For What It's Worth

Chapter Sixteen : Baby Steps

"I get what you're saying. I do." I gently shake her arm as she slumps down onto the counter with a groan. "Look, I'm not interested in any other girls."

"What about Cassidy?" She asks, her voice muffled. I tug on her elbow so she'll look at me.

"No. Not anyone. I don't like anyone the way I like you."

"I want to be able to commit, believe me, I do, but it's just really soon after Nate." She sighs. I flinch at the sound of his name. I hate hearing it.

"I know. I get it." I tilt my head, shortly smiling at her.

"It was Sam who proposed the idea to me on the beach and it's been on my mind a lot ever since." She explains, shyly.

I stand, taking her plate away and putting it beside the sink with mine. She spins around on her stool to face me and wraps her arms around my middle, resting her head against my chest.

"I want you so badly." I whisper, pulling back so she can see my face. "But I'm not going to rush you into anything that you don't want."

"I just need a little more time."

"Of course." I plant a kiss on the top of her head and she leans back, squinting her eyes and scrunching her nose up as if she's embarrassed. We chuckle, rocking side to side in a hug.

**

Isabelle

Towards the end of my shift, it grows quiet so I've been laying on the baby pink leather couch at the back of the salon, reading one of my many books. Eva busies herself with cleaning up the place despite my several attempts of offering to help. Violet finishes with a customer, taking their payment. She makes her way over to where I am, a granola bar in hand. She nods her head so I lift my legs in the air. With an exasperated sigh, she crashes down on the opposite side of the couch and I put my legs back down on her lap.

"Your boyfriend called the other day." She wriggles into a comfortable position. I frown, clearing my throat out.

"He's not my boyfriend and – why?" I fold my book up, placing it down beside me.

"He said you wanted cheering up and he was clueless of how to try and make things better."

Eva takes a break from cleaning, both of them listening to me recalling the events of the beach, the nightmare and the cookies that he made for me. They don't interrupt me once, intently concentrating even when I struggle to find the right words to explain myself.

"I am starting to feel like I could really fall for him and it's fucking scary." It's hard for me to picture my future without him having some kind of role in it. It's not something I thought I'd be experiencing again and especially not this soon after Nate.

"Have you fucked yet?" Violet questions with her mouthful of food.

"Vi!" Eva's eye widen behind the golden frames of her glasses. "You can't just ask that!"

"What?" Violet returns, shrugging. "Don't pretend you weren't thinking it as well." I lightly chuckle at the pair of them.

"To answer your question – no. We haven't. We haven't done anything."

"At all?" Eva now kneels down on the floor with intrigue. I shake my head at both of their shocked faces.

"Part of me wants to, but I'm just nervous." I move my legs off of Violet, sitting forward. "Sex wasn't something I ever enjoyed. It was an establishment of power and pain for Nate. It wasn't... good for me."  I looks down at my hands, picking at my nails.