Page 118 of Love Unwritten
I’ve done my best to keep my feelings toward Rafael in a locked box with a massive do not touch warning label. It was easy when he was so unlikable, but now that he is doing and saying things that make my heart skip more beats than a damaged vinyl record, I don’t stand a chance.
Most definitely not when he is looking at me like my well-being matters to him and checking in to see if I’m okay.
“I know you weren’t feeling well, so I wasn’t going to bother you…” His voice trails off.
“But?”
He doesn’t smile. He beams. “Nico and I had an amazing day today, and I need to talk about it with someone.”
His happiness is contagious, and I find myself smiling for the first time today as well. “Tell me everything.”
“I don’t remember the last time we had so much fun together.” He starts pacing beside my bed, stopping right next to me before turning in a hurry. “He wanted to build a sandcastle with me, so we tried. It wasn’t half as good as the one you and I made two days ago, though.”
I flick my hair over my shoulder. “Obviously. I am a champion after all.”
He chuckles to himself, adding to the growing list of things he does that tug on my heartstrings.
“We missed you,” he says next, taking an invisible battering ram to the wall protecting my heart.
I glance away. “You’re just saying that.”
He abandons his pacing and walks up to me. “No, I—Wait. Why are your eyes all red and puffy?”
“Huh?”
I’m hit with an overwhelming sense of loss as his smile is replaced with a frown. “Were you…crying?”
I shift my gaze toward the window that overlooks the vast ocean. “No.”
He clasps my chin and twists my head until I look up at him. “I thought you said you were sick.”
Heartsick is more like it. “I am.”
“Is everything okay?”
“It will be.”
His fingers tense against my skin. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing you need to worry about. I’ll see you at dinner?” The change of topic is far from smooth, but I hope he takes it as a hint that this conversation is over.
He stares at me for a few hard seconds, his mouth opening and closing once before he releases my chin with a nod, turns around, and leaves my room like he just saw a ghost.
I wait until Rafael storms out of my room to open the bag he dropped off. Although he said Nico chose the items, the truth becomes clear within the first ten seconds.
Rafael handpicked most of these items himself but gave Nico all the credit.
I’ve been grocery shopping with Nico before, so he knows I love cookies with rainbow sprinkles and that I prefer snacking on clementines and kettle corn, but his attention to detail usually stops there. Anytime I’ve sent him into another aisle to get me something, he always comes back with the wrong brand, which is an impressive feat in itself, seeing as we usually only have three options back home.
Nico can’t pick out my favorite sparkling water, let alone my favorite flavor, but Rafael apparently can. I’m surprised he even remembered since the strawberry-lemon ones are impossible to get because they are always sold out.
I always thought Rafael was too stuck in his own head to notice little details, but he keeps proving me wrong.
So very, very wrong.
With each item I pull out of the bag, I quickly come to the conclusion that Rafael doesn’t only pay attention.
He cares.