SMILE ✔︎

C A M D E N B E C K

C A M D E N B E C K

DOUBLE UPDATE! this is the second chapter today so go check out the first :)

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J U N E  1 9 9 8

"Wait... really?" I ask him as he stacks boxes of extra food in the highest shelves, he's one of the only people I know can reach up there..

"I mean why not?" Royce responds with a shrug.

For once we were alone.

Girls all day had been flooding in, giving him their hotel addresses and flirting with him as he stocked. I mean... this is why my dad hired him for double pay. I don't think Royce took the double pay though, I believe he chose to keep a normal wage for what he was doing.

It was admirable.

I don't think he knew how amazing he was... how pretty, how funny, how he gives off the energy that everybody needs to get through their day.

But the real thing that baffled me while the muscles in his back moved smoothly was that he had just asked me if I would go to some foster homes with him.

"But like... do you have any reason to take me?" I ask and he laughs a little, "Well you're my best friend, Sweetheart..." he mumbles, staring at his hands as he holds a box.

The sides of the box were a normal cardboard brown, but inside the bags were purple and orange, a black rectangle sitting on the bag with the text "Cheetos" on it.

Of course we had Cheetos....

I walk around the shelf and snatch a grab of Cheetos from the box as he continues speaking, "And I trust you... more than I think you know... I mean I've told you more than I've told anybody else. You're special to me, so you're special to all the kids I love."

I open the bag and shove an orange cheesy Cheeto into his mouth, a smile rising my lips from the compliment.

"Do you really love them?" I ask lightly and he nods with a small smile, "I wanna make as many kids happy as I can..." he mumbles and I lean against the shelves, grabbing his hand a little and running my thumb across his knuckles. I look at him sweetly and raise an eyebrow, "do you think you'll ever love me?" I ask cheekily.

"Well... depends..."

"On what?" I ask, leaning in a little and he runs his fingers lightly through my hair, "Whether or not you'll go with me?" He asks, our noses almost touching. I smile, my teeth out while he smirks.

"Then I'd love to go do that, Royce..." I mumble, and his eyes light up as a smile rises on his face. He leans his lips up and kisses my nose.

"Then I love you." He says with a wink.

While I walk around him and I put a hand on his back and kiss his neck. "Love you too, Royce." I mumble.

He smiles down at his box.

I don't think there is an in between with his smiles, there is a smirk and then there is probably the widest, most perfect smile you'd ever see/seen.

"Great..." he mumbles, slowly biting his lip as a smile sticks on his face. He stares at me for a moment while I work on the other end of the shelves. Without hesitation I stare back with the exact same look on his face.

He looks down, now smiling at his hands.

"Well... I have to go in a few minutes so-"

He looks up when he hears the bell rings, and soon smirks at the girls in bikinis who walked in, but he can't fool me. I remember the look he gave them when they walked in, where his lips parted and his hair fell in front of his eyes. I remember when he quickly shook his head to get the hair out of his face and his lips slowly curled. When I look at him staring at them, almost breathless, I feel helpless.