Bad Boy's Game

[33] Labels

B A D
B O Y ' S
G A M E

***Ellie's pov***

Labels, labels...

What label fit Archer and me?

We weren't quite dating but we weren't quite not dating. All I know is that we're definitely more than kisses, Archer and I just haven't bridged the gap.

It's been two weeks since we told each other how we feel and yet we were still stuck in this grey area of aimless kisses.

I do know that Awe're not just simply playing a game, it's more than just a game now and I don't want to break his heart anymore.

If I broke his heart then I would only be breaking mine as well.

Now our game is just a little competition between two people who like each other. We're waiting to see who says the three words, eight letters, and three syllables first.

At the moment Archer is sitting next to me at the same coffee shop we sat at two weeks earlier. You could say that we like the coffee shop a lot, it has become our usual place to hang out at.

Today Archer's sat with a triple espresso and a gaze.

"Can I trust you from now on?" I ask Archer, snapping him out of his gaze.

"Trust me with your heart?" he asks, taking a sip of his espresso after.

"No, can I trust that you won't keep things from me anymore? Can I trust that you'll always be honest with me?" I inquire.

He turns away from his cup and looks at me instead.

"Of course you can trust me, I would do anything in the world to get you to have faith and trust in me," he says genuinely.

"Anything?"

"Anything."

I give a long stare directed towards him. He says that he's willing to do anything...

"Do you want my trust?" I ask, looking him straight in the eyes.

"More than anything," he answers.

"Will you do something for me?"

He nods vigorously and says, "anything, everything."

"Can you please try and stop drinking alcohol as much as you do now?" I ask, knowing that I'm asking for a lot out of Archer.

"Could you repeat that?" he questions, blinking his eyes a few times.

"Could you drink less?"

There's a deathly pause for a while.

"Okay," he says softly.

I smile.

"Thank you. I want you to do this for yourself, I want you to continue to be healthy and in control of your life. I don't want you to be entirely dependent on alcohol. I want you to stop drinking as much because when you drink you tell me stuff you really shouldn't. I don't want you to confess your undying love for me while drunk," I explain.

He scoffs a bit at the whole him professing his drunken love to me part.

"I'll do it. I'll try and quit drinking regularly. I've quit smoking so I can surely stop drinking as much too, it's going to be quite a transition for me but I can handle it. I have you by my side, I can handle anything."

I smile, more than satisfied with his response.

"You're right, you do have me by your side. I'm not going anywhere, therefore, you can handle anything and everything."

* * *

"Hey, Archer?" I call out, interrupting the still silence that has been between us for the past hour.

Archer's been preoccupied for the past hour with a calculus review while I've been doing some reading and annotating.

"Yeah?" he questions back, putting his pencil down.

"What label defines us, what type of relationship do we have?"

He stares at the journal I have pulled out for annotating and asks if he can borrow it. After I nod he takes his pencil and begins to write on one of the clean journal pages.

I raise an eyebrow and just simply sip my tea as he writes. He finishes up his masterpiece in a few short seconds, dropping the pencil on the table when he's done. After he's satisfied with whatever he has written, he slides the journal towards me.

I read what he has written, a smile makes its way up my face.

Label: More than kisses, more than drunken phone calls. Dating I think they call it.