Dean & Simone Pt 4

Dean picked up speed going up the hill and Rax struggled to keep up, but managed to catch him on the descent. Last night’s break up with Mallory played over and over in his mind, giving him a workout tune he didn’t want. The chilled morning air pushed him a bit harder. She swore it was Simone causing the break up, but it wasn’t. He simply realized Mallory wasn’t what he wanted. The conversation got pretty heated, so he took it outside so the Watson’s wouldn’t hear this personal side of his life. He tried to convince himself the increased arguments and emotional distance was the problem. . .not Simone.

Dean slowed and looked back. Rax gave him an exasperated look sucking in a deep breath, like he’d actually run or something. Dean shook his head. He understood Rax quitting the football team their freshman year, but he didn’t understand abandoning fitness.

“You’re outta shape, Rax,” Dean commented.

“Well, when nothing is chasing me, I don’t see the point of running.” Rax took a few breaths as Dean picked up the pace as the land flattened.

“You’re running like something’s chasing you,” Rax commented between panting, his long brown hair clinging to his skin.

Dean slowed to an easy trot, not feeling challenged by the run, which he hoped would challenge him.

“I have a thing, a problem.”

The trot slowed to a walk and Rax, trying not to show how the two miles hit him, forced in slow, deep breaths.

“So, tell me.”

“I don’t want to. It’s bothering me and I’ve tried to make sense of it, but I can’t.”

“I can’t help you if you don’t share.”

“I need to get my head screwed on straight because I’m wrong on every level.”

Dean looked at Rax and found his friend frustrated and impatient.

“I like Simone.”

Rax stopped and Dean stopped about two steps ahead, so he turned and waited for Rax to blast him.

“You mean, like-like? Not just little sister, best friend's sister, daughter of the family who took you in?”

Dean sighed. “Yeah. But it’s not like with other girls. I see myself with her forever. This is deeper and I don’t know what to do with these feelings.”

Rax stared at him in disbelief. “Nothing. You do nothing. You take cold showers. Dean, you have no shortage of potential girlfriends, other than the fourteen- year-old sister of your best friend.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Those girls. . .Rax, you don’t get it. They’re so fake. I’m not bragging, but they see a good football player who is popular and they want to be the arm candy.”

“Not bragging?”

“I don’t care about those things. Simone doesn’t care. She cares that I know that Archer gets two scoops of beet powder in his feed and Valkyrie doesn’t get hay. She cares that I feel sad most Tuesdays because that’s the day my mom died. She notices these crazy little details that no one else sees. And she’s more mature than any other freshmen girl. Heck, she’s as mature as most seniors.”

Rax held up his hands and they stopped. “I’m not saying she’s a bad catch. But, she’s fourteen. Scott would never allow it and you aren’t the type to sneak around.”

Dean shook his head. “No. That’s why I don’t know what to do.But, you know, she may not even feel the same.”

He finally slowed to a stop and Rax felt thankful for the reprieve, until Dean focused on him.

“You didn’t counter,” Dean said.

“What do you mean?”

“Simone tells you everything, Rax. So when I said she may not even like me, you didn’t say anything. Probably because you won’t lie and you won’t break her confidence.”

“And probably because we just ran five miles, uphill both ways, in ninety degree weather and I can’t breathe.”

“Stop being dramatic. Two miles, relatively flat. Sixty degrees.”

Rax rolled his eyes up toward Dean. “I won’t lie and I won’t break her confidence, so you get nothing from me. I think, when she’s seventeen or eighteen, she’ll be everything you want. Pretty, devoted and fun. Until then. . .bad idea. Very bad idea.

“It’s only bad if we -” he stopped. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Very bad idea,” Rax repeated. “You wouldn’t disrespect Scott and Lily like that.”

Dean slumped. Rax was right. Lily and Scott had always been there for him and his mom when his dad left. And then when. . .he didn’t like thinking of his mom’s death, so he didn’t. Simone would have to stay off limits. For a time, anyway.

“You’re right,” Dean said softly. “I can’t. But, she’s not off my radar. It’s just gonna have to wait until she’s older.”