Perfectly Unseen

46: beautiful because you're you

B e a u t i f u l
                      because you're you
                          ~+~+~+~

"A-Ailie?" Liam stuttered out as I took the seat beside him, brushing a curled strand of hair back behind my ear shyly.

"Hi," I whispered, too nervous to speak any louder in fear of grabbing even more attention from the practically full classroom.

Liam's wide brown eyes slowly went back to normal as they softened, "You look beautiful." His eyes fell down the outfit Missy had forced me into.

The white cropped sleeveless top with the olive green maxi skirt fit perfectly despite my clear disapproval. I much preferred the outfit Emma stuck me in --and that was saying something since it was no baggy overall shorts. Along with the outer wear, Missy stuck me in a tiny gold and olive green bikini when she saw my one-piece which Emma then pulled out her winning card and forced me to keep on.

"I figured you'd try something like this. So I brought extra everything!" — Missy, while pulling out her large extra beach bag from her locker. How it fit in that tiny space was a mystery.

Needless to say, I had no say in any of it and I desperately missed the simple t-shirt and whitewashed jeans I had just had on.

"Beautiful, but different." Liam said, pulling me out of my grief. "You don't even have your glasses on." He tilted his head, allowing the faded silvery and gold strands to fall into his sparkly eyes. "But yeah, beautiful."

My cheeks were warming up as he kept saying the same adjective to describe me. "Thank you." I squeaked out, moving my hand to my face to adjust my glasses, only to realize half-way through the thoughtless action that there was nothing to fix. "Emma and Missy made me wear the contacts." I sighed, regretting telling Emma about always having them in my back-pack as a backup.

I felt like I had gone back to the time where contacts itched at my dry eyes everyday. All just so I could fit in.

He half-grimaced, half-smiled crookedly as he flushed, "I don't want to say the wrong thing here." He scratched his head awkwardly, as if trying to think of the right words as I waited patiently and a little nervously. "Okay, well you look amazing. You're beautiful and it's nice to see you all dressed-up. But- wait. No. 'But' normally indicates something negative is coming after. And it's not!" He grasped his hair as he chuckled annoyedly. "Okay, you just. You don't look like you. And I like you- I-I mean I like the way you dress. I like the way you look. You're beautiful now. But you're even more beautiful when you're comfortable with standing apart from the other girls around you --when you don't try to look beautiful. When you just look beautiful because you're you." He said quietly, his eyes firmly shut as he feared my reaction.

"Thank you." I mumbled into his shirt after wrapping my arms around him, balanced on the edge of my seat as I was reaching over and practically throwing myself at him. My heart was in my throat and it felt silly how close to tears I was.

His muscular body was tense for a moment before one of his warm hands fell down to my back, softly brushing my exposed skin, and the other one just below the back of my neck, gently squeezing me to him. "Yeah, always." He murmured softly into my curly hair, styled in a messy up-do.

My entire body was alight with flames as he held me, nothing about it being awkward or uncomfortable. If it wasn't for the clearing of a throat I couldn't have stayed in his arms all day, basking in that delicious coconut scent he always exuded while his thumbs drew swirls against my skin that sent warmth straight to my face.