important for us to make sure the place stayed alive, so the more business we gave it, the better.
We came out with two tubs each, one with peanut butter and one with pistachio, because we couldn’t decide. We’d already tried all the different flavors, and these two were our favorites. We took a seat on the grass outside, mostly because all the tables and chairs were taken, and made our way through our ice cream. By the time we got to our second tub, it had mostly melted, so we drank it like a milkshake. Candice was talking to me, and I was trying not to laugh at the blobs of ice cream that now sat on her nose and cheek. She frowned when she saw me smiling at her.
“What are you grinning at me like that for?” she said.
I laughed and leaned over to lick the ice cream off her face. I felt my body immediately stir with pleasure afterward and I moaned. “I really shouldn’t do that in public.”
“How quick can we get home?” she said.
I chuckled. “Quick enough if we run.”
We stood up to leave, throwing our empty tubs into the bin. We were high on sugar and high on life, and I couldn’t wait to take home and continue licking her. But, before we had a chance to go anywhere, we bumped into Derek.
At first, he seemed not to notice us even though he was staring right at us. He blinked a few times and then sighed in recognition. He wasn’t looking good at all. He was gaunt, and there were dark rings around his eyes that hadn’t been there before. I wasn’t surprised, though. I’d heard a lot of rumors about him that confirmed my suspicions that he was not a nice guy at all. A girl on campus had accused Derek of sexually assaulting her, and the news had spread like wildfire. It happened to also coincide with a new campaign that the school had started for sexual abuse awareness, and Derek had been in the spotlight now for days. I felt sorry for him at first, mostly because both Candice and I didn’t think it was true. Although, she admitted that he’d been rough with her at times. However, when a second and then a third woman came forward, we knew it had not been a lie. Derek really had done all the things that he had been accused of doing.
“Hi,” he said and looked from Candice to me. “I see you’re both happy and in love now. Well, congratulations,” he said in a way that was clear he meant the complete opposite.
“Thank you,” I said and took Candice’s hand. I noticed a few people turn to look our way. They were probably gearing themselves up for a fight, but I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’d had enough fights in the past few months. All I wanted now was peace and happiness. I nodded at Derek, and slowly backed away.
I was grateful when he didn’t follow us, and I turned to look at Candice to see if she was okay.
She nodded. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’m just glad that didn’t turn ugly. I still can’t believe how lucky I was that I didn’t end up with him. I think the only reason that I didn’t see what those other women saw was because he was scared of my father. He was always trying to impress him. Everything he did for me was really for my father’s benefit. But, if this is what he’s really like, I’m sure I would’ve seen it eventually. Nobody can hide their personality for too long.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I think we all knew there was something off about that guy. You’re right; you dodged a bullet there. And thankfully, you ended up with quite the stud,” I teased.
“I did?” she said. “Where is he?”
I laughed. “Ha! So rude. And after I bought you ice cream and everything,” I said. “What’s a man got to do around here to get a compliment?”
“Hmm, there is something you can do,” she said.
“Anything. Name it.”
“I can’t tell you here, though.”
“Why not? Where can you tell me then?”
“In bed.”
I laughed. “I like the way you think. Come on then, we’ve got a sugar rush to burn off,” I said, and the two of us ran all the way back to my dorm room laughing the entire way.