Stay

45

NIALL

I noticed everything about her...

Sitting back, against the sofa in my dimly lit living room, I watched Evie laugh. Her head fell back against the mountain of pillows. Her eyes squeezed shut, just like she always did whenever she was truly laughing. Only when she found something exceptionally funny...  Her legs lifted slightly off of my lap. Her thumb falling into her mouth as she nibbles on the corner of her nail. The melodic tune of her giggles subsided as she continued to watch the comedic film in pure contentment.  

With one hand resting against the back of the sofa, my other fell on her sock clad feet. I give it a squeeze, smiling at the woman I fell hopelessly for. She quirks her head to the side. Her lips spread wide in a shit-eating grin "What?" asked Evie, her cheeks flushing over in a deep red. Her head tilts to the side, her shoulder meeting her cheek and smiles at me bashfully. 

It's one of the sexiest things I've ever witnessed. 

"Nothin'," I tell her, giving her ankles another gentle squeeze. 

"Weirdo," she mumbles lightly, before refocusing her attention back on the film. 

Her attention is drawn in to whatever scene is being show across the screen. But I can't concentrate on anything but her. 

"Why are you staring at me? The movie is over there." I don't answer her. Instead, I smile. She catches wind of it but only rolled her eyes, as she always does and mutters a quiet, "knob..." before moving moving off of the mountain of pillows and falling to my side. 

She is the light in my darkest of days. I noticed the way she danced when she thought no one was watching. How her eyes scrunched shut whenever she'd laugh. Her laugh is a melodic epiphany. A muse to my best of songs... 

Once the movie is over, I switch the television off. My arm is slung over her petite body. I look down at her and notice that the football jersey he's wearing has ridden up. Her legs are bare except for her knickers. A pale blue cotton pair that drives me wild. That was the thing with Evie Jones. She didn't have to do much to get me going. She didn't need to wear lace or tight fitted dresses. All she had to do to get my blood flowing... my heart pumping... were her pale blue cotton knickers and a Derby County jersey. (Mine of course because she was a bloody LA Galaxy fan... who is an LA Galaxy fan?) 

I carefully run my hands up and down her bare legs. She squirms under my hold and pushes her body harder against my side. 

"That tickles," she quietly mutters. 

"Sorry," I whisper in her hair, leaving a kiss against the top. 

I run my hand higher up her legs, slipping it under the jersey. She shivers under my touch. I rest my hand on her protruding hipbone. My fingers rubbing gently over her skin. 

"Did you like the movie?" She asked while a small yawn escapes her lips. "Or were you too busy watching me to decide." 

I chuckle lowly... squeezing her hip only to let my hand fall on her stomach. "It wasn't too bad..." 

She hum's a response and cuddles further into my side. I watched her as she laid on my sofa... memories of only a few nights ago coming back into mind...

My life had been drifting over raging waters; she was the calming wind in my sails. I had become too blinded by my own self-doubt and deprivations to notice her heart finding its way into mine. More so, how my heart had become a tangled up mess within her hands...

Two weeks had gone by since I told her that I loved her. In those two weeks, I thought that she was going to fall away. There were a few days following that night that Evie felt distant. She had gone home for the weekend to see her mother but didn't bother answering any of my texts while she was there.