Chapter 24 Imperfectly Perfect Face
It’s quiet inside when we reach the house, coming in through the back door. A soft light is on in the kitchen, illuminating the room so we can see. He turns on the light switch, filling the rooms with light. He drops his stuff on the living room floor, then goes into the pantry to look for food.
I watch him, mesmerized. His back muscles are moving perfectly with each movement.
“Do you want some popcorn or chips?” He holds up a box of popcorn and a bag of potato chips.
“I’ll have the popcorn.” My voice is quieter than I intended.
“You don’t have to be quiet; he’s still awake, but he should leave us alone.” He gestures down the hall towards Noah’s room while putting the popcorn in the microwave.
He turns back to me. I’ve been standing in the same spot since we came in here, not wanting to make a wrong move.
“Do you want to show first? I know the pond water is kinda gross.”
“Yeah, I think I will.”
He doesn’t wait another second, saying, "Follow me."
He walks up the stairs at a fast rate, proving once again how athletic he truly is. He leads me to a bedroom I assume is his. Although I’ve been here several times now, I’ve never made it past his living room. It’s a large room with a queen-sized bed pushed into the corner. It’s clean like I would’ve expected from him, the bed made up nicely. He walks through it to a door, opening it to reveal a bathroom.
“I’ll bring you a towel and a change of clothes. Give me a second.” He leaves me in the nice bathroom.
I kick off my shoes, setting them aside, away from the shower. He comes back in with a fluffy towel in his right hand and a stack of clothes in his left.
“This should fit you okay. I don’t really have any women's underwear, but these should work.” His cheeks redden at the mention of my underwear.
“Yeah, that’s perfect, thank you.”
He nods, gesturing to the shower. “You can use whatever you need. I’ll be in my room if you need anything.”
He lingers a second longer, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him once I give him an encouraging smile. I don’t know why he worries so much sometimes, but it’s endearing nonetheless. I take the shower quickly, not wanting to use up much of his hot water.
Stepping out of the shower, I smell like I’ve bathed in him instead. The shampoo, the body wash, the towel, it all smells like him. His delicious, masculine woodsy smell. I am very happy at this moment. I needed to shower. I could never get enough of smelling like him. I pull out the clothes he brought. It’s an old band T-shirt and a pair of too-large sweatpants. The shirt swims on me as I obviously do not have his large arms, and the sweatpants are far too long. The underwear he found to replace mine is an obviously old pair of small boxers. Not my first choice of underwear, but it works for what I need.
I dry my hair once more, trying to get rid of the wetness soaking my back. The smell of fresh popcorn wafts into the bathroom, making my stomach growl. I ball up my dirty, still-damp clothes with the towel I just used, opening the bathroom door.
He’s sat there looking like a model out of a magazine. He’s shirtless, still sitting in the chair in the corner of his room, scrolling on his phone.
I wish I had my phone right now. I would take a picture before he could notice me, but alas, I am phoneless. I settle into a mental picture of this moment, hoping never to forget it.
“How was your shower?” He looks up at me, setting his phone on the nightstand where the bag of popcorn also sits.
“It was perfect, thank you. Where do you want me to put these?” I hold up the ball of dirty laundry.
“Just put it in the basket, I can wash it when I do laundry next.” He points to the dirty laundry basket.
I dump it in it, choosing to ignore that he’ll be doing my laundry for me, including my underwear.
“Here you can lie in the bed if you want. I’m going to shower really fast.” He stands up, handing me the warm bag of popcorn.
I nod, crawling to sit on top of the bed. He takes one more look at me, ensuring I’m okay getting into the shower himself. I end up finishing the bag before he’s out, which results in me lying very tiredly in his extremely comfortable bed. It helps that it smells like him so much.
He comes out of the shower, waking me from my half-asleep daze. He’s in nothing but a pair of black and white pajama pants. It’s impossible for him to look this good all the time.
I look away from him, dramatically pushing my face into his, pulling and groaning. He laughs at my actions.
“What’s wrong?” Humor is evident in his tone as he gets into the bed, joining me.
“You know exactly what’s wrong.”
He laughs, of course, he knows, I don’t hide my attraction to him very well.
“Come here, will snuggling make it better?” He opens his arms to me, making me try to hide my smile.
I don’t need to be told twice, scooting closer to him until I’m wrapped in his arms. My head coming to rest on his bare chest. My arm wraps around his midsection, savoring the feeling of our bare skin touching each other.
“I love you.” He says. I lean my head up to see his face more clearly.
“I love you more.” I whisper back. He closes his eyes, trying to fall asleep.
My eyes roam over his face, trying to take in every little feature that can only be seen this close up. The scar of his forehead that leads into his hair, the slight unevenness of his lips, the way his nose juts to the side, just softly showing a poorly fixed broken nose. His breathing evens out softly, signaling that he’s already fallen asleep.
My own eyes feel heavy. I fall asleep, noting every feature of his imperfectly perfect face.