Always There

Chapter Ninety-Nine

The stuffed unicorn sitting proudly on her bed also makes me smile. I still can't believe that she's kept that thing.

I pull open the top drawer of her dresser to find that, of course, I somehow managed to choose her lingerie drawer. The lace in every single colour imaginable makes my breath momentarily catch in my throat as I involuntarily imagine what this all would look like in her body.

I haven't had sex in way too fucking long, and it's really starting to show.

I gently close that drawer and then open the next one down. It seems to hold all of Blossom's pajamas and nightgowns, and so I shut it and move to the next.

The third drawer is so full of clothing that it gets caught the first several times I try to pull it open. It takes a few attempts, but I eventually am able to yank the drawer open only to find that this one is filled with . . . my clothing?

There are sweatshirts and T-shirts of mine in every colour, sweatpants that I know are twice the length of her legs, , a pair of plaid boxers that I still don't know why I ever owned, a pair of—

"Bryce? What's taking you so long?"

I look up over my shoulder to find Blossom's little head peeking through the doorway. She's tied her long hair up in a bun at the nape of her neck since I saw her a minute or two ago, and there's a small furrow between her brows as she looks at me with wide eyes.

Her gaze then darts towards the open drawer in front of me, and I watch in amusement as both of her dainty hands fly up to cover her lips.

She squeezes her eyes shut. "Oh my God. I'm really sorry. You can have all your clothes back if you'd like. I know that I've become a hoarder, but I really can't help it. It makes me happy to wear your clothes every day."

Her eyes flutter open, focus on the ground in front of her feet. She remains like this for several long moments, and when I catch on to the fact that she isn't going to look at me anytime soon, I lower my hand from the dresser drawer and head across the room towards her.

I stop right in front of her, when there are only a couple of inches between us. I lift a hand up to her face, place two fingers under her chin, tip her face up towards mine. This forces her to finally meet my gaze, and when I have her wide hazel eyes staring up into mine, I smile.

She smiles back, and so I lean in to kiss her.

"You're cute," I whisper against her lips. "Really fucking cute."

She giggles, and so I take one of her hands in mine. I pull her into her bedroom and towards her dresser where, as soon as I let go of her hand, her arms fall limp against her sides.

"I'm really embarrassed," she tells me quietly in the soft, shy tone she uses sometimes.

I don't respond to her as I grab the sweater on the top of the stack in her drawer, a grey Columbia University sweater. I unfold it and then hold it out towards Blossom, who simply blinks at me several times.

I sigh. "I know that you took lots of my clothes when we broke up. I've always known that you like wearing my clothes. Why are you embarrassed now?"

Blossom continues to blink up at me.

I nudge her foot with mine. "Lift your arms up."