Sterling swallowed hard as he saw her lick her lips. Those beautiful, pink lips…
Snap out of it, Ainsley. Now is not the time to be the player. She needs help, so help her you idiot.
He cleared his throat and leaned back. "Should I carry you? Or can you still walk a little?" he wondered gently.
Willow blinked, coming out of her buzz. Was he looking at her lips, or was she just imagining it?
Come on Willow, he would never like you. Get some common sense in that brain of yours.
"I need some help," she said quietly, looking anywhere but Sterling. Against her will, her blush deepened.
Sterling finally managed to tear his eyes away from her lips, focusing on her blush inside. He smiled when he saw it. The pink in her cheeks brought out her eyes, making her look prettier than she already was.
“Of course. If you’ll just put an arm over my shoulders, I’ll wrap one around your waist, and we can make our way inside,” he said softly.
Oh god. His smile. The way it lit up his whole face, making his eyes bright. Willow would've tugged him down and kissed him right there, if she wasn't about to fall over.
"Okay," she whispered, and tentatively put her left arm around his shoulders. She could practically feel his muscles move under his shirt, and it was hot.
Sterling gingerly wrapped his arm around her waist, doing his best to not make her uncomfortable. "All right. It's not too far to the house, so you should be fine," he murmured as they started walking to the door.
Tingles erupted from where Sterling's arm was, and she almost faltered. Goodness gracious, it's just a boy! Willow nodded thickly. They neared the front door, where she could faintly hear voices from inside.
Sterling opened the door slowly, and a tall, dark-haired woman pooped her head out from another room. Her eyebrows shot up when she caught sight of her son's arm around a strange girl's waist.
"Sterling, you're home! And who's this?" she wondered in a soft, light voice.
Sterling smiled a bit at her as he led Willow inside farther. "Mom, this is Willow. Willow, this is my mom."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Willow," Mrs. Ainsley greeted her gently.
Willow held out her free hand. God, she hated being seen like this; tired and weak. “And a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Willow said lightly. Sterling’s mom was intimidating; tall and dark haired. She shifted slightly into Sterling’s side, seeking reassurance.
Sterling's mother smiled and shook Willow's hand as the boy tightened his arm around her slightly.
"Mom, Willow needs some help. Can she stay here for a while?" he asked gently.
"Oh… Of course. Yes, of course. You can stay in one of the guest rooms, dear," the older woman agreed quickly and without questioning the reason. They'd dealt with this kind of thing before.
“Thank you ma’am, it really means a lot to me,” Willow smiled at the woman, and turned her gaze up to Sterling, silently asking him to show her a room. She felt slightly dizzy, and wanted to lie down for a while, if it wasn’t too much of a problem. I’ll have to go back later to the house to get my stuff.
“Okay, well… I’m going to go show Willow to her room, now, mom,” Sterling said, giving her a pointed look.
The older woman raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly. “All right. Let me know if you need anything, Willow.”
Sterling turned to Willow and smiled at her gently. “Think you can make it up the stairs?”
((So sorry! I thought I had replied to this))
Willow smiled at Sterling's mom. "I will, ma'am." I definitely will not. She then turned to Sterling. "I think I can make it," she said, going over to the stairway. Willow gripped the rail tightly, and start to walk up the stairs, legs slightly shaking.
Sterling followed her close behind. “Okay, I’m right behind you if you need any help. Just don’t fall on me,” he joked with a chuckle.
Willow let out a light laugh, and she glanced back at Sterling. "I'll make sure I won't," she said, smiling softly. Slow and steady, she made it up the rest of the stairs without much difficulty.
“All right. So there’s a guest room just down the hall. It’ll be he second door in the right. The doorbjust before that is the bathroom, and the door after it is my room… Huh. I never realized that until now,” Sterling mused as he led her to the room.
"Thanks, Sterling, I really appreciate this," Willow said, smiling at him. It was the kindest thing that someone did for her for a long time. Not even her friend Tara had done this, and she'd known for months.
Sterling turned to face her once they had reached the room, giving her a small smile. "It's absolutely no problem. We're all glad to help. And, as you can see, we have no shortage of space," he chuckled.
"Yeah," Willow giggled. "I mean, your house is pretty spacious." She gently pushed open the door, revealing a room almost twice as big as hers back home. Walking into it, she let out a light laugh, euphoria flowing through her veins. It's so big! How can they afford guest rooms like this? "If your guest rooms look like this, I'm afraid of what your actual bedrooms sizes are!" Willow jokes.
Sterling shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck with a slightly awkward smile. "They're about the same, actually. Except for my parents' room. That's huge," he chuckled.
"Really?" Willow quirked an eyebrow at him. "Interesting." That smiles pretty cute. Shut up.
In a sudden act of affection, she rushed up to him, gently grabbed his face, and pecked him on the cheek. After pressing her lips to his cheek for a moment, she pulled away slowly. "Really, thank you." Willow whispered, still close to his face.
Sterling blinked at the sudden kiss and grinned down at her. "You are very welcome, Willow," he said softly, pressing a kiss of his own to her forehead. "Do you need anything?"
A familiar blush coated Willow's cheeks, and she looked up at him shyly. "I'm kinda cold, so maybe…a…sweatshirt?" she asked softly.
“Sure, I can get you one. It might be kinda big on you, though,” Sterling said with a small smile. Of course, he could give her one of his mom’s to wear, but what was the fun in that?
"It's fine, I like baggier clothes," Willow said shyly. She fiddled with the edge of her shirt, glancing up at Sterling once in a while. She wouldn't mention how close they were, or how their faces were mere inches apart.
Sterling nodded a bit, trying to refrain from glancing down at her lips. It worked, for a while… And then he glanced at her lips, chewing on his bottom one.
“Sure. Okay. I’ll, um, just be right back with that, then,” he said softly, turning to go get it.