INAMORATA || 18+

12| smile

"Shoot."

"Did your ex," I pause for a second, trying to gauge her reaction, but she's giving nothing away right now. "Did he give you all your scars...?"

She stiffens at the question and guilt immediately consumes me. I'm suck a fucking idiot, of course I would pick now to ask such an insensitive, invasive and blatantly rude quest—

"Yes," Dove whispers. "But I don't really wanna talk about what happened. Not yet."

"Of course, I'm sorry if I made you feel like you had to tell me. I promise you that wasn't my intention"

Dove smiles as she leans against my chest, wrapping her arms around me. "I know, I wouldn't have answered at all if I didn't feel comfortable.

"You're comfortable with me?" I ask, pleasantly surprised.

She nods. "You haven't given me a reason not to, not yet."

"I don't plan on ever upsetting you," I murmur.

Dove sighs. "You don't have to plan something for it to happen."

Although her cynicism is to be expected by now, it doesn't make it any less jarring. Nor does it make it easier to pretend like her words don't sting. But who am I kidding? It hasn't even been two weeks yet, I didn't have the right to think we were close.

"Don't look so sad, Hudson," she says. "I know you wouldn't hurt me."

I nod and give her a quick. An idea pops into my head, I'm not sure if she'll agree, but right now I'll do anything to make her feel better.

"What do you say about getting out of here?"

──・・𖥸・・──

"Where are we going?" she asks.

"My place," I glance over at her. "That cool with you?"

Dove shrugs. "Don't see a problem with that."

Even though I'm not looking at her anymore, I still notice the gasp as we approach the house. I wish I could say it was unexpected, but I know it's a lot. When I was younger, I was startled by the size of the house. I'd get lost a lot, it's a confusing mess. It matches its designer pretty well, I guess. Dad was always the type who loved extravagance.

"Do you...own this? Like did you buy it?"

I shake my head. "Dad had it built a few months after I was born."

"This is actually insane," she murmurs.

Dove gets out and heads over to the beach house's long staircase. "Listen, I get that beach houses have to be raised off the ground, but my house doesn't even have stairs this long!"

I can't help but smile as I come up beside her. Curiosity dances in her eyes as we climb up the stairs. Part of me expected her to be put off by the blatant show of wealth, but if anything she seems eager to explore it. When we reach the top of the stairs, she glances around the porch before her eyes land on the porch swing.

"My mom had it installed when I was two, so she could sit out here with me," I tell her.

Dove glances at me, the corners of her lips twisting up into a smile. "You really love your mom, don't you?"

"I adore her. She's the best, honestly. She'd really like you."

Her cheeks turn a light shade of pink, but it's gone so fast that part of me wonders if it was ever really there. "Ready to see the rest of the house?" I ask.

She nods once and I open the door, motioning for her to enter. Before Dove walks in though, she looks up at me, a question in her eyes. "What's her name?"

"Evelyn...most people just call her Lyn, though," I respond.

She smiles, satisfied with my answer and walks into the house. Her reaction to the outside is quickly trumped by her reaction to the inside. She's got this incredulous stare as her eyes dart around the foyer, taking everything in. I know it can be a lot. It even feels like too much and I've been coming here for the past 24 years.

"I take back what I said before," she murmurs. "This is the insane part."

I can't help but laugh. "You haven't seen anything yet. Just wait until we get beyond the foyer."

"This is just the foyer?" she exclaims. Dove runs to the center of the room and throws her arms out wide. "You could fit my bedroom in here twice!"

She says it all with a smile though. That was the goal of this little excursion, after all. I couldn't stand the thought of her, sitting in her room all alone for the rest of the day, crying cause she ended up pulling the short end of the stick when it comes to roommates.

"You wanna see the rest?"

Dove nods eagerly. She rushes over and grabs my hand, dragging me toward the open archway that leads into the living room.

The living room is probably the most grand display of wealth in the entire house, and that's saying a lot. The cream colored room has three walls with a fourth made up entirely of windows with a sliding glass door leading outside to the patio. The right wall is covered in shelves with different books, trinkets, and family photos decorating them, while the left wall has a fireplace with a massive TV mounted on the wall above it. Dove glances at the TV, but her feet lead her over to the shelves.

"Is that you?" she asks, pointing to a picture.

I walk behind her, leaning over her shoulder just enough that I can look at the picture. "Oh gross, you found my middle school pictures."

"It's not that bad," she says, looking up at me.

"It's awful. Someone should have told me that haircut was awful," I groan.

Dove laughs. "You look like every other scene kid in the world. And it's not like you grew out of it."

I give her my best offended look. "Excuse you, I definitely grew out of it."

She runs a hand through my hair and raises an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if you've looked in a mirror recently, but everything from the long hair to the Falling in Reverse tank top says it all."

"Touche," I sigh. "Wanna watch TV?"

"Sounds like a plan," Dove grins and drags me over to the couch.

Seems like I've accomplished my mission. There's not a hint of sadness left in her, at least not now. All I wanted was to see her smile, and that's what I got.