𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐋𝐘

𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

Zach toyed with the hem of her skirt to ease his anxiety, in his mind he thought she was getting ready to turn him down.

Rejection was a big fear of his.. especially if it was from her. Mal's silence didn't make it any better either.. she just sat there facing away from him.

"You don't think you deserve someone.." she paused for a moment before continuing.

"Better than me??"

Zach's head snapped at that, staring at her with a confused expression. "What do you mean better than you?"

"Like I don't think I'm good enough for you. Why would you want someone who's so.. fucked up? And used."

"Cause that shit don't matter to me Mal," the strong man gripped her jaw, forcing her to look at him. "None of that shit defines you. So stop thinking like that, you hear me?"

They were so close now that their foreheads were touching, so close that he could feel the warmth of her body heat.

"Yes I hear you but-"

"Nah it ain't no but," he interrupted her, wiping away the slight tears that were falling from her eyes. "If you're not ready that's alright mama. I'm not gone rush you, we got all the time in the world."

"No it's not that!" Mal exclaimed, desperate to make it clear he was wrong. "I'm ready Zach, trust me. There's nothing I want more than to be with you.. I just have a lot of issues because of my past, and I don't want it to affect us in the future."

He nodded at her explanation, somewhat understanding where she was coming from.

"I have issues too y'know. Let's just help each other through it? Like we've been doing this whole time,"

She listened closely to every word that was coming from his mouth.. and she couldn't lie, it sounded nice.

There was no denying the fact that she felt the same way about him, she just didn't want to eventually ruin it because of how traumatized her past had made her.

So many people hurt her in the past, in so many different ways. She never fully healed from any of it, just figured out ways to distract herself from it.

But she had to remember.. Zach was nothing like them. She had stared evil straight in the face time and time again, Zach was no where near close to it. He was more like her guardian angel.

"Promise you won't hurt me?" The girl held her pinky out, pointing it in his face until he did the same.

"I promise my love. I'd never hurt you intentionally," it was the truth after all.

The only time he'd ever hurt her was all because of a misunderstanding— that could've been well prevented had she watched her words.

So she knew he was being genuine when he said he would never hurt her on purpose.

"I believe you boo," Mal's hands massaged his scalp between the medium sized cornrows he had. "Moving on, I'd love to be your girl!"

Zach's body froze at her words— feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders. He was expecting her to let him down easy or something..

"I hope I keep you happy enough to stay.." she mumbled more to herself than anyone else.

Zach made her feel a way that no one else ever had, she loved him. It was hard for her to realize it at first but she finally came to terms with it.

Mal was effortlessly in love with him, and she just hoped he'd never get tired of her.

Zach sucked his teeth at how much she was overthinking, he hated it when she did that.

"I'll always be happy as long as I have you by my side." Her eyes met his low ones, staring at him with nothing but admiration.

"You sure? Cause after this you're stuck, I hope you know that! I'm not joking either."

"That shit don't bother me. You stuck too, don't forget that.." Zach started— face inching closer to hers with every word he spoke. "You not goin' nowhere."

Instead of responding she just gave him a small smile and moved her face towards his as well.

The two were so close their noses were practically touching, and they could feel the warmth of one another's body heat.

'God I wanna kiss him so fucking badly!'

Mal's eyed his lips for a lot longer than she should have, which didn't go unnoticed by Zach.

He knew she didn't have the guts to make the first move.. and he wasn't about to miss this opportunity.

Before she knew it.. Zach's lips were on hers— moving so slow and passionate.

She wasted no time wrapping her arms around him and continuing the kiss, keeping up with the slow paste.

His rough hands slid across the girl's waist in an attempt to pull her closer to him, as if sitting on his lap wasn't already enough.

Mal was the first one to break the kiss, and that's only because she needed air. Part of her wanted to say fuck the air and keep going, but she decided not to.

Zach slightly smiled to himself, feeling a sense of relief. He finally got the girl of his dreams.. he couldn't remember a day where he was this happy.

"I love you," he mumbled, watching Mal get shy and look away from him.

"I love you more."

authors note
shiat this really hurt my damn brain, anyways yall know the dealio 😘 see you again in june!