Page 31 of Dealing With Drak
I don’t think I’m ugly, but not once has someone called me beautiful. Pretty? Sure, if you think my brothers count. But beautiful? That just isn’t me.
“I do not wish for you to look like them,” he insists, practically shaking me with his grip. “Do not tell me what I can and cannot find beautiful.”
“Well, then don’t call me?—”
“I like your hair,” Drak cuts in, interrupting me. “It is shiny and soft.”
Tired of this, I sigh. “Drak?—”
Again, he stops me. “I like the way the little dots on your face change when you scrunch your nose at me and the blunt teeth behind your lips. I like that even though you are small, you have so much strength. I like that your eyes are small pools of the sky, and I?—”
Overwhelmed, I grab his wrists, pulling him off of me. “I get it?—”
I don’t get it, but I need him to stop.
“Say you are beautiful,” he demands.
“You’re crazy.”
“Say it.”
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
“Say it,” he commands louder.
“Fine! I’m beautiful! Are you happy now?” I practically scream the words at him, chest heaving.
“I will be happy when you believe it,” he responds crisply.
“And you call me stubborn,” I huff.
Drak puffs out his chest. “You will believe it. I will make you.”
“Whatever you say, Mr. Delusional,” I grind out, forcing a tight smile. “Let’s just get to searching. We don’t have time to argue all day.
Whether or not he feels defeated, he agrees.
Shaking my head, I start ascending the small mountain.
What the hell was that?
12
Anna
“An-nana look what I have found,” Drak sing-songs, and I hear his footsteps strutting up behind me. We’ve made it deeper into the forest, using the edge of the river like a guide to bring us closer to the waterfall. We’ll use that as our base for the day, once we get there.
Without looking, I groan. “Drak, if it’s another bug, I really don’t care to see it.”
He has a strange fascination with catching bugs out of the air, which usually results in him accidentally crushing them and apologizing to the dead body in his palm.
“It is not,” he reports, sounding proud.
Looking over my shoulder, I discover it is most definitely not a bug.
“Drak… what the fuck?”
“Isn’t he cute?” he asks, smiling fondly at the beast in his arms.