tall

there

he was right there.

his lips were right there.

the breath of his words flowing into her ear was tangible and real, caressing her with the uncertainty of promises and unspoken messages.

esme barely shifted and his fingers slightly jumped on her shirt but resettled, ever so slightly rubbing.

she cracked her eyes open, trying to preserve any fragment she could of the epiphany that this was real.

he was real.

his words were real.

her dream was real.

his love was real.

she feigned sleep once again, closing her eyes and basking in the warm light of his words.

his lips slowly moved away from her imperfect ear and she stopped moving, wishing he wouldn't go.

she steeled herself for what she was about to do next as another car's headlights caused her closed eyes to go red, giving her the final push to grab his finger as his hands followed his lips.

they both stopped still, stiller then esme had been in her state of unrest.

-

she looked like she was gone.

she looked like she has shriveled into nothing.

he saw her curled up on her side and he couldn't bear the tension any more.

he pulled himself away, pushing down his confession deep into his soul to be forgotten just like the thought that his parents loved him.

tristan couldn't let go of her but he had to. he had to let go and as another dancing beam of light joined the audience of enveloping darkness, he felt her hand on his.

a shock coursed through his whole body.

why did he never feel this way with amy? even in their most vulnerable moments, he had never felt electricity just from her simple touch.

esme gave him this spark on a dark sidewalk on an ordinary night from just a light grasp of her perfect hand on his ring finger.

her eyes opened and he stared deep into their chasms, slowly drying and revealing colors not unlike warm, mouthwatering brownies on a cold winters day.

they both stopped still and she said just three words; three simple words that set his heart on fire.

-

esme opened her lips and brought herself to say the words she had only said to him in dreams in the dead of night.

she barely smiled and said,

"i love you."

-

she opened her beautiful mauve lips and said,

"i love you."

and it gave him the feeling of watching a sunrise over the mountains in the desert, painfully beautiful and warm and bright.

he grabbed her hand and pulled her up, her braid spilling over her shoulder and her slender legs quivering.

even in the dusk of the setting sun, she still looked angelic, like selene, the goddess of the moon.

-

she pushed her glasses up on her nose and stared at him intently waiting for him to respond, her dignity and self-esteem on the line.

she pushed down her jeans and stared deeper into his eyes, forest green with the moon's light shining upon them.

he had never looked more perfect.

he had never seemed more tall, either; his stature and broad shoulders towering over hers.

-

he stepped closer to her, cutting the thick air like a knife, and let the only word he needed to say flow from his mouth.

"good."

then he leaned his head down and kissed her.

-

esme was frightened as he stepped closer to her and tightened his grip on her hand, his single finger overpowering her.

her eyes wildly searched his face as he broke down her walls, opened his lips and said,

"good."

his eyes wandered over hers for a second more and then he leaned down and did what he always was about to do in her head right as she woke up.

he kissed her.

his lips were sweet, like dewdrops on a soft spring morning.

they molded perfectly into hers, leaving her wondering if there was anyone else meant for her down the line, or if this was it.

she leaned into him and laughed in her head, chastising herself.

of course there wasn't.

it was always him.

-

he pulled away and stared at the patterns of freckles on her face, wondering why he had never noticed this tall girl before.

why he hadn't taken a chance sooner and realized she was the one for him.

why he hadn't took the leap and experienced the very thing that he had only seen in his remotest fantasies.

he chuckled out loud and pulled her in closer, relishing in how her head fit perfectly in the crook of his neck, her nose barely brushing the tips of his hair.

even the slightest of touches from esme set him on fire.

he leaned his head to the side and whispered in her ear what he had been meaning to say all this time; what he had thought when she glanced at him the first time he had seen her in the hallway.

he caressed her ear with his lips and said,

"you are so beautiful tall."

-

she buried her head into his neck and wondered how she, the ugly, imperfect, tall girl was being touched by the gorgeous, chocolate haired and green eyed tristan.

she wondered how she would ever recover when he whispered in her ear the only words she had never heard before from different people than her parents.

"you are so beautiful tall."

she smiled and brought her head up to kiss him again, only this time without resignation.

she kissed the boy she loved and, after many more late nights and softly spoken conversations with him, she started to love herself too.

esme started to love being tall.

————————————

a/n: guys it's finally finished!! i hope you love it as much as i loved to write it. expect a new story coming soon that i think you'll love too... trust me.

i hope you cherish and love this with all of your hearts, because i connect with this story more deeply then any other time i've put down my pen to paper or my fingers to a keyboard.

i love you all 💓
-ellie

song: adore you by miley cyrus