More Than Friends

Eleven

"Do you like me?" Connor asked me again.

Where was this coming from? Wasn't it just as awkward of a question for him to ask as it was for me, regardless of the situation? I tried to keep calm, keep from panicking again. I had to stop and think about this to say the right thing.

Do I like him? It's pretty obvious now, I suppose. Of course I do. In fact, I...

"Well, yeah. Of course I do. You're my best friend, Connor." This was my way of trying to worm my way out of the situation. "You're my only friend, to be completely honest. You've been there for me for as long as I can remember, and even after all these years of being apart, I've never been able to forget you."

"But do you, like me like me?" He asked, sort of impatiently, grabbing a hold of my shoulders, expecting me to give him a straight forward answer right then and there.

  

"Yes."

  

There was no telling what would occur next, so I cautiously opened my eyes to see what his reaction was. How would he feel about discovering that his old friend had fallen for him? For whatever reason, I expected him to feel disgusted towards me, or if anything, feel confused about the whole thing. However, that wasn't the vibe I got from him.

The same way he had looked at me a minute ago, back in his car, when we had met up again after five years, and before he moved away, he looked at me now. In fact, he looked like he understood how I felt, like he had known all along.

Is it just me or...

He wasn't pushing me away. He was moving closer. He wasn't grabbing me anymore. He was holding me in his arms. He wasn't acting the way I had expected. He was doing the opposite.

"C-Connor, what... what are you doing?"

"All this time..." He whispered to himself. "All this time, I think I've felt the same way..."

There was no way this wasn't a dream. It was some kind of prank, a horrible, cruel, messed up prank. Any minute now he would admit it and begin laughing out loud. Or was Connor really confessing the truth?

Still wrapped up in his arms, I slowly held him back, overwhelmed with all these emotions. Holding him was so much different from what I had imagined, it then occurred to me I had never really figured out what I'd do if something like this ever happened.

"It wasn't until tonight," Connor began to respond again, "it wasn't until tonight, when I saw you and Aiden kissing, that I couldn't keep denying how I felt about you. I got jealous too. It's why I left... and why I came back. For you."

This was just too much for me. I should have been happy, excited, thrilled about what Connor was telling me, but I wasn't. Fear began to take control of me.

"I-I... I can't..." I tried to push him away, but couldn't find the strength to, and he was also persistent in making sure he didn't let go.

"Ben. Don't worry. Let me take care of you."