The Kiss Bet: Oliver & Sara Oneshots

Complicated

"...What?" Oliver asked after locking eyes with the girl at his side for a moment, having noticed her staring at him.

She blinks a few times, like she had been snapped from spacing out, though all that comes out is a hummed "Uh..."

"What?" He repeats more curiously, turning his full body to face her as he sat criss-cross on the bed.

"N-Nothing," she stuttered, before continuing hesitantly, "I guess just... I'm wondering if, like..."

With a small tilt of the head, his brows furrowed in confusion, "If what?"

"I don't know, if you still like me, I guess...?" Sara grows quieter as she continues through the sentence, barely audible by the end of it, referencing his indirect confession to her that had happened a couple months prior.

For a moment, despite the blush rising to his face he tried to ponder the answer, before sort of snapping into the realization of the strange suddenness of the question as he raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Just.... Do you?" The older girl asks once more, her cheeks twinged pink.

The blond hummed softly for a moment, glancing around before eventually settling on a simple answer, "That's a really complicated question. Sort of a combination of yes and no. Now, why are you asking? I doubt it's just for the sake of asking, you've never seemed comfortable with the concept of me feeling anything towards you."

A quiet nervous groan is heard faintly from her, and she refuses to meet his eye, "I just... I think I like you."

After taking a moment to allow this to settle in as reality, his eyes looked anywhere except the face of the girl in front of him as he began to fidget with his thumbs, sighing through his nose before speaking, "I really don't understand you, Sara."

She gives a confused glance to the boy as he continues, "I just don't get it. I like you for months, and you always have interest in anyone except me, and then when it feels like my feelings are easing we have these weird occasional.... Moments... And I realize that this is bigger than I thought, and for a little bit there I think I have a shot for once, until I make it clear I'm interested and you reject me. And now almost as soon as I think it's possible I'm moving on for real, you tell me you like me. Is this how all stupid teen romance is? I don't understand, am I only attractive to you when I seem unattainable?"

"N-No, that's not it at all!" She quickly defends, "I don't understand it either... I guess... Maybe I'm afraid of losing you, I think seeing you kinda move on is just making me realize how much I was missing... I-I know it's dumb and I totally get it if you're frustrated-"

"Of course I'm frustrated!" He snapped slightly, "This is exactly what I hate with young relationships! I like you longer than I've ever accepted that I liked someone, and once I think I'm finally getting over that stupid rejection that was on stuck my shoulders this whole time, it's like all of it was pointless."

The younger boy looked up at her to see her face full of guilt and pity, making him sigh as he calmed, lying on his back, staring up at the plain white ceiling, softening his voice apologetically and glancing at her from the sides of his eyes, "I'm not mad at you. I'm really not. It's not your fault, if there's anything I've learned from you it's that feelings aren't exactly within our control and I can't blame you for only realizing when you felt like I was slipping away. A few months ago this would've been... Absolutely amazing, and now it's this.... Big confusing mess. It's the situation I'm frustrated at, not you at all. The circumstances are just.... Annoying. And ironic. Painfully ironic."

"You're telling me," she gives a short bitter laugh, lying at Oliver's side.

"It's not even... It's not like I've really moved on yet." He admits, "I most definitely don't like anyone else, you're one of the only people that isn't physically painful to be around. But it's like I said, whether I still actually like you is a really complicated question."

"Do you have a complicated answer?" She asks softly.

He hesitates for a moment, "I think I do, if you're up for hearing it."

"A complicated answer is better than no answer."

Taking a deep breath in, he sighs it out before beginning, "I guess it's just like.... I like you, but I don't really think I want to, like.... Date you... Or... Or anything... Or at least I'm not sure whether I do anymore, anyway, especially considering I was hesitant about the whole idea of dating you in the first place. It's not that you aren't still great and all, you're a great person and there's obviously a reason I felt like this at all, and honestly I really admire you, it just kinda feels like I don't really want to date you as much anymore since I've actually internalized what I thought were the facts here, which were that you didn't like me. It's nothing to do with you or anything you did wrong, it's just, kinda like... An adaptation, maybe a defense mechanism to the information I was previously given, I guess."

"So does that mean I've lost any chance I would've had a few months ago?" She questions, a slight frown crossing her lips.

For a moment he's silent, "...I don't really know yet. I still feel the general attraction towards you, but I don't know if it's enough for me to actually be willing to pursue it. If I'm going to date you, I want it to at least work out and be sure of my own feelings. You sounded unsure too, so it seems like we both need to figure things out before anything else."

Sara turns to face him, him doing the same upon noticing her as she murmurs, "So what now?"

The blond boy sighed, "I don't want to ask you to act like this didn't happen and step back, that's completely counterintuitive here, and the total opposite of working to figure out our feelings and all."

"Can we.... I don't know, act like a couple? At least, more than we do now?" She asked, slightly awkwardly as though she were unsure of her own request, "Like, I don't know, do affectionate stuff? Or whatever else you're comfortable with?"

He still seems hesitant, making the older girl interrupt before he can figure out what to say, "If you'd rather keep this more lowkey that's fine too!! I-If you aren't comfortable that's okay...!"

This makes Oliver shake his head, "N-No, no, that's okay. Affection works, just stuff on the smaller side, okay?"

She smiles, leading him to do the same as she speaks quietly, "Okay."

And with at least one thing clear, at the same time as though they had made a silent agreement through a single blink, the pair both scooted in closer to one another, her face fitting its way into the crook of his neck, his face buried into her supple, copper hair. His breathing grows gentle and relaxed as he nuzzles in closer, and with both of them feeling at least a little bit more at ease about the situation, Sara sighed with contentness, wrapping an arm around Oliver's torso and pulling him closer into her.

A/N

Hey y'all!
Well, we can all say that this story certainly lives up the prompt of "complicated," holding quite a complicated situation within it... I actually wrote this about three months ago because I've just got this awful fear that as soon as I actually think I'm moving on from the guy I like rn, he'll immediately start liking me because i SWEAR it actually feels like i'm only attractive when i'm unattainable considering he rejects me every time i explicitly show interest, but then there's been moments between us and times i've thought he liked me basically ONLY when i didn't think i currently liked him :') fear

Anyway, I hope y'all liked this story, please leave any ideas, prompts, thoughts, or constructive criticism in the comments, I love hearing your feedback!!