It was his eyes that did her in first.
She remembered walking through the main hall, absentmindedly thinking about Paris, then catching a glimpse of his eyes—dark, piercing, and beautiful. He looked at her and she forgot the world. It was only for second, but that second was all it took for her to trip on Drew's display and have it come tumbling down.
Nice going, Maya. She hesitantly made eye contact with the dark-haired boy, while in the background Drew frantically scrambled to recover the display. He held her gaze and raised his eyebrows at her in amusement. It took all she had to hold back the blush that was fighting to spread, but she couldn't help the small smile that managed to creep up. Before she knew it, she was being whisked away by Tristan, but she couldn't help but take one last glance back at the boy with the pretty green eyes.
Then it was his voice.
His deep, deep voice. Smooth as velvet, musical. She liked the way his words rolled out languidly, his slow drawl matching his demeanor. Laid-back, aloof, dark. Masculine. Sexy. She was hooked.
"Nice try, but it won't work," he told her, and goosebumps spread themselves across her skin. She tried to think that it was because she got caught off-guard, and not because the way he spoke sounded better than her favorite symphony.
"I'm Miles…Hollingsworth," he said.
"Matlin—"damn it. She corrected, "Maya Matlin."
"You wanna watch the concert backstage, Matlin, Maya Matlin?" he teased and she took the bait. At that point, she'd be willing to go pretty much anywhere with him. As long as he kept saying her name like that.
She couldn't pin what came next.
The first time she truly noticed his smile, she felt her cheeks heat up. She'd seen countless times how he could quirk it into a smirk or brighten it into a grin, but she'd never noticed how legitimately attractive it made him. Her favorite part was the little gap he had on the side of his teeth. It gave him look lighter, friendlier; it contrasted with his whole bad boy image. She'd noticed the dichotomy the first time at his mansion, when he'd smiled at her innocently before quickly downing gulp of scotch. If he was really that bad, then he wouldn't be this beautiful. She quickly dispelled the thought from her brain.
His arms too. He was thin, but his body held a good amount of muscle. She knew this for a fact; she'd felt them around her when he pulled her away from a French boy who'd tried to hit on her. And again when he'd kissed her fiercely afterwards, one arm circling around her waist and the other in her hair as he went about lighting her body aflame. She was flushed and dizzy for a good ten minutes afterwards. Well then.
Or it could've been his undiscriminating kindness to everybody he met. Sure, he was bad in many aspects, but Miles was never cruel. She remembered the night she'd first met Miles. He'd unhesitatingly given her, virtually a complete stranger, his debit card when he heard she didn't have money for a ride home. He always did things like that. If someone was being picked on, he'd step in regardless of if he knew them or not; if someone was short on money for a meal, he'd spot them without asking to be paid back. He always did these things covertly though, as if he didn't want people to see how nice he truly was. Maya herself didn't notice for a long time until after she'd met him, and after that, she couldn't help but fall for him a little harder every time she saw him give money to a homeless man or help Winston with his homework. People who didn't know Miles thought he was just a rich kid who had too much time on his hands, but Maya thought he was one of the kindest people she'd ever met.
In the end, what really got her was the way that he never gave up on her.
Within the first two days of meeting him, she had managed to embarrass herself in numerous ways and get him into trouble twice with his dad. Anyone else would've been long gone, but he stayed.
No matter how many messes she made or tangles she caught herself in, he was always there for her. He told her it was okay when she knocked his teeth the first time they kissed, and when she got them caught sneaking in after curfew, and when she accidentally ripped one of the sweaters he'd lent her when it'd been too chilly one night.
When she finally told him about Cam, she'd expected to scare him off. I'm the girlfriend of the dead guy; who would want that? Her voice shook the entire time and when she was finished, she couldn't meet his eyes. He was quiet. They sat there, looking out at the Seine, the only noise being the movement of the water as the waves calmly drifted into one another. She shut her eyes. Don't cry don't cry don't cry. She felt his hand, all long fingers and coarse skin, slide into hers then interlock. A lone tear slowly crawled down her cheek. He nudged her chin over to face him and carefully, he kissed it away. She liked that he knew exactly what she'd needed.
She knew she'd come dangerously close to falling for him completely.
After the trip, she began readying herself for when he'd inevitably leave her. Everyone else did. She slowly began to wean herself off him; at first, making excuses for why she couldn't hang out, then flat out ignoring him altogether. The texts and calls never stopped coming and though every time the itch to talk to him became more glaringly urgent, she told herself, Cam, and the itch would be gone. After two weeks of this, she'd expected him to forfeit and prepared herself for the break-up call. She didn't expect it when he showed up to her house one night with a bouquet of flowers and a box of pizza.
"Care to tell me why you've been ignoring me?" he'd asked her. She shook her head.
"I thought you would've given up by now."
"Matlin, Maya Matlin…you've wrecked me." He shot her a smile and she fell in love.
A/N: Hi there! I haven't written anything in a while so I'm awfully rusty. I'm in love with Miles and Eric Osborne though and I was in desperate need of some Matlingsworth and I guess this is what happened! I hope it's not too awful. I wrote this while listening to Dust on the Ground by Bombay Bicycle Club so that explains the title haha. Reviews would be much appreciated! Thank you for reading :-)