Page 20 of A Lesson For the Grump

He said it last night, we both did, but it was in the moment. Our breaths were mingling together, and he was inches away from claiming me just like he said he was. My mind was scattered.

But this? Saying it now in the middle of a crowd while we’re doing the most mundane thing possible? That’s when it really hits me.

He loves me. Not only when I’m spread out on the floor but when I’m in a sundress and sweaty from the heat. He loves me when talking about his future and everything good he has happening to him. There’s still room for me.

I stand on my toes and press my lips to his, kissing him just to show him that I love him, too. In the mundane and the extraordinary - I love him.

He kisses me back until our name is called, our food ready for us at the counter. He leaves me breathless to get it and comes back with a smile on his face. We eat and talk about everything - my time at college, his time at the shop. Every dream we still have from high school and how we’re going to make them come true.

We talk about everything, and then we get up to finish walking around the Fest. He follows me around, grumbling about how heavy the wagon is getting, and then we begin our walk home.

The sun is slowly falling low into the sky as we turn the last corner to my apartment, and I run smack dab right into Mercedes. Her shriek of outrage has me cringing and stepping back into Miles. His arm wraps around me as Mercedes turns toward me, her lips pulled back in a snarl.

“You bitch! Don’t you watch where you’re going? Or are you so fucking big that you can’t help but knock into people?”

Other people walking back from the Fest turn our way to watch the interaction, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk at the sound of her voice.

I hold up my hands, “I am so sorry. I didn’t see you there, I swear.”

Mercedes laughs and takes a step toward me, “You didn’t see me there? So, you’re blind and fat. Go figure.” Her eyes dart up to see Miles standing behind me, and a wide smirk stretches across her lips. “Hey there, Miles. It’s so good to see you again. You left last night before I could talk to you.”

Miles’ chest rumbles behind me as he says, “Yes, that was purposeful.” His hand drops from my side and softly pushes into my back. “Let’s go home, Sonnet.”

“Home?” Mercedes laughs again and looks around, as if one of the onlookers is going to join in. “You’re living with her now? How the hell do you fit in the bed with that?” She takes another step forward. “You should come with me, Miles. I can promise I’d make you a lot more…comfortable.”

She reaches up to touch him, and something inside me breaks. I came to the conclusion last night that she can say anything she wants to me because I don’t believe a word she says anymore. Miles says I’m beautiful, and he’s a lot more trustworthy than Mercedes. But something about her moving to touch him has my blood boiling.

Her touching him is what sent me spiraling seven years ago. It’s what took him away from me in the first place. She’s consistently thought that she could say anything she would like about me and then take him away. It worked once. It won’t work again.

My hand shoots up, grabbing her wrist and twisting it back. “Don’t touch him, Mercedes. It won’t end well for you.”

She screams and lunges at me with nails that look like talons, aimed straight for my face. My fingers curl into a fist and shoot out, hitting her in the face. Blood shoots from her lip as she falls to the ground, tears filling her eyes as she looks up at me with wide eyes.

“You fucking hit me!”

I shrug and reach down, grabbing Miles’s hand. “You deserved it.”

Miles laughs at my back as we keep walking down the sidewalk towards my apartment. “Good job, Sonnet.”

I turn back and give him a quick smile. “I’m done letting her destroy me.”

And I am. I let her take the narrative of me for too long. As a teenager, she single-handedly ruined my self-confidence. She broke it down, chipped it away like it was nothing. Then she tricked me into believing I would never be good enough for Miles.

Now I know that was never the case. He’s loved me the whole time, just as I loved him, and the only ugly thing was Mercedes’ personality.

It was just a lesson I had to learn.

THE END