Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Angel swallows, his gaze softening when he shifts in my lap so we’re closer, his arm wrapped around my neck as he presses his cheek to mine. I don’t think I deserve him, but who am I to tell him what he should want?
“But I want you to be seen. By me, by all our friends…” he says, stroking my cheek. “You don’t have a photo on the wall in the canteen.”
Ah, he notices everything. “Why? I’m…” How to even express these depths of my soul to him. “I’m a stain. Something to be erased if seen,” I paraphrase what my aunt once said.
He brings his hand to his chest as if I’ve punched him there. “No. No, you’re not,” he says breathlessly and leans in, pushing his fingers into my hair. “You can’t mean that. You’re not a stain, not a bother, you’re not a problem. And you’re not a creep,” he says, eyes intense as his voice breaks ever so slightly in the bright interior of the photo booth.
I shrug, but I’m so moved by his words I dare to wrap my arm around him even though we’re not hidden under the bed, where the monster is allowed to take him. “You don’t need to coddle me. I know I’m strange and monstrous. I accept the nickname too. It fits.”
“No, it doesn’t!” His lips twist as he looks away, blinking rapidly. “You must have a name. What is it?”
My name? I don’t use it outside official situations. Even the local cops call me Creep despite the name on my licence. My mouth is dry and achy as if he’s using forceps to pry out my secret.
“What for?”
He exhales, resting his forehead on my collarbone. “Because I want it. Give it to me.”
“Cr…eed. Creed. My name is Creed.” It feels strange to say it out loud, as if sound contained in that short word is covered in razorblades that hurt my throat on the way out, but I enfold Angel in my arms, and it softens the blow.
He relaxes then nuzzles my neck in a way so exquisite I find myself shivering. “Hello, Creed.”
“Hi.” I chuckle, stroking my way up his exposed spine. I’m not even afraid of the bright lights anymore. I want Angel to see me. No one else has to, as long as he does. I’m that ugly snail peeking out of its shell for the first time, afraid of salt being thrown in its eyes. But if I don’t open up, if I stay in the cave, locked in the shadows under my angel’s bed, I will miss out on my one chance in a lifetime.
“I’m Angel,” he tells me, and a strange sweetness fills my chest when he lifts my chin so our eyes can meet. “And I think there is nothing wrong with you. We are all a bit strange, just pieces of stardust formed into weird muscle and bone shapes.”
“I’m more like dark matter,” I joke and catch his lips for a sweet kiss.
“No, you’re the Saturn to my Venus. I see it now. You’re exactly what I needed all along.” Angel runs his finger over one of the planets in my necklace, then leans in, humming softly as I close my eyes, focusing on his touch and the warm scent of jasmine on his skin.
“You’re mine, and I wish a picture of us was in the canteen, along with everyone else’s. Aren’t we a part of Vulture Hollow too?”
I nod. I’ve got patches on my jacket to prove where I belong, but it’s as though he’s the missing link, the connection that brings me close to my community. He makes me human, and others can now see it too.
“Okay. Do I… look okay? I’m probably bruised. Should we take some when I look better?”
Angel swallows and swipes his fingers over the throbbing spot on my face. “You got those bruises defending me. That makes them really beautiful.”
He has such a way of making me feel like I can grow wings and become an angel myself. I’d fucking die for him, so what’s taking a photo?
“Should I look at the camera?” I ask, a little intimidated. I need these photos to be everything he wants.
“To start with,” he responds and taps the touch screen. Moments later, I see us staring back—me with an awkward frown I quickly try to correct, him—embracing me as he grins at the camera. I’m so lucky.
So very, very lucky.
The process is way less painful than I thought, and our second photo has Angel kissing my cheek. The camera captures the surprise on my face and the grin on his perfectly. I’m embarrassed of the face I’m making, but we don’t need to show people all the pictures, so when my boy pulls me into a kiss, I dive right in, trembling when the flash lights up the cabin.