Desdemona

Chapter Seven

His honesty was so reassuring and refreshing, and it filled me with pure happiness when he said something honest and sweet to me.

"I love you." I whispered again, just as honest as he was. He smiled, and kissed me.

Nott's POV

"I love you." Mona breathed, and I smiled, then kissed her perfect lips, her sunny smile. We pulled apart slightly, and I grasped her tiny cold hand in my larger warm one, and we walked hand in hand over to a ring of pine trees that we also went to when we came here. Once we were inside, we were practically invisible to everyone on the outside, especially in the dark. I wrapped my arms around her lower back, and she linked her hands behind my neck, which was high enough that her arms were stretched upwards. I gazed down into her beautiful eyes as she stared up into mine, and we swayed side to side gently, still in each other's arms, dancing to our own special music that was silent to all but us. We stayed like that, alone together in the darkness, for an immeasurable amount of time. Finally, I bent down and kissed her again, and lifted her up so that her legs were wrapped around my stomach, and my arms were under her ass. I carried back her back to the small parking lot, and climbed into the bed of her truck. We had some blankets stashed back here, and I pulled one over us as we lay down. We had also padded the bed of her truck with a foam pad, so that wasn't as hard. I tucked Mona under my arm securely, and she snuggled closer.

"Sleep, love." I breathed. Mona smiled serenely, and closed her eyes. I looked down at her now sleeping and peaceful face, and knew that it would always be perfect to me. Dessie had been through a lot, and not everyone would come out of that still able to love as much as she did. Mona, she never did things halfway. She lived and loved with a passion that you could see in her eyes, telling you that she would never back down. Dess was still figuring things out. She had been hurt, and didn't know who to be angry at, didn't have an enemy that she could fight. She'd been abandoned by her father, and all she knew were goodbyes. But she had her mom and her friends. And she had me. I wasn't going anywhere, and I would show her that there's more to love than pain.

The sound of Dessie's truck stopped and it was suddenly silent. I walked around to the passenger's side door and opened, and unbuckled Mona. I lifted her still sleeping form into my arms and carried her into her house, unlocking the door with my key. Her house was silent and dark, and I carefully carried her up to her room. Pushing open her door with my foot, I entered her room and gently lay Mona on her bed. I sat down beside her, the bed dipping under my weight. I lightly ran my fingers across her face, brushing a few stray hairs away from her eyes, tucking them behind her ears. Her eyes opened, and her slender hand came up to rest on my hand, keeping it on her cheek.

"We're home, Mona." I said quietly. She smiled.

"Thanks." She whispered. I smiled at her.

"Of course, Dessie."

"Nott?" She asked.

"Yes?" I prompted.

"Will you stay?" Mona asked softly. I could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice just how much she needed me to. I had never even thought of saying no.

"Yeah." I answered.

"And Nott? I love you." Mona said, her voice warm and soft.

"I love you too." I replied. She sat up, and unlaced her Converse. I kicked off my my shoes, and we both slipped out of our clothes and into our pajamas. We crawled into bed, and soon fell asleep wrapped in each other's safe embrace.