Eden pressed the heel of her hands against her eyes, biting her lip. What had she done to deserve this? Absolutely nothing. She didn’t know what he’d do if he knew what really happened with her. Would he still think the same, knowing how she’d let a man touch her constantly? That she let him abuse her?
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered. “I’ve never been told that before…”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Sterling whispered, taking her hands from her eyes. He gave them a gentle squeeze, then kissed both her eyelids. “You’re beautiful and amazing.”
Eden shook her head, gripping his hands tightly. “I’m not,” she croaked out. “You don’t know that. I’m anything but that. And I don’t—I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve you.”
“It’s not about what you deserve. Heck, I don’t deserve you,” Sterling sighed, shaking his head. “No matter what happened to you, it doesn’t affect how I feel about you.”
"You deserve better," Eden insisted, biting her lip hard enough to taste blood. "I'm sorry. You like me even though I don't tell you anything. I don't know how you'd react once you find out. I'm sorry–I'll stop talking now…"
“Hey, hey… Don’t do that. Please,” Sterling said, reaching up to gently pull her lip from her teeth. He pecked her on the lips softly, then rested their foreheads together. “I’ll always be here for you. I promised you that, and it will never change.”
“I’m sorry,” Eden squeezed her eyes shut, releasing a shaky breath. “But please don’t make that promise.”
“Eden. I don’t want you to think that whatever this is will change us. How can I convince you that it won’t?” Sterling asked softly, kissing away her tears with gentle lips.
“I don’t know,” Eden opened her eyes again when she felt his lips on her face, kissing away her tears. She wished he wasn’t that gentle. She wished she wasn’t afraid of losing him. She wished her fear of him didn’t prevent her from being happy with Sterling. “I don’t know if I can ever move on, Sterling…”
“Well… Let me help you at least try,” Sterling whispered, pulling away to cup her cheek. “Please.”
Eden leaned into his touch, blinking to push tears away. “How? I’ve tried for two years and I still can’t help but look over my shoulder…”
Sterling shook his head slowly, rubbing gentle circles into her cheek. “I don’t know, E. But we’ll figure it out. Starting with this,” he murmured.
His touch never failed to bring her peace. Why couldn’t she ever let him have a moment of peace for once? Each time they hung out, she brought forth her issues. She made it seem like it was a much bigger problem than it actually was.
“Starting with what?” Eden lifted her own hand to trace his face. From his nose to his cheeks to his lips.
“This. Just this,” Sterling breathed, continuing the slow motion of his thumb on her face.
Eden’s eyes fluttered close, enjoying the feeling of his thumb on her cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered again. “It’s not a big deal. It shouldn’t be a big deal.”
“It’s okay, Eden. Whatever happened must have been a big deal for you to be acting like this,” Sterling whispered softly.
“I can’t—I can’t tell you what it is,” Eden exhaled deeply through her nose. “Not right now. Not yet. So can you… can you wait for me?”
Sterling nodded slowly, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. “Of course. I’ll wait as long as you need.”
Eden opened her mouth to say something when the bell rang, effectively cutting her off. She sighed. “PE…”
“At least we have the class together. I’ll walk you to your locker room,” Sterling said, carefully slipping her from his lap so he could stand.
Eden nodded at his statement, pulling herself to her feet. “Yeah. At least we have it together.”
Sterling slipped his arm around her waist as they started for the doors. “What do you say we go on another date on Saturday?”
Eden leaned into him and hummed in agreement. “Sounds good,” she murmured, her own arm around his waist. “Where will you be taking me?”
Sterling hummed in thought. “We could go out for lunch and then to the amusement park? How does that sound?”
"That sounds nice," Eden murmured, looking up at him and smiling. "I can't wait."
“There’s a salad place that just opened recently. We could go there. They’ve got all kinds of crazy salad combinations, and you can even make your own,” Sterling explained as they stepped into the school.
Eden ignored all the eyes of the students as she kept her attention on Sterling while he spoke. "Sounds interesting," she murmured. "We should probably go after the park. Riding after eating doesn't sound too good."
Sterling hummed, nodding slowly. “Probably… You know, it’s like they’ve never seen a couple before,” he muttered under his breath, shooting someone a look when they stared at them.
Eden chuckled, an amused look in her eyes, though her expression was guarded. "No, Sterling, they've never seen me in a relationship. Not as far as they can remember."
“Yeah, well… Whatever,” Sterling sighed, kissing the side of her head.