How He Saved Her

Chapter Ten

Aurora

"You can't", I say to him.

"Why not?", he asks me and I close my eyes. All of my memories come to me and in an instant, I'm crying.

"I have a ton of shit. I have a lot of trust issues. And I can't, well, I won't let you touch me. Why would you want to go through that?", I ask.

"Rory, I can live without touching you. I would like to, but if you can't have me do that, then I won't. I don't need a relationship being built on physical touch anyway", he says like the words came right out of me, what I wanted him to say.

He continues,"As for your personal issues, I want to know about them. I want to help you through them." Oliver cannot be the same guy who approached me the first day, yes, he was nice but this is next level.

"Because you like me?", I say and he nods.

"I don't know", I say and he looks at me to keep talking. "I'm not sure if I like you."

"Sure you do", he says and I let out a laugh at his cockiness.

"I'm not sure if I would like to admit liking you. I'm scared."

"Of?", he persists and I take a breath.

"I'm scared of not knowing. Not knowing when you would no longer want me, or when you would want more and I won't be able to provide that for you. I'm scared of being attached to you and putting a lot of pressure on you", I say with a tear sliding down my cheek.

"That's a fear that you would never overcome without living through it. You have to trust me in order for those things to not happen. And Rory", he starts but then stops.

"Yeah?"

He lets out an embarrassed laugh, long and breathy,"It's been only a month and I'm already attached to you. So whether you like me or not it will not deteriorate my attachment to you."

I start to laugh because all of this is crazy. A boy liking me? A boy wanting to fight to be with me? A boy not running away when I tell him that I can't provide for him what he might want? It's all crazy. I reach out my hand and put it in his and then pull it to my lap.

"You're crazy", I admit to him and he only grins at me.

"You like me", I tell him to which he nods at as well.

"Well", I say, closing my eyes,"I like you too." I open my eyes to find that he is looking at me with a lot of intensity than before. His eyes flit down to my lips and I feel myself leaning away from him. Is he about to kiss me? I squeeze his hand and say,"But can we maybe table this conversation. I'm not ready."

"Sure", he says and I let another tear slip at his kindness. I'm not sure of how I would react if I was in his position; definetly not in the way he is.

"Oliver?", I say to him in the darkness of his car and he hums.

"I won't have you waiting forever for me okay?"

"I'm not worried about that."

"I promise to share more about me to you and hopefully I can work through my trust issues with you", I say and he hums again.

"Stop humming", I say to him and he jerks his head to me. His eyes meet my face and a slow smile appears on his face, "Sorry."

"Are you entirely okay with this?", I asked him.

"Yes, Rory. I'm waiting for you whenever you're ready. In the meantime, you promise to make more of an effort with me?"

"Yes", I say and we spend a few more minutes in silence before he pulls out of his driveway and toward my house.