Soar With Me (✔️)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

Evelyn

"Ms. Melgren can I ask you something?" Tinsely rushes towards me just as I finish making my coffee.

"Sure. Let's go to my office." I gesture. "Do you want something to drink?"

"No. I'm good. But thank you for asking." Flashing me a big grin she buzzes with an energy that has me curious.

Getting inside my office I sit at my chair and she stands beside my desk bouncing from step to step.

"What is it?" I eye her.

Fixing her big spectacles she clears her throat. "You know how I'm into photography, which also means I'm into models. Not in having a crush or being in love with them. As in admiring them and dreaming of photographing them so I can have a portfolio."

I nod.

Placing the magazine on my desk she points to the model who's all too familiar to me. "Is he your brother? He has the same last name as yours and his eyes are identical to yours."

Remember that signed GQ copy Michael was talking about? Well, it looks like Tinsely's crumpled copy will have to do it.

With a smile, I look at her. "Yes. He's my brother."

I notice the way blood rushes to her cheeks and redden them. And the way her eyes are nervously looking between me and Michael-the hard copy version.

"Oh wow. That's why he's so beautiful."

A laugh eludes my mouth at her innocence. For a twenty-five-year-old Tinsely is quite pure and wholesome.

"Do you fancy my brother Tinsely?" I tease her enjoying the way the tips of her ears redden.

"Wha-what? No! Of course not. You're off-limits. I mean your brother is off-limits. Even though he's handsome, he is forbidden. Like Area 51. Trespassers are not allowed. And I don't like trespassing." She rambles while fixing her glasses that are perfectly aligned on her nose.

I have to bite the inside of my cheek to not laugh.

"I can introduce him to you when he visits." Her chocolaty brown eyes look at me in excitement.

"Introduce me? Oh, I... what would I even say? I don't know how to talk to boys. Well, I know but they just say I talk too much which is annoying."

Something about that sits unwell with me. In high school, I was always on the verge of changing little things about me so I could fit in. Because according to my friend group, you have to be a certain way for a guy to like you.

If you're too emotional? No guy.

If you're too sunshine? No guy.

If you have a chubby body? No guy.

If you dance awkwardly? No guy.

There are a hundred more examples that are like a manual you have to follow to be a perfect girl for a guy to like you.

Fuck the manual.

"It is not annoying. If anything it gives you such an edge in this world of smooth curves." I say.

Pursing her lips she smiles a little. "I like that."

"Never lose your edge. It makes you different. And the right guy will know that."

"I hope so. I wanna fall in love." There's such purity and naivety to that sentence.

"You will Tinsely. Any guy who'll be with you will be lucky."