Even Heroes Have Scars

[45] You Love Me?

Demi's P.O.V.

We pulled away from each other when everyone applauded: her band, Jacob, Marissa, the guy whom I assumed was the bar manager, the lights people, everyone except Hayden.

His hands were in his pockets and his eyes were glued to the floor. Of course I felt guilty for harming him in such a way, but I had just won Ansley and I couldn't let her go. Sure, I was probably being a sore winner, but I was too happy to care.

"Wow. Holy fuck," Ansley whispered when I stared into her eyes.

"Yeah. Shit," I giggled.

She and I bowed, but then she pulled me aside, ten feet from everyone else in the darkness of backstage that I knew all too well.

"Demi, what about Wilmer?" she asked, her eyes growing serious.

"Huh?" I was confused, then I realized what she meant.

"You know, your boyfriend?"

"Oh. Um, I broke up with him Tuesday," I stammered.

Acting was lying, and I'd acted and lied all my life, but saying it too her face was nearly impossible. I lied to her.

"Really?" she questioned. "Are you even ready? I mean, it's only been, like, four days..."

"Ans, on Monday, when I told you that I loved you and you kind of laughed it off, I wasn't kidding. I love you. No one else. I've spent four and a half years pretending to love Wilmer to make my step-dad happy because he did so much to make me happy, but I'm done doing that. I need to focus on myself. You're the one I want to be with," I explained, my hands drifting to hers, interlocking our fingers. "I-I'm in love with you, Ansley."

My stomach went in loops, turning over on itself and tying knots in every place possible.

"Seriously?" a smile broke out across her face.

My smile fell momentarily. She didn't say she loved me back, or that she was in love with me. In fact, she seemed as if she didn't believe me.

"Yeah, seriously," I nodded, allowing my hands to slip away from hers. "U-unless you don't...feel the same...?"

She giggled. "Demi, I've been waiting for the right time to tell you that I love you and that I'm in love with you. I just didn't know how to say it. You're the first person I've let in in a long time and I didn't want to mess it up if you didn't feel the same."

"You love me?" my voice cracked.

She reached out for my hands again and smiled. "Yes. So much."

And with that, she cupped my face this time and pulled me up, kissing me passionately. Her lips moved with mine this time and my hands found their way to her waist as I absorbed every feeling of her body pressed against mine. My smiling against her lips caused her to pull away, but she was smiling, too.

"W-will you...um..." I stuttered. "Will you be my...uh..."

"Yes," she smiled wider. "Will you be mine?"

I nodded. Her arms wrapped around my like a cocoon and I buried my head into her chest, smiling. This was what perfection felt like. My heart leapt in my chest and I had to remind myself to breathe.