Delicate

Chapter 17

I'm not sure if this counts as a double update, but here❤

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William's P.O.V

I shuffle around the store in a frenzy, somehow managing to help people all while manning the register, a more challenging task than it had any right being.

Since it was the weekend, the place was basically overflowing with curious teens and reminiscing oldies.

It was a compact situation which called for my bitchiest side to make an appearance, yet... I was nothing but smiles and attentive to everyone. It was weird, even scared me a little but I didn't push it away.

I knew by now to not push away the good days but to lie in the glory of their glow, because the brightest days were always followed by the darkest nights.

So I was enjoying Nice William for as long as he was available.

Nice William seemed to be nauseatingly jubilant, all kindness and weariless. He was also very light on his toes, fucker got around despite being disabled. Nice William was blind just like normal Will, confirming that smiles didn't solve everything. 

Nice William was also obsessed with asking Siri the time because Nice William wasn't afraid to admit that he couldn't wait for it to be three. He knew just like I did, that three meant a certain, neighbor of mine may stroll in and make the smiles even bigger.

We both liked that neighbor. I really liked that neighbor.

I lean forward and rest my face in my hands, my chair swirling beneath me as I stare impatiently at the door.

The grin on my lips refusing the leave or lessen even a fraction, which was super annoying because it was only twelve, Damon may not even come and I was already way more excited than I should be.

I'd sworn off people. Sworn off their company, their lies hidden behind false promises and their need to be wicked.

I'd solemnly sworn off people and meant it, determined to keep myself safe and alive, even if that meant I was barely living at all. 

But things were different with Damon.

Damon was nice and funny, he was kind too. He didn't question my strange tendencies, he didn't even blink twice, just accepted it with metaphorical open arms I wished were real.

He was different and that made things change, it made me change. Given that reality scared me a little, but the fear was nothing besides the joy it brought with it.

It'd been nothing but lonely silence before I met Damon. Lonely silence blipped with brief glimpses at the world outside me, the cage of my own making both protective and abusive. It was pain and mistrust before Damon.

Things were different with Damon, better, things were better when Damon was around.

I hadn't cried in weeks, not since the night that Damon found me. Since that night, it'd been nothing but laughing and warmth, two things I hadn't felt for so long it almost hurt to have them again. 

Then we touched and everything fell away, all the hurts and blemishes faded until I was so light that I felt like I was floating... and it was perfect. It was blissful, soft and patient, the feeling was everything I never knew I needed until it happened and it left me craving it ever since.

He left me craving him ever since. 

Those blue eyes were crowned jewels in disguise, the appeal only lengthening when I saw him. Saw all of him, his strong features I'd barely brushed before and his hidden quirks I quickly grew to admire.