Paper Hearts

15 | fire

[ dedicated to suckitnerd because they've been reading this story from the very start and i should've dedicated a part to them a long, long time ago - it's just a way of showing my appreciation for your continuous support. thank you for everything <3 ]

PAPER HEARTS | 15

She'd worshipped Isaac the same way she'd worshipped one too many people in her life. She adored the way his biceps curled when they went to the gym together and he sat her on his lap as they lifted weights. She adored the way he twirled her in the middle of a busy sidewalk during their summer days because he wanted to see her dress float with the dead breeze; he wanted to bring a smile to her face. She adored the way he looked at her when he took her to clubs just to have an excuse to dance with her all night long. She adored his parents, his puppy, his philanthropy, his kindness, his laugh, his devotion, him.

What they had at the start was beautiful, but beauty never came without a price.

She hated the way he tightened his grip around her waist when he noticed her gaze wandering about the gym. She hated the way he accused her of flirting when her hand brushed another man's pinkie in the middle of a bustling street. She hated the way he picked a fight every time someone approached her at the club asking for a dance. She noticed the way his parents fussed over him whenever they visited; she noticed the way his puppy Max only ever approached her. She noticed the way he only donated money when she mentioned a good cause; she noticed the way he was kindest when it was only the two of them. She noticed the way he only really laughed whenever he was drunk; she noticed the way his eyes went every which way with other girls.

Isaac was two different halves of a person. His good and his bad were separated by a defined line, and he had yet to discover a way of being both at once. When he was good, he was at his best, but when he was bad, he was a beast.

That was why she'd found it so easy to fall out of love with Isaac and fall in love with Micah.

Micah's presence itself was enough for at least her heart to understand that it deserved better. The lightness in his eyes and the brightness of his personality gave her just enough strength to bury some semblance of her love for Isaac. While she still clung to Isaac for support - out of hope - she found herself going to Micah for solace - out of habit.

She'd been going to Micah since the day they'd moved in together.

In college, Ellie was used to waking up at six in the morning, but it wasn't like sleeping was easy in her dorm room. The pillows felt like they were made of bricks. The bipolarity of the temperature was to both extremes - either she was sleeping in the nude or with a parka and seventeen pairs of socks on her feet. Ellie was sure she had seen math textbooks softer than her mattress. One of the upsides of renting an already-furnished apartment was that when she'd laid eyes on the queen-sized mattress in the "master bedroom", she'd known the room would have to be hers. The downside was that she wasn't the only one who wanted it.

As much as Micah had wanted the dated bathroom and the general space, he'd known that, at the end of the day, he would've given it up if it would've made Ellie happy. It was one thing to take a bed from a girl; it was a completely different story to deprive her of her walk-in closet.

When she'd hopped onto his back screaming, "This room is mine!" Micah had been gentle to flip her onto the bed and onto her back. Only Micah would've wrestled with her for an hour only to throw his hands up in surrender right before dinner. When it came to Ellie, only Micah was willing to give her what she wanted, when she wanted it, and how she wanted it.