The Kiss Bet July 2022 Ship Challenge

#22 Whiteboard

"Trust me, it's a hilarious prank!" Patrick's grin was giant and mischievous.
"And before you freak out, I Googled it and you can totally get it off again afterwards." He added, trying to persuade the girl before she had a chance to argue.

"He won't think it's hilarious! He'll be all "Sara-Lin! We use this time to study! Not to fool around and pull pranks!" With that grumpy cat face of his." She frowned. "I hate when he yells at me with that face"

"That's exactly WHY you should prank him! He's too uptight. He's got a stick up his butt the size of Texas, and it's our job to help him loosen up a little."  Patrick wiggled his eyebrows.

"And you think making him mad with a prank will help?" Sara-Lin asked dubiously.

"Definitely. And besides, if it's you he won't ACTUALLY get mad. He'll just pout a little ...maybe." Patrick said confidently.

"What do you mean he won't get mad because it's me? He'll get EXTRA mad because it's me!" Sara-Lin slapped her hands down on the table. "He's always yelling at me, and lecturing me, and grumpy at me, or ignoring me,  and snapping those stupid fingers in my face. He absolutely is not going to cut me any slack of I prank him, ESPECIALLY during tutoring time. He views that as like... sacred." She huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes.

"Sara-Lin... think about all the other stuff you've told me about him. The weird bread lunch? The balcony vent sessions? The music sharing? The times he's opened up about his life and family? Do you think he's doing that with his other tutoring students? Hell do you think he's doing that with literally ANYONE else?" Patrick leaned in and stared at her with a single eyebrow raised.

Sara-Lin thought about what Patrick said. It was true that sometimes, when he wasn't being a grumpy jerk, Oliver could be... almost sweet. He would take care of her in little ways and do small things to share pieces of himself with her. He was ALWAYS willing to listen to her, and even though he would call her out on it when she was being ridiculous sometimes, he was never mean about it. He'd had a time or two of being a little... blunt... but never MEAN.  And it was always from a place of caring. Because as she thought about it she realized that it was pretty obvious that, in his own way, he did care about her.

"I guess you're right... that stuff is probably special to me." She conceded. "But I'm telling you, he will absolutely still be super mad about a prank during tutoring, even if it's me." She said, not willing to give up ground on the matter.

"Ok... you wanna make a bet?" Patrick smiled, all teeth like a hungry wolf. "I bet that if he thinks it's someone else he'll be furious, but when he finds out it was you? He'll instantly calm down."

Sara-Lin laughed in his face "I'll take that bet! He'll be angry no matter WHO it is!"

Patrick's grin turned to a smirk "Ok, but if I win you have to tell him how you really feel about him."

Sara-Lin suddenly choked on her laughter. "What do you mean "how I really feel about him"?!? I don't feel anything about him! He's my friend!"

Patrick rolled his eyes "Sara-Lin, he is soooooo not just your friend. You talk about him CONSTANTLY, you blush the whole time, and the WAY you talk about him? You're obsessed. You want him to like you so badly. Because YOU like HIM. It would take an idiot not to see it. Which unfortunately, despite being good at math, he seems to be because he's obviously not figured it out despite feeling the same way."

"... You think he feels the same way?" Sara-Lin asked, knowing better than to argue with him. He'd been her best friend for years. If he had her figured out there was nothing she could do about it.

"Duh! All those things that prove you're special to him? They mean he's into you dummy."

Sara-Lin was reeling from this new revelation. She still didn't know if she believed it, but at the very least her heart was pounding a little harder at the possibility of hopefulness. "Ok, but why would him not getting as mad at me mean I have to confess?" She asked, confused.