Enemies with benefits

Bonus chapter: Go for it, Ezra

Thank you for six million reads! It's absolutely crazy to me that Enemies with Benefits has become so popular, I wrote it during lockdown as a way to maintain my sanity and the support for my writing from you guys has changed my life in more ways than you could imagine.

Anyway, (putting my love for you all aside) here is the highly requested retelling of chapters 6-7 from Ezra's POV.
@gimmesomeyaknow for the initial idea

Ezra and Colby were sitting together in his car.

He could hardly believe it. Colby was in his car. Willingly! They were just sitting here together without arguing or bickering for the first time in years. It was surreal.

It had been pure coincidence that Ezra had agreed to go with Brent to Gino's Italiano. Who would've guessed that Colby and Finley would've been there, and the things that Colby had done in that restaurant... he was so bold! Ezra initially left his hand on Colby's thigh as a joke, a silly reminder of what they'd been up to the past few days. He was convinced that Colby must remember the kiss they had shared at the party last weekend. Surely something like that which had become solidified as a pivotal moment in Ezra's life couldn't just mean nothing to the person he shared it with. He didn't dare ask him though.

If Colby didn't remember and he really had been only spurred on by the amount of drink he had had that night, that the kiss with Ezra had meant nothing and he hadn't even bothered to remember it, Ezra wasn't sure his heart could take it. Better to live in ignorant bliss, he figured.

Still, the friends with benefits suggestion that they had both agreed on, Ezra could make that into something. At the moment, Colby wouldn't allow him to call them friends with benefits because they weren't friends, but they could be. They could be that and so much more. Ezra wouldn't mess it up this time, he'd had years to think about how he felt. It was scary, but he was going to go for it this time.

Ezra pulled up in front of Colby's house. The car ride had ended all too soon for his liking, but at the same time, his heart was beating so fast he was beginning to worry that he was about to pass out at the wheel.

Colby stalled for a second, he made no move to get out the car. Was he waiting for something? He still had that grumpy look on his face, but he always had that look when Ezra was around. A temporary problem hopefully.

He had to start trying to fix it though.
Alright Ezra, time to hit him with the romantic line. 'I'll dream of you tonight' or 'I can't wait to see you again', those were both kind of cheesy, a classic line ripped straight out of a romcom. He wasn't a big fan of romcoms, he always found the artificialness of them to be too off putting. Like, is there really that many obstacles stopping two attractive straight people from getting together. No, of course there wasn't. It was all so contrived and frustrating to watch. Those poor straight people forcing romantic obstacles between each other when they are allowed to publicly ask each other whether they want to go on a date. Get fucked.

Then -following his own bitter logic- he needed to speak truthfully from his hear. To say something along the lines of 'Colby, I like you. I like you so much that I have made some of the biggest mistakes of my life to avoid thinking about how much I like you. My feelings for you terrify me, because I don't think there is a thing in this world that can change my mind about you. I'm afraid that I'll spend my entire life with only dreams of you when I want so much more. I'm so sorry for what I did in the past, but just give me one chance and...' . Stupid. Colby was more likely to run away screaming about what an obsessive weirdo Ezra was before he agreed to go on a date with him. Shit, why was this so difficult?

He should probably keep it simple, 'see you later' would do the trick.

Okay. He said: "See you Friday." 'For our date'.