Love Alarm [Based On A True Story]

Astrid

Being stunned to my spot doesn't do justice to what I'm feeling right now. I feel petrified, terrified, excited, all of it at once. I don't know how to feel exactly, because there's only one thought running around in my head.

Astrid... likes me back? For real? He really said it?

For the first time in my life, my feelings have been reciprocated?

By Astrid of all people? How!?

"Ari, Ari, Ari! I'm so happy I could burst right now!"

Claire says from the other end with excited giggles, and it is only then do I finally make a sound. I chuckle.

That dry chuckle slowly turns to one of amusement, until I'm chuckling some more, before it's full-blown laughter.

I squeal and shriek so suddenly I completely forget I'm not at my house but Sindy's, whose mother regards me as the epitome of a proper teen girl. I can hear Claire laugh at my excited shrieks as I jump up and down, feeling like my heart might just burst out of my chest.

I can't believe it. It happened. Astrid... confessed to me. To loving me.

It worked.

"Calm down girl, you are at somebody else's house!" Claire chides from the other end, but I can feel tears sting my eyes while I press my palm against my mouth to control all the emotions fighting to be out. She's right, I have to compose myself.

"Thank you." I whisper with a tremble to my voice. "Thank you, Claire."

I don't know what I'm thanking her for, perhaps for giving me this happy news, but Claire doesn't object to it. She chuckles. "We'll discuss everything in detail tomorrow. Now go, Sindy must be waiting."

Claire hangs up, and I stare at the phone with a smile, feeling my heart swell with a newfound emotion as I suck in a deep breath, trying to calm my erratically beating heart. Composing myself, I return back to the kitchen with a smile, only to find Sindy and her mom staring at me like I had grown two heads.

"I heard screams." Mrs. McCoy says, making me clear my throat uncomfortably. Sindy swats her mom's hand away, sending her back to her work. "Something exciting must have happened, it's none of your concern. Go back, she'll share it only with me."

Will I?

Should I?

I stare at Sindy as she smiles at me and pats the stool I had been sitting on earlier, beckoning me to start. I have no idea whether I should tell her or not.

Why not? The inner voice questions. She's your friend, is she not?

Yeah but, she likes Astrid as well. Not to forget-

So, what are you scared of? That she'll try to sabotage it? Take Astrid away? Is that even possible?

Yeah. What am I thinking?