Textual Relations

by Lauren Rowe

Grayson rolls onto his side and takes my hand in his. “Pulchritudinous. It’s just a fancy way of saying ‘beautiful.’ I figure you’ve been called ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’ and ‘stunning’ too many times to count in your lifetime, so I’m trying to find a word that’s never been said to you before.”

“You’re what I’ve been waiting for, without realizing I was even waiting.”

“Because you’re the crayons to my coloring book,” he declares without hesitation.