He points to his duffel bag on the floor. "My stuff is right over there."
"I meant your phone and your cigarettes."
Reaching out, he gently lifts my chin and stares into my eyes. "Are you crying?"
I try to turn away from him, but he holds my face still. "Are you?" he repeats, his brown eyes locking on to mine.
"A little," I admit.
His thumb slowly traces my jaw. "Why?"
"I thought you left me already."
He leans down and kisses my lips softly. This time, I let him.
"I'm still here," he says, not pulling too far away. "I just went down to the gym to work out," His lips meet mine once more, and a crazy tingle races down my spine and explodes in my stomach like little fireflies. "I try to work out every morning. And your lips taste yummy," he adds.
"Oh…" I guess the vanilla lip balm I've been trying to get right is finally perfect.
Letting go of my face, he picks up my things and carries them back into the room casually, as if that kiss didn't just happen. "Can we agree not to randomly ditch each other?" he asks, turning back to face me. I'm still glued to my spot in the small hallway.
"I would like that." I touch my lips softly with my finger, still a little mesmerized by his kiss, which made me way weaker in the knees than I want to admit.
He runs his hand through his wavy hair. "You really think I'd just leave while you were sleeping? The fuck?"
I shrug a little, feeling silly for overreacting. "I'm not sure… I don't know you or what you would do."
He nods. "Fair enough. For the record, I'm not a dick, Asia. If I've got an issue, I'll tell you. I won't just disappear."
"I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. I don't know what I was thinking."
"I don't like that you were just going to leave, though. We're either in this fuckin' thing together, or we're not. There's gotta be a little bit of trust here."
"You're totally right," I say, slowly walking back into the main room. "This is just hard. And to be honest, I'm kinda scared. People have a habit of leaving me." Admitting my fears to him is difficult for me, but Dr. Hollister insisted during our many meetings that being honest about our fears is important.
He narrows his chestnut eyes at me. "I ain't leavin'." He picks up the menu from next to the phone and sits on the bed with it before returning his attention to me. "We made a commitment. And even though it all seems pretty messed up right now, I think we need to give it a try."