Endearingly silly 7

"She was worth it, he thought"

The way she talked about her work always entreated him, the way she talked about making a difference or the way it challenged her and pushed her to her limits. But, there were these days when she came drained and looking like a kicked puppy. And being a preternatural curious person and all, he just couldn't help it. So he planned an innocent visit to her at work.

Seeing how her colleagues treated her and how she acted, confusion had been his first reaction then realization, and then rage had followed, closely accompanied by disdain and a lot of other things that had made him want to curl around her and just snarl at everyone else, because how dare they? How dare they treat his love  - the most amazing person he ever met- that way?

The thing was that at her work everyone knew what she was, but no one really took the time to know who she was, no one could tell what she was thinking just by looking at her, or guess what her next move would be just by the way her eyes glistered. And that was not because she hadn't let them in, that was not because she was an arrogant person who believed she was above everyone else, but simply because no one gave her a chance. And so, like a bull in an arena, the more she got stabbed, the more she’d tried to alienate the people around her, attacking with her head down if necessary.

So no, he wasn't surprised that no one knew her sweet side, how caring she was with him, or how loyal and affectionate she can be with her friends. It made him so angry.

Still, it made him grateful. grateful to God for making her the way she was, grateful to her for letting him in and allowing him to see her for who she really was.

So, that day when they went back home, he was enchanted by her every move, every smile and even every weird look she sent him, knowing very well how special they were. So, when he sat on his new shezlong - because you can totally have them on your porch and pretend you were at the beach-  right next to hers on their porch, the sunset light painting dark orange shadows all over her face, he looked at her and smiled because he knew that no one got to have what he had.

“I’ll let you know that my socks are starting to think about filing for sexual harassed,” She smiled, looking soft and relaxed. Her eyes were closed.

“Shut up,” he chuckled playfully. And then he just put more effort into pulling her sock off by using his toes, because he was evil like that. “It’s not my fault you keep using these weird socks”. He hated the stupid socks, they were hideous and that was the exact reason that every time she wanted to wear them, she had to search the darkest corner of their closet where he skillfully hide them.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said, but her smirk betrayed her.

Once one sock was removed, he proceeded to launch it somewhere very, very far – seriously, green socks with purple polka dots, it was like someone vomited on her feet, wearing such things must be a crime somewhere – and hoped that some color blind crow would find it and relieve them of its hideous presence..

“Do you think crows can be color blind?” he asked, sliding a bit more on the chair to reach her other foot.

She opened one eye and gazed in his direction, saw him moving onto his next target but did nothing to stop him. “You are a weird man and there are times when you scare me,”she replied.

He smiled, “I’m not,” he complained. He could feel the warmth of the last sun rays seeping into his skin as he stretched just enough to reach her sock and grab it with his toes.

“yes, you are, and even if you're not - which you totally are - you still manage to scare me anyway,” She murmured, lifting her foot to help him in his task.

“And yet you still love me,” He argued, dropping the sock into an empty flower pot that was right next to him.

It didn't come out as a question – because it really wasn't – and yet, she finally opened both her eyes. For a few seconds she just looked at him, her eyes following the smooth, relaxed lines on his face, searching for something. “Yeah,” she finally said, when she found it. “God help me, I do.”

He got up from where he was and went and lied right next to her, like a big, lazy cat curling around its favorite stuffed toy . He couldn't help but sigh, because she so felt like home.

For now, this time was theirs, and she was his and he couldn't be happier