Ambivalently Yours

Easing Into It, but Quickly

The afternoon of the last day of fall break, Liz returns to find you finishing up cleaning the apartment. She places her duffel bag down and looks you over. "Do you have pants on under that?" she asks.

"Shorts," you answer, lifting the hem of Rafe's entirely oversized hoodie to prove you're fully clothed. You drop it back down and go back to winding the cord of the vacuum up.

"Is that Rafe's?" she asks.

"Yeah. I was cold this morning when we got up, so he made me put it on," you answer.

"Oh, a little sleepover action, eh?" she says. "How much time has he spent here since I've been gone?"

"A pretty good portion of the time you were gone."

She grins. "Spending lots of time together, staying the night, he's giving you his clothes... You better be careful, it sounds like he's trying to weasel his way into being your boyfriend."

You chuckle. "Too late."

She laughs too for a moment, then what you've said sets in. "Wait, what?"

"It's official now," you say. "As of a couple nights ago." She starts to open her mouth to respond, but you hold up your hand. "Please spare me the 'I told you so' I know you're dying to give me," you say. "You were right, it was building to this all along, blah blah blah, we're dating now."

She beams. "Can I say one thing?" she asks pleadingly.

You sigh. "Go ahead."

"I'm happy for you. Like really happy for you. I'm also happy you let me hear this news in person so I can hug you." She steps forward and wraps you in a quick hug. "Congrats."

"Thanks, Liz."

"So where is he now?"

"With Kelce at Topgolf again," you say. "But I asked if we could all have dinner together here in a bit, and they both agreed, so..."

"Why are they so obsessed with Topgolf?"

"Beats me," you say with a shrug. "Anyway, apartment is clean because I got bored. There's a few beers in the fridge that Rafe brought over and didn't finish, so have at 'em if you want. I'm going to get a shower and get ready to meet the boys."

~

At dinner that evening, Liz watches you and Rafe carefully. Even when you "hated" each other (which, was it really hate? She'd never thought so), you always seemed drawn to one another like magnets. Watching you now as you navigated your very new relationship, it was as if you'd been together much longer than a few days. You were completely at ease with one another. Sure, there was still a fair share of heated cheeks and shy smiles, but you were so relaxed with one another. Like the last pieces of the wall between you had finally been knocked down and you could just exist comfortably in one another's presence.

Kelce had noticed something similar. The beaming smile Rafe had worn when he came home from your apartment after the night he asked you to be his girlfriend was something he couldn't recall seeing before, at least not with that magnitude. Since you'd first pissed him off in class during the first couple weeks of school, you'd been mentioned so frequently in conversation that he knew something was up. Watching the two of you interact now that you had labeled what you were doing, he could see a real change in his friend. Rafe, riddled with anxiety and stress from the constant pressure of Ward Cameron, seemed unusually carefree and light the last few days. The fog had been slowly lifting for a couple months now, but within the last couple days, it was like a strong wind had blown in to finally reveal the sun.

~

Going back to class after five days off felt weird. So much had happened in so little time, and you felt like you were emerging from a bubble as you walked to your classes. With it being a Thursday, you only had two, and neither of them were with Rafe. Halfway through your day, you realize you miss him. You'd grown used to his near-constant presence over the last handful of days.