I laughed, but there wasn’t anything funny about it.“Because I’m just the fat girl who works at the Dairy Bar,” I said, my voice cracking.“And you’re the sexy biker who can have anyone you want.You just feel sorry for me.”
The second the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back.
But it was too late.
They were out there.
Raw.
Ugly.
Honest.
Jude went still.“I’m feeling a lot of things right now, beautiful,” he said slowly.“But sorry for you isn’t one of them.”
“Stop calling me that,” I whispered.
“Beautiful?”he repeated.
I nodded, my throat tight.“I know what I am, Jude,” I said.“And beautiful isn’t it.”A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.
He caught my face in his hands before I could turn away.“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he said, his voice rough, serious.
“Liar.”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean,” he shot back.
I shook my head.“I’ve known you for years,” I said.“You’ve never once called me that.”
“Because I don’t go around saying it,” he said.“Not unless I mean it.”
“Oh, so now you mean it?”I shot back.“Now that you know I had a crush on you?”
His jaw tightened.“Ever—”
“No,” I cut him off.“You don’t get to suddenly decide I’m worth looking at.”
He tipped his head slightly, studying me.“I’m not suddenly deciding anything,” he said.“I’m realizing what I should’ve seen a long time ago.”
“That doesn’t make it better,” I said.
“It does for me,” he said.
I shook my head again, tears blurring my vision.“What happens when you get bored?”I asked quietly.“When something better comes along?”
“That’s not happening.”
“You don’t know that.”
“And you don’t know that it will,” he countered.
Silence stretched between us.
Heavy.
Charged.
I swallowed hard.“No one has ever looked at me like I’m something,” I admitted.“No one has ever thought I was anything more than… nothing.”
