beautiful | daniel howell

y

day one: monday.
reason one: your body.

dan and elodie decided they'd meet at the beach at six every morning. so the following day, the sun shone and the two people stood staring out at the ocean.

he wanted to hold her in his arms because she was shaking. it wasn't cold at all today, she was scared. nervous. but he settled for standing next to her. just being in her presence.

"day one." she spoke.

"yep. reason one." she sighed. she didn't want to spend two weeks with a complete stranger but for one reason or another, she felt drawn to him.

"which is?"

"well i know you don't like it and to be fair, neither do i."

"but?"

"but," he began. "let's start with the superficial. you are beautiful on the inside but let's start with the outside." elodie sighed again turning so she could face dan. she looked up, deep into his eyes.

"let's start then." dan smiled at that. how she was letting him teach her to see things from a new perspective.

"your body." he said plainly.

"what about it? i know i'm not the skinniest but-"

"well that's the point elodie. you aren't the skinniest person, you can see that, but i like that." elodie shifted on her feet uncomfortably. "are you insecure about it?" he questioned placing his hand on her shoulder. she watched as he did so, before parting her lips to speak.

"dan i'm insecure about everything."

"stop. i know it's hard but," he thought for a second bringing her body closer to his. he let his hand slide from her shoulder down to her hip. " but it makes you different. it's scary how thin some girls get because they're afraid they'll look too fat. that's not what you need to do. you need to accept your curves. embrace them because you're curves are beautiful. you aren't fat elodie, so don't for one second think you are. but you're not skin and bone. i like that you have thighs. i like that you have wide hips. i like that you can't see the bones sticking out of your arms." elodie turned her head to face the green waves crash against the shore. dan simply lifted his hand to her chin. resting it between his index finger and thumb. he gently moved her head to face him again.

"you are beautiful elodie." he paused for a second. "let's go." he moved away from her wrapping his fingers around her wrist, pulling it in the direction he was walking.

"where are we going?" she shouted in dan's direction as she tried her best to keep up with his long strides.

"you'll see." he said as he turned around and winked.

around ten minutes later, they finally arrived at little coffee shop on a side street elodie had never seen before. the cafè was painted a cool-toned beige. it had red roses planted in baskets outside of the window and an old wooden door. dan liked to come here often. he knew the owner and not many people came. it was peaceful.

the bell rang as the pair stepped inside. they were greeted with an empty room filed with ratton chairs, white cushions and white round tables. there were red flowers decorating the room and paintings decorating the walls.

"good morning daniel, good to see you again." elodie glanced over at dan smiling at how his full name was daniel. she always liked the name daniel. he noticed she was staring so he looked over at elodie, a smile growing on his face also.

"you too george." george wasn't old, but he wasn't young and since dan never found out his actual age he guessed he was mid forties. his dark hair was fading and wrinkles were slowly creeping up.

"two hot-chocolates please."

"yes sir." george disappeared into the kitchen as dan showed elodie to a table at the back of the room next to a huge window that looked out over the beach in the distance. he pulled out the chair for elodie before sitting down himself.

"no one really knows about this place but their hot-chocolates are incredible." elodie fidgeted in her seat as dan watched her. she was still nervous around him which was to be expected. they'd only known each other a day and dan decided he was going to start blabbering on about her body. he probably should have picked something else to start with.

some time later, george arrived with two hot-chocolates completed with whipped cream and chocolate springles.

elodie still messed with her fingers and dan figured it was something she did when she was nervous or shy. he reached out holding her hands in his.

"elodie, you are beautiful."