The Neighbor (a mini fic)

Part 14

November 2021 - 5 months in Monaco

When I woke up that following morning with Dan's arm wrapped around my waist, everything from the night before played through my head. I began to mentally ask myself some important questions.

Do I care for Daniel?
Of course, that was a no brainer.
Am I happy with our current relationship?
Yes, he's a great friend, the best friend I've ever had.
Do I want something more?
...I think I do. I'm happy with being friends, but a very large part of me can't help but wonder about being something more.
Then what's holding you back?
He is. Every time we've started to blur the line, he has pulled back from me.
Then how do you know he wants this too?
I don't. All I have to go off of is that night after the Monaco GP. I still don't know if he remembers what happened. But drunk words speak sober thoughts right?
So what do you want to do?

I thought my answer just before Daniel woke up. He gave me a squeeze and lightly pressed a kiss to my shoulder. "Good morning" his groggy voice still full of sleep.

"Good morning" I replied as I turned around to face him.

"How did you sleep?" he asked, curiosity with a hint of worry present in his voice.

I didn't have to lie. "Really well actually" I smiled as I replied.

"Good" he smiled and gently stroked my hair which I'm sure was wild looking as it is every morning.

I reached my hand up to trace his cheekbone. It looked like he had slept well too. He looked much better than he had when he came over last night. I wanted to lean in and kiss him. So badly. But I knew what had to be done. For my own sake and for the sake of our friendship.

"We need to talk..." I started and mentally cringed at the words. "...about this" I gestured with my finger between the 2 of us.

He sighed and looked down, bringing my finger to his lips, placing a small kiss. "I know" he said as he brought his eyes back to mine. "want to talk over breakfast?" he suggested. I nodded.

We got out of bed and he left to make some coffee while I changed out of my pajamas. I took a deep breathe as I glanced at the photo of my parents. "It'll be ok" I whispered, more to myself than to them.

I'll summarize the conversation for you instead of boring you with every little detail. We ended up talking about what happened in Woking. About how Daniel let his thoughts get to him and how that caused him to be an "idiot", his words not mine. He apologized again, saying how he knows I can handle myself and he shouldn't have made that decision for me. I accepted his apology because I saw how genuinely sorry he was. Plus, life is too short to stay mad at good friends, especially when they were only trying to protect you.

After that, I told Daniel what had been on my mind. Well, sort of. I kind of chickened out of mentioning anything regarding our relationship, whatever we were at this point.

I still haven't made my decision about staying in Monaco past the end of my lease. And while I've loved spending so much time with him, my job has been starting to suffer. I've nearly finished the projects I had started and my clients were happy, but I hadn't really done much to attract new clients and projects lately.

If I wanted any chance of being able to stay here, I would have to start dedicating more time to my work. He looked a little disappointed but understanding. I think he could tell what my underlying meaning was; that I couldn't really afford to be more than friends right now.

We collectively decided to lay some ground rules in our friendship. Rule one was if he was away for work, he couldn't bother me during the work hours I set for myself, unless it was an emergency or he "really needed some cheering up" because according to him that was an emergency.