𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆|𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐈𝐀

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲

For the amount of months that Montana Miller was fortunate enough to know Abby Littman, he had always known she had her fair share of issues. Then again, who didn't? It was how you managed them that mattered. In Abby's case, she managed her body insecurities by taping her legs together, hoping that nobody would notice. For a while, nobody did, which led to Abby believing that she could continue to hide the darkest parts of herself for what she thought would be forever. But that wasn't exactly the case, for Monty somehow seemed to notice while the pair was making out. And he couldn't be anymore grateful that he did, for if he failed to notice any later, then how in the world would he be able to call himself a good boyfriend? That was all Monty wanted, to be there for Abby and make sure that she was taken care of.

However, how are you supposed to help someone struggling with their own body image when you yourself are going through the same thing? Monty could remember looking at his exhausted and broken body in the mirror each and everyday, picking out the worst parts of himself and trying to fix it before things got even worse. It started with his eyes, his broken, once hollow eyes. That was solved by wearing sunglasses everywhere he went, even though it was the middle of fall and everyone looked at him as if he was insane. Then it was his weight, his fucking weight that he hated more than anything else in the entire world. Being an athlete, it was only natural to put on a few pounds. But as soon as Monty quit the football team weeks ago, he started to take a real good look at his body and realize that he hated it, hence the action of starving himself until he basically almost died.

But that was all in the past now, as Monty was finally getting the help he so desperately needed and taking the correct medication. Now it was his time to pay back the debt he owed to Abby for all those godawful months by taking care of her and making her feel like the most gorgeous girl on planet earth. Because that's exactly what she was, gorgeous. Monty knew that the moment he felt her dirty sneaker kicking him in biology class, and even months later after all of the shit they've gone through, the love still continued to pound in his chest even now.

Monty glanced over at his alarm clock, seeing that it around three in the morning, causing for him to sigh. You'd think that after crying your eyes out for about an hour over your girlfriend you'd pass out with ease, but sleep was never really the case with Monty. Instead he laid wide awake, twirling strands of Abby's hair in his fingers while she slept peacefully beside him, wearing one of his very much oversized hoodies.

"Dude, if you keep playing with my hair you're gonna get it all tangled," Abby mumbled, turning on her side as her eyes fluttered open, a soft smile forming on her face as she reached a hand up go playfully squeeze Montys cheek causing for him to giggle. It was moments like this that he treasured the moments, where the silence of the late night atmosphere was enough to send him into a peaceful bliss. But it was different tonight, and there was really nothing could really do about it. Monty gently ran his hands through Abby's hair, hoping to get rid of all of the tangles that he had created. Abby hummed at the contact, sitting up and turning on the lamp so she was able to get a better look at her boyfriend. Her sweet,  gentle boyfriend who she treasured more than anything in the world. If only she had say something about all of the pain she was in sooner, they wouldn't be in this position. But as they had learned dozens upon dozens of times, the world managed to work in mysterious ways.

"Are you ok?" Monty gently asked, removing his hands from Abby's hair to rest his head on her shoulder. "And don't think I'm like, pitying you or anything, cause I'm not. Just asking."

"I'm aware," Abby replied, pressing a gentle kiss to the corner of Montys lips. "And I'm fine, thank you. You being here, holding me, makes me feel a lot better. Is this how you felt when you first opened up to me about your problems? Cause it  feels amazing."