Dangerously Close (Aris x Reader)

8) Love Songs

We sat in silence. In reality, that meant I ignored him a I read one of their books that I stole while they were setting up. I was not going to be here, doing nothing all night.

“Is it any good?”He asked from the other side of the tent.

“It's not bad,”I answered vaguely.

“What's it about?”He interrogated, trying to move closer in his sleeping bag. Slipping out of mine, I backed up to the tent door while not taking my eyes off of him, my hand on the zipper for when I had to go.

“You still think I’m going to hurt you, don't you?”He whispered.

“No. I’m prepared for it,”I corrected.

“Well, you don't need to be. See? I’ve got nothing that could,”He tried to assure me, holding his hands up for me to see. Narrowing my eyes at him, I cautiously went back to my corner, staying on top of my sleeping materials.

“Just so you know, I’ll be checking on you throughout the night,”I warned.

“Fair enough. I was planning to do the same anyway. To make sure that you're healing okay.”

“Mary said I would be fine.”

“Yeah, but I just want to make sure,”He defended. Shaking my head, I then put my knees to my chest while resting my cheek on them.

“It's technically been two days of knowing me.”

“Yeah, and they've been pretty interesting,”He shrugged.

“Five more and you'll be done,”I pointed out.

“No. Five more and you’ll admit we're friends,”He smiled.

“I could like you, if I let myself so I’m not going to you. All you’ll get from me is disappointment.”

“That's okay. I’ll get over it.”

“Yes. Because you’ll finally realize you just need to give up on me. After that, life will be the way it's meant to. I'll go to Denver, be on the run forever, and live out my life alone. You’ll be here, with your friends, living with peace.”

“If you really don't care, why would you keep telling me that I’ll never be close to you? Why wouldn't you just give on convincing me?”

“I don't know,”I lied, not looking at him.

“Sure you do.”

“Love,”I answered.

“What?”

“You asked me what the book was about. It's about love. It's about this girl trying to figure out what kind of love she could possibly have inside of her,”I explained, closing my eyes for a moment as I sighed.

“And?”He asked after a moment of silence.

“And what?”

“What else is the book about? You’ve gotten far enough for there to be more.”

“Well, there's this boy helping her with that. He takes her damaged parts and turns them into something beautiful. Something that's worth having. Her anger becomes protectiveness. Her fear becomes strength. Her pain becomes empathy. Her coldness becomes warmth. She's still her, but she becomes someone worth being around. And he's there, guiding her until she realizes all she needs is him. Not in a codependent way. She just finds her missing half, and he sees something in her nobody else does. That's why he stays when she snaps at him. That's why he hugs her when she tells him she doesn't need anyone. That's why she breaks in his arms and shows her parts she didn't even know she had. It's a beautiful premise. Something so amazing, it's not allowed to be real,”I breathed out, my heart skipping a beat for a moment.