Even Heroes Have Scars

[43] Sun, Moon, and Stars

Demi's P.O.V.

Dallas came down eventually, her hair still wet, and by then, I'd almost completely zoned out of what my mom and Eddie were debating until it was silent. They must have come to a conclusion.

"You know," Ansley caught everyone's attention, so I lifted my head off of her shoulder where I had been resting it, and looked up at her. "You guys are a lot different than I thought you'd be."

"What do you mean?" I asked, corking my head to the side.

"I mean, I thought your family would be annoyingly rich with maids and butlers, guards at your front door. I didn't think you'd have only one maid, no butlers, and guards only at the gate. And you guys don't always get along with each other. You have debates or explain theories and you aren't really a secretive family. You can have arguments but you never have ones big enough to put your family in danger. I don't know, I guess I just hadn't imagined it like that," she shrugged. "You guys are real."

"Aww!" I set my cup on a coaster on the coffee table and threw my arms around her neck, hugging her tightly.

"I hope that's a good thing," my mom chuckled.

Ansley nodded when I pulled away. "It is."

She and I sat down in the basement on the couch to eat our pizza. I had placed a few lanterns on the shelf below the eighty inch television to give us some light. Neither of us really said anything, just sat in silence while we ate. She ate slower, more nervously than I did. Today was a big day for her, a large step in her recovery, and I couldn't be more proud.

Once she got to the crust of her first slice, I nudged her knee with mine, causing her eyes to flick up to mine.

"What?" she tilted her head to the side.

"Remember the first time we sat here?" I leaned against the back couch cushion.

"Yeah," she nodded, chewing her crust.

"The first meal you kept down since the ninth grade was pizza and you were sitting on this exact cushion. And I'd just like to compliment how far you've come, and how unbelievably proud I am of you," I looped my arm up around her neck, leaning my head against her shoulder.

"I'm proud of you, too," she smiled.

"For what?" I pulled away, my arm still over her shoulders.

"Everything you've been through and continuing to be the person that you are today. You help people and you help me, and for that, I can never repay you," she shook her head, her eyes glossed with tears, and I rested my arm back at my side.

My hands went up to her cheeks, cupping her face as my thumbs wiped away the tears that escaped her soft, beautiful, blue eyes. She tried her hardest to smile, even though I saw her nose and eyes reddening, her lip quivering and her nose flaring as the tears threatened to fall again. Keeping one hand on her cheek, I moved both of our plates onto the table, then kissed her head, my hand returning to her cheek.

Just then, I heard footsteps on the stairs, but I didn't take my eyes away from Ansley's for a second, too mesmerized, too in love with the color of her eyes, the emotion they held, the character that was behind them, and the lustful love I felt for her. Part of me said it was the big move, just to inch forward and press my lips to hers as our worlds collided and she became mine, but the other part of me said that there was someone on the stairs, staring, watching us.

My arms pulled her head closer and buried her head into the crook of my neck as her arms enveloped my torso, hugging me tightly.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Dallas smiled from the second to last stair, her hand resting on the end of the railing. "Mom asked me to bring these candles down for you guys. Better light."