Little Red

THIRTY

"Right!!" he said.

Dani's smile brightened.

"Come on, bub. Let's give Dani some alone time with Mikey while we go talk with Daddy, okay?" Michelle then told him as they began to walk away.

"Okay...See you later, Ellie!! I love you!!" Frankie said as he looked back at his and blew an air kiss.

"See you later, bud. I love you too. Forever," Dani told him as she blew an air kiss of her own.

"And always!!" he replied.

Michelle smiled at her children before bidding her daughter goodbye as they left the room.

Not even five minutes later, the door opened again to reveal none other than Mikey Darling himself. Dani's heart raced wildly against her rib cage at the sight of him, but she ignored the fire burning inside her chest as she stared at him with a tearful gaze.

"Hi," she whispered after a few seconds of them looking at each other, taking in each other's presence.

Instead of greeting her, Mikey hurried over to the bed and captured her lips in his with a kiss that Dani instantly returned as she held onto his face.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized after pulling away.

Mikey shook his head and kissed her again.

"Please don't apologize...I'm just glad you're here now. God, I love you so much, Dans," he said with a sniff. "You're the best thing to ever happen to me. I love you."

"I love you too, Mikey...I love you so much it hurts me," Dani told him and shook her head. "I don't ever want to be without you again."

Mikey kissed the palm of her hand. "I promise you I'm not leaving you, babe. That thought will never cross my mind."

"Let's get married," Dani said with a sniff.

Despite the tears in his eyes, Mikey laughed and said, "Not now, but eventually. I promise."

"I'm holding you onto that," she said with a smirk. "Don't let me down, Darling."

"Never," he whispered with a smile. "God, Dans...You have no idea how happy I am in this moment right now."

Dani's smiled saddened as she rubbed her thumb over his cheek before leaning up to kiss him again, putting her all into it as the guilt from earlier slowly bubbled back up in her chest.

After everything that she had been through, Dani hadn't thought it to be possible for her to be happy ever again, but Mikey had managed to prove her otherwise. Sure, the two had been childhood friends before anything else, but her feelings for him hadn't really appeared until High School, and by then, she had already built an imaginary wall around her heart. Now she couldn't even imagine living her life with anyone else by her side but him, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"DANIELLA JANINE RICHARDS!!" a familiar voice yelled, which caused the couple to pull away from each other and look to see their best friend as she walked into the room with tears staining her cheeks.

Another tug pulled at Dani's heartstrings as she was quickly reminded of all the pain she had caused.

"Greta," she managed to say through her tears.

Mikey moved to the side to allow the blonde to run towards his girlfriend and capture the girl in a hug that she immediately returned.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!!" Dani apologized as she began to sob into Greta's shoulder.

Greta shook her head. "Don't be...I'm just glad that bastard didn't take my sister away from me!!.. But don't you ever scare me like that again, Daniella Janine, do you hear me?!"