Learning to be Beautiful

Learning to be Beautiful ~Epilogue~

College passed by incredibly slowly.

That's not to say that my classes weren't interesting, of course, but after my dramatic summer, every day life became dry and boring.

To say that I never thought about that summer would be a complete lie. I spent a lot of my time thinking about it, actually. I'd never had an experience like that before, and I don't think many could say that they ever had either. As much as I thought about my job with Pierre, the thing I thought the most about was that car ride with Linc.

His history had made me understand, as my mother had, why he did the things he did. But I could not condone them, nor even justify them in my own mind. Despite all this, however, I found myself wishing that I had forgiven him that day. If not for him, then for myself. The guilt that weighed in the pit of my stomach from not forgiving him made it difficult for me to concentrate on anything else.

On October 17th, two months after I left San Francisco, my roommate, Carla, came running up to me while I was writing a paper for my communications class.

"There's someone at the door for you," she explained quickly, pushing me away from my laptop. "You never told me you had a boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? I--" My eyes widened when I saw who was standing in my doorway. "...don't have a boyfriend."

Glittering green eyes looked at me warily, "Well, if we're announcing our current relationship statuses, I suppose I should let you know that I do not currently have a girlfriend either."

Taking a step back from the doorway, I made enough room for his tall frame to come in. "Uh, welcome?"

"Thank you." The Brit walked in with his hands in his pockets. His face was unreadable.

Carla's brown eyes darted back and forth between the two of us before she finally decided that it would probably be a good idea to leave. "I'm gonna go do... stuff." The door slammed behind her loudly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, settling down on my bed after offering him the office chair at the desk that was shared between Carla and I.

"I'd thought that would be rather obvious." A small smile lifted the corners of his lips. "I came to see you, of course."

"Weird... I would have thought that after the last time we spoke you wouldn't want to see me again."

The smile disappeared from his face, "Well, I suppose you thought wrong then." His long fingers glided through his dark hair. "I actually came here to seek your forgiveness once more. My words that day held no truth in them."

"You don't need to apologize again, Linc," I sighed. "I should have forgiven you two months ago."

Warm happiness bubbled onto the Brit's face and he stood to hug me tightly. "Thank you, Ms. Palmin, I--" He seemed to realize what he was doing and stepped back abruptly, his face coloring. "I'm sorry, I--"

I cut him off by hugging him back, then pulled back quickly myself and blushed. "Want to go for a walk?"

He nodded his consent, so I grabbed a sweatshirt and my room keys, then headed out the door.

The autumn air was crisp and nipped at the tip of my nose. A slight breeze blew crunchy brown leaves around the university campus, and the sun above made their usually dull color look as if it were shining gold.

As we walked together we talked about what was happening with Pierre, Callie, and my mom. Pierre was going absolutely mad worrying over the fall show and was in turn making all the other people in the building insane as well. Cal was attending a university. The same university that Gavin was going to. Linc hinted at a slight romance between the two, and I found myself feeling warm inside knowing that Gav had moved on. Mother was her usual busy self, bustling around running her agency.

The wind picked up a little as we walked, and blew my hair into my face. Groaning, I pushed it all away and was about to tie it up in frustration when Linc's hand stopped me.

"Don't. I like it messy."

I refrained from tying up my hair, and Linc smiled down at me before lightly kissing my cheek.

"Tu es belle, ma chère, tant à l'intérieur qu'à l'extérieur."

The French--or was it the kiss?--threw me a little bit, and I blinked at him like an idiot. "What?"

"You are beautiful, my dear, on the inside and on the outside."

Fin