The Eyes of a Photographer

Chapter 10

Last chapter!  Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed :)

"Talk about what?" Rose asked.

"Everything that's happened to us since we met on campus," John said, standing and pacing away from her. She suddenly felt cold without his touch.

"I told you, I was afraid, and I'm not any more."

"What were you afraid of?" John nearly shouted, "I hardly think that I was so frightening as to scare you."

Rose shook her head. "It wasn't you," she said. "It was Jimmy Stone."

John wrinkled his nose. "From Cambridge?"

"From the Estates," she corrected. "I fell for him so fast, and I was so young. He was in a band, was sure that they'd make it big, and so I went with him, promised him everything I girl can without marrying him. And then, one day, he was gone. Stole all my money and ran, after I dropped out of school for him and I... I just guess I forgot all men weren't like that."

Instead of watching him, she looked down at her hands and picked at her cuticles. She could practically hear him thinking from where she was standing. He shifted around and made an odd sort of strangled grunt.

"How could you think that I was like that?" He asked softly, "You really thought I would do that to you?"

"I didn't know what you would do to me," Rose replied, "I don't know what you want or need, with me, especially. What if you just wanted what he did? To earn my trust and get me close, and invested, and then take everything I was worth."

When she looked up at him, she saw the hurt reflected so sharply in his eyes that it seemed to punch her in the face. She felt her heart fall and she dropped her gaze from him. She couldn't stand the fact that she'd hurt him, when all he'd done was be kind to her over and over.

"How could you think," he began softly, "That I would want to do anything but care for you?"

Rose's head snapped up and she stared at him. "Because... Because, well, I didn't know you, at all. And every piece of me just wanted to kiss you and it came out of nowhere because I haven't wanted to be with anyone, not since Jimmy. You terrify me."

"You think I'm not scared of you?"

The words hung heavily between them. They were caught staring at each other, both feeling the magnetic pull but resisting the urge to give into it. They needed to sort things out, properly sort them out, and even though the only thing they wanted to do was snog the daylights out of each other, it probably wasn't the smartest move.

"Why-" She cleared her throat violently and laced her fingers together in front of her, squeezing them together almost painfully. "Why would you be scared of me?"

He approached her suddenly and cupped her cheeks tenderly. "Look at you, Rose." He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs, the shaking in his hands not lost on her. "You're beautiful and kind and clever and... No one understands me like you do, Rose, and I haven't even known you that long, so it's terrifying."

"I'm just a person," she protested.

"So am I," he retorted. "I'm not Jimmy Stone. I'd never take anything from you that I couldn't give back. If I were to run anywhere, I'd take you with me."

She blinked back the telltale prick of tears behind her eyes and tipped her head forward so he wouldn't see. He was still cupping her face when he leaned forward and pressed his lips in an unmoving kiss to her forehead. Her hands went to his waist and she stayed there tentatively before wrapping her arms all the way around him, holding him close. His arms went around her back and he lifted his chin to let her tuck her head underneath it.