THEY BOTH SAT ON A BENCH BY A NEARBY PARK. Although it was dark and cold, the presence of Lainey made Billy feel warm, as if he were sitting by a nice warm fire. None of them knew how things were going to end or if things were going to get better, but for now they had each other – that was what mattered right now.
Silence had finally fallen upon them, nor was Lainey sniffing and sobbing. They both stayed silent, just letting the warmth of each other consume them peacefully.
"Are you feeling any better?" Billy asked, draping his arm over the girl's shoulders, expecting her to sink into his arms once he did so.
But instead, she pulled away.
Much to his surprise, Billy just assumed that she wasn't feeling that well or just needed space for now, yet her response said otherwise.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, or rather spat out at him, "it was just a surprise to me – you don't have to, like, comfort me or anything."
Lainey sat on one side of the bench while Billy sat on the other, a gap between the two of them. And at that moment, it dawned on Billy. Maybe she was still in shock, still trying to process what had happened earlier ago. He couldn't blame her, he was still trying to process it too, "You know, it's not your fau–"
"Shut up for a second," she said as she pulled the teenage boy into a tight hug.
He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, savouring in her smell as if it'd be his last time with her, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you back there. I was just as shocked as you were."
"You know what?" said the brunette, only tightening her grip around him, "I thought superheroes were only in movies and comics,"
There was a short pause.
"but then I met you and that all changed."
Billy didn't want to cry, but he couldn't help it. And it was good to finally cry tears of joy and not tears of pain. It felt good to hold the one you love in your arms, because you feel like once they're in your arms they'll be safe.
"Thank you for being my hero, Billy."
My hero.
★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★
[AUTHOR'S NOTE]
i'm not crying, you are 😭
there's epilogue left and then it's overrr
the book seems short but the adventure i went through was pretty long.
thank you for sticking with me throughout this long journey.
Stay safe!
Love, RIV.