A Bad Case of Loving You | Dakota

[Dakota King]

“What?” Dakota asked as she smirked at Ash. “Are you telling me that you would run away from rehab?” She made a tsk-ing sound in her mouth as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “You might be more addicted than I thought.” She giggled slightly as she shook her head once more. “You might be a lost cause. More so than I thought. I don’t know if my medical knowledge could save you at this point.”

But he got understood that she was giving him a bit of grief. How couldn’t she after he gave her the perfect window of opportunity. “That’s much better,” she said as she looked up at him and smiled. She could tell that he was directing her down a certain path, but she didn’t think much of it. For all she knew, they were mindlessly walking around camp and he decided to take them down this path. She failed to notice that it was emptier compared to the rest of camp. For the moment, she needed to tease Ash. “I think I need to spoil him. It’ll only seem fair with how much you spoiled Blue Sky.”

[Ashley Bates]

“If you can’t help me then I truly am in a sad situation.” He said as he continued to lead her to the spot he had picked out. Dakota was turning up the teasing to the maximum today and it was making this walk unbearable. At least he seemed to be winning a few brownie points along the way. Granted it was still hard for him to put his feelings into words around her if only because he thought that nothing he could say could do her justice but Dakota seemed to like his compliments nonetheless so he must have been doing something right.

Luckily he thought that he wouldn't have to wait much longer to get some relief from her relentless teasing. "And what about me?" He asked as they approached the spot he had picked out. He had already planned out what he was going to do and as they reached the spot where they could step off the path and be hidden from sight he tugged the pretty girl into arms that had been waiting to hold her and stepped back into seclusion. "Would you be able to squeeze in any spoiling for me?"

[Dakota King]

Dakota couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head at Ash’s situation. She knew he really liked her and she knew that she liked him, but she didn’t know of the extent quite yet. She knew that she still didn’t want a serious relationship and she hoped that Ash wouldn’t make them that serious quite yet. She enjoyed his company immensely. She didn’t notice that Ash took them to a very secluded spot in camp until he pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her.

She raised her eyebrows at him as her arms wrapped around him. She slightly tilted her head to the side slightly as a playful smirk crept onto her lips. “You want to be spoiled?” she teased him as she leaned her face in closer to his. She was close enough that he could close the gap if he so chose, but Dakota wanted to tease him a little bit longer. She giggled slightly. “I’m afraid I left my sugar cubes back in the cabin. But I can get some for you if you want to be spoiled like the pegasi.”

[Ashley Bates]

Having Dakota in his arms was definitely a good thing. He liked how she felt there pressed against him. His hands linked behind her at the small of her back seeming slip into the perfect spot naturally and he knew he would be lying if he said that he hadn't dreamt about this moment since the last time they had met. He had dreamt about more as well but on that count he continued to be delayed as Dakota insisted on dragging out the teasing even more.

By this point he was feeling pretty pitiful. He knew there were some girls who liked to tease. There were even some that enjoyed stringing boys along just to see them squirm. He hoped that Dakota wasn't one of those later type of girls. "Dakota," He said giving her a patient and playful smirk. "You're torturing me here. I can think of something much sweeter than sugar that we both can enjoy." Still smirking at her he slowly closed the distance between them fully intent on giving her a good and proper kiss at long last.

[Dakota King]

"Torturing you?" Dakota said as a slight smirk crept onto her lips to match Ash's. "We can't have that, can we?" She fully intended to tease him more, but his lips stopped her from saying any more. She smiled against his lips as she kissed him back. Finally, a proper kiss from him. She readjusted her arms around him as she pulled him in closer slightly. After a couple of moments, she pulled away from his lips as she smiled up at him. "Is that better?" she teased him slightly before she moved to wrap her arms around his neck. She smiled at him once more before she leaned in to kiss him again.

[Ashley Bates]

At long last he finally got to kiss her and for all the teasing and working up to the moment he would have been the first to admit that Dakota didn't disappoint. If anything the time that they spent apart only made the kiss that much sweeter. He wasn't sure if Dakota felt the same but kissing her awoke something in him that was completely new and exciting yet also somehow familiar, a feeling like he should have been kissing her all along and the thought that he should have spent so much of his life so far without her in it was kind of baffling to him.

"Better?" He echoed as she broke away to look at him. Did she have to ask that? She wrapped her arms around his neck sending little prickles of electricity up his back and he thought his face might be answer enough. "To answer that fully I think we need a little more experimentation." Ash met her halfway and if it was possible he thought that the second kiss was even better than the first. It did seem to last longer at least and when they finally broke away from each he took a moment to look into her eyes and just drink her in.

Love was like an addicting drug and while it was a pleasurable and powerful thing it could also be compared in one other essential way. Like any addicting drug love makes you blind in such a way that those who are prisoners of it truly cannot see anything else. For this reason Ash didn’t see the error he was about to make when he opened his mouth again and in that calm, startlingly serious voice said, "Gods Dakota, I love you."

[Dakota King]

Dakota really loved kissing Ash. Just the way his lips felt on hers and how soft they were... she could kiss him practically all day. Well... at evening at least and that's what she was planning on doing and Dakota hoped Ash was okay with that plan as well. Their second kiss was better than the first, which Dakota didn't know how that was possible, but it was. She wanted the kiss to last forever, but Ash pulled away from her lips. Dakota was a bit breathless as she looked up at Ash through her eyelashes as her eyes kept darting down to his lips. She wanted more and she thought she was going to get more, until he said something that completely caught her off guard.

She was startled as she looked up at him wide-eyed. She thought she misheard him and she wanted to mishear him, but his words were still ringing through her ears. Gods Dakota, I love you. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she moved her arms from around his neck so she could take a step back from Ash. Her mouth felt suddenly dry as she blinked up at him. "What?"

[Ashley Bates]

The change was sudden and dramatic. Like the snapping of a twig one moment there had been warmth, longing, desire, the very next the spell seemed to break. Dakota stepped back from him and for a heart stopping moment Ash saw confusion and fear displayed plainly on the girl’s face where the warmth and desire should have been. The son of Apollo blinked suddenly having a deep and instinctual feeling that he wouldn’t like what would come next. There was no reason he should have felt this but the intuition was strong and for one moment Ash, normally the scion of surety and confidence, perhaps he had made some kind of mistake.

Ash locked eyes with Dakota. For all of his faults he was not a guy who doubted his feelings and he did not have enough patience or creativity to make lying one of his strong characteristics. This being the case he was a little confused at Dakota’s reaction. Still, he had said what he said and he couldn’t change that now. “I said I love you.” A touch of that confusion crept into his voice but he repeated himself never pausing to doubt. “Dakota, are you okay?”

[Dakota King]

He loved her. He loved her. And that was something she didn't want to hear. She didn't want to hear it at all, especially from him. And she was still trying to process it all and he was saying it again. She thought they were casual and he was throwing around love just as casually as pizza or camp. When he asked if she was okay, she shook her head as she took a step back out of his arms. "I'm not... I'm sorry..." she muttered.

She took more steps away from him so she felt like she could breathe, but she wanted to puke at the same. She ran her fingers through her hair as she glanced at him with a look of desperation. "I'm sorry, Ash," she said as she shook her head. "I just don't feel the same about you..." She took a deep, shaky breath as she pressed her lips together. "I'm sorry..."

[Ashley Bates]

Dakota did not look well at all. Not one bit and for Ash who lived in a constant state of blacks and whites he for the life of himself couldn’t figure out what had brought this on. He had said what he felt. If he hadn’t felt anything then he wouldn’t have said it at all. Apparently though his words were not what she wanted to hear and if not, then that left only one alternative, ‘I just don't feel the same about you...’ There it was. Stated as plainly as if Ash had said it himself. The sheer magnitude of the statement rocked him to his core and there was nothing he could do about it.

Ash stood there, shell shocked. He had opened his heart, laid it bare and it had been cast aside. Wasn’t she just kissing him? Teasing him? Flirting with him? Hadn’t they just been enjoying a casual stroll and been talking like friends? Could three words tear that all apart so easily? The answer to all those questions, no matter how he felt about the issue, was apparently ‘yes’.

It was suddenly very cold here Ash thought. He should have been angry, would have been angry, at her but he hadn’t even recovered from the first blow yet. Even if he had recovered right now he didn’t know if there was anything left. He felt empty and as his mind wrapped around the heart breaking fact she didn’t return his affection he slowly became aware of the fact that she was backing away from him like he was plagued, like he was some kind of monster. She was running from him.

Much like when he was hunting Ash’s focus narrowed down to the size of a pinprick. Blocking out everything else he focused in on this one fact, that Dakota was about to leave him standing there and that he needed to do something to stop her. If they could just talk then they could both figure out what was going on here…if it wasn’t already too late for that. “Dakota…I…” He started forward and reached out to stop her but it was an action that was hindered by the fact that his vision had suddenly gotten blurry. Unperturbed he blinked to clear his eyes and continued towards her a few more steps. “Dakota wait…talk to me.”

[Dakota King]

Her head and heart were racing and Dakota couldn't seem to calm down for a moment even when she took a couple of steps back away from Ash. She needed her space. She needed to feel like she could breath but she couldn't because her chest was tightening up on her. And Ash was just standing there as stoic as she knew him to be. Didn't see how wrong this was with him just saying he loved her. She needed to leave. She needed to think.

She stepped away from him more as she ran her fingers through her hair. But Ash seemed to break out of his silence as he tried to come closer to her and reach out. She stepped away from him, just barely out of his grasp. "Ash... I..." she said as she tried to fight down the raising lump in her throat and not to completely turn on her heels and run away. "I can't... I don't think we should see each other anymore..."

[Ashley Bates]

This was all going wrong. So very wrong. Why was she doing this? If she hadn't wanted to be with him then why didn't she simply say so before things had gotten this far? Why go to this extent here and now? The way she was behaving, it didn't make sense at all. It was like she was trying to push him away, trying to make him fight her for this but that wasn't what he wanted to do. He just wanted to understand what he had done wrong and how things had gotten this crazy.

"Dakota, please..." It was the last desperate attempt of a man to keep his head above the waves of all the conflicting emotions that rushed through his mind. He didn't want her to run, didn't want to lose her but if what she said was true did he ever really have her? What right did he have to change her mind if this was what she really wanted? "I'm sorry..." He said feeling defeated. The arm that had been reaching out to her went slack. His throat was dry and he could hardly speak and when he did his voice came out sounding low and raspy. "If that's how you feel..."

It hurt. Dear gods it hurt and Ash wondered why anyone would willingly chose to fall in love if this was the end result. However, it was said that if you loved someone then you sometimes had to let them go and maybe this is what they were talking about. He couldn't force this on her no matter how much he wanted to.

Ash shook his head and stepped back from her. He needed to find somewhere to sit but then again he didn't know if he could even leave this spot. "I don't want to make this harder for you." The voice was his but he didn't know if he was the one using it. This was the hardest thing he had ever done, even fighting for his life didn't compare and yet what else could he do? He had already told her how he felt and been rejected. "You can go. I won't try and follow..."

[Dakota King]

Dakota's head was clouded with various thoughts that she couldn't think straight. This was all wrong. All so very wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen today. She thought that Ash was different and not like the other guys at camp and she was wrong. So wrong. And he was making it worse. He was sorry? Her eyes darted up to him. He was sorry he said he loved her? Was that going to make everything better? If she actually stayed with him, it would make it so awkward on her end. She would know how he felt about her and she would feel that pressure to return the feelings. And she couldn't. She didn't want to feel those feelings. She was young. She didn't want to get mixed up in the concept of love and settle down. Dakota didn't want to settle down.

And she could tell that this was hurting Ash. Gods it was hurting him just as it was hurting her, but she couldn't turn back. Her mind was telling her to run. That was the one clear thing it was telling her through the many thoughts she had. Run. Run. Run. I don't want to make this harder for you. Oh but he was... he so was and that's what killed Dakota the most. She had no trouble breaking up with the previous guys she dated but this... this was harder. Ash was different. And that made it so much harder. The lump was raising up in her throat again as her eyes glistened a bit. She never cried over a breakup, but her body was threatening to do so for the first time. Why couldn't this be different?

"I'm sorry," she muttered as she turned on her heels and quickly walked away from him. She hoped he wouldn't follow. She didn't want him to see the tears that were streaming down her face as she left him. She thought he was different, but she guessed she was wrong.

[Ashley Bates]

Ash watched Dakota go and he thought that he could feel that his heart was breaking. It pained him to watch her go and it pained him to watch her cry. She was hurting too but that didn’t make any sense. If she really didn’t want to be with him this shouldn’t have been hard for her at all but the importance of this was lost in his own pain. Right now he couldn’t think of much else.

As she left he slumped back against a tree. She was gone. A day which had started out like any other had gone so horribly wrong and now Dakota was gone. His heart was breaking and it felt like he would die when it did but he did not. Still, it was a long time before he left the spot where she had left him and even when he did he was like a man in a daze.

He had fallen in love and that love had been lost. He didn’t know how he would recover from the pain but right now that wasn’t important. He was angry. More than anything he wanted to storm over to the Aphrodite cabin and demand Dakota listen to him but he knew he wouldn’t. The oddest thing was that he didn’t hold her actions against her and as mad as he was he still wanted to be with her. That was possibly the hardest part and the part that would keep him awake all through the sleepless night ahead and those that would follow.