Irhaboggle Pride (2018) 30 Days, 30 Stories

Being in Love

"Hey! Iris! Over here!" Iris turned to see Theresa flagging her down from across the cafeteria. Instantly, Iris felt her stomach twist and a smile began to spread across her face, unbidden.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Hold your horses!" she teased, weaving through other students and tables to reach Theresa.

"It's about time!" Theresa teased, scooting over to give Iris space to sit down.

"Well unlike some people, I don't sprint to the cafeteria because I'm not a fat pig," Iris snickered.

"Hey, they were having enchiladas! What was I supposed to do, walk?" Theresa scoffed.

"Ok, fair enough," Iris shook her head, but she couldn't help but smile in agreement. Enchilada day was pretty awesome...

"So, anyway, how have classes been?" Theresa asked as she began to chow down on her lunch. It was readily apparent why she'd made Iris do the talking first. But Iris was more than happy to comply, casually recalling how the day had gone for her so far. But even though the chatter was idle, the thoughts in Iris' head were much more dynamic and disorganized.

She and Theresa had been friends for about a year and a half now, having met back in the last year of middle school. They'd met through a mutual friend, all of them sharing a cafeteria table for that entire year. They became a little squad, but once it was time to move onto high school, their group parted ways. Some of them wound up going to different schools while others simply did not have schedules that lined up with everyone else. But through sheer dumb luck, Iris and Theresa's schedules managed to stay fairly similar. At least enough that they were still able to have lunch together, and one class at the end of the day.

It was during that first semester of high school that Iris first began crushing on Theresa. It was a small thing, she couldn't have even said what exactly triggered the change, she just remembered greeting Theresa one day during class and suddenly finding her more beautiful than normal. But it wasn't because of anything specific that Theresa had done to herself. She looked no different than she normally did. But for some reason, Iris hadn't been able to stop staring at her for the entire lecture.

"I'm acting like a creep!" she laughed at herself and shook her head, but it was not enough to shut down her feelings for the other girl. What had once been a simple, platonic friendship had suddenly blossomed into a crush, at least on Iris' side. Iris was fairly certain Theresa wasn't into women, and although the thought saddened Iris to some degree, the warmth and affection and attraction she felt for Theresa still stayed the same.

If there was one good thing to come out of the one-sided affair, it was that, if nothing else, at least Iris was able to be confident in her own sexuality. The way she felt for Theresa was just too strong. And she was lucky to say, it was a good, warm, fuzzy feeling too. Sure, it would've been nice if Theresa reciprocated. Iris wanted nothing more than to be close to her and spend more time with her outside of class, but of course Iris wasn't going to push anything. The affection she felt for Theresa was just too pure. As much as she wanted Theresa, she didn't want a relationship unless it was mutual, and because she knew the odds were low of that ever happening, it didn't bother her too much to think that it never would.

"As crazy as it sounds, just the feeling of being in love is nice enough." That was how Iris had described it one of her friends, the only one to know about her crush. And it was true! Again, sure, Iris did dream of being Theresa's romantic partner, but the feeling of actually having a crush on her was so foreign and... enjoyable, that it almost made the implied rejection worth it. Even if nothing would ever actually come of the crush, it was still fun to dream, right?

"So, how about you?" Iris asked as she finally finished the rundown of her day. It had been pretty mundane, but she'd tried to tell it in a comedic and interesting light just to keep Theresa interested. Regardless of relationship status, Iris did still want to look good in front of Theresa.

"Well, as you know, I've been looking forward to today's lunch since breakfast this morning!" Theresa joked. Because Iris had known why Theresa had insisted that she start talking first, Iris made sure to time her story to go on just long enough for Theresa to finish her enchilada. Now that it was gone, Theresa was ready to take her turn.

She spent the rest of lunch eagerly chatting Iris' ears off. Unlike Iris, her life was slightly more exciting, so she had a few more interesting stories to tell. That weekend, she and her brother had gone adventuring in the woods and even though they had no death-defying stories to tell, they had gotten lost once and managed to go swimming in a river they found. And then Theresa recounted the intense game of fetch she'd played with her four dogs just the previous night. And then she bragged about how she'd climbed on the roof just to take some aesthetic pictures under the stars.

Iris listened to every story with rapt attention, but even though her ears were glued on Theresa's lovely voice, her eyes were drinking in every inch of the other girl. Perhaps it was weird and "creeper"-ish, but Theresa was just incredibly good looking. She had nice hair, nice eyes, a nice face, a nice smile... She was expressive when she told her stories and she smelled vaguely of flower-scented bodywash. A few times, Iris began smiling for no other reason than simply basking in Theresa's presence, soaking in her voice and happily taking up her time. But in order to conceal the true reason behind every smile, Iris made sure to laugh every now and then.

No, she wasn't just laughing because she was giddy. She was totally laughing because Theresa had so many interesting stories! Yeah, that was it! Because as little as Iris worried about the crush being one-sided, she still didn't want Theresa finding out. For one, it felt too embarrassing. For another, she already knew the answer would be no. She didn't need to hear it spelled out.

For a third, although this was a smaller concern of hers, she didn't want it to change any aspect of their friendship. She did genuinely enjoy Theresa as a friend, so she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. Now, she was sure Theresa would be the type of girl to take it all in good grace even if she declined (which was yet another reason Iris was so head-over-heels, Theresa was a very relaxed and understanding girl), but she still didn't to open that can of works unless absolutely necessary.

Besides, selfishly, Iris enjoyed just being allowed to dream, and to have a crush without having to confront the possibility of a serious relationship. As such, that gave her yet another excuse to just hide and exist. It was fun being in love, why not continue to enjoy it a little longer before approaching any more serious questions?

"-and I've got that stupid bio project I need to start working on!" Theresa rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Oh, crap, I haven't started that thing either!" Iris laughed.

"Oh, thank god, now I feel better," Theresa echoed the laugh, looking much more relieved to hear she wasn't the only slacker.

"Would you want to come over to my place after school so we can get started on it?" Iris suggested.

"Sure!" Theresa looked delighted by the idea and Iris felt her heart skip a beat. Even if she had every intention of only working on the project, it did fill her with a small sense of pride and excitement to think that Theresa was going to hang out with her at her house after school.

"Well, I can't wait!" Iris told her enthusiastically as lunch drew to a close.

"Me neither," Theresa smiled at Iris and Iris' heart skipped a beat again. Wow, Theresa sure was gorgeous...

Iris spent the entire walk back to class grinning like an idiot, certain that she was a bright red. God, she was so in love! But it felt so nice!