Mysterious

Chapter 37

What is she doing? Bruno thought to himself watching Arissa stare at herself in the mirror. She moved around a little, almost dancing, to get a glimpse of herself from another angle. She was still so mysterious. There were things he would never understand about her. Whereas she knew every thought coming from his head, she was like Bella Swan. There was some type of force field around her thoughts. He couldn't get in. He walked up behind her careful not to scare her. She smiled at him as he walked up behind her wrapping his arms around her. She fell back into his arms. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I still can't believe that I look like this." she pointed to herself to emphasize her weight. "Like, I look in the mirror some days just shocked that I'm a size 4 today and a year ago I was a 14. Oh and yes, there's this hot guy standing behind me who says I'm beautiful every single day..." He kissed her head showing her that she was beautiful. She slipped out of his hands grabbing a sweater to put on over her shirt and shorts she had one.

"Baby..." he came back to her. She stood next to him listening to what he had to say. "You were beautiful before then...."

"No, I wasn't. She looked up at him. "You wouldn't have noticed me that night if I was a 10. You wouldn't have. The girls in front of us were hot..and the girls behind us."

"What's wrong, Rissy?" he asked her bluntly.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong." she told him leaving the room.

"You never talk like this....something is wrong." he continued to follow her gently hugging her from behind. "And you've been quiet. You're never quiet, baby doll. I just don't understand." He heard her sniff holding back tears. He took his arms off of her coming to face her. He wiped a tear off her cheek. "Whatever it is...it'll be okay..." he told her. She laid her head on his shoulder crying. It's like Las Vegas. When is she going to tell me? That drove me crazy. How have I lost her again?

"They called me fat, Bruno....and the comments are horrible. Like 'how is he with such a fat cow'? 'What is he thinking'? 'She's a fat bitch....'" she cried harder sitting down on the couch burying her head into her hands.

He knelt down in front of her in between the couch and table. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met in my life, Arissa. I don't care what anyone in the world says about that..." he paused moving her hands from her head. She didn't move her head, defying his intentions.

She shook her head no. "It's not easy..." she lifted her head up looking at him. "It's way harder than I thought it would be."

"Fuck 'em." he told her.

"I try, Bru. I try to ignore it. But it's like I have to sift through thousands of tweets to get the ones that relate to work...and my google alerts have gone from being all work related to all of this....I need a break from people." she finished standing up again to go into the kitchen.

"Yeah. Fuck it. I'm going to eat a cookie...or five." she said grabbing a handful of Oreos out of the pantry.

"Can I have one?" he asked.

"You can have as many as you want, Brunz." she smiled licking the cream out of one of the cookies she had handing him a few.

"There are no words to describe how in love with you I am..." he said watching her finish the cookie.

**

Arissa woke up on a plane with her head on Bruno's.

"I didn't drool all over you did I?" she asked him.

"no, you sleep like Sleeping Beauty. There is never any drool." he complimented her.

She punched him in the shoulder. "Don't lie."

"A little..but it was cute..." he confessed. "Look outside..." he pointed to the window next to her. "We're home..." he had the biggest smile on his face that she had ever seen. They had seen each other happy and sad, but this was a different type of smile. She had never seen him that way.

"Bruno..I don't think I've ever seen you this happy. It's adorable." she said to him.

"It's the most amazing place in the world." he told her. "And I'm with the most amazing girl in the world. It's perfect."

She blushed at his response. "You're dumb." she answered.