This time, I'm serious

You do, too.

The date was awesome. He and Cora just laughed the whole time, making jokes about everything.

He pointed out a pretty flower that had been left on the table for them, and she picked it up and crushed it in her hand, throwing the broken petals at him as if she hated his guts.

It was one of the funniest things she'd ever done. They had this incredible comedic chemistry. They just knew exactly where each other's heads were at. He definitely felt like things were easier with Cora. They were effortless. They were fun. They were easy . But why? What was it about her that was so easy?

He glanced up at her, watching her in the candlelight, and imagined how he would feel if he was with Jas instead. His heart wrenched, and his stomach turned, and he instantly felt overcome with butterflies.

He thought about kissing Cora earlier. It was nice. It was nice. She was a great kisser. It had even turned him on a bit. So what was the problem?

"Are you thinking about our kiss?" she asked him.

Bruno looked at her like she was a witch. "How the fuck d'you know that?"

"You were staring off into space, furrowing your brow and pursing your lips like you were trying to figure something out. Only makes sense you're trying to work out how you feel about it."

"You first, then"

"Nope! You're the one whose head needs to get sorted out. I can kiss whoever I want."

He chuckled. "Okay. So. The thing is, I'm actually not sure where my head's at."

She nodded, smiling at him. "I'm not going to be offended if you say you don't like me."

"But that's just it, I don't know for sure that I don't" .

Cora looked a little surprised. "Oh! I... Wow. I didn't expect that." she paused, pondering for a moment. "Look, why don't you just let it all out. Use me as a sounding board. Get everything out of you so at least we can look at each piece together. No judgment and I won't say anything until you ask me to."

Bruno smiled at her. That was a good approach. He made a note to use that later. Open. Honest. No judgment. Just get it all out.

"Okay. So. Firstly, I really liked kissing you. It felt awesome, you're a great kisser. And it definitely turned me on a bit. I know I'm attracted to you, and I know you're attracted to me, so I know that we aren't in like, friendzone territory here. And despite her being a giant bitch, Juliet was right. Everything's just so much easier with you. I feel like our personalities just fit together like nothing else I've ever experienced. When I think about you, I think about being relaxed, laughing, and it's just effortless. The more I think about it, the more I feel like you and I just kind of make sense. But ..." he paused, not exactly knowing how to say the next part.

She sat silently, nodding at him to go on.

"... But. When I think about Jas, I don't think about laughing. I think about kissing her. I think about how incredible I feel when I wake up next to her. I think about... urgh, I can't believe I'm saying this out loud... I think about like, meeting each other's families, and moving in together, and like, getting ma..."

He stopped himself before he could say it. He looked at Cora, cringing, blushing furiously, and waited for her to say something. Oh, whoops.

"And now I would very much appreciate you saying something."

She didn't.

She just smiled at him, her smile growing wider by the second until she was beaming.

"You love her!"