Imagining Us

Ch.67-Blow My Mind

She burned under his gaze.

It was too much after that kiss. Esi was just coming back down to earth. It felt like her heart was beating at a million beats per minute, and her body flushed as she recalled the feel of his tongue stroking lazily and gently against hers.

She hadn't wanted to stop. She hadn't wanted to breathe. She wanted to be consumed in that moment. Looking at his heaving chest, his darkened eyes, she was glad that she wasn't the only one that was affected by that kiss.

Porte's hand was still at her waist, and she was still leaning forward into him. Her body wanted more, but her mind was confused. There was so much still going on, so much to talk about.

"What is it?" She asked softly. Her gentleness was such a contrast to the fact that she'd almost clambered onto him a minute ago. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression, his normally well-styled hair askew.

"You're so beautiful." He whispered with such surety, as if it was factual.

Oh, he was definitely lying now.

Esi pulled away from him, and his hands fell to her thigh. If—

She chastised herself mentally.

Focus.

She knew that her face was probably haggard from the stress of seeing Andrew and remembering Talia's words. Her head was still wrapped in a scarf, and her eyes were puffy from all the tears that threatened to fall.

"No, I'm not," she murmured. "I know you're trying to make me feel better but—"

"There's no reason for me to lie to you. I know I've messed up before." He ran his free hand through his hair—he wouldn't move the other hand. Not that she wanted him to.

Esi wasn't surprised that he still held on to that indiscretion. She knew now that he wasn't the type to forgive himself easily, despite her reassurances.

"But trust me when I say that I think you are beautiful." He continued before she could protest. "I know you're thinking about how you look right now, and—he reached up to gently lift her chin—you are, but it's more than that, Elizabeth. It's how you feel so much...it's your vulnerability that makes you beautiful. I wish...I wish that I could be more like you."

Esi was convinced that he was trying to make her fall apart. She'd never felt this way before.

How could someone that she hadn't known that long reach—see— the parts of her that she'd kept hidden away. He didn't know that he was the only one that made her like this—that made her want to open up. No one else would ever use the word vulnerable to describe her. At least not in a negative way.

That same hand that caressed her face reached behind to grasp her neck. Porte pulled her closer to him and leaned down to gently brush his lips against her cheek. The warmth of his body made her want to sink into him and burrow away from the outside world. He pulled back and looked her dead in the eye.

"Don't let anyone ever tell you that you don't fit in...and never let anyone cloud that vulnerable part of you, Esi—the part that makes you more human than most of us," He said fiercely.

She hated that he included himself in that group. That he thought himself less than her. She was determined to help him see himself differently just as he was helping her.

His gaze bore into her, and despite the fact that she knew that they had crossed a line with the first kiss, he looked at her like outside of their bubble–outside of them—nothing else mattered.