Chapter 10
Having pulled on her shirt, Donna slowly pushed the bathroom door, and looked around. No sign of Dawn anywhere.
She felt her heart twist with a feeling that felt like relief on the surface, but she knew it was actually disappointment. Quickly rolling up her last set of clothes into a ball, Donna shuffled to the laundry area and threw them straight into the open washing machine, before rinsing her hands under the tap next to it and walking away.
As she walked into the living area, there was Dick-- sitting on the sofa with his feet up on the table, typing away on his laptop. He looked up at the sound of her feet brushing against the mat as she approached him, and greeted her with a friendly smile. Donna only responded with an exasperated (but not dramatic-- okay, maybe slightly dramatic) sigh and dropped down next to him on the sofa.
“Glad to see you more cheerful today. And you finally took a shower, I see?”
Donna gave a dry laugh. Her dark hair was still slightly wet from the water, but since she was never accustomed to wrapping it up in a towel after a shower, it draped over her shoulders, dampening the fabric of her shirt a little. “What, you can tell?”
“Smell is more like it.” Dick chuckled as he wrinkled his nose. “You didn’t exactly smell like a bouquet of roses by the time I brought you dessert yesterday.”
She cringed, thinking about it. “Well, thanks for bringing me food yesterday. As per your usual standards, it was delicious.”
“No problem.”
Dick turned back to his laptop and continued to type. Feeling her body fidget, Donna knew what she was trying so hard to stop herself from saying, but after a minute or so, she caved.
“Dawn saw me shirtless.”
The clattering of Dick’s fingers against the keyboard stopped abruptly.
“Shirtless, as in…?”
“Mmmm-hmmm.” She was trying so damn hard to force nonchalance into her words, but she couldn’t hide the tremble in her voice as she spoke. Not that she could blame herself, of course-- this was Dawn they were talking about.
Dick stifled a laugh, earning him a glare from Donna.
“So, did you, uh-- take something else off to--”
“No!”
Dick raised an eyebrow. She had responded to that a little too quickly and she knew it. A heavy sigh left her.
“But I kinda wish I did.” Donna’s voice was barely louder than a whisper now-- she had never felt so timid before.
Closing his laptop with a slap, Dick put it on the table before turning to face her. “So… what do you wanna do now?”
“I don’t know. I honestly don't know. Should I talk to her about it, or…?”
He shook his head and leaned back into the sofa, running a hand through his hair.
“Uhhhh… no. Nah, it’s probably better not to bring it up. That’d just make things more awkward.”
“So what should I fucking do then?” Donna immediately regretted the way she’d snapped that statement at Dick-- he had been so helpful and supportive with this whole Dawn situation she’d been going through recently, and she didn’t want to seem like she wasn’t grateful for his help.
Thankfully, Dick didn’t seem to take the impatient tone in her words to heart. After a moment of consideration, he shook his head with a sigh.
“I don’t know, Donna. I really don’t know. Maybe… maybe you two should avoid each other for a bit?”
Great, she thought. As if I wasn’t giving myself enough reasons to do that already.
Then, it hit her. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was that hit her, per se-- a burst of confidence? An epiphany?
Slowly, as she pieced it together in her head, Donna felt her hands push herself to her feet before turning to Dick.
“I’m gonna go ask Dawn to take a walk with me.”
And with that, she walked off.
If she hadn’t been so dead-set on her plan, she may have noticed Dick’s dumbstruck expression as he watched her go-- or maybe even have heard him say: “Hey! Didn’t I talk about making things more awkward?”
Donna slowly poked her head into the room and looked around. The sound of rushing water reached her ears from behind a closed door at the end of the room.
Can two people really fit into one room here? she wondered.
This was their room, Donna knew-- Hank and Dawn’s room.
Carefully pacing her steps and only making contact with the ground through the balls of her feet that echoed with quiet, discrete footsteps, she slowly walked through the doorway.
She had been in here before, of course-- while no one was watching, she had snuck in and looked around the room, trying to learn more about the girl she was in love with.
Her ballerina shoes were the first thing that Donna noticed. White as snow, well-maintained and clean. Donna couldn't help but wonder when was the last time Dawn had actually worn them.
The next thing she noticed was the dark grey hoodie, draped over a chair. She had seen Dawn in it a few times, when she waved goodbye to her before stepping into the lift and leaving for errands.
Above the bedhead hung a display case, with a replica sword from the show Game of Thrones. Didn’t surprise Donna, actually-- on more than one late night she would peek around the corner of the hallway to the living room, where she would see Dawn on the sofa, wrapped up in a blanket, watching the dragons roar and warriors fight as she munched on popcorn.
But one noticeable similarity all three items had was that smell. A gentle, refreshing, vanilla scent that made Donna all tingly whenever this scent reached her nose.
Dawn’s scent.
It was the same scent that had always enveloped the interior of this room… At least from Donna’s perspective, anyway.
But now the scent was barely here. It was faded, almost absent-- and the shoes, the hoodie, the sword, anything that Donna had recognised as Dawn’s… all gone. It was almost like she had never used this room.
Confused thoughts filled her mind. Where could she be? Am I misremembering?
She left the room and walked further down the hallway. The scent was getting stronger.
And two doors down, the last room on the right-- there she was, in her room, pulling a small brush through her blonde hair as she hummed a carefree tune to herself.
Fuck, fuck, fuck…
Donna felt herself losing balance on her feet from her hiding spot behind the doorway as she caught sight of her.
Easy, Donna. No passing out, not when you’ve made it this… far.
So she quickly straightened herself up, and slowly stepped into the doorway, knocking on the door gently with a shaking hand.
Dawn looked up at her, surprised. “Oh-- uh, hey.”
“Hey.” That was all Donna could squeak before she felt her voice leave her again.
A moment of silence passed. Then, they both spoke at the same time.
“So about just now--”
“I’m sorry for--”
The conversation died as quickly as it had begun. Donna tried to think of something to say to break the silence, but it was Dawn who spoke again before she could.
“I-I’m sorry about just now, I didn’t know you were gonna open the door--”
Donna couldn’t stop the soft laugh that escaped her lips. Imagine that-- the most amazing woman in the world apologising to her.
“No, it’s okay… listen, I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk with me.”
The blonde blinked twice, as if she wasn’t sure if she had heard that right. “A walk?”
Goddammit, she’s so cute.
“Yeah, a walk. Just you and me?”
A small smile spread over Dawn’s face. Donna felt her knees wobble slightly.
Don’t faint, don’t faint…
“Yeah. Yeah, definitely, uhh… let me get ready, and I’ll meet you at the lift in 10 minutes?” As Dawn spoke, she was already putting down her brush and getting off the bed, walking to her closet.
“Sounds good.” Donna took her own words as a cue to leave.
She made sure she was far out in the hallway, out of Dawn’s sight and earshot, before she let herself collapse to the floor, gasping for breath.
I can’t believe I just did that.