Loves

Friends joke that he worships the ground she walks on, and she secretly wraps that idea around her heart like a warm blanket. He speaks to her with a rare softness. When she’s anxious, he cups her face and says, You’re safe with me. Always. And she is. She feels it in every breath, in every touch, in every promise he makes without even realizing it. Nights with him feel like stories she’ll one day tell their children. Laughter under dim lamps, whispered confessions tangled in blankets, two hearts learning the rhythm of each other. She memorizes every line of his face, convinced this is what real love looks like. She trusts him completely. Loyalty seems woven into him, like it lives in every bone. When other girls walk by, his eyes stay on hers. When someone flirts, he brushes it away with a soft laugh and a kiss to her temple. She believes him. She believes all of it. She feels easy to love with him. Chosen. Cherished. Protected. As if the wounds she carries are finally being kissed closed. She tells her friends, I don’t worry with him. He’s different. And she means it. Every piece of her belongs to the version of him she holds so carefully.