The In Between

15: King Of Anything

I'm not close to perfect, I'm not close to sane

I'm not the one to worship, and I'm not the one to blame

But you made up your mind, and you put me on your stage

Just take it all back, I'm not the King of Anything.

We started our walk to the park, still discussing the ideas from the In-Between. I liked that we had a few similar ideas, and the ones that weren't similar were still met with encouragement or development of the idea. It was really easy for us to work on these ideas together, it felt natural, and I liked it. We got to the park, and I spotted Annie, who was playing with a few friends, not just Ashlen, this time. I waved to her, and she waved back, but went back to playing. I just hoped she didn't spill my secret when she walked up. It was frustrating, and I knew she was right, and, by extension, I was right; it might make his day, and assuming he didn't like me in the same way, there's a chance it won't ruin everything. I suppose if I'm going to ruin a friendship, it should be a week in, not 2 or 3 years in. Better now than ever, but that didn't mean I wasn't scared to try.

I resolved to attempt it, but he was talking about something and I was just sitting here staring at his face. Bruised and all, his face was still the best. His smile is what got me, and those bright green eyes. It also got me very distracted; He'd asked me something, and that had snapped me out of this. "Huh?"

"Were you even paying attention?" He laughs "I know my face is hideously bruised, and all, but that shouldn't distract you from this serious matter," sarcasm extremely evident in his voice.

"No, I wasn't paying attention, sorry. I was... thinking about something."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Umm..." I start, but Annie walks over.

She says hi to Cam, hugs him, and comes over to me to do the same. She hugs me, but instead of saying hi, she says, "Hey, bro, didn't you have something to say to Cam?" You could hear the smugness, it's obvious that she saved that to memory for such purpose.

"Will you shut up?"

"What? What's up," he asks.

"Fine. Annie, go play."

"But—", she starts.

"Go or I'm not doing it," I say, and she stomps off.

"What's up, Ri? Is it something serious?"

"Kinda? I guess. I mean, it could end terribly or it could go great, or, you know, be somewhere in between. Hehe. Pun not intended. Um."

"Riley. It's okay. You can tell me if you want to. I won't hold it against you."

"No, but, it's not something that's easy to accept, usually, it's just, well. Umm." F*ck, why is this so hecking hard? "It can destroy friendships and stuff, it's terrifying to share, it's so weird, and I mean crazy weird, but..." shut up shut up shut up. "I don't know. I wanna tell you but I'm not sure how you'll react, and that scares me."

"Tell me. I'll do my best to not knock you out," he says, sarcastically. "Come on, man, I'm not one to just randomly hurt people."

"I've been walking on a broken road, it's the only one I think I know," I say, quoting song lyrics. "If my weakness leaves me powerless to change, would you stay?"

He looks a bit amused. "Of course I would. Now stop quoting songs and tell me, please."

"God, you're perfect. Oh my god. Fine. The thing is... I might maybe have a bit of a crush on a super sweet blonde kid I only met 5 days ago. He's sitting here staring at me."

"For real? No joke?"

"No." I stare at the ground. "I know we haven't known each other long, but that's how I feel, and it won't go away. I don't know that I want it to. I guess I can understand if you're not interested or if you hate me now or something, but I had to tell you. I love you. Like a lot."

"Excuse me, Captain Oblivious, did you not catch the dozen or so hints I've dropped since Saturday?"

I was a bit surprised. "What?"

"You are dateable. I know because I think so myself. I've called you adorable and all this stuff. I assume you thought I was just being nice, but no. I feel the same way. I love you, too, Riley Moore."

I don't know who leaned in first, but we kissed. Hell yes. We did. Stereotypical, movie-perfect kiss. It was amazing, and I swear there could've been fireworks in the background, if it wasn't, you know, like, 4 in the afternoon. And yeah, we could've kept it up for a while, had Annie not come over, squealing, and nearly tackling us in a hug. "YOU GUYS ARE ADORABLE," she screams, and despite the fact that the table was trying to break my ribs at this point, I smiled. Because maybe things would be okay.