Royally Kissed | ✓

12; the best night

She nodded. "Okay."

"Oh, I almost forgot..." he paused, as he momentarily focused his attention on steering the wheel to the left, and Paige could see scintillating lights across the distance, a faint noise echoing through the night, "have you been to the doctor's?"

Paige nibbled her lip. "Um, no. Not yet. I'll visit the family doctor by tomorrow, I think. Right before I go to work."

She had to fight the urge to flinch at the unamused expression on Arthur's face. "You think. No, Paige. You must, alright? I know you've been holding this up. I get it, you're scared and I'm sorry about what happened to your grandfather, but you have to listen to me on this one."

"Hey." Paige reached for his arm and she felt his taut muscles under her touch. His jaw had been wired shut but eased the moment she touched him. "Hey," she called again, and he swept his eyes to her halfway, before she continued, "I will. Don't worry about it. It's just, sometimes, I feel like throwing up when I try to go in, you know? I hate seeing the walls, the mixed smell of blood, and tears, and death. I feel like something's crawling on my skin. It's just like those times I visited my grandfather when he was already bedridden."

It was only when Arthur halt the car in its tracks, let a deep sigh loose, and withdrew his fingers free of the hand wheel, when Paige grasped the fact that she had been trembling; and she looked down at his hand toppled on top of hers, which was still resting on his forearm. She held him firmly, his coat crinkling beneath her fingers.

It was then that Paige took hold of the situation that maybe she was normal, just like Arthur and everybody else, after all. Arthur had battles of his own, but she was no different. They'd paired off without fully understanding each other, but somehow, she could feel it in her heart that they were in this together.

"It's okay," Arthur hushed, rubbing her hand in a consoling manner, "it's okay."

Paige's lips quivered when she gazed up at him, her heart swelling in gratitude that he was there. When Arthur cupped her face in his hand, her eyes started to well but she'd tried to ease back a sob.

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was already a look flooding down his face that warmed her like a blanket of solace. "Don't be," he said in a quiet tone. "It's okay to feel scared. It's alright to feel like you can't do something out of fear. It doesn't mean you're impaired. It's what makes you human. And Paige," he paused and, intently, his green gaze bore into hers and she'd shivered at the way he looked at her−tonight, not out of fear, but from how he made her feel, "whenever you're terrified, and whenever you feel like you're in danger, I swear there's no safer place than right here beside me."

He pulled her into a tight hug, and she lulled herself into his arms, the scent of his wintry, masculine perfume wafting in her nose.

And then she felt−secured.

Just like that.

﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋

They'd lingered there for a minute or so, kept themselves in check first, before Arthur resumed the drive to the drive-in theater just meters off. It had the words Ring Road at the topmost part of the signboard in an athletic-esque font and were also in big, bright red letters.

The words below were the movies that would be showing that night: Pretty in Pink and Notting Hill. Underneath the board was a red arrow, lined with yellow light bulbs that said, 'Drive In!'. And so they did, but only fully entering after they'd paid their double-feature tickets.