The Irrefutable Flame⎪✓

❨04❩

♀︎

I'm on my way.

The text from Flynn is short and precise, exactly like him. It has been three days since the awkward incident in front of my house and tonight Flynn and I will have a much-needed date. I apologized for the way I behaved and he didn't even bat an eye, saying he understands that we all can have bad days. 

I attempted to invite him over for a home-cooked meal, but he favors restaurants, which is why we're going to a restaurant tonight. He is on his way to pick me up and small excited jitters flow through my body. Flattening down my figure-hugging black dress I step outside, trying not to fall in my black heels I lock the door and descend down the steps. 

He will be here within five minutes, so I might as well wait for him out here and be polite. 

The wind picks up slightly and touches my bare arms, making goosebumps skitter along my burning skin. Maybe it isn't the best approach to wait out here during fall, but I don't want to keep him waiting for me. I place my purse on the ground, rubbing my arms I try to heat up my freezing body. 

"Dakota?" 

The one voice I really don't want to hear is currently standing five feet away from me. His all-black outfit suits his name and character perfectly, the thought has a small giggle threatening to leave my lips. Elijah smirks at me when he spots the light humor on my face, "Oh come on, I haven't even attempted to make you laugh yet."

Our eyes meet in an intense stare and I curse the whole zoo that explodes in my stomach, he can affect me in ways I won't ever dare to admit. Elijah is a reliable and familiar person for me, he continually has been, but that's about as far as our relationship works. At least that's what I try to tell myself because when he smiles at me like this, my heart beats roughly in my chest and a certain breathlessness creeps up my body. 

"So," I begin, carrying the heat of his entrancing eyes. "What are you up to?"

He seems shocked that I want to know, "I just got home, saw a beautiful and very familiar woman all alone out here. I had to say something."

"You constantly have to say something, don't you?"

Elijah smiles in playfulness, the sight makes my fingers itch to touch him, "In your company, love, I can't seem to prevent it."

"Now if that isn't accurate." I joke with a small laugh, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Standing here and talking to him feels too great, it feels like my puzzled pieces are falling into place, but I don't want it to be like that.  

"I answered your question, now it's your turn," His deep eyes gaze into my own before he swiftly scans my clothes. "What are you up to?"

"Actually, I'm leaving for a date."

His surprised eyes widen, "Really?"

"You seem shocked?"

He shakes his head the smirk returning, "Not surprised that you have a date, you're gorgeous."

I try to stop the upcoming blush on my cheeks, but he is so frustratingly straightforward. "Then why are you surprised, Lij?"

"Probably by how it's not with me," The honesty on his voice throws me off, his words make my heart sing in happiness, but I have to protect myself which is why I ignore how his statement makes me feel.

"You're not the only male out there, you know that, right?"

"I understand, but when it comes to you I definitely hoped to be," His flirting always makes me feel everything all at once, it's difficult to keep up with him right now. He was the one who ended things between us, we haven't spoken since. This is too random and it hasn't truly hit me yet. 

A car honks and instantly I'm aware that Flynn is parked right in front of us, I actually have no idea when he got there and suddenly I'm flustered by how Elijah has me swayed so easily. He can't just sneak his way into my mind again, not like this. We're too damaged for us to be so comfortable around each other. 

Opening the car door I smile at my date, "Sorry Flynn, I just had some things to do."

"You forgot something," Elijah is dangling my purse from his fingers and I hasten over to him, grasping it. His eyes glance over my head at Flynn, "By 'things' to do, she intends to say me."

My mouth opens in shock by his insinuation, looking at a confused Flynn I shake my head, "I most certainly don't!" 

Glaring at Elijah again, I ignore his attractive looks and whisper harshly, "You're a dick and I'm not scared to punch you."

He raises his eyebrows in amusement, "Since you're whispering I guess your dirty mouth is a secret from lover boy?"

"You're insufferable!"

Rushing into the car I roughly close the door behind me, my sweaty palms are a testament to the fact that Elijah is a jerk. Turning to Flynn with an apologetic smile on my face, "I'm sorry about him."

My erratic heart is hammering in my chest by the things that just went down, Elijah really is a pain in my ass, all the time. If I hadn't grasped the slight control I have over myself, I would've screamed at him right in front of Flynn, and I refuse to scare my boyfriend away like that. Not over something as silly as Elijah trying to meddle. 

Flynn's blond hair is styled to perfection, gelled backward, I find myself comparing his conventional style to Elijah's perfectly messy hair. Snapping out of it I meet his ocean eyes, a small flutter developing in my stomach. He is the embodiment of secure and I already know now how much my mom would worship someone like him, he's perfect, exactly as she wants them to be. Not that I could ever bring myself to care about her opinion on something like this. 

"Who is he?" Flynn asks as he drives off, leaving my recently acquired neighbor behind. 

"No one of importance, someone from my high school days," I explain with a shake of my head, deliberately leaving out the part of him moving in right next to me and the past that Elijah and I share together. These facts would only make Flynn wary and I don't need that in a relationship, especially not a relationship I've been fighting to stay in for months by now.  

"Okay," He answers with a nod before turning to me. "You look good, Dakota."

Meeting his gaze with a smile, "Thank you, Flynn. So do you."

Silence falls upon in the car, both of us in our personal thoughts. I'm drowning in Elijah, I succeeded to avoid him during these past three days, but of course, he has to show up when I'm leaving for a date. He constantly destroyed dates for me after college, without even knowing it, thoughts of him constantly crowded my mind and Flynn is the only guy challenging that. 

Elijah's remarks and character are as disturbing as always, I understand how to handle him, but I recognize how mysterious it must be for Flynn to hear him and his sharp words. Not that there is any honesty in the matter that I'm doing him because I'm not and I won't ever sleep with him again. He's too much in general, too arrogant, too cocky, he isn't my type anymore and that alone is enough motivation to never be intimate with him.

Realizing I'm considering sex with a different man than the one I'm currently on a date with, I slap the thoughts out of my mind instantly. I have no clue what has gotten into me. Looking at Flynn in his seat next to me, "Will you tell me where we're going?"

He is startled out of his own train of thoughts, "You'll see in about 20 minutes."

"Can't I squeeze a tiny bit of information out of you?" I tease, leaning towards him and batting my eyelashes, hoping for the tiniest reaction.

He delivers a weird and useless glance in my direction, before shaking his head and focusing on the road again, "No, not really."