Page 44 of Love, Academically

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Dan or his sister, but he was too selfish to share Lila.

He would, because he knew she’d like it.

The rest of the world was out there, but he was here in his little bubble with Lila.

His girlfriend. Who he wouldn’t call his girlfriend and who he would be gentle with, because she’d asked him to.

“Call Lila Cartwright,” he said to his car as he pulled out of the car park.

“Hey, you finished? Was it okay not going with Dan?” There was the tell-tale noise of her snuggling down into a blanket on the sofa.

“Yeah, it was fine. A new guy said he’d see me next week.” Rhys indicated left to his flat.

“What? Are you making… friends?” She would be sitting there, her hand on her chest and eyes teasingly wide. A rumble of a laugh came from his chest.

“People want to see us,” he said.

“That makes no sense to me.”

“My sister has asked us round for dinner. Well, she’s asking her PA to sort it out and Dan has asked for a double date. Have you told Jasmeet about,” he hesitated fractionally, “us?”

Because there was an ‘us’, he was just unsure how she wanted to frame it.

“No, I haven’t found the right time,” she said.

“What about your parents?”

There was an uncomfortable silence from the other end of the phone.

“I was just wondering,” he said.

Logically he knew that Lila telling people about their official relationship status was a big step, and logically he was fine with that.

It was him she called, him she kissed, him she gave her smiles to.

But also, something hot clutched at his stomach.

That’s what you did. You told people about your boyfriend. Or whatever she wanted to call him.

Was she not telling people because she was embarrassed of him?

There was a moment of disbelief that this beautiful butterfly of a woman would ever want to be with someone like him; highly-strung, set in his ways, poor personal skills.

Perhaps she wasn’t telling people because she couldn’t bear people to know that she was with someone like him.

“Rhys, it’s so difficult to get a word in edgeways with anyone half the time, I haven’t been able to tell anyone,” she said. “Besides, I’m not sure people would be that interested, they’ve got better things to worry about.”

Fucking Jason breaking her down. Fucking Jasmeet and the other one, Maddy, for making her feel less than. Fuck her parents for not seeing how much she needed their attention.

Seren had never been embarrassed by who he was – in fact, she would tell anyone who would listen that she was engaged to the Dallimore heir.

But Lila wasn’t Seren, and he never wanted her to be.

If it was up to him, he would shout it to anyone who listened, but it wasn’t.

He had to be slow and safe for her, and if she needed time to realise that she wasn’t a burden to other people, then he would give it to her, no matter how much he had to push down his feelings of inferiority.

“Lila, you are worthy of people’s time. You are worthy of everything you want.”

The line was silent, apart from a little sniff.

“I can come over, if you’d like?” he asked gently.

“Okay, if you want to.”

“Lila, I always want to.”

“Yeah, I would like that.”

Rhys went all the way round the roundabout and headed for his girlfriend, who was sorely in need of care.