The Jock Neighbor

Chapter 11

Luke's POV

We have been in the car for a few minutes now, and each minutes that passes makes my nerves intensify tenfold. Tonight is the night that I tell her how I feel, I think. I was so sure when I told her I wanted to talk, but the nerves are really making me second guess myself. 

I mull thinks over in my head over and over. What if she says she doesn't like me? But what if she says she does? What happens to us? Why is confessing your feelings so hard?

"Hey are you okay? You've been really quiet the whole ride and it's kinda freaking me out." She chuckles awkwardly. 

It's then that I realize I hadn't spoken to her once after we got in the car. Good play Luke, freak the girl out before you even confess. "I'm sorry, just had a lot on my mind but I'm okay now. Thank you for coming to the game, and wearing my letterman jacket."

"I had a great time so the pleasure was all mine." She smiles shyly and it makes my heart beat faster.

"I'm glad to hear it." I smile back at her before looking at the road again. After that it takes about a minute to get to the lookout point I had showed her when we first hung out. 

"What are we doing here?" She asks curiously. 

You don't even know.

"Well, I wanted to talk and this is a nice spot for it I think." I say as I rub the back of my neck. 

"Good choice because I love it here." She says sweetly. Then she unstraps and turns towards me expectantly. "What did you want to talk about?"

I let out a shaky exhale. "Could we actually do this outside? It's kinda hard to breathe in here."

She nods her head, not even second guessing my request before she stepped out of the car. I follow suit and get out hesitantly. This is the moment that I have been waiting for since freshman year. Tonight is the night I find out how she really feels about me. No pressure or anything. 

I walk over to Briar, anxiously running my fingers through my hair before I stop in front of her. My eyes slowly slide up to her face and are met with her questioning ones. There's slight worry in them but she tries not to show it. I can't really blame her with how odd I've been acting tonight. 

"Okay so here's the deal," I start. "There's been this thing that I've been dealing with since freshman year and it's really been bothering me. I just- I don't know how to go about it. You need to know, and I need to know how you feel about knowing and-" I stop talking abruptly once I realize I'm rambling and not making sense. I let out a slow breath of air. "Let me start again."

She smiles encouragingly at me. "Take your time, I'm here to listen when you're ready." 

I smile slightly. Her never failing support and optimism always makes me feel better. "Okay. Since freshman year, there has been someone that I've liked. I never really knew her until this year, and all of these new feelings are rushing at me the more I get to know her. It's been driving me crazy and I've never been able to tell her how I feel." I say quickly. 

Her face drops before she quickly covers it up. "Oh, who's the lucky girl?"

Deep breaths Luke, just say it. "You." I did it, okay that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. 

Shock takes over her face. "W-wait me? I'm the girl you've liked since freshman year?"

I nod my head hesitantly, the nerves coming back full force. "Yes."

Her jaw drops which makes reading her emotions that much more difficult. 

"It's really hard to figure out what you're feeling right now so could you just tell me?" I laugh nervously.