Masquerading

Part 5

Chapter 5

A gasp escaped Abby’s lips before she could hold it in.  He nodded as if it was the exact reaction he expected.  Standing from the bar, he began to leave.  That was it?  He had gained his courage for two years to talk to her, and now, he would just walk away because she gasped at his face?

He walked by her; throwing her hand out, she grabbed his arm.  “If you honestly think something that small changes anything, you’re mistaken.”

“It’s grotesque,” he whispered.

She stood from her seat and grabbed his face.  Turning it towards her, she inspected it.  “The scar is not that bad.  Can you see out of that eye?”

“No,” he said with a shake of his head, “and you do not have to lie to make me feel better it is horrible looking.”

Her finger traced it down from his temple, across his eye, and to the corner of his mouth.  “What happened?”

“Wrong end of a bar fight,” he said with humor in his voice.  “I told you I learned from the mistakes money can cause.”

“That wasn’t a mistake caused by money, that was a mistake caused by fools,” she mumbled.

He jerked back from her touch.  “You’re calling me a fool?”

“Was the woman you were fighting over worth it?” He grimaced at her and shook his head.  “I didn’t think so,” she concluded, “and that is why you are fools.”

A small smile curled the unscarred side of his lips.  “And you believe that violence is bad?”

“No,” she replied, “I just believe in picking my battles.  Do you always do that?”

“What?” he asked while biting his lip, again on the side without the scar.

She invaded his space with another step.  “Attempt to draw attention to the left side of your face.  Do you always try to do that with people?

“Yes, I guess it has become a reflex.”

“Well, stop.”

His expression turned to one of shock.  “What?”

“Stop trying to hide from me, stop trying to draw attention away from the scar, and stop being so damn self-conscious.”

The shock turned to anger.  “You do not know what it is like!  Children ask their mothers what is wrong with me.  Woman that used to be my friends cannot even make eye contact with me.  They keep their eyes on the perfect side of my face, as if they could not even bear to look at my other half.”

“Then you have horrible, superficial friends because I have seen worse.”

“You have not,” he challenged.

She nodded her head with a smile.  “The last date I went on, you are not going to believe what was wrong with that man.”

“What?” he asked with a look of suspicion.

“At the end of the date he admitted that the only reason why he bought me dinner was because he thought it was a prelude to other activities,” she said with a shrug as his face turned to rage once more.  Abby had to admit, she loved having his face uncovered.  Seeing the emotions cross his face was fantastic. 

“The jerk,” he mumbled, “but I still do not see how this relates.”

“Did you want me to sleep with you tonight?”

“What?  No, that would just be presumptuous.  I didn’t even know if we would get this far,” he told her.

She laughed.  “What is the saying?  Beauty is only skin-deep.  He was an ugly man.  Not because his skin wasn’t flawless, but because he had a horrible attitude.  You are the best man I have ever met, and you call yourself ugly?  When was the last time you looked in a mirror?  You’re perfect.”

“Quit,” he said with a tiny scowl.  “Just stop doing that please.”

“What?  Stop telling you the truth?  You want me to lie to you?  Okay, let’s give it a try.  I don’t find your scar hot,” she said while trailing her finger down it once more.  “I don’t think that you are the nicest guy in the world,” she told him while pressing a kiss to the corner of his scarred mouth.  “Oh, and I definitely don’t think that you should have talked to me two years ago.”

“You really mean that?” he asked with a vulnerable expression on his face.

She sent him one full of mock confusion.  “Did I?”

He laughed while pulling her closer to him.  “When we are in public?”

“I’ll show you off like the eye candy you are, and fight the women off who love the way you look just as much as I do,” she replied while standing on her toes.

“When people comment on it?”

“I will tell them that it made you the man you are today,” she told him.

“And when-”

“I’ll tell you to shut up and kiss me.”

He smiled down at her, and in that smile, she could tell that he would happily oblige.