forum Under The Painted Sky (O/O CLOSED)

Started March 18, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

Edit topic

“Well, I’m sure you get used to it pretty quickly. As you’ve seen, I’m a pretty affectionate person,” Sterling chuckled. “Now… Let’s order our food, shall we?”

Could she ever? Could she ever push the thoughts of that man away from her mind? Could she ever get used to the affection when she had all but been exposed to anger and the abuse? Eden didn’t know, but what she did know was that she would be hard to love. As all broken things should be.

“Yeah,” Eden forced the smile on her features, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. “Let’s order.”

After dinner was over, Sterling drove Eden home, so now here they were, in front of her apartment. Eden smiled at him softly.

“Thank you,” she said gently, looping their fingers together. “I had fun.”

“So did I,” Sterling agreed with a soft smile. “I’m really glad you had fun. And I hope Lucas and Ashley like their cookies.”

“They will,” Eden assured him, squeezing his hand lightly. She really didn’t want him to leave, but unfortunately he had to. It was getting late, after all. “Don’t worry about it.”

Sterling smiled and swept a strand of hair behind her ear. “Thanks for coming out with me today,” he murmured before leaning forward and pressing their lips together softly.

Eden hummed in reply, wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on her toes to kiss him back. “You’re my boyfriend,” she murmured. “Of course I’d go out with you.”

“Mm, but you don’t have to,” Sterling chuckled softly, looping his arms around her waist and holding her closer.

“I don’t,” Eden felt a shiver run through her at his chuckle. “I need to. I like spending time with you.”

“I like spending time with you, too,” Sterling said softly, kissing her again.

Just as Eden kissed him back, the door to the apartment opened.

“Hey, E—“ Eden pulled away in surprise, looking back to find her brother staring at them with an unreadable expression on his face. “I didn’t need to see that, but okay. I will wait for you inside.”

Sterling pulled back with a snort, looking up at Lucas with and eyebrow raised in amusement. Ashley was behind him, too, her mouth covered. Probably to hold back a laugh, if the look in her eyes was any indication.

“Sorry, Lucas, I didn’t think you would be coming out. If I had, I would have just kiss her in the car,” he said, a slightly mischievous look in his eyes.

Lucas snorted. “See, no one wants the mental image of someone kissing their little sister,” Eden scowled at that. “But do continue. I will get out of your way.” Lucas turned around with that, shutting the door behind them.

Eden turned back to Sterling with flushed cheeks, hand reaching up to rub the back of her neck in awkwardness.

“Sorry about that,” she apologized. “He’s… he’s like dad. Annoying and irritating.”

Sterling chuckled and looked back down at his girlfriend. He blinked when his gaze caught on a dark spot on her neck, and he gently caught her hand. With a careful touch, he pushed the collar of her shirt further down, eyes flashing in worry.

“Eden… What happened?” he whispered, brushing his thumb over the bruises.

At first, Eden was confused at how he looked at her. Then he had her hand in his hold and was pushing down her collar, touching what she had been trying to hide.

Eden’s heart nearly stopped in her chest.

No. Shit.

She immediately slipped her hand out of his hold to press it against her neck, panic taking over her.

“It’s—it’s nothing,” she breathed, trying to force a nonchalant smile on her features. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

Sterling stared down at her, mouth twisted down and eyebrows drawn together in worry. “It’s not nothing, E… Please, don’t do this. Don’t play this game with me. What happened?” he asked softly, rubbing his forehead with his hand. He looked into her eyes before drawing his gaze back to the hand that covered her neck. “You know you can tell me anything. You know I won’t judge you. Not for any of it.”

Eden bit down on her bottom lip, cursing herself for her stupidity. If only she’d been a bit more careful… what was she supposed to say? ‘My nightmares are always memories, except worse. I dreamt about being strangled by my abusive ex-boyfriend, and I woke up to my own hands wrapped around my neck. Fun, right?’ He’d never look at her the same. Everybody judged. He’d be no different.

“I’m sorry,” her eyes dropped to the ground. “I can’t. I can’t talk about it. I don’t want to fall deeper in your eyes than I already have. I’m sorry, you weren’t—you weren’t supposed to see this.”

Sterling closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her shoulder.

“Okay… If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay. Just know hat you would never fall further in my eyes. You could never,” he murmured. “You’re far too important to me.”

Eden melted in his embrace, wrapping her own arms around him, hands gripping his shirt tightly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered again. “Thank you, Sterling…”

“It’s okay, beautiful. It’s okay,” Sterling assured her softly, his arms tightening around her. “Just… Let me know if there’s ever anything that I can help you with, okay? Anything at all at any time.”

“Okay,” Eden tightened her hold on him. “Thank you for being so patient with me.”

“Of course. Always,” Sterling promised gently, lifting his head to kiss her cheek. “Now… I think your brother and best friend are expecting you. I suppose I should let you go, hm?”

“Yeah,” Eden breathed, loosening her hold on him and stepping back. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Sterling hummed and let her go, albeit reluctantly. He stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled at her. “Yeah, of course. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said before taking a step back to his car.

[TIME SKIP: MONDAY]

Eden ran a hand through her hair. On the outside, she seemed the epitome of calm. On the inside, however, she was anything but.

For some reason, Sterling had been irritable all day. She didn’t know why and she didn’t want to ask lest he grew angrier. He kept scowling, kept drifting into thoughts. It was lunch by now and his mood still hadn’t improved. Eden had no idea what to do. Had she done something wrong? Maybe… maybe he was still upset about Saturday, when she refused to tell him about the bruises on her neck?

Sterling let out a long breath as he started won the hallway. He was meeting Eden at the front doors of the school so they could go for lunch together, but he don’t want to be so frustrated around her. He didn’t want to scare her.

When he saw her and made his way over, he gave her a small smile. “Hey, E…” he murmured.

Eden looked up when he approached her, pulling out a hesitant smile. “Hey, Sterling,” she murmured. “Are you… okay?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine,” Sterling sighed, lifting his hand and pushing it through his hair. “Ready for lunch?”

“What’s wrong?” Eden questioned, worried still. She nearly flinched when he had raised his hand, but she fought it back. He wasn’t going to hurt her, she knew it. “Sterling, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I just…” Sterling shook his head, letting out a small growl of frustration. “People can be so stupid sometimes.”