Tingles erupted from where Sterling's arm was, and she almost faltered. Goodness gracious, it's just a boy! Willow nodded thickly. They neared the front door, where she could faintly hear voices from inside.
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Sterling opened the door slowly, and a tall, dark-haired woman pooped her head out from another room. Her eyebrows shot up when she caught sight of her son's arm around a strange girl's waist.
"Sterling, you're home! And who's this?" she wondered in a soft, light voice.
Sterling smiled a bit at her as he led Willow inside farther. "Mom, this is Willow. Willow, this is my mom."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Willow," Mrs. Ainsley greeted her gently.
Willow held out her free hand. God, she hated being seen like this; tired and weak. “And a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Willow said lightly. Sterling’s mom was intimidating; tall and dark haired. She shifted slightly into Sterling’s side, seeking reassurance.
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Sterling's mother smiled and shook Willow's hand as the boy tightened his arm around her slightly.
"Mom, Willow needs some help. Can she stay here for a while?" he asked gently.
"Oh… Of course. Yes, of course. You can stay in one of the guest rooms, dear," the older woman agreed quickly and without questioning the reason. They'd dealt with this kind of thing before.
“Thank you ma’am, it really means a lot to me,” Willow smiled at the woman, and turned her gaze up to Sterling, silently asking him to show her a room. She felt slightly dizzy, and wanted to lie down for a while, if it wasn’t too much of a problem. I’ll have to go back later to the house to get my stuff.
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“Okay, well… I’m going to go show Willow to her room, now, mom,” Sterling said, giving her a pointed look.
The older woman raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly. “All right. Let me know if you need anything, Willow.”
Sterling turned to Willow and smiled at her gently. “Think you can make it up the stairs?”
((So sorry! I thought I had replied to this))
Willow smiled at Sterling's mom. "I will, ma'am." I definitely will not. She then turned to Sterling. "I think I can make it," she said, going over to the stairway. Willow gripped the rail tightly, and start to walk up the stairs, legs slightly shaking.
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Sterling followed her close behind. “Okay, I’m right behind you if you need any help. Just don’t fall on me,” he joked with a chuckle.
Willow let out a light laugh, and she glanced back at Sterling. "I'll make sure I won't," she said, smiling softly. Slow and steady, she made it up the rest of the stairs without much difficulty.
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“All right. So there’s a guest room just down the hall. It’ll be he second door in the right. The doorbjust before that is the bathroom, and the door after it is my room… Huh. I never realized that until now,” Sterling mused as he led her to the room.
"Thanks, Sterling, I really appreciate this," Willow said, smiling at him. It was the kindest thing that someone did for her for a long time. Not even her friend Tara had done this, and she'd known for months.
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Sterling turned to face her once they had reached the room, giving her a small smile. "It's absolutely no problem. We're all glad to help. And, as you can see, we have no shortage of space," he chuckled.
"Yeah," Willow giggled. "I mean, your house is pretty spacious." She gently pushed open the door, revealing a room almost twice as big as hers back home. Walking into it, she let out a light laugh, euphoria flowing through her veins. It's so big! How can they afford guest rooms like this? "If your guest rooms look like this, I'm afraid of what your actual bedrooms sizes are!" Willow jokes.
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Sterling shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck with a slightly awkward smile. "They're about the same, actually. Except for my parents' room. That's huge," he chuckled.
"Really?" Willow quirked an eyebrow at him. "Interesting." That smiles pretty cute. Shut up.
In a sudden act of affection, she rushed up to him, gently grabbed his face, and pecked him on the cheek. After pressing her lips to his cheek for a moment, she pulled away slowly. "Really, thank you." Willow whispered, still close to his face.
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Sterling blinked at the sudden kiss and grinned down at her. "You are very welcome, Willow," he said softly, pressing a kiss of his own to her forehead. "Do you need anything?"
A familiar blush coated Willow's cheeks, and she looked up at him shyly. "I'm kinda cold, so maybe…a…sweatshirt?" she asked softly.
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“Sure, I can get you one. It might be kinda big on you, though,” Sterling said with a small smile. Of course, he could give her one of his mom’s to wear, but what was the fun in that?
"It's fine, I like baggier clothes," Willow said shyly. She fiddled with the edge of her shirt, glancing up at Sterling once in a while. She wouldn't mention how close they were, or how their faces were mere inches apart.
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Sterling nodded a bit, trying to refrain from glancing down at her lips. It worked, for a while… And then he glanced at her lips, chewing on his bottom one.
“Sure. Okay. I’ll, um, just be right back with that, then,” he said softly, turning to go get it.
Willow glanced once at Sterling's lips, and found that she couldn't look away. She tried…and tried…tried again, but they were too tempting. The way he bit his plump, pink lips; it was almost like he was trying to kill her.
Willow barely registered the question, but managed to murmur an 'okay' in return. What was this boy doing to her?
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Sterling headed to his room, shutting the door behind him. He leaned against it with a sigh, wishing he could just go back there and press his lips to hers. And why couldn’t he…?
He hummed thoughtfully and went to get a hoodie for her to wear. Once he grabbed one, he walked back to the guest room to hand it to her.
Willow’s head perked up when she heard him walk back, abandoning her count of how many scuffs she could count on her sneakers. Jumping up from the bed, she walked up to him, her mind racing. He was definetly looking at my lips earlier… What if he kisses me now? Would his lips feel as soft as they looked?
“Hi,” she said a bit breathlessly, a little too much for her own liking.
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“Hey,” Sterling greeted her with a small smile. He held the sweatshirt out for her, the space between them shrinking slightly. “Here’s this for you.”
Willow took the sweatshirt from him, feeling the soft material under her fingertips. “Thank you, Sterling,” she said, smiling softly at him. Slipping on the hoodie, she found it to be as soft as it felt, and it instantly made her feel warmer. The sweatshirt almost swallowed her whole, the sleeves going a bit past her fingertips.
And it smelled a whole like Sterling too; of cinnamon and coffee, smells Willow enjoyed greatly. Looking back up at him, she shyly spoke. “So, how does it look?” The words slipped from her mouth before she could hold them back, and her cheeks reddened. Nice going, Willow.
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Sterling could hardly breath was he watched her slip his hoodie on. There was just something about someone else in your clothes that was just… indescribable…
"You look good," he breathed, stepping forward so they were toe-to-toe and brushing a stray hair from her face. "Can I ask you something?"
“Anything,” Willow said breathlessly. Her eyes dropped down to his lips, and she licked her own. Sterling was close to her, their bodies almost touching, and she wanted them to be closer still.
Willow felt like her body was on fire, and it wasn’t because of the temperature. Sterling made her feel like she was… alive.
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"There are two questions, really… First, would you like to go out with me sometime? We could go for lunch or dinner or something," Sterling started, not missing the direction her eyes went or the movement of her tongue across her lips. "And secondly… May I kiss you?"
“Yes to both,” Willow said softly, eyes still on Sterling’s lips. She inched closer to him until their bodies were practically touching. She had to restrain herself to not touch Sterling, not to run her hands through his hair, not to trace the outline of his lips.
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Sterling grinned before leaning down and capturing her lips in his. He gently cupped her cheeks in his hands, holding her close.
