doe eyes

What he failed to see in his gorgeous, inexperienced eyes was that the proper response to "I love you" has never been "Well, that certainly puts a damper on things".

It was not - as he suspected - a challenge, but rather, a dismissal.

You overlook the fatal flaw...

The real issue here is that she'll clip your wings to sleep on angel down.

They assumed he was boring.

He poured the strawberry icing sauce onto his oatmeal, making the shape of what was probably (hopefully) a dinosaur. It was his fourth attempt this week. He'd learned to be quick before the lines blurred and faded into one another.

It was his favourite meal. Not for the taste - which he likened to sludge, until the proper amount of sugar (brown) and milk (1%) had been added - but for his love of the magic that came out of that strawberry packet.

Already believing him a constant disappointment, his mother dumped the same No Name brand porridge into the same bowl morning after morning, without ever bothering to watch as he slowly, painstakingly tried to draw for her something that would elicit the smile he had seen her bestow upon others.

As he was only six (and how perceptive can any child really be?) she didn't feel the need to pretend he was not a mistake. Unfortunately, she never quite got into the habit.

Baby, you make my heart beat faster.

Had he been inside her as they slept, they could not have been any closer.
At no time were they as complete, did life make as much sense, as when she found herself buried in pillows and kisses, as when he was warmed with words and body weight.
Though society would still call her the Other Woman, all three involved parties (her, his heart, & his mistake) still knew she was, in actuality, the Only Woman.

...providing.

In a manner reminiscent of that which angry lovers use
when spitting words towards one another,
she ingested them as she sang - intertwining music and melody with the simplest of phrases (yet ensuring they were coated in passion).
It's a shame those lacking the obscene abundance of talent
willingly on display before them,
chose not to acknowledge its presence.
But hey -- drinks are cheap, and girls cheaper.

Doing the whole chapter was tiresome.

IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a great dress must be in want of a dancing partner.

Comedic break appears in Act IV: In Which Rainy Mornings & Maternal Wake-Up Calls are Equally Unforgiving.

Act I: In Which Our Antagonist Just Needs a Good Fuck

very quickly gives way to

Act VI: In Which Our Lost Little Girl Needs Loves, Not Lovers.