“You’re the only man I’ve been with who’s ever told me that.” For some reason, my emotions start to bubble as I realize what we’re doing. “I don’t know why, but it caught me off guard. I’m sorry.”
Carefully, I climb off Easton’s lap, my body immediately feeling the loss of him. I adjust myself as Easton tucks himself back into his jeans.
He’s just as flustered as I am.
“No apologies. Come talk to me,” he urges, patting the couch and taking my hand. It’s a kind, friendly gesture, one I appreciate.
“I just…I dunno. This is all confusing for me. I’m fighting a war inside my head right now and when you called me beautiful, it’s such a foreign term of endearment to me that I immediately felt unworthy of the word.”
He rubs his thumb across mine. “I’m never, ever going to apologize for telling you how beautiful I think you are. You deserve to be told that every day of your life.”
“Compliments are hard for me to take. They always came with conditions.”
“Emotional abuse,” he states, and I’m so sick of hearing that term. Immediately makes me out to be a victim. Even if I am, I don’t want to be labeled. I also don’t want what Justin did to me to affect this new chapter of my life.
“Yes, very much so,” I confirm. “I warned you about me. Flawed in many ways, damaged, uncertain. You deserve better than that.”
His expression softens as he presses a gentle kiss on my knuckles. “You’re beautiful. You’re smart. You’re caring. You’re fun to be around. You’re an amazing cook.”
My face cracks into a shy smile.
“You’re patient. Your laughter is literally contagious. If those are considered flaws, then yes, you’re full of them.”
I snort at his cocky remark.
“All that, and somehow, you wonder why I like hanging out with you.”
“Insecure, unstable, a mental disaster even on my good days,” I counter. “There’s a lot I still need to work on. “
“I don’t believe that about you, but even if you were, that doesn’t make you any less of a worthy person. I hope you know that,” Easton states matter-of-factly. “I find everything about you desirable.”
His words are too much, and I’m not quite sure how to respond. He thinks so much of me, and I’m not used to that. Easton has a literal front row seat to my flaws and everything else that I’m going through, and it’s like no matter what, it doesn’t scare him off. He’s too damn perfect to be real.
“Want some more popcorn?” he asks, pausing the movie that we’ve now missed the past ten minutes of.
“Sure,” I tell him, and he squeezes my knee before going to the kitchen. One thing I adore about him is the way he makes me feel comfortable even in embarrassing moments. He respects my boundaries even when I’m the one who oversteps them.
On the one hand, I want Easton more than I want water on a hot summer day. On the other, he’s too young, and I’m too broken. I know he needs someone who can give him everything he wants in life. I want to hand him my heart, and I know Easton’s the type of guy who’d meticulously try to glue it back together. I’ve never felt such a strong pull of emotions about a man before, but he’s my exception.
Easton returns with more popcorn, and thirty minutes later, the movie ends. I missed a lot of it, but I tell him I enjoyed it. Which for the parts I did see, is true.
He looks at the clock, and it’s barely past eight. “Guess we can watch Back to the Future 2.”
I chuckle. “Right now?”
“Yeah, I mean, if you can handle such a great movie.”
I playfully roll my eyes. “I guess we’ll see.”
Easton presses play, and as soon as the movie opens up, I notice they changed the actress who played Jennifer and gasp.
“What the hell? Why didn’t they use the same girl as Jennifer?”
“I know,” he says, pausing it. “People were ready to burn the freakin’ world down when this one was released, but it was a sad story as to why.”
“What happened?”
“Claudia Wells’ mother was her manager and was dying of stage four cancer at the time. So instead of accepting the role, she gave up acting for a little while to be at home with her.”
“Wow,” I say, feeling horrible for being pissed.
“Crazy, huh? It worked out though, because spoiler alert, she returned twenty-six years later to do the short film they released in 2015.”
“Wow, that’s cool.”
He laughs. “Yep. This is why this series is such a classic. Michael J. Fox is a national treasure.”
“No kidding. He accomplished so much.”
Easton unpauses the movie, and I watch while being glued to his side. He grabs a blanket and covers us as I lean my head on his shoulder. I don’t know what we’re doing right now—basically snuggling like a couple in love—and it feels like we’re stuck in a weird limbo.