Just For Now

Charity has grown up on her own, afraid of the world and unsure of her place in it. Seth is a loner and a steady presence in her life after bailing her out of trouble more than a few times. He's willing to take the leap for her, but it's going to take time for her to figure out what she wants. Everything ebbs and flows, and everything can change in a single moment.
***

"So where does that leave us?"
"Friends with benefits?"
He smirked, his fingers curling around mine. He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles, my palm, the inside of my wrist. "No thank you. I would like you to be my girlfriend."
"What's the point?" I asked, trying not to focus on the soft pecks he was applying to my skin. "So we can go to the pizza parlor on Fridays and make out in the corner? Watch a movie and hold hands? Walk on the beach and talk about how difficult geometry is? Dating is dumb. We can be friends in public and do whatever we want to do in private. I don't like my private life being public anyway."
He hummed against the top of my hand. "Are you struggling with geometry? I can help you with that."
I swatted his knee. "That was not the point of that."
"I'm just saying." He winked. "But no, I don't want friends with benefits. Because I want people to know we're together. I want people to know that if they need to find you, they should look for me. I want people to see how happy you are and know that I did that. I won't pretend you're just my friend in public if you mean more than that to me."