A Marshmallow's Guide to Loving a Complete Idiot (Inanimate Insanity)(Marshple)

21. Test the Waters

'How am I supposed to deal with these feelings? Am I even attracted to Apple for real, or is this our friendship getting stronger or something? ...Is there a chance she has a crush on me?'

For the first time in months - nay, years - Marsh's MePhone 3G was on and in hand. It'd taken ten minutes for all the notifications to pour in: voicemails, texts, missed calls, even push notifications. But at that moment, she pulled up her browser and typed carefully; if she misspelled a word, she wasn't sure she'd be able to retype it before backing out in shame.

"marshmallow apple in love"

Her thumb ghosted over the "search" button. She stared at the tiny box on the top of her phone's screen as if it were a tall pile of dishes to be done using well water on a hot day.

Marsh bit her lip.

There were suggestions below her inputted phrase: "proof," "where are they now," "kissing." Not including her phrase, there was the suggestion "marshple."

She stared at the screen with a cold feeling in her stomach, her heart beating madly. She wondered which she should click, her thumb inching closer to "proof"...

Suddenly Marsh closed the browser and threw her phone; it landed facedown on a carpet at the other end of the room. She sighed. 'I can't look up my best friend's feelings on the internet; i-it's a huge invasion of privacy. Curse you, fans, for writing about it in the first place!'

She rolled onto her stomach and hugged her pillow close. 'I remember when Salt rambled about OJ for hours per day between seasons... I'd bolt if someone wanted to hear about this. Maybe it's not a crush after all because the thought of kissing her in real life terrifies me.'

She groaned thinly. "This is the worst."

And crushes weren't supposed to be the worst, according to novels, either.

'So maybe it's not a crush at all,' she reasoned. 'Maybe I'm making mountains out of molehills. Maybe it's just the mansion taking a toll on my mental health... like, maybe I'm just touch-starved. I don't want her to kiss me, I just need some intimacy in general. T-the only reason I... blush at the thought is because it's too awkward to just ask.'

The idea brought a smile to her face.

"Yeah, that's it," she murmured to herself. "I just need a long hug. It's for mental health reasons. Nothing else... I'll just go explain this all to Apple later today. I can't believe it took me two hours to come to this conclusion. I'm such an idiot sometimes!" She laughed merrily.

She rolled off the side of her bed and landed on her feet.

A voice at the back of her mind dissented. It shouted, 'Apple fits the description in the dream. You seriously don't want her to get a boyfriend because it'll take attention away from you. Heck, this has been coming forever; it's part of why you didn't like her even kiddingly calling you mom. Don't even try to pull this excuse card.'

And Marsh, for once, managed to ignore it. She replaced the voice with a mantra she repeated like a war chant, a chantra:

'Best friends to the end.'

XXX

An hour later, Marsh knocked on the door to Apple's room, carrying a tray as big as Bow was in her hands. It had two dozen freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies on it; the smell wafted up to her.

Apple opened the door just seconds later. "Hey Marshmallow. How are- Oh my gosh! You made cookies?! They look great!"

The cookies were lumpy and unevenly-sized, some with burned edges. Marsh laughed uneasily. "Hope they taste okay..."