Trials Of A Heart | ✔️

18

~Brielle's POV~

When Phoenix arrived at my house the next morning to drive us both to Somerset, I found myself nervously staring down my reflection in the mirror on my dresser. I couldn't stop thinking about my feelings for him, and after all that Harmony had said to me yesterday, I was beginning to wonder if maybe he could like me back.

I nitpicked every detail about myself in the mirror—my eyes weren't a pretty shade of brown like Phoenix's, the size of my curves suddenly made me feel a little bit self conscious. I was not a skinny girl. In fact, I was rather curvy, and I worried that maybe Phoenix would prefer if I lost weight. "No." I mumbled to myself as I shook my head. "Bad Brielle." I whispered. Never change yourself to please a man, I recalled the words my mom had once told me when I was eleven. If she knew the thoughts I had just had, she would probably be upset at me for having doubted myself in such a way. Just like that, those thoughts floated away.

Not wanting to keep Phoenix waiting on me any longer, I grabbed my backpack from off my bed and slung it on as I hurried out of my bedroom, turning off the light as I went. I grabbed a granola bar from the kitchen and then went over to the front door, swinging it open. As I expected, Phoenix was stood on the other side of the door, waiting patiently as he leaned against the railing opposite my front door. "There you are." He muttered, glancing down at the granola bar in my hand before his eyes wandered to attire. "You're wearing jeans. That's a first." He remarked observationally, a smile growing on his lips.

Though I had dressed myself not even thirty minutes ago, I looked down at myself like I didn't know what clothes I was wearing. My high waisted blue jeans were a little bit tight on me and restricted my movement slightly, which was part of the reason why I didn't wear them too often, but I thought they still looked cute on me. The cropped white tank top matched with my all white converse and the light blue cardigan I had was almost the same shade of blue as my jeans. "Yeah." I said shyly, pulling my jeans up a little higher. "They don't look weird, right? I thought they looked nice, but I wear sweatpants almost every day so it's hard to tell." I asked, stepping out the front door. He hummed in thought and scanned his gaze down the front of my body. "No, they don't look weird." He assured me.

"Actually, they lo—" I turned around to lock my front door with the keys I'd grabbed from the table next to my front door, and Phoenix suddenly choked on his spit. "Oh, god." He coughed and I quickly looked at him over my shoulder, alarmed and concerned.

To my surprise, Phoenix's eyes had wandered when I turned around to lock my door and were now focused rather intently on my butt. I felt my face burn as he openly ogled my backside like that, with his eyes darkened a few shades and his lips parted. He was looking at me in a way that no man had ever looked at me before and it made my knees weak. I pulled my key out of the lock and turned my body back towards his again, causing his eyes to immediately snap up to mine again.

It seemed to dawn on him that he had been caught ogling me so brazenly because he cleared his throat and ruffled his hair. "We should go." He muttered, making me frown. Right then was the moment that my mouth decided it was a good time to speak up. "So they don't look weird?" I asked, and he froze as he went to turn around to walk off. He turned back to me and I saw his jaw was clenched. "You want me to be honest?" He muttered, to which I nodded my head reluctantly. His lips twitched and he took a step closer to me, his gaze flicking down to meet mine as we now stood toe to toe. We were so close I could feel our chests brushing, and his eyes flicked down to my lips when I tilted my head back to see him better.

Phoenix swallowed thickly and I felt my entire face and neck begin to fill with heat as he gave me another once over, this one much slower. It almost felt seductive. "If you want the truth," He spoke in a low murmur and gazed at me through hooded eyes. "These jeans look so good on you that I'm more tempted to bring you back inside and strip you naked instead of drive you to school."

Taken aback by his sheer vulgarity, my eyes bugged widely and I gaped at him, flustered. "P-Phoenix!" I squeaked, unsure how to even respond to that. Now that I was thinking about it, this wasn't the first time that he had made suggestive remarks at me like that, and I had an inkling it wouldn't be the last time either. But why did he do it? Did he say those things because he liked me, just as I liked him? My heart pounded a little faster at the thought.

Instead of taking it back or brushing it off as a joke, Phoenix just gave me a smirk and raised a brow at me. "What?" He shrugged. "I asked if you wanted me to be honest, and you said yes. It'd be rude of me to lie, don't you think?" He almost purred, still wearing that infamous smirk of his. He stepped away and I shakily pushed my hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear. "Y-You...You make my body feel things I've never felt before." I confessed thoughtlessly, earning an amused look. "Oh, do I?" He teased. He pressed his body so close to mine that I ended up pinned back against my front door, his warm breath fanning over my face. "I can make you feel many more things you've never felt before. You should just fucking see what other things I can do to this pretty body of yours, Ellie."

My breath escaped me in shaky gasps as he gently pushed my hair back, ducking his face down until his lips hovered just above mine. He stopped before he went any further and gave me a sly smirk. "But we don't have the time for that. I need to get us to college." He muttered, pulling away from me as if he'd never said anything. In a daze, I followed him down the stairs to my apartment building and then got in on the passenger's side of his car, still feeling like I had cotton in my head. Everything felt buzzed and warm and light.

Oh, geez. Harmony's so right; I'm in for it.