I Want You, Simon

Chapter 21

"Okay," he exhales, "I know, I'm sorry that I do that to you. I am all ears."

They both stare at each other until Samira realizes

"Oh shit, now? Oh glob I'm not prepared!" She turns away laughing nervously

"It's okay, whenever you need me to listen, I will." He smiles at her, gets up and goes to wash the dishes.

Samira continues sitting and grows restless in place. She gets up and follows him into the kitchen. She stands there near him, silent for a moment. He doesn't look up from his task.

Samira has shaky, sweaty palms, a fast beating heart, and a dry tongue.

"Simon!"

He turns to her, startled "Oh, you scared me. Do you need something?"

"I remembered some more things that I like about you."

"Okay,"

"I love that you tried to fix my sink. I love that you bought me a bookshelf, and then put it together for me.'' He takes his hands out of the sink and gives her his full attention. She looks down to avoid his gaze. "I love that you learned my wash day schedule. I love that you hold me while we sleep, and that if I fall asleep before you, you wiggle your arm under me to get a good enough grip. I love that you cover me when I'm cold, and how you roll up your sleeves when it's hot. I love how you cut vegetables, and how you put up your hair. I love that you hate Cheers, but you watched for me. I love that you always want to do things for me, even when I can do them myself. I love that you wash dishes by hand, even though I have a dishwasher " she laughs and a tear rolls down her cheek "I love that you don't talk about how you have degrees a lot, and that you let me call you 'Dr.' as a joke," Simon dries his hands, listening "I love that you love coffee, but you know I hate the smell, so you wait until I leave to drink it, even though I told you it was fine. And that you still visit me at my job even though we can see each other anytime now. I love that you still read to me, and that you never get annoyed when I ask. I love that you wear bow ties instead of neckties, and I love that even though you love to wear suits, you let me buy you new clothes and try something new. I love that you still have a button phone and you send me emoticons instead of emojis. And I love that you call me Sami instead of Samira, and even more that you call me Sami Salami, cuz that's so fucking cute."

He smiles "That's a lot," Samira bursts into tears and Simon grabs her arms and kneels to comfort her "Hey what's wrong?" He hugs her and she hugs him back "Is there something going on? I'm starting to get worried,"

She pulls back from the hug "There's so much more that I could say that I like about you, because," she looks at him as he wipes her tears "I love you." She goes back into the hug as Simon sits there in shock. He hadn't expected to hear that so soon, or at all really. He rubbed her back as she cried and spoke into her ear.

"I love you too," he says reassuringly, and that was true.

____________________

Simon had decided to make the entire day about Samira. He'd told her that he loved her and he wanted to make it clear that she knew that was true, especially after all the moments where he'd messed up and she'd given him a second chance. He'd taken her to dinner where they had discussed the probability of time travel with science vs magic.

"It's most possible with magic," She'd asserted

"But it's the safest with science," he retorted

"The thing that makes it safe is what makes it impossible. If it was possible with science don't you think that someone-Bonnie- would have invented it by now? I mean, didn't you pull," she paused "Betty out of the past with magic,"