Pleased to meet you... again

Thirteen

"Xander, could you help with the zipper?" Casey asked from the bathroom.

"Yeah" the soccer player stood up and headed through, "wow you look," they shook their head, lost for words for a second, "you look stunning." They zipped the dress up and thought how amazing it would be to kiss the blonde's neck. They caught the reflection of the two of them in the bathroom mirror. Standing almost like they were posing for a couple's picture.

Casey caught Xander's gaze in the glass. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, when you said your mom expects people to be dressed properly for Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't think you meant so dressed. I would have bought a better shirt." They looked at the checked wine and black shirt they had on acknowledging this was their best clothing.

"Xan," the blonde turned to face them. "You look perfect.

That moment was there again; they'd both been running away from it all day as they quickly regarded each other's lips. There had been a weird tension, lingering looks and almost moments all day and there had been an even weirder conversation between Xander and Casey's mom while they had been preparing lunch. Joyce had asked them what was going on and if they were sleeping together. It was a very bizarre conversation. Ending essentially with Casey's mother confirming she only wanted her daughter to be happy.

"Case, friends don't keep looking at each other like this. I don't know how much longer I can stop myself." The brunette gulped. "I keep thinking about you in ways that a friend shouldn't."

"I'm sorry, maybe we should just do it and get it out of our system. Go back to being normal with each other."

The blonde's response was only half of what the soccer player wanted to hear. But as they looked away catching their reflections in the mirror again. They understood, they were not ever going to be good enough for anything more. Casey was beautiful, she came from money and a lifestyle where people dressed up for festivities, had pool parties and played board games with their family. While they were dressed in a pair of black slacks they'd owned since they were fifteen, came from a working farm in the backend of nowhere and had to consider even getting a second job to afford to get through college.

Of course it would be nothing more than a kiss to get it out of their system. But they also knew that for them it would be a moment that would confirm everything that they felt and something they would use to torture themself about why they weren't good enough for the woman they pretty much knew they'd think about for the rest of their life.

"Xander, where did you go just then?"

"I don't, it doesn't matter." They shook their head.

"I wasn't meaning it the way it sounded, you know, I just meant"

"It's okay I get it. You don't want to be thinking about me. You hope it goes away."

"That's not what I meant, I just think that maybe it's just a weird sexual tension that will go away if we kiss. It might not, it might make things worse. I don't mean worse I mean, anyway the moment's gone," Casey sighed and decided to be honest as the half truths only seemed to be making things worse. "But I think it's only a matter of time because I can't stop thinking about you either. I don't know what any of it means Xan but I am scared that it goes away when we kiss. I'm scared that it doesn't and you don't feel the same. That's what I mean when I say it might make things worse."

The brunette smiled, feeling their tummy fill with warm energy that flowed through their blood with a charge that put a skip in their step and hope in their heart, "I don't think you have to worry about that."

Casey smiled and kissed the soccer player on the cheek. As they exited the bathroom.

The mood changed almost instantly when they arrived downstairs to find a room full of expected and unexpected guests.