The Forbidden Word

Rodney's mouth is met with the palm of Jessica's hand before he can finish expressing his feelings towards her. The strength of the smack almost makes him fall off the bed. She catches him, pulls him close and smacks her hand on his mouth.

"Don't you freaking say it!" He lets out a muffled groan. "No! I forbid it!"

He swats away her hand and yells out, "Forbid it? Are you kidding me? But I really lo-"

She sinks her fingers into her ears. "La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. No. You can't say that to me."

Rodney's heart sinks. The impact of her demands causes him to ponder about his feelings for her. Her perception of her shatters, seeing cracks all over her. With this in mind, he comes to a hard decision. Without looking at her, he pushes the covers off him and begins to dress himself.

"What are you doing?" she asks in a panic.

"I'm leaving."

"What? But you said you had the day off."

"Yeah, I do, and I'm not wasting it with a woman who won't receive my feelings."

Jessica gasps, realizing what she has done. She jumps out of the sheets and wraps her arms around his waist and presses her body against him.

"I am receiving your feelings, Rodney," she says while holding back tears. "I feel the same way."

He pushes her off of him and exclaims "Then why can't I say it?"

She lets out a soft sigh. As her arms release Rodney, he turns around to face her. She looks down with her eyes closed. She inhales, exhales, and then looks up to him.

"That word is a tainted word that I refuse to use. To me, it's not just a word, it's a sacred word that officially intertwines hearts into one beating connection. When you say it, you're making a vow to give that person all of you. Over the last eight years I've said this word to three different men who I thought were worthy of my full attentive adoration."

"Okay," Rodney says as he sits down next to Jessica, "But you can't say it to me because of them? That's not fair."

"Oh, it's not just you I won't say it to. I don't say it at all."

Rodney scoffs. "What? No, you've said it before." He begins to think back as far as he can and replays every vivid memory he has of them together. "Wait! You used that word to proclaim your fondness for peaches." 

"What?"

"Back on our third date, you said-"

"Oh! No, no, no. I said a dream of peaches, not I L peaches. It's so delicious that it's on my mind all day every day."

"No yo- oh. Wait. No, you're right." He begins to ponder some more. He snaps his finger. "Well how about the time you said it to express how much you like puppies when my neighbor introduced you to his new adorable pup? You said it to Snowball."

Jessica shakes her head. "Nope. I said that my passion for cute puppies is high and above."

"What? Really?" She nods. "You said that?" She nods again. He plays out that moment again and adds the dialogue she claims she said. "Hm, yeah. You're right. You did say that." He chuckles. "I thought that was weird when you said that." He goes back to thinking for a moment. With each second that passes by, he fails to find a memory that she uses that specific word.

His eyes widen as he says, "Wow. Holy moly, I think you're right. You've never said the word once around me."

"I told you."

"Kind to think of it, I don't think you've ever said it to your parents around me." He darts a concerned expression to her as he asks, "Do you not say it to your own parents?”

Jessica snaps her tongue and looks away from him. "Uh."

"Like, I've heard you say they give you eternal warmth in your heart, but I don't think I've heard you say you L them." Jessica's face shines red as she looks back to him. "Oh, Jessica. Come on!"

"I can't, Rodney, I just can't! Whenever I said that word to them all of the heartaches and struggles that I endured with my exes would return to haunt me."

"That's a problem, Jessica. You can't let a word alter you like this."

"You don't understand! That word meant so much to me. Now it's tainted with bad memories. So many times, I would outweigh my dedication to them after hearing them say that word to me when they never give me a fraction of what I gave to them. Several instances I stripped and pleasured them all because they would fuel my heart with that word. Countless times I was reeled back to certain exes after they weren't faithful to me because of that robust word of affection. t's a miserable and infectious word to me now."

Rodney sighs and looks away from Jessica. The sight of him slouching over the bed makes her eyes tear up. She bites her lip as she holds back her emotions.

Suddenly, she feels Rodney's arms wrap around her. She gasps from the unexpected hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through such pain. I may not fully like that you can't say that word, but even so, I still adore you, Jessica. I have a deep affection towards you. One silly little rule will not change how much I desire to be in your life."

Tears stroll down Jessica's face. She lays her head on Rodney's shoulder and wraps her arms around him. With their arms still around one another, they lean back and gaze into each other's eyes. 

"I heart you, Jessica," says Rodney.

"I heart you too, Rodney," whispers Jessica.

They lean and kiss, intertwining their hearts to form a new form of bond. A bond so strong that words cannot express their feelings for one another.