LOVE ME (BWWM)

C H A P T E R 6

"Baby steps?" Ebony said, getting up and holding her hand out for him to shake.

He took her small hand in his rather big one, "baby steps... where do you want to start?".

She stopped for a moment, she wanted to let him in and see where 'going with the flow' would take them, "I have an almost perfect life" she started "my mum and dad are divorced, I don't have any friends, I don't like the way I look, I'm not the confident black girl that I should be, I'm ug-", before she could finish her sentence he stood up and towered over her, he looked down at this gorgeous girl and wondered how she could ever see herself as ugly, he never understood mental health but he understood some because of the psychology course he was taking.

"Ebony,  I know me saying your beautiful is nice and all but it doesn't really mean anything if you don't believe it and don't accept it, do you get what I'm trying to say?" He said while sitting the both of them down in the chair he was in before, with her on his lap. Ebony wanted to believe that she was pretty but it was like there was a voice in her head that was alway trying to oppose her and put her down.

"I just don't see what you see, it's all about perspective", she had a point, he didn't see her the way she saw herself. 

"You're right, maybe you can help me understand" he said while pulling the blanket over the both of them. 

"I'm a lot to handle, and I say that wholeheartedly, like I know I am, but I see potential in you" she said while looking over his face, she could see the shadow of a beard coming through and it looked kinda good on him but she'd never tell him that.

"Are you done checking me out? I can handle anything, I got you in the bag" he said jokingly.

After spending time with Ebony he realised that she had her hard exterior because she didn't want to get hurt, which was understandable. actually reallyu 

"It's okay, we need to stop apologising so much" she said while giggling, I could tell it was a real, genuine smile because it was reaching her eyes. Brown, captivating eyes.

"C'mon, let's go sit together on the big bean bag and watch Netflix" I said while trying to get her up, "but Max I'll crush you" this girl, I know what I'm about to do will probably cause something bad but I need her to know. 

"Sorry" I whispered on my way down to get her. A few seconds after I said that I had one of my arms underneath her legs and one supporting her back, bridal style. 

"See as light as a feather" he said slightly swinging her from side to side.

The real reason Ebony was self conscious about her weight was because she was always the bigger girl, her school peers kept small and skinny but her thighs got thicker, her ass definitely got bigger, her hips widened, which got her the name 'lard-ass'. It could have stopped there but because she was in a predominately white school, the boys would pretend to hate her but as soon as they were alone with her they'd try it on and claim to love her "chocolate skin".

"You're not going to put me down are you" she said as her breathing slowed down, he looked at her with a wide smile, while shaking his head. After a couple more seconds she got herself comfortable, which led him to sit down with her on his lap, she put her head in the crook of his neck and kept it there until he spoke.

"Are you okay Ebony?" He asked feeing somewhat bad for doing the one thing he knew she hated, he felt her nod.

Success!

"Are you sure I'm not crushing you, I know I'm heav-" he flicked her knee to stop her from finishing her 

They decided to set up a little movie theatre, popcorn and all.

"Alright! So because you just conquered being picked up without having a panic attack you can choose the movie" Max said while giving the iPad to her, she had the biggest smile on her face as she was scrolling through all the films to watch, Max brought the messy old blanket she left on the small table to cover the both of them, he made sure to tuck her in because it was starting to get cold. 

Time passes (spoiler alert, if you haven't seen the movie)

"So that police detective dude was her husband?!" He shouted while throwing the popcorn around them by accident, they made eye contact with each other, Max noticed a type of fire in her eyes.

This is new, he thought.

She picked up a handful of popcorn and aimed it right at his face.

"I'm so gonna get you!" She ran around the corner, in front of the little table, then to the entrance of the treehouse. After chasing her round for about 5 minutes he cornered her on the treehouses balcony.

"I told you I was going to get you" he said slowly while making his way towards her.

"Not yet you haven't" she said almost out of breath. 

And there they were standing face to face... well face to chest because of how short she was. Her head was tilted all the way up so she could look at him, she was right there. Slowly, their faces started to get closer and closer, he leaned in... when all of a sudden... she started tickling him, he tried to control his laughter but he gave in, he tumbled down onto the wooden floor of her treehouse, bringing her down with him. 

They fell.

If someone walked in on them, they would definitely get the wrong idea; Ebony was straddling his waist with her hands on his chest, while his hands were on her hips, Max started moving his hands upwards until he reached the small of her waist...

"TICKLE WAR!" He shouted while flipping them over and tickling Ebony everywhere his hands could get.

After a while of the tickle war Ebony declared Max the winner of the war, seeing as she was curled up and basically cry laughing.

Max thought about how he had never had this much fun before, the last time he had laughed like that was when he was with the boys when they were at Wild Water Kingdom... THE BOYS! Max had just remembered that he drove them to college today because their cars hadn't been sent over from Ohio yet, he quickly rushed over to his phone.

3:37pm. 

He scrolled down the lock screen to find loads of missed calls from both Enzo and Alex, one of the texts he had received had... very colourful language that he wouldn't dare say in front of his mother.

"We have to go, Enzo and Alex are still at school, we were all meant to drive back together but I came here with you and forgot about them!" Max said frantically, looking for his shoes and coat. He turned around to see Ebony already dressed in her jean jacket and her shoes on, with his coat in her hand.

"You really ought to calm down, you're stressing a lot" she said while handing him the coat. 

He watched her go down the steps of the treehouse and into the woods, it was a lot darker because it was winter time. He turned all the lights of the treehouse off and quickly ran after her. 

"Hey, don't run away like that" he said while catching up behind her.

"Oh did little Maxy get scared of the dark?" She laughed and turned towards him while walking backwards.

"I am not scared of the dark, I just don't want you being alone." He said while wrapping his arms around her shoulders and walking, the feeling he got in his stomach when he held her was strange, he'd never had it before.

Once they got into the car, they turned the heaters on, Max had been colder but this wasn't as bad as how cold it could get in Ohio. 

"So who are these guys?" Ebony asked while driving to the school, Max contemplated telling her about them, but she'd end up finding out who they were because they'd be in all the same classes as them.

"Oh they're really good friends of mine, their families decided to move to the UK too because of Donald Trump, they really hated his views" he said.

Really? That was the best I could come up with? He thought to himslef

"Oh I completely get where they're coming from, I despise him" she said while driving, from her answer he felt as if she wasn't the kind of person who would push someone for information, definitely not mafia material, or so he thought. 

Max thought about how much of a pro Ebony was at driving, most girls wouldn't be this comfortable while driving but she was calm and collected. 

"Hey, you may not be the one driving but eyes on the road, you're freaking me out" she said, not turning to look at him, Max chuckled and turned his body fully towards her.

"Well I can't help it when there's something beautiful in front of me" Max watched her visibility go a darker shad of brown, almost purple. 

"Max why do you do... that?" She questioned, he knew what she was talking about but he wanted her to say it.

"What do you mean?" He said, playing dumb.

Ebony rolled her eyes and began to shift in her seat, "you know... call me beautiful and say all that stuff, almost like you're flirting with me..." Max didn't know why he did it, he just knew that he was being honest, maybe a bit too honest for her liking.

"Oh, you're talking about that well I find it funny, how you get uncomfortable, it's cute, why do you get uncomfortable?, other girls would've just gotten a big head and flirted back" Ebony pulled into the car park, and parks her car next to Max's. 

"It's because no one has ever really flirted with me or called me names like that" she said turning away and getting out of the car. Just as Max was about to reply Alex and Enzo appeared out of the dark, during that small moment they had managed to scare Ebony.

"Damn, who is this?" Enzo said while staring intensely at Ebony, Max noticed her getting uncomfortable and walked in front of her to block Enzo's view.

"Il mio" (Italian to English: "mine") Max says; Enzo raised his hands up in surrender and backed off.

Damn Italians.