Justified ain't mine.
Boyd didn't know how it happened, but he found that his feelings for Ava were changing to something else. It confused the hell outta him. He'd been after her for as long as he could remember, but it wasn't the polite sort of 'after'. Nowadays he'd think about his behavior towards her, and laugh at the irony. If anyone dared to pull even half the shit that he had pulled with her while she was married to Bowman, they'd be six feet under no questions asked.
But things had changed lately and he wasn't quite sure how. She looked at him different. She didn't think he had noticed, but he had. When he first moved in she'd looked at him, it had been the same as always. Wariness with a mix of slight disgust, and a shit load of suspicion. But since their porch dates, after the mining robbery gone bad, it had been different. She'd smile at him more often. Real genuine smiles. She'd laugh too, from time to time. She'd began to look at him, with something akin to fondness.
Their porch dates (for lack of a better word) had been infrequent to say the least. Maybe once a week, days when she was bored or lonely or just really needed to talk to a human, regardless of whom. They went from once a week maybe twice a week, to nearly daily. And then they went talking once a day, to something quite different. The days he didn't have night shift, they'd wake up (separately of course) eat breakfast together in sometimes a companionable silence, and others days a steady stream of nonsensical chatter.
She'd call him sometimes during the day. At first she'd find some excuses, say she was at the grocery store and ask if he wanted anything, call him up to know he had some bill come in the mail, or to let him know that she'd be late, things of that nature. After a while, she stopped making up excuses. She'd call him up when she knew he had a break, and they'd just talk.
And then dinner. They'd sit and have dinner, and do the chores together. And then afterwards, he'd pour them some drinks and they'd sit out on the porch for hours.
She'd rarely look at him like he was the old Boyd anymore, but the few times he caught her looking at him like he was something that crawled out her gutter. Those times made him feel like someone sucker punched him right in the gut. He knew he deserved it, after everything he had put her through, but it didn't mean it hurt any less.
He remembered Monopoly night though. He felt like something shifted Monopoly night. Maybe something for the better. He remembered sitting there, watching her laugh and thinking that maybe this was what life was about. Finding someone that you liked being with. Finding someone you didn't mind sharing yourself with. All the good with all the bad. Finding that one person that made you feel better just by being there. Finding that someone that you trusted. Finding that person you loved.
He remembered thinking this, and looking at her face, and watching her change. And at the moment, he saw what she saw. He saw himself. The way he was. And he thought that maybe, it didn't matter what he thought, didn't matter if he loved her or not, because to her, there'd be a part of her that would always remember that Boyd. Maybe, this friendship was the most that he would ever get. But then she smiled at him again. It seemed different this time around. All he knew was after Monoply night, he never really saw her looking at him as the old Boyd again. Progress right?
Reviews would be nice.
