"Just Friends"

16

(1093 words)
I woke up with a start to an alarm I didn't know I had set. I clamored blindly for my phone, reaching out to my bedside table only to find neither my phone nor the table were there. I opened my eyes to find I was in Calvin's apartment, curled up and asleep with him on the sofa, the TV still gently playing. So it wasn't a dream, it really happened. I also found that my phone wasn't the one ringing, but Cal's.

"Cally, hey." I shook the arm that was wrapped around me. He took a deep breath and stretched out as he drifted out of sleep and back to reality.
"Good morning, sunshine," he said and squeezed me closer to him. "How did you sleep?"
"I always sleep well next to you. Your alarm is going off."
"Oh yeah, will you turn it off?"
"Sure, what was it for?"
"It was for, um. Oh, shit," Cal shot up from the couch, leaving me cold without his body next to mine. "I was supposed to do a stream today, oh I'm gonna be so late."
"Just hop on now, I'm sure it'll be fine." I sat up and cracked my neck, sleeping on couches wasn't good for my spine.
"Yeah, okay, I'll go set up." He collected his phone and jogged to the kitchen to make coffee while I spent a little time waking up and scrolling on my phone.
He came back to the living room, steaming mug in hand.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize, you can stay here as long as you want just don't make too much noise," Cal said and headed to his room before stopping quickly to walk back to me and give me a kiss. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Go stream Ceej-Gee." I responded with a warm glow in my heart. Those words meant something so different now, so exciting. I waited for him to disappear into his room before doing a happy wiggle.

My stomach started to growl so I went into the kitchen to grab a snack before heading off. When I entered the kitchen I saw Aaron leaning against the counter and eating a bowl of cereal and milk, head bobbing to music playing in his headphones, eyes staring straight at the wall.

I'd failed to warn him that I was staying over again, and when he saw me he jumped slightly, the milk sloshing around the ceramic sides of the bowl. Rather than interrupt him further I just waved and gave an awkward smile before heading off back to my place.

In my happiness it was easy to forget about repercussions. The possibility of Ally exploding when she found out was a little too high for my liking, and I'd known her long enough to know it would be every emotion known to man, plus a few new ones. Calvin and I didn't talk about when we were going to tell our friends because he'd rushed off to stream, so I wasn't sure if it was a secret or not. Secrets hadn't been super helpful as of late.

I decided it would be better to just go by "Don't ask, don't tell" rules. If she didn't directly ask me anything then I wouldn't tell her. Pausing at the door only slightly, I entered the flat and prayed Ally wouldn't be on me about it.

Instead of the hyper and crazed woman I was expecting, I found her lying on the couch watching some bad reality show. As she saw me walk in, her demeanor changed quickly from relaxed to a conniving, unhinged smile, it was off putting. Even though I didn't see any trip wires or pressure plates, I couldn't help but feel I was walking into a trap, ready to be lunged on by my dear-friend-turned-psychopath.

"Hey, Ally, whatcha watching?" I asked, treading carefully.

"Nothing interesting. How's Calvin?" She said through that knowing smile. Such a simple two word question and yet it carried so much implication.

"Um, he's fine." I said.

Ally knew I was avoiding the real question she asked. "Your bet is trending on twitter. Do you still owe him anything?"

She didn't know it but this was easy to deflect, I hadn't made good on the bet so I was telling the truth when I said "Yep, he would never make me do anything I'm uncomfortable with."

"Really," she raised her eyebrows. "For someone with a supposedly uneventful night, your hair is quite the mess."

Damn, I hadn't looked into the mirror so I wasn't aware that the couch had knotted my hair rather fiercely.

"I fell asleep on the couch." I responded, touching the nest on my head. I could feel her backing me into a corner.

"Did you, now?"

"Yup."

"And where, per se, did Calvin sleep?" She prodded. I realized, then, that I needed stupider friends.

"On the couch, we fell asleep watching TV."

"How."

"What do you mean?"

"How did you fall asleep?"

"Um, how do we normally sit on the couch?" Answering a question with a question is almost always a sign of guilt, so the second it left my mouth Ally took it as a confession.

She grinned at me. "No more secrets, right?"

"I've only told you the truth," I responded. I was right, I hadn't lied to her.

She directed her attention back to the TV, essentially dismissing me from the conversation. I left her to go to my room and recover from the conversation, leaning against the door and letting myself breathe. I logged onto my computer to watch his stream and unwind, maybe play some stupid mindless games like Snake. He wouldn't see it until after the stream, but I decided to text him to see if we were keeping anything a secret.

Not only had we not decided about telling our friends, we also didn't discuss a label. Did I have a boyfriend now? Neither of us technically asked the other out. Maybe it didn't matter so much and I was overthinking it but once I had the thought in my brain it latched on like a tic, itching and irritating at every thought.

I didn't want to have to wait for his stream to be over but there wasn't exactly another choice, so instead I settled into bed and watched him play a social deception game. The irony.
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Short chapter, just wanted to get something published.
Remember to hydrate!