Love, On Read (MxM)

Chapter 35: Perfection

A/N: it's heeerrre, sorry for the delay. I wanted to make sure this moment was perfect (or as best as I could). Only the epilogue to go :( I'mma miss these babies (they're adults, but you get what I mean. I do have some extra scenes I might get to later though for Tapas' Inksgiving.

Ollie's POV

With the girl's constant staring and urging me to contact Haruto, I finally picked up the phone and pressed his number away from their prying. They could still see me from inside the sandwich shop, probably wondering why I nervously paced the sidewalk until I worked the courage actually to call him.

I couldn't believe I was doing this. With each ring, I wondered if hanging up was the better option.

Haruto was still at work; obviously, he wouldn't have time to respond.

But after the fourth ring, he picked up. It took everything in me not to press the end button as soon as it connected. "Hey," was his breathy response.

"Hey."

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah." I gulped, glancing at the girls at the table and sending me a thumbs up like the guy from How to Train your Dragon. "I was just thinking about this morning."

"Oh?" I could hear movement on the phone as if he was setting something down.

I cleared my throat. "I—I know it was literally a couple of hours ago at most, but I did give it some thought. I just thought I should say it now before I try to convince myself it's silly and I should think otherwise." I glared at the girls as they practically pressed their faces to the glass. "That, and Mahealani and Courtney won't leave me out of their sight if I don't say anything soon."

His contagious laugh spread through the line. "They sure are relentless."

"You don't even know the half of it," I said, if only to hear his laugh again.

In a quieter tone, he replied, "so about this morning?"

"Right," I drawled. "Well, it sure was unexpected."

I refrained from pressing my palm to my forehead.

"And I gave it some thought about what this means and what comes next, I suppose," I rambled on.

"Okay," his voice was faint, delicate in how he anticipated what I would say.

"And well...since we both like each other, I don't see anything wrong with it." My voice mimicked his, faint and tentative, like I approached anything related to relationships and friendships.

"Oh?"

"Not the whole feelings things," I corrected, wincing as an older gentleman glanced in my direction as he walked with a younger child. Lowering my tone, I added, "the whole dating thing. I want to do that. Since...since we like each other."

There was a pregnant pause on the line, and I bit my bottom lip. Then, with amusement in his voice, he said, "you sure are adorable, Ollie. Of course, I'd love to go on dates with you."

I hummed, though it took every ounce not to bury my face in my hands from embarrassment...and joy? And, as cliche as it sounded, my legs felt weak at his words, daring to drag me to the ground at the weight of his words if I hadn't been in public.

"We don't have to call it anything if that scares you," he added. "But I'd like to continue to do the things we've been doing. Going out to eat, my lunch breaks with you, etc. If you'll allow it."

I turned away from the window to hide my face from the girls, the blush growing by the second. "Why would I not?"

He shrugged. "Well, this would mean it's more than just two friends going on a friend date, right?"