《 shy ~ greece, nhc 》{COMPLETED}

Ch. 10

"Not really." He mumbles, his eyes looking dull and sad. We stand silently on the sidewalk, Reece's shoulder hunched and his hands stuffed into his pockets; he looks innocent and helpless, and it breaks my heart knowing he's not alright.

"D-do you want to come to mine? You can even spend the night if you want. My mum will be in but she won't annoy us, you can rant to me all you want about anything you want." I suggest. I see Reece's face immediately brighten up, his posture losening.

"You sure?" He asks softly. I nod eagerly.

"Of course! We can spend some quality time together." I wink, causing him to blush. I then realise how wrong that probably sounded, especially with the wink at the end.

"Not in that way thought!" I exclaim. He bursts into laughter, throwing an arm over my shoulder and beginning to walk in the direction of my house. My skin burns with the contact, and I try to walk without stumbling. Then, Reece leans into me and whispers into my ear.

"I wouldn't mind."

I freeze in my tracks slightly before hearing Reece's laugh. I laugh along, a strained, fake laugh. He didn't mean it George. He was just messing around. He doesn't like you. But oh how I wish he did. He keeps his arm wrapped tightly around me the whole walk, and we eventually begin walking down my street. I'm relieved, since the sun was starting to set and it's never nice walking in the dark. Reece lets me go as we walk down my drive way. I can see my kitchen light on, meaning my mum is in and probably cooking dinner. Before I knock, I take a quick glance at Reece, surprised by his fearful expression.

"Reece, what's wrong? You're not nervous to meet my mum, are you?" I say, a small smile playing on my lips. Reece whips around to look at me. He looks like he's about to protest, but changes his mind and sighs instead.

"Yeah, kinda. It's not that she's your mum or anything, I'm just always nervous when I meet new people." He explains, subconsciously fiddling with his fingers. I grab his hands to stop him and hold them in my own. He looks at our intertwined hands and then looks up at me, slightly surprised. I give him an encouraging smile, him hesitantly returning it.

"Reece, I know it must be hard for you, so if you don't want to meet her I one hundred percent understand. But, I'm telling you now, she's super nice and would not in the slightest way try to make you do or say something that would make you uncomfortable. In a way, this may help you; you need confidence to try and get over your anxiety, which I think you have but you're hiding. Besides, I've already told my mum a little bit about you and she understands what you're going through. I want to help you in any way possible, and I'm sure you'd do the same for me." I finish speaking, noticing Reece's eyes are filling with water. He smiles sadly at me before looking at the ground, a few tears escaping and trickling down his cheeks. I furrow my eyebrows, immediately releasing one of his hands to wipe under his eyes.

"Shit, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry." I say softly, feeling bad. Was it something I'd said?

"No, no, these are happy tears. I've just- I've never known someone so willing to help me and when you say stuff like that it makes me realise how fucking lucky I am to have met you. Thank you." He says, pulling me in for a very tight hug. His arms wrap themselves around my neck and mine go around his waist, and I breathe in deeply, relieved and quite pleased with what he had said.

"And I'd love to meet your mum." He says once we pull away. I smile and go to ring the doorbell, giving Reece one more chance to back out. He nods, reassuring me that he wanted to do this. I ring the doorbell, and a few seconds later my mum swings it open. Her eyes light up when she sees me and she gives me a quick hug.