The Chapstick Girl

I Tell Him

Another thing about Damien, he never fails to care.

Taking a deep breath, I gather my thoughts in my head before speaking, "I feel like I haven't been completely open with you yet, and I'm sorry it took such a long time."

Damien's head cutely leans to the side as he stares back at me, a squeeze from his hands reassures me to continue.

"You've been open to me about your struggles, problems within the team, your friends, and even your sister, but in return I haven't done the same. I rarely talk about my life to you and never even came close to mentioning," I pause, "m-my mother."

With a small look of understanding in his eyes, he brings a hand up and softly caresses the side of my face, "You shouldn't feel bad for something like that. You weren't ready then and even if you weren't ready now, you should never feel guilty for something you can't control."

"But I do feel guilty, it took so long..."

"So? I for one know especially what it's like to feel guilty about not sharing an important part of your life because I did the same exact thing to the people who I care about. I understand what it's like to want to hide something because it's simply easier to not talk about it at all. And because of that, I would never pressure you to tell me something that you aren't ready to talk about. I'll wait for you Amber, I'm willing to wait as long as it takes because I care about you."

He always knows the right things to say because in the next second, a few tears fall out of my eyes from his sweet words.

The fact that he was so patient and understanding towards me made my heart flip, and I found myself falling more hopelessly in love with him the more moments like these we share.

"Thank you, I don't know how I could ever express how much your words mean to me because they always somehow make me feel better. And about my mother, I really do want to tell you now. You've become someone very important to me, more than you could even imagine, and I want to tell you because I'm ready to open up about it."

He gives me a shy smile before nodding his head, "Okay, but don't be afraid to take your time, I won't rush you."

And just like that, I tell him how my mother lost her battle to cancer. I tell him how much of an amazing mother she was and how she shaped me to the person that I am today. I tell him how she was the reason why I collected Chapstick and why I became known as "The Chapstick Girl." I tell him that she was the reason why I started helping out at the children's hospital and why I became so attached to that place. I tell him how much my dad and I struggled to continue our daily lives and find happiness again. I tell him how much Liam has been there for me since I lost her, and all the ways he cheered me up. And lastly I tell him, "She would have loved you Damien, she would have loved you so much."

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"Before they see us, you might want to take this." Damien stops me from exiting the trail by holding out his jacket for me to take.

I look back and forth between him and the jacket, "It's okay, I'm not that cold."

Damien shakes his head at me before nibbling on his bottom lip, "That's not the reason."

I stare back at him with confusion, not understanding the point he was trying to make, "Then what is?"

He clears his throat before pulling out his phone, I only watch as he pulls up his camera app and faces the phone towards me so that I could see myself.

"What are you-..." I come to a stop as my eyes widen at my own reflection, more exactly, the dark HICKIES that aligned my collarbone.

"Damien!!" I screech, taking the jacket from his hold and swiftly covering myself with it as my cheeks burn from embarrassment.