"Did you notice them?"
I look up from my laptop and at Tre, who had sat down across from me at his kitchen counter. "Notice what?"
He scratches his head. "The stares."
I furrow my eyebrows and look at him confusingly. "What stares?"
"When we were at the tram stop, you didn't notice people were staring at us."
I still don't understand what he is trying to explain to me.
"Tre, I don't know what you're talking about," I chuckle. "Why would people be staring at us?"
He bites his lip and then grabs my hand. He pulls my arm halfway across the table and then pulls his long shirt sleeve up and places his arm right touching next to mine. Seeing our arms next to each other, the contrast in color of our bare skin, I finally realize what he is talking about. And it's now a heavy thought running in my mind.
"Oh," I whisper.
He rubs his hand on my arm, his touch a comfort and reassurance.
"This is why people would stare," he says, bringing his fingers to mine and interlocking them. "Some people don't like to see this or they don't agree with being with someone different than you."
"Why do their opinions matter though?" I ask and look at our fingers intertwined. "They're not me and you."
Tre smiles and I get that warm feeling again every time he smiles at me. "They don't matter. They've never mattered, but it's something you need to be aware of."
"I know I'm ignorant to certain things." I look down back to my laptop. Everything's so new still, I haven't been able to learn all the ropes yet.
"I'm just telling you babe," he says and kisses the top of my hand. "I know you don't know a lot of things still."
"Thanks for reminding me of that," I grumble.
"I know you, Eva. I know this kind of stuff doesn't matter to you, but some people aren't as open and can be very fucking cruel about things they don't agree with."
He stands up and comes to my side of the counter, leaning his back against it and putting his index finger underneath my chin and tipping my head up to look at him.
"Listen to me okay." His voice tone is deeper but almost to a whisper.
His tone like that makes my stomach stir into knots that can only be untied by him.
"It's just you and me in this. No one else matters. But you need to realize that there will be things that try to break us. Some people will stare and say shit to you just cause they know it'll get to you."
He rubs his finger down the side of my neck, giving me goosebumps. "But as long as we have each other, that's all we need."
He brings his head down and gives me some slow pecks on the lips.
"Mhm, you have a way with words Tre," I say breathlessly after we kiss.
"I'm just speaking facts baby," he smirks and quickly kisses my cheek before walking over to the fridge.
I watch him grab a beer bottle out and then turn back to my laptop to keep working on my chemistry lab report.
"I'm gonna look at all of the pictures I took today of you." Tre brings his laptop to the counter and sets his bottle beside it.
"You took so many," I note.
"You're so beautiful I just couldn't help myself." He puts a goofy smile on his face and I laugh and throw a crumpled up napkin at him, hitting him square in the forehead.
"You're silly."
He shrugs and picks the napkin up off the floor. "If you can't be goofy with your girlfriend then who can you be goofy with?"
"No one," I smirk back. "I'm the only one."
I finish up the last paragraph of my lab report while Tre looks at his pictures. Through the midst of both of our concentrations, or at least my concentration, Tre throws the crumpled napkin back at me, hitting me right in the eye.
"Tre!" I groan and rub my eye while he cackles in the background.
"I'm sorry, but you threw it at me first baby."
"Show me the pictures you took," I shake my head at his childishness and get up, finally throwing the napkin in the garbage.
"I have a few that are my favorite ones."
I stand behind his chair and lean over him to see the pictures pulled up on the screen.
"Wow," I say, my eyes fixated on the screen. "These are amazing."
One of the pictures is of me not realizing he was even taking the picture. I was standing by the riverfront, the water rippling in the background and the sun casting shadows across my face. I had my eyes closed, but I was smiling big. I think I was laughing at Tre saying something funny.
Another one was of me trying to grab the phone out of his hands. I had my arm stretched out and my other hand was on my forehead trying to keep the hair from blowing all over my face. I was again smiling, mid-laugh, while Tre moved around my attempts to get his phone. Everything else in the background is out of focus, almost blurry from how much your we're moving around in that moment. But while things were out out of focus, my smile was in focus. It was clear and it showed my happiness when I look at Tre.
The last picture was at a lower angle with Tre crouching down a few feet in front of me. I took up most of the frame and the buildings and blue sky scattered with some clouds filled the background. I was looking right at him and the wind was blowing some of my hair back. My back was in the sunlight but my face was casted in shadows. I wasn't smiling this time, but I was concentrated on looking directly at Tre, admiring him crouched down to get a good angle and him smiling and talking to himself about how to get the best picture of me.
"You made me look really beautiful." I smile and kiss him on the cheek.
"You're always beautiful though." He brings his arm around to my side and I cuddle into him. "I'm gonna put these in a frame and hang them up."
I quickly turn my head. "You're not serious?"
"Why can't I hang them up?" He laughs and then winks. "I want them as my own private collection."
I roll my eyes at his joking and put my hand over his mouth when he tries to keep on talking about having my face blown up really big on a canvas. I use my other hand to close his laptop so he can't look anymore. "We're not putting my face anywhere, thank you very much." I laugh at him still mumbling beneath my hand. I then feel a wet tickling sensation moving across my palm and I gasp.
"Tre! Ew!"
I lift my hand from his mouth and look at the saliva he left while he cracks up laughing with his head thrown back and he claps his hands once.
"You're so gross," I shake my head, trying not to chuckle too, and wipe my hand down the front of his shirt to get the saliva off. "I can't believe you slobbered all over my hand."
"There's more where that came from baby," he smirks and then laughs again. "All you gotta do is ask."
I lightly hit his chest and chuckle at his nonsense. Tre may look very serious most of the time, but he has a very comedic side to him. He likes to joke around and make others laugh and his laugh is infectious. I can't help but always laugh when I hear him release a laugh of his own. It's like music to my ears.
"I need to finish up my report," I tell him and go sit back down across from him.
He opens his laptop back up and we have some minutes of silence while I finish up my report and Tre edits the photos.
"You want dinner?" He asks a half hour later, closing his laptop.
"Yes. Pizza," I tell him, closing my own laptop now that my report is finished.
"I don't get a say?" He asks, smiling.
"Nope," I quickly say and then smile wide and goofy at him. "You love pizza, anyways"
Tre shakes his head and chuckles at me. "Alright, pizza it is then."
20 minutes later the pizza arrives. While Tre goes downstairs to get it, I change into my comfy leggings and grab Tre's sweatshirt that was laying on his bed. The grey material is so soft. I put on the sweatshirt and I can smell his cologne in the fabric. It's a comforting scent for me because it reminds me it's him. He makes me most comfortable. The sweatshirt is big on me, but I like the warmth and softness.
"Babe, pizza's here." Tre calls from the front door, shutting it and setting the pizza box on the kitchen counter.
I walk out of his room and to the kitchen. Tre has put out plates and glasses on the counter.
"What do you to drin-" He stops talking once he looks up at me.
He looks like he is speechless and I shrug. "What?"
It takes him a second to finally blink and shakes his head to get his thoughts together. "I just like the way you look in my clothes," he manages to get out.
I smile and look down at the oversized sweatshirt that will become my new favorite thing to wear when I'm over here. "I like it too."
"Caught me off guard," he chuckles. "I almost had a heart attack."
"I would've resuscitated you," I shrug and smirk at him.
"Maybe another time," he jokes.
"I'll try not to stop your heart anymore." I wink and poke his chest.
"Just give me a heads up next time so I can make sure I'm prepared."
I laugh and kiss him on the cheek. "I promise."
He lightly grips my side and then moves around me. "You want to eat in here or on the couch?"
"Couch, please." I grab some napkins from the napkin holder on the counter and place them on the plates.
"What do you want to drink?" He asks, looking in the fridge.
"Just water. I can get it," I tell him but he's already by the sink, glass in hand, filling my glass up. "Or not."
He smiles sheepishly and I giggle, taking our plates to the living room and setting them on the small coffee table. Tre brings in the pizza and my glass of water. I sit on the couch and criss-cross my legs, taking a sip of my water while Tre turns on the tv and puts on a crime tv show we've been watching this past week.
"What kind of pizza did you get?" I ask.
He opens the box. "Your favorite. Pepperoni, of course."
"You know, you don't always have to do pepperoni for me," I say and put a slice on my plate and take a bite. "I know it's not your favorite."
"I don't mind it though," he winks and sits down next to me.
"Liar," I tease. "What is your favorite then?"
"Bacon and banana peppers."
I tilt my head up. "I've never heard of that combination together. It's sounds spicy."
"It's amazing," he draws out before shoving more pizza in his mouth.
"Sounds interesting."
"I'll order that next time so you can try it," he says.
I smile. "Okay. You know I'm open to trying new things."
He smirks. "I know. Remember when you had a sip of the vodka I had and you almost threw up."
I roll my eyes and groan. "Oh my gosh don't remind of that. That was horrible."
He chuckles and takes a sip of his beer. "If it was mixed with something sweet, you'd like it."
"Really?"
He nods. "Alcohol always tastes better when it's mixed. You tried straight vodka and that doesn't taste good, even for me."
"You had no problem drinking it though," I point out.
His beer bottle is in front of his mouth but I can tell that's he's smirking behind it. "I can tolerate a lot."
"A lot," I repeat. "Like what?"
He sets his bottle on the table and then shrugs. "Just a lot. I don't know how to describe it but I've been through a lot so a lot of doesn't phase me anymore."
He shrugs again like he's shrugging off things that he doesn't want to talk or think about. Tre's opened up a lot to me, but we haven't talked about everything yet. It's only been a few weeks and we're still getting to know each other. Little by little I learn more about him and so far, I feel like I can handle anything he throws at me. He's so interesting and intriguing that I want to know the good and bad and the ins and outs of him. I think that's what you do when you're in a relationship right?
"You wanna try my beer?" He asks, bottle in hand.
"Does it taste good?"
He tilts his mouth a little bit and hums, "It's not too bad for me. I honestly don't think you'd like it but you can try it and see."
He holds out his bottle to me and I slowly grab it, bringing it up to my mouth and take a sip.
Once I swallow, I then cough and make a disgusted face.
"Ew."
Tre laughs at my face and I quickly hand the bottle back to him.
"You can keep that nastiness all to yourself," I tell him and grab my water to wash out the bitter watery taste out off my tongue.
"I knew you wouldn't like it."
"Then why'd you ask me to try it?" I chuckle, wiping my mouth with my napkin.
"I was trying to be nice and include you."
We both giggle and I shake my head and throw my napkin at him. "I'd rather not be included in all your alcohol intake."
"I'll remember that the next time you ask me to try something of mine." He winks and smirks at me.
I stick my tongue at him like a child and he laughs.
"Really mature babe."
"I know," I smile and grab another slice of pizza that's gotten a little cold from the box being open on the table.
After we finish off the pizza, with Tre taking the last 2 slices and shoving them in his mouth, and clean up the dishes, we turn off the lights and lay on the couch continuing our tv show. Tre's laying on his back and I'm laying to the side of him with half of my body on top of his. My head is resting on his chest and I pay more attention to listening to his heartbeat and breathing than the show on the tv.
I angle my head up a little bit so I can look up at Tre and his eyes are focused on the tv, but his hand is drawing circles up and down my back. I feel like a creep for watching him but I notice little things like how his eyebrows furrow when he's trying to figure out who the killer is and he bites his lip when the killer is being chased down. I look at his dark eyes that have the tv reflection over them and then at his defined jawline and a few little freckles that are near his cheekbones. His lips are parted and he runs his tongue over them every once in a while. Looking at him makes me feel warm, like I really want to kiss him.
He looks down at me and sees me staring at him. He chuckles, "What are you looking at?"
"You," I say, embarrassed of being caught staring.
"I figured. I'm too gorgeous for you to not stare at me."
I poke his stomach and giggle. "Sorry."
"It's fine babe," he says. "I stare at you a lot and you don't even know it."
I look back up at him again. "Really?"
"Of course," he lightly grabs my side. "Why wouldn't I when my girl is stunning? It's hard to not to stare at you. I always have to restrain myself."
"Restrain yourself from what?"
He swallows hard and then does his Tre smirk. "From not pinning you against the wall kissing you and then fucking the shit out of you."
I gasp and then cough from taking in too much air too fast. "Now you're about to give me a heart attack," I choke out and he lightly pats my back.
"Now you know how I felt earlier."
I nod and catch my breath. "I wasn't expecting you to say that."
"I'm just being honest babe," he shrugs. "I wanna do that to you daily but I know that we're not at that point yet so I control myself."
"Takes all your self control huh?" I joke.
He nods shamelessly. "You're irresistible."
I laugh and then kiss him on the cheek. "You're irresistible too."
"I know." He pretends to flip his hair if he had long and I chuckle at him and lay my head back on his chest, thinking.
"You know," I say after a few minutes of silence. "I always thought that I wouldn't have sex until I was married."
"Because of your parents?"
I nod. "Yeah. My whole upbringing was our religion and abiding strictly by that. They told me I couldn't until I was married or if I did before, I was going to hell."
"That's kind of fucked up," Tre says.
"Yeah kind of. It scared me enough to not ever want to do it," I tell him and then look up at him. "But, I don't know if I want to follow that rule anymore." I sit up to where I'm on my elbow so I can look at him more. "The thought of doing it makes me nervous, but I don't know anymore if I want to wait."
"It's okay to change your mind about things," he says. "And it's okay to think for yourself and what you want."
I nod in agreement.
"Do you know what you want?" He asks me.
I think for a moment. "The only thing I know that I want is you."
He smiles and then bites his lip. "I want you too. But only if you're ready for me in that way."
"I don't know if I'm ready for that yet." The thought of me giving Tre all of me still scares me and I don't think I am ready to go that far yet.
"That's okay. I never want to force you to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable." He puts his hand on my cheek and runs his thumb down it. "Whenever you're ready, just let me know. No matter when it is."
His thumb now goes to my lip.
"Okay?" He asks and I nod.
"Okay."
He bring his head closer to mine, holding the side of my face and kisses me deeply, making me want in that second for him to take me but I know that's my hormones talking. I'm not ready yet. I don't when I will be, but knowing that Tre is okay with just kissing me and not going further makes me feel better. He makes me feel not pressured and I don't want to just do it just because everyone else does it. I want it to mean something and with Tre, I know it'll mean something. I want it to feel right and at the right time. The right time isn't now on his small couch with the tv in the background.
The right time will come, I know it will. And I'll be ready to give Tre everything of me, if he can also give everything of him to me.
~*~
I also just wanna say thank you to everyone who's been reading, voting, and commenting. I love interacting with you guys and I appreciate all your love and support. Thank you so much! Hope everyone has had a happy holidays and happy new year! â¤ï¸
~Bekah