Learning to be Beautiful

Learning to be Beautiful ~12~

Gavin’s dark eyebrows were raised high, as I explained to him what was happening as we sat comfortably on his couch in his apartment.

“So let me get this straight… You are going to learn how to be ‘beautiful’,” he used air-quotes around the word beautiful, as if to emphasize how little he thought of the idea. “Over the course of the summer? What on earth are you, some kind of experiment? They shouldn’t try to change you like that.”

Wrinkling my nose in agreement, I sighed, “Well what am I supposed to do? Refuse?”

“Well, duh!” Gavin threw his hands up in the air in a dramatic, exasperated motion. “You’re fine the way you are, Ais. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Anyone who doesn’t think that you’re beautiful is blind.” He ducked his head quickly, eyes darting to the side and face flushing as he said those words, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Thanks, Gav,” I mumbled abashedly, reaching out my arms to hug him tightly. He hugged me back, and we just stayed there for a moment, warm and comfortable.

“So!” He declared suddenly, moving back from me and settling back onto his couch comfortably. “About that movie…”

I laughed and pulled the DVD out of my purse; this boy honestly had the attention span of a goldfish. Gavin grabbed the small disc out of my hands and stared at it reverently; with his brown eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly agape he even resembled the small aquatic animal.

“How did you… It’s not supposed to… Aislyn, have I told you that ‘I love you’ recently?”

I just laughed and pushed him towards the DVD player, “Are you going to watch it or not?”

“What kind of a dumb question is that? Of course I’m going to watch it!” He leapt off of the couch and hustled over to the small silver box, pushed some buttons, then excitedly dumped the disc in. Once he had ascertained that the DVD was safely in place, he jumped back over to the couch and flicked the television on. “You’re the best, Ais.” He smiled as he sat back down next to me, arm lightly draping over the top of the couch almost around my shoulders.

I sent him a small smile, and rested my head comfortably against his shoulder just as the previews began to play. Just as I got really comfortable, however, there was a solid knock on Gavin’s apartment’s door.

Gavin looked down at me with pleading in his warm brown eyes. “Would you mind getting the door?”

I rolled my eyes at him, but got up and trudged over to the door. Without looking through the peep-hole to see who it was, I swung the door open, and was immediately blown sideways by an almost invisible force. I threw a panicked glance over my shoulder, wondering what on earth I had just set loose into Gavin’s apartment, but when I saw that it was only a pajama-clad Callie, I relaxed and shut the door.

“Aislyn! You’re here too!” Callie crowed delightedly, arms flailing wildly in the air as she ran back towards me to give me an impossibly tight hug.