Page 46 of Meet Cute

There’s barely a reason to fight it.

Shuddering underneath me, Finn squeezes my ass and pulls me closer. He’s being extra gentle with me, letting his fingertips dance around my bruised skin. “Bunny…” he mumbles, burying his nose in my neck. “I love you…”

Without saying it back, I affectionately run my digits through his hair. That seems to be enough, since he whimpers and nuzzles against me like the needy thing he is.

I’m so out of it all, gazing up at the ceiling while the TV plays quietly in the background. Nothing about it seems important until I hear my own name, which immediately captures my attention.

“Duncan Armette. Twenty-three years old with blond hair and brown eyes. Last seen at his apartment complex two weeks ago.” The anchorwoman speaks flatly, labelling out all this information about myself that I had almost forgotten.

Two weeks. Have I really been gone for two weeks? Half a month of my life has been spent here? With him? My attention shifts to Finn, and at first I don’t even realize that he’s gone completely still—staring at the screen in horror. His grip is tighter than it was before, fingers sinking into my sides.

But he’s grinning. He’s smiling like a Cheshire cat at the news, at least until he realizes I'm looking at him. The smile is wiped clean off his face, replaced with something more sympathetic.

“They can’t have you.” He says it so calmly, as though it’s not completely insane. “They won’t have you. Y-You’re mine. My bunny. Only mine.”

This is insane. This is seriously mental. So why am I smiling at him? I’m not even trying to feel this way, but the intense expression he’s wearing gets me like nothing else ever has. Maybe I’m just as fucked as he is. I mean, I have to be—right?

I can’t even lie to myself anymore and pretend I’m still doing this because I want to live. I’m doing it because for the first time in a hot minute I actually feel something that isn’t the always-present feeling of wanting to actually die.

My mom always told me I wore my heart on my sleeve, and I guess that’s what I’m doing right now since Finn beams and kisses my cheek. “Say it, bunny. S-Say your mine.”

“...I’m yours.” The words come out small, all timid and unsure even though I’ve known it for a while. The minute I gave up trying to escape, I knew it was over. I’m as disgusted with myself as I’m elated to finally be honest about something. “I’m yours, Finn.”

“Do you love me?”

“What—? Finn…”

The crouch groans as he shifts, sitting up properly to hold me in his lap. He’s shorter, but right now he feels so much taller. “Do you love me, D-Duncan?”

“No—I… I just… I don’t know…”

That wolfish grin from before is back. Finn pulls me into a hungry kiss, teeth grazing my lower lip. “You don’t know? T-That’s better than saying no, isn’t it?”

Fuck.

It is better, isn’t it?

“It’s okay,” he laughs like the softest and sweetest man in the world—so innocent and pure despite being anything but. “I love you too, bunny. More than anything. More than anyone else ever could.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

I shut my eyes and melt into his embrace. Fighting is pointless. Fighting only hurts in the end, so I don’t want to fight anymore. For once in my life, I’d really like to be happy.

THIRTY-FIVE

The bed feels extra warm tonight. Even with the snow outside and the howling of the wind, something feels different than all the nights before. Finn isn’t sleeping. He’s sat up on the edge of the bed typing away on a laptop I didn’t know he had.

He even cleaned the sheets for me, so they don’t smell of sweat and something else that I don’t wanna think about. It’s nice. It’s just nice. Nothing to complain about, but nothing to write home about either.

“Bunny,” he crawls over to the head of the bed and shoves the laptop in my face, “It’s us.”

A low quality video of a rabbit nestling up against a dog appears, and for a moment I can’t even process what I’m looking at. This feels so… domestic? Is that the word? Maybe normal. Normal works, too.

Right now is normal. We’re a regular couple right now who like each other. No basement. No broken legs. Only two people cuddling happily.

The smile that creeps up on my face is extra wide. “That’s cute.”