“I don’t need you to save me, Bates,” she said, cutting me off.
My mouth went dry.
Was this the moment I had spent the past few months dreading? Was she going to tell me to fuck off?
I crouched down in front of her, gently placed a hand on either one of her shoulders, and waited for her to look into my eyes.
“It’s not about saving you, babe. It’s about knowing that anyone that hurt you will never be able to do it again.”
“And what would you have done if I told you?” she pressed, arching an eyebrow at me.
I dropped my hands from her shoulders as I shrugged. “Probably thrown an ice cream at him.”
She placed a hand daintily to her mouth as she giggled, and I forced a smile onto my face. Pushing her hair out of her eyes, I moved her hand away, running my thumb along her lower lip.
“You can’t create monsters and then expect them to stay in their cages, babe,” I admonished her softly.
Hollis shook her head as she gently pushed my hand away, then slid the popsicle into her mouth again.
She thoughtfully sucked on it for a few seconds, before the pop! greeted my ears again. I dropped down onto my ass in front of her because the damn sound was starting to do things to me, and I didn’t want her to notice.
“Something tells me you were a ‘monster’ long before I met you, Bates Murphy,” she said with a warm smile, swatting at one of my arms. “And that’s one of the things that my soul noticed about yours. It’s not a bad thing to be different. My brother taught me that, and no matter how desperately I’ve wanted to change things about myself, you solidified it.”
“Wait a minute,” I said as I stood up to my full height. If I understood her correctly, then Hollis was finally accepting herself as the absolutely beautiful, unique girl that she was, and we wouldn’t have to argue about that anymore. “Holls, what are you saying?”
I decided to take the delicate approach with her, shove my hopes back down where they belonged, and waited for her to say it instead of just assume it.
“Well,” she began as she held out a hand to me to help her up, “I think I’ll be okay. You know, if I can’t have the surgery done.”
I pulled her into a hug.
I had never in my life thought I would hear her say those words, but as I held her against me, my eyes prickling with tears, I knew that eventually she’d change her mind about it again.
For now, she’d be the perfect girl that I fell in love with while I struggled with the urge to try and rescue her at every turn.
She didn’t need me to; she had made that clear enough.
But I did.