The Dark of You - S01 E40

Story 6 months ago

The Dark of You - S01 E40

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 40

The pencil moved across the notebook as her lips became unbent. A straight line that has become as familiar as the sun. It's the smile that I cannot capture. It's as if trying to catch the breeze. She smiles as rarely as an eclipse, but once she does, it's overwhelming. If my heart had knees, they would bend to the view of that beauty.

Those distant blue that is the glass to her very soul. They contain a breathtaking current that could pull me through the deep end until the waves would cast me out. No matter how often I struggled to catch my breath, I would still go back in. The will to sink so far down only to get a piece is so powerful that I would let myself drown. I'm in over my head, but I can't help but want more.

"What are you doing?" I jumped in my seat and closed my book in a hurry. With a speeding heart, I turned on the couch to face Lola, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Nothing," I frowned and gazed over at Rylan, who seemed to have been pulled out of her mind.

"Great," I muttered in disappointment. The best time to draw her is when she is lost in her own head. Then, she would sit as still as a statue, which is perfect.

"What?" Lola shrugged as she climbed over the back of the couch to sit down next to me.

"Nothing," I shook my head, but then she snatched the book out of my hands.

"Give it back," I demanded as she looked through the pages. I reached over, but she lept out of the couch.

"Lola!" Shantelle shouted.

"These are good," She said and I rushed off the couch to follow after.

"Who is this?" Lola asked as she stopped and showed me one of the drawings I had scrambled over a long time ago.

"She is everywhere, but you seem not to be happy with them," She mentioned and I froze as I stood face to face with the one person I could never draw perfectly. If time could stop, this would be one of those moments—the flashes of my endless torment of trying to place my mother's face onto a painting. Canvas after canvas on the floor as paint splashed all over the place. How could I ever be an artist when I can't even paint the person who meant the world to me? Months it took before I found myself again. I don't know what happened that led me to such a dark place. It was years after her death.

Slowly a hand took the book out of Lola's hand and closed it. Rylan bent down to gaze into my eyes with such tenderness and with a sort of tension that I can't recognize.

"Hadley, are you okay?" She asked and laid her hand on my arm.

"I'm fine," I managed to whisper but still feel as if my mind had just frozen over. Rylan furrowed her eyebrows as she opened the book to glance into it. With a loud sigh, she closed it and glared at her sister for a moment. It's not Lola's fault and I know Rylan knows that.

"Are you okay, Hadley?" Shantelle asked and I don't know why, but her voice made something in me break. A tear slid down my cheek on its own command.

"Come on," A light push of my arm, and my feet moved after Rylan. Before I knew it, she had pulled me down the stairs and into the bedroom. When she let go of my arm, I shuffled to the bed and laid down and hid underneath the duvet.

It's as if someone had snatched the air out of me and left me with emptiness. The weight of Rylan made the bed sink next to me.

"I'm sorry about Lola. She can be a bit too forward sometimes," Rylan said.

"I like Lola," I admitted.

"First time I have heard someone say that," Rylan's words made me push the duvet off. I stared at her with fascination.

"Did you just make a joke?" I asked and she furrowed her eyes.

"I presume I did," She shrugged and as tears fell down my cheeks, I burst into laughter. A small, crooked smile appeared on her lips, but then she opened the book she still had in her hands.

"You look like her," She said and I frowned.

"I don't, not at all," I rolled my eyes.

"I look like my father. I have his brown eyes, olive skin and dark hair," I snorted in disgust and Rylan gazed up at me quickly as if I had offended her immensely.

"You don't think you are beautiful?" She asked as if that were the biggest crime I could have ever committed. I clenched my jaw as I looked away from her. How can someone simply answer a question like that? Yet, Rylan kept on going through the pages of my book.

"You have her smile," I turned back to her and she watched me so gently that my heart tumbled and fell all over the place.

"You might not have her eye color, but you certainly have the same look in your eyes," She said tenderly as she looked back down at the pages.

"Same elegant features. A soft nose," She sat closer and laid her hand on my cheek as she brushed the skin with her thumb. I closed my eyes and leaned into her warm touch.

"Pleasant cheekbones," Her hand slid down to my jaw.

"An inviting jawline," Rylan's finger trailed the edge of my jaw. I couldn't stop the chills that ran through my entire body. If that little contact with her can turn my body against myself, imagine what more could do to me. Then along with her eyes, her thumb went over my bottom lip.

"And alluring lips," Slowly, she leaned in closer to me and tilted her head to look into my eyes with her piercing blue eyes.

"And like I said, your eyes aren't brown. They are golden," She whispered and I smiled as I remember she told me that in the limo the first day we met.

"You are beautiful, Hadley," She said with such sincerity that I almost believed it myself.

"You are truly captivating," Rylan swallowed deeply as a flash of agony hit her eyes. It was hard to see as she looked away. Then, a moment later, her tormented eyes met mine.

"If only you knew," She closed her eyes tightly as she shook her head.

"How much it tortures me to stay away from you," Her blue soft eyes have turned into despair.

"Because every time I'm near you, Hadley. I feel as if I finally found a reason to breathe and once you find that, it's impossible to let it go," She bit her bottom lip as if she was to taste the words.

"It's like listening to everyone talk about paradise, how perfect and warm it is, and you can only imagine how it feels to be there. Yet once you are there, it's something quite else," She described as if that would help me grasp how she feels. However, I do know what paradise is like.

I cupped her cheeks faster than I could think and pulled her towards me. Her lips met mine in an instant as she followed my lead. Every time we link, I'm left with a need to explore more. With a push of the back of her neck, I demanded her closer. She fulfilled my request as she lay above me. A gasp left me as her heavy body collided with my own and our lips parted. I bit my lip at the sensation of her breast against my own and that dangerous thigh that rests between my own.

The lust between us hangs in the air, ready to be discovered. Rylan leaned down, so her nose was touching the side of my own. Her sweet breath brushes my mouth while her gaze lingers on my lips. She swallowed deeply as she narrowed her eyes and those blue met mine with a plead.

"You don't have to ask," I whispered with a gentle smile as I couldn't believe how much reverence she has in her bones.

"You do not hold back with me, Rylan. If you want something," I nibbled on my own lip as I looked down at her tempting lips.

"You take it," I breathed out the last words. The battle in her eyes seemed to have set sail as she finally placed her lips back on mine. This time she moved them carelessly as if she had led the ship into a storm. A storm she isn't able to contain and has accepted defeat.

Chills ran through me as Rylan's hand found its way under my shirt and over the uneven skin on my belly. I stiffened as my mind went into overdrive with self-doubt. Rylan backed away slowly with questions written all over her face. A painful blush rushed up to my cheeks and I hid it with my hands over my face.

"Hadley?" Her hand shifted and held onto my waist with a firm grip that brought the air out of my lungs. I opened my hands slightly to be able to peek at her. Rylan's watching me with concern as she is waiting patiently. Months ago, I stood before her naked with not one issue. Yet, I didn't know Rylan then as I do now.

"I guess just like you, I have my insecurities," I said shyly as I averted her gaze. Rylan tilted her head and furrowed her eyes as she struggled to understand me.

"Your hand," I looked down at my belly and she moved it away as if she had touched fire.

"You don't want me to touch you?" She asked uncertainly and I sat up straight in front of her.

"No, it's not that," I shook my head and closed my eyes in embarrassment.

"Apparently," I let out a loud breath as those pricing blue eyes stare at me endlessly.

"When I'm around you, I second-guess myself, my appearance," I tried to explain as less shameful as I could. Rylan leaned backward with firm eyes and clenched her jaw.

"I mean, look at you," I chuckled nervously as I indicated at her body and she looked down at herself with a hardened gaze. However, when she peeked back at me, she seemed just as confused. I couldn't have described it any better than what I did. I have never been with someone as solidly built as Rylan.

"You don't get it, do you?" I asked, stunned as I rubbed my temple.

"No, I don't understand," She shook her head and I pressed my lips together as I wanted to smile.

"You are perfect, Rylan, while I'm well," I trailed off as the words didn't want to come out.

"I'm," I looked down at myself, too embarrassed, but a hand underneath my chin lifted my head.

"If you think I'm perfect," Her blue eyes stared into my brown with such depth that I felt myself sink.

"Then I wonder what that makes you," she smiled softly.