Endearingly silly 8

“This is a relationship. I can’t do it without you and I can’t… I need you to trust me.” He knelt infront of her.

A pregnant pause.

“I do trust you,” She rasped. “I do.”

Those words hung like an olive branch in the air between them. A small sliver of hope, a truce, an understanding. Neither of them had expected this introduction to be easy, but neither had expected the string of events their relation would trigger. They hadn’t expected their first night under this roof to be spent picking up the pieces of shattered hearts.

“Then trust me,” He said slowly. “If you need more time that’s okay.” He leant forward and rested his chin on her knee. “If you don’t want me to get close to you right away that’s okay too.” He felt her hand in his hair. “We’ll get through this.”

“You can’t know that.”

He glanced up. “It’s called hope.”

“I can’t just hope everything will turn out okay.”

“No, but we can fight for it,” he informed her. “And we will as long as you still want me to stay.”

Eyes closed. “I want this. You know I want this. But this isn’t about want. This is about doing the right thing and… and damn if I know what that is right now.” Her eyes opened and she locked her gaze onto him. “I’ve never done this before. I… I’m terrified of what this feeling might mean and of letting my guards down and I know you said you would never ask for anything, but I can’t not give you something. But I want that something to be better than this... But this is all I have right now.”

“And it's more than enough for me, more than I ever dared to dream to have.”

                            ...

“Good morning, my dear wife.”

“Good morning indeed, dear husband.” Her eyes met his and they giggled like silly toddlers.

“So I jus...”

“About last ni…”
They both chuckled nervously before she gestured for him to continue what he was going to say.

“I'm just happy that you’re still with me, to be honest.”

“What?!”

“Last night you were…”

She cut him off by hugging him tightly and mummuring “I’m with you,”

“How far?” He asked nervously.

She closed her eyes softly and wishpered. “As far as I can see.”

“You mean that?”

She opened her eyes and moved slightly to blink angrily up at him. “I don’t lie.”

“I know. It’s just that last night you were playing a different tune. A really different tune.”

“I’ve never done this before. I…” she frowned, “just don’t give up on me when I lose it, okay? Because I will. I can’t keep a mask on all the time and I’m still really scared under there.”

She made the confession in a harsh low voice, face turned away, and arms held stiff around him. He seemed to understand – really understand – despite it.

“God, I love you sometimes.”

She glared at him playfully. “Just sometimes?!”