babe. babe, babe, babe.
i loved that word.
i loved the way it just rolled off his tongue, splitting me into two with the mixture of his voice's warmth and the chill that ran through my body when he said it. when he said that word, i smiled. i smiled even when he didn't say that word, i smiled when he wasn't even near me.
i smiled while i doodled on my notepad, ignoring the daily lecture in class. i smiled because i thought of him. ashton. i was happier. and it was all so sudden, too. i couldn't believe that just over a week i had gone from hating him and his friends.
his friends were nice too, i finally got to meet them, the real them. they said sorry about all the rude things they said and they smiled at me. they were like ashton, except they were more boyish, a little rougher on the edges. especially michael, who liked to push luke around and call calum inappropriate names.
but then there was ashton, who just giggled at it all and watched, teeth pressing securely to his bottom lip as he admired his friends. he just loved life, he loved everything. he would sit next to me in the library from time to time, cutting paper stars and dusting them into my hair.
today was one of those days, as he sat, watching me with a beautiful joy in his gaze. he had propped his elbows up on the table, cushioning his chin in his palms. the cuffs of his green flannel were tugged up to be gripped in his fingers while the rest of the fuzzy material hung daintily on his broad shoulders.
and then, just then and there, something occurred to me.
i put my pencil down, smiling to myself as i turned my head to look at him.
"you're a scientist living in a world of einsteins, you know?" i said, and he blinked at me once, twice, caught unaware of my connection to what i had told him last week at the coffee shop. "you sit there and you just fill up with love. you stand up and walk around with the same feeling of admiration for everything that you see, and you put all of that love into them. and they turn their cheeks to face you and even though you don't know it, they love you back."
he started smiling, gazing at me with that deep, loving look. one of his arms fell to the table, his fingertips grazing mine. i looked down at our hands when he intertwined them together, locking everything, every feeling into our mutual action. there was this heavy feeling in my chest that i got when i glanced back at him, still staring at me intently.
it felt like there was thousands of clouds being pushed on to me, being absorbed into my body and getting sucked into me heart. i felt so light, so free, yet captivating and caged in by the embrace of all of the affection and beauty he put out into the world.
this was the feeling of true love.
a/n: shjabjaj this chapter makes me really happy ok im so happy with my writing atm rn i think im going to update again today so yeyyy i just wanted to let you guys know that i love you all so much and i hope you're doing okay and if you aren't i want you to do me a favor: go out, find someone, it can be anyone or it can be someone special to you, and just tell them something nice, make their day. it will make you a whole lot happier, i can guarantee it
