Author's Note:
As promised since one of you did guess the title for the next chapter (I hadn't thought that it would've been so predictable but I guess I've become so), here's a sneak preview for the last chapter of Just That Simple:
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"I-I've never felt this way before…it's a bit scary to say the least."
There, everything was out in the open now; she was out in the open. Her feelings about him were laid out for all to see. Lily felt so horribly exposed and flushed a deep red, avoiding his eyes. Try as she might, she couldn't ease the tension in her body as she knew that he was staring at her. Please say something.
She felt his fingers shakily touch her chin and pressure her to turn and face him. "Are you afraid of me?" He asked deeply, voice full of sorrow and uncertainty. Of course he knew what to say to make her look at him. Lily's eyes flickered to his eyes instantly and her breath stilled at the sight of his deep brown eyes. There was still a considerable amount of space between them - a whole cushion in fact - and in that moment, it seemed as if the gap was widening and narrowing at the same time.
Was she afraid of him?
No, there was no way that Lily was afraid of him and she told him just that. James did, however, make her nervous with his constant attention. She had grown used to it to her dismay and dreaded what she would be like if he ever decided that she wasn't worth the effort anymore. She had gotten a taste of it already during the past week and just the memory alone made the wound in her heart ache.
The fact of the matter was that James had too much power over her already. If she gave him more, Lily would be helpless against him and that made her pulse race irregularly in anxiety and something not unlike happiness. "It's hard to explain." She said finally, taking her eyes off of his and looked up to vainly prevent more tears from falling. "It's not you, really it's not…It's just that my feelings are all over the place. I can't make much sense of them at all an-and I just wish…"
"I understand."
Lily let out a frustrating groan. He doesn't. She thought to herself, digging her fingers into her hair and gripping it at the ends. He doesn't understand. How can he when I can't explain? I can't find the words to tell him properly. It's not fair that I have to explain myself to him. He doesn't know how difficult it is for me to do this. Lily knew that she shouldn't lose her temper. There was no reason to take her frustrations out on James just because she wasn't articulate enough to express herself. She knew that it would just make the situation worse and that she would most likely regret everything.
And all of that just made her even angrier.
"J-Just why do I have to explain myself to you?" Lily sputtered. "What do you want me to say? I don't have to tell you anything when you don't understand what you put me through!"
He reached up and unclenched her hands from her hair, holding them captive in his larger hands. "And what is it that I put you through?" James prodded.
"This! Your affections!" She shouted, closing her eyes tightly. "I don't understand it at all! Why me?"
For the next few moments, there was only the sound of Lily drawing in air harshly as she attempted to calm herself down. Opening her eyes, she looked up at him with tired green eyes. Somewhere in the back of her head, she was alarmed that he had crossed the distance between them and was very close to her now. She was too tired to arrange her face to the proper expression however and resigned to look into his eyes.
"Why me?" Lily asked again, watching as a ghost of a smile play on her lips. Strangely enough, it was at this moment that she noticed how light his eye color was. It wasn't brown like she had thought it was for years, but a lighter shade like honey - yet not quite so light. Hazel…his eyes are hazel.
A brief movement told her that he said something and the words took a while to break through the haze that had settled in her head. When it registered however, Lily felt inexplicably lighter even though his answer didn't answer any of her questions. Leave it to James to answer her almost-teasingly in response.
"Why not you?"
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There you go. I'm hoping to get this chapter out by next week but with all the work I have on my shoulders, it'll probably be another long wait until the next chapter comes out. Don't worry though, I still have one more surprise for everyone. Thanks for all the great reviews everyone, I really appreciate it and am glad that you like my story so much (even though you all are probably frustrated with the waits between my updates…)!