We went back to Ravina’s place, and I remembered her inviting me to stay the weekend, but I didn’t want to ask if she still meant that. Better to just go with it…

Ravina is always surprising me. For example, I never realised how interesting it would be to watch someone draw. I’ve never known any people that were artsy, but Ravina makes “artsy” look like someone glued macaroni on paper and tossed glitter on it.

She’s sitting at her desk with her legs crossed, leaning over her new sketchbook and gazing down at it with focused, dreamy eyes…

I’d managed to find the same kind of book as her old one. She ran her hands over the cover when I gave it to her, her eyes watering.

“Theo…” she sighed.

I remember kissing her forehead and saying, “So you can keep drawing.”

And now she is.

She’s got graphite on all her fingers, and even some on her elbows from leaning on her desk. I’m laying on her bed. I know she thinks I’m looking at my phone, but I’m actually waiting for her to lean slightly to the left so I can see her face in the picture I’m trying to take-

“I caught you.” She mutters suddenly.

I hear the smile in her voice. Slowly, I lower my phone and she glances behind her shoulder with a shy blush…

“What are you drawing?” I ask, curiously.

Ravina smirks and then holds up her journal to show me. It’s a very impressive drawing of an eye.

I peer closer, sitting up and letting her hand it to me. Oh wow. That’s… my eye!

She’d been working on it for over thirty minutes, and it was so clear that’s what it was that I felt my heart warm. She probably has no clue how sweet this is-

“Sorry, it’s not very good. I should have used watercolor… ” I hear her whisper.

Ravina’s sitting backwards on her chair now and looking at me, her arms draped over the back of it. I smile when I see the pencil she was using placed delicately behind her ear.

I hand the book back to her and shake my head.

“It’s amazing. Here, hold it up-”

Ravina frowns, but I take my phone again and this time I have a much better view…

Her expression is one of pure embarrassment as I take a picture of her with the drawing.

“Theo, why are you…”

“Because it’s beautiful and so are you.”

I take another picture as Ravina blushes, her lips forming a completely blinding smile. That’s my favorite smile in the world-

Her face on my phone screen suddenly disappears, and it’s a split-second of confusion before I realise that she’s up and grabbing my phone from me.

I look at her. “Hello?”

She grins, “Hi.”

I hand over my phone and she stares at it for a moment, contemplating. Then the subject of photography changes and she smirks playfully as she snaps photo after photo of me.

I blush. “Ravina, stop.”

She shakes her head. “No. I’m getting reference material.”

I can’t keep myself from laughing.

“What reference? You can already draw me from memory.”

I watch as she bites her lower lip…

“True, but there are some things even my imagination can’t conjure up.”

“Like what?”

Ravina slowly glances up and meets my eyes.

She doesn’t answer me, and a few moments later she’s placing my phone on the bed and putting her hands on her hips.

Her eyes look the same as they did when she was drawing a few moments ago, and I start to get the feeling that she’s planning something…

It makes me both nervous and excited-

As if the world is moving in slow motion, I feel her hands on my shoulders before I see her move. When I look up, her eyes seem to be asking something. I don’t allow myself to overthink it.

All I am aware of is the sound of her breathing, and my heart hammering, as Ravina unbuttons my shirt. Her hands don’t shake, but I know mine would if I ever tried to be as brave as her…

“Theo?” I hear.

I blink. “Yeah?”

It’s like she can read my mind, because the next thing she does is take a small step away and reach for the hem of her shirt.

I hold my breath, watching as she pulls it off and then tosses it to the floor.

Heaven help me. Is this what they mean by life experiences?

“What’s that?” I ask, noticing a dark round scar on her stomach, just below and to the right of her belly-button.

Ravina shrugs and grabs one of my hands. She places it on her hip and before I can stop myself, my fingers are tracing her skin, touching the scar.

“I don’t remember. Whatever it was happened when I was young,” she sighs. “It’s so ugly. I hate it.”

My eyes dart up to hers. “You hate it?”

She nods, “I was thinking about covering it up with a tattoo someday, but I’m afraid of needles.” She laughs shyly.

I shake my head. “You don’t need to cover it, and it’s not ugly.”

Ravina smirks, “Are you just saying that because I took my shirt off?”

I smile. “No. I’m saying that because it’s what I think.”

You’re beautiful Rav. Don’t ever change.

She steps closer and places her arms around my neck, staring down at me with a playful twinkle in her eyes that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before…

“You’re amazing Theodore Kim,” she says, her voice all the sweetness in the world.

“I love you.”

I blink in surprise as she pushes my shirt off my shoulders and then laces her fingers together behind my neck. I try to think of what to say, what to do…

She leans down, and then we’re kissing like we actually know what the fuck we’re doing. And maybe she does.

After a little while I feel her take my hands in hers and gently guide them around her back. My heart is racing wildly in my chest. A part of me is afraid she can tell how inexperienced I am, but one look at her eyes tells me everything I need to know.

I’m frozen. Spellbound. Breathless.

My only option; watch Ravina. Watch this magnificent girl as she slowly, achingly slowly, shows me that she loves me with all her heart.