𝙹𝚄𝙽𝙺𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳༉‧₊˚. ᴄʜʀɪꜱ ᴄᴏʀɴᴇʟʟ

𝗳𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻.

"I KISSED EDDIE.
Well, he kinda kissed me. I don't know."

Chris nearly spat out his 7/11 coffee, "lucky dude."

Delia laughed at his drunken remark, though he wished she knew how serious he was in saying that. "It was nice. Confusing."

Chris was sobering up quickly, though couldn't understand how a kiss could be confusing. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." He stared at her blankly from his spot in her passenger seat. "Okay. It's like, was it a one time thing, heat of the moment thing? Or more?"

He thought. "I wouldn't worry about it." He took a large bite of his donut, along with another sip of coffee.

Delia looked up at him, expecting elaboration, which didn't come. They ate their 7/11 meal in silence for another minute or two until he spoke again. "If it were me I'd probably make sure it wasn't a one time thing, if that makes you feel better."

"Yeah, but I don't know what I feel." She responded quickly, but soon after his words confused her. If it were me, which meant he'd sort of thought about kissing her. Make sure it wasn't a one time thing, which could possibly mean that after said imaginary kiss, he'd only want to have another imaginary kiss. Delia mentally kicked herself for putting childish meaning behind his sentences, knowing that was stupid.

But he had in fact thought those things.

Delia wasn't the type to kiss multiple people in the same few hour period, nonetheless two friends. But she set her coffee down and suddenly kissed him. Chris had barely any time to react, her kiss over quickly. She pulled away just as he reached his hand up to her face.

He tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear, gazing down at her lips.

"I wanted to see if it was the same."

"Happy to help." Chris' hand fell from the side of her face, and he couldn't help but smile. "Was it?"

"Was it what?"

"The same."

She hesitated. "I'm not gonna answer you."

He laughed. "That bad?"

Delia wanted so badly to kiss him again, and she didn't quite know what that meant. Besides them being close and ignoring all of her worries about ruining a friendship- it was a given he was both attractive and a good kisser- that was why. "No, just not long enough."

"You wanna kiss me again?" Chris looked smug, and he nearly forgot who exactly had just kissed him, he'd never seen Delia like this- all flustered. "Go ahead, Del."

"Fine."

She kissed him again, this time much different from the first. Delia couldn't deny that she enjoyed his kiss much more than Eddie's. That wasn't to say Eddie's was bad in any way. It's just that Chris left her wanting more and more. His kiss was much more gentle than she would've thought, his hands shied away from anywhere else besides her jaw and waist. 

When she finally pulled away, Chris asked his earlier question once more. "Was it the same?"

Delia shook her head, searching for what to say. "I probably shouldn't ha-"

"No. It's okay."

The rest of their night went on as it normally would've, Delia seemingly ignoring their kiss, while that was all Chris thought about.

She couldn't actually ignore it, only pretend. It'd be impossible to ignore anything like that with Chris, she thought.

On the drive back to their place, he wondered why Delia had kissed him. 'To see if it was the same,' didn't quite make sense. He was sure a small part of her wanted to. And he was right, though she herself didn't realize how badly she wanted to until she laid awake in bed.

What does this mean? She thought, turning over in bed.

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Chris didn't find himself as confused about this when morning came, just happy about it, whatever Delia's reasoning was.

She acted normal as well, but still caught herself glancing at his lips every now and then. She told herself to not kiss him again, or anything else romantic, on the off chance Chris actually liked her.

She was sure she didn't, but couldn't deny kissing him felt right. And long overdue.

"Could you make me one?"

Delia glanced up from the bagel she currently spread jam on and nodded. Chris had just walked out of the bathroom, curly hair wet and in only a towel. She'd seen this sight many times before but for some reason it felt different this time. Involuntarily her eyes traced down his chest, slightly red from the shower.

He thanked her and turned into his room. Delia put a bagel into the toaster, focusing on that instead of the picture of her shirtless best friend in her mind.

She obviously knew he was always hot, but it seemed like the previous night had sparked a series of different Chris-related thoughts.

It was the same way for Chris, though not entirely as he had (in recent times) been thinking of Delia in a different way.

She sat on the couch and flicked through different channels as she ate her breakfast. Chris joined her, now in a pair of baggy jeans, but still no shirt.

"I'm not going into the studio or anything today, if you wanna do something." He said, in between bites of bagel. This was not something out of the blue, it just sounded different now.

"Sure. What're you thinking?" Delia stood from the couch and placed her plate in the sink, rinsing it off.

Chris shrugged, "whatever. Just walk around, go to some stores."

Delia nodded in agreement, going to change as Chris finished his breakfast.

She put on her louder than love shirt under her brown leather jacket, thinking it would annoy Chris as it usually did.

But it barely did, he liked seeing her in his bands merch, for some indescribable reason.

"We're not driving?" Chris asked, noticing she'd left her keys on the coffee table.

"No, I'd rather walk." She said back, as he locked the door behind them.

He grinned, having a feeling why she seemed adamant on walking.

His feeling was right. Delia, for some reason, felt like walking was better due to the events that happened in her car the previous night. She didn't want a repeat, at least not yet.

"Alright, that's fine." They walked out onto the sidewalk of Eastlake avenue, Chris putting his arm around her shoulder as he normally would.

She giggled as his arm nearly caused her to trip, regaining her balance. They fell into their normal conversation as they walked out of the residential area of Capitol Hill and closer to various shops, office buildings and restaurants.

Delia considered herself lucky to have Chris. Someone who'd constantly been there, offered her a place to stay, supported her. She kept thinking that she shouldn't mess that up with her newfound feelings, as they would probably leave just as quickly as they arrived, but what if they stayed? What if, somehow, it wouldn't be a waste entertaining something more than a friendship with him?

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