My Dream Man | Book 1 | Sal Vulcano

Chapter Twenty-One

Wednesday. We were supposed to be filming today but I got a call saying that Pete canceled our shoot day, leaving me to text Brian to see if he wanted to just hang out for the rest of the day. He replied with a sure and that he was going to pick me up around ten. It was around seven thirty-ish so I decided to take Lady and Speckles on a walk. I threw my hair up into a braid, slipped on some fake jean sweats with a grey shirt and black sweater, then afterwards just slipped on some old converse. I didn't bother to put my contacts in so I put my glasses on. I hooked up Lady and Speckles on their leashes and headed out the door. As soon as I walked out the door, I saw Sal go and stand by the window in his living room. I tried not to look, but I could see him giving me the look of sadness. I groaned, not intending to head over to his house, but I didn't want to be mean either. I crossed the street and got up to his front porch. I didn't even need to knock when the door swung open.

"Hey Addison." Sal said quickly.

"Hi Sal." I replied, my dogs sniffing at Sal's feet.

"What brings you here?" He asked with a smile. It didn't match his yes.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to walk with me for a short moment this morning. Would you be willing to join or-"

"I would love to!" Sal said overly excited.

Sal slipped his shoes on and threw on his signature black hoodie. He walked out, closed his door, and started walking with me. I had both dogs on a leash, meaning I had one leash in each hand. I didn't mind it, but I could tell Sal wanted one of them. I held out the leash.

"You want to walk Lady?" I asked.

Without saying a word, Sal gladly grabbed the leash. Obviously Lady didn't mind, but she does have a tendency of sniffing everything. Especially people she doesn't know well. So, instead of walking a head of Sal, she stayed at his feet to sniff him out. I couldn't help but chuckle when I realized Sal was having some trouble to not trip over her.

"Do you want Speckles instead?" I asked, holding in my laughter.

"N-no, it will be fine." Sal said. "She just needs to know me, that's all."

That's when Sal stopped. I walked a few feet ahead before stopping and turning around myself. I know what Sal was doing and it didn't make any sense. As he did before, he stuck his hand out for Lady to sniff, but instead of her sniffing it, she leaned her head into Sal's hand. Her eyes were closed and her body leaned into his legs. My eyebrows furrowed.

"I've never seen her do something like ever." I said aloud.

"What a pretty Lady." Sal cooed, completely ignoring me.

Sal seemed genuinely happy petting Lady. What surprised me is that Lady genuinely missed Sal. Even though I don't think she's seen him that often, she seems to have some connection with him. I smile to myself and pulled out my phone, snapping a few quick photos.

"I think someone missed you a lot." I commented to Sal.

"I missed her a lot too." Sal said back, giving Lady a hug.

"C'mon Vulcano, let's finish our walk." I said motioning him to come forward.

Sal stood up straight, wiped some dog hair off his clothes, and started catching up with me.

>><<

"What brings you to walk with us?" I asked.

"I haven't been fairly nice to you the past few days, and I thought I would come along." Sal replied.

I nodded my head. "Well that's a reasonable excuse."

"And also, I didn't want to spend my free day staying in doors. I saw you go out and I was like 'I wonder if she'll let me come along.' Lucky enough, you did!" He paused for a second. "You did." Sal whispered again.

There was a silence between us. We just hit the end of our neighborhood, so we started to turn around to head back. It was a good two mile walk, which was not a waste of time on a day like this one.

In the corner of my eye though, I could see Sal looking at me. His eyes peaking just in the corner, as if he was trying to hide his eyes from the rim of his glasses. I tried to ignore it, but I could tell something was on his mind. I turned my face to fully look at him, which made his eyes avert to look into mine. I smiled at him, making him smile back. But again, his smile didn't match his eyes.

"What's on your mind?" I asked him, slowing down our walking pace.

"A lot." Sal replied with an airy chuckle.

"Talk to me. We're walking together right now so I highly doubt anyone could interrupt." I said.

Sal took a deep sigh and looked down at his feet. "I'm just thinking about you. How you are just really pretty, even if you look like you just rolled out of bed, like now. That messy hair that's up in a braid makes you look professional. You're glasses frame your face perfectly, making your eyes sparkle. Your face is framed perfectly, making your smile shine no matter what. Your fake jeans with a grey top, black sweater, and old pair of converse makes you look like you just don't care about anyone. Like you just wanted to live life the fullest without having to try hard. But looks is not just anything and everything, your personality is so bright! You care about everyone, even if they do piss you off, or make you cry, or even give you the feelings that they don't love you eventhoughIdoandIwishIcouldtakeitallbackIloveyousomuchithurtsand-"

"Sal! Calm down! Take a deep breath." I instructed. He took a deep breath in and exhaled. "Good, now, tell me, why are you acting like this?"

"Because you make me crazy Addison!" Sal barked, stopping abruptly. I stopped also,
my whole body facing him. "You are the light of my life, and I fucked it up! I don't think I can take it back at all anymore honestly! I fucked up so much that it's making me mentally insane! I'm the reason you got sick! I'm the reason you cry whenever you see me! I'm the reason why the guys are staying away from us! I'm all the reasons why I don't look my best! And I know you've seen the pain in my eyes for the past weeks, and that's because I'm so crazy about you! You're so perfect that my mind wants excuses to say that you will never be good enough for me! My mind spins everyday just thinking about how we would be doing now without me telling you that you were useless! I-I-I-"

"Sal, take a deep breath before you force yourself to spit it out." I instructed.

Sal took another deep breath, right after locking eyes with me. "I love you Addison. I love you so much that I'm going crazy! I mean, look at me! I'm standing here in the middle of a sidewalk, flailing my arms everywhere just confessing how much I love you, probably looking-"

Our lips locked. It took a while for Sal to realize what was going on, but after he figured it out, he leaned into the kiss, placing his hands on my hips. I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to make the most out of this moment. After a few seconds, our lips parted and our foreheads connected. I couldn't stop staring at Sal's lips, and I don't think he couldn't stop staring at mine.

"What was that for?" Sal whispered.

"I just wanted to shut you up." I replied with a cheeky grin.

Sal let out an airy chuckle as the corner of his lips turned up. "Well, it definitely worked."

"I know."

Sal placed his lips back onto mine. We were just enjoying each other's presences and how wonderful it felt to be the way we were. Though every happy moment has to be cut back into reality. My phone started to ring. I groaned and picked it up, parting from Sal.

"Hello?"

"Addison, where are you?"