You Can Count On Me // Andreas Wellinger

Part 15.2 ~ Too Soon

"Stephan this isn't funny! What are you doing?!" Maja groaned as the boy continued to tug on her hand. "You better not break my wrist, I swear Leyhe!"

There was a slightly irritated, yet amused look present on his face. "I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago!"

Stephan led Maja into the apartment and yelled the name of his housemate at least three times, before Andreas finally hurried out of his room.

"What is it? Did someone break in?!"

Andi stopped right in his tracks when he spotted the girl. The girl he hasn't been able to get off his mind lately, she was standing right there in his living room. The younger boy's eyes drifted from Maja to Stephan and back again.

"Oh hi," was all Andi managed to stutter out.

Maja shot him a quick awkward smile, before turning her gaze to the person who brought her up here. She glared at Stephan anticipatingly.

"All I'm going to say is that you two need to have a talk. If I come back and find out that the two of you haven't yet confessed your feelings for each other then I will throw you both off a hill." Stephan smiled triumphally before calling over the little husky. "Without skis, just to make that clear! Anyway, have fun kids!" He added while attaching a leash to the fury pet.

Maja and Andreas were left standing alone in silence, still trying to process what had just happened. Their eyes scanned around, skilfully avoiding each other. Both of them chose to ignore what Stephan had said, after all it didn't seem possible to them.

"Why are we behaving like this?" Andreas groaned, dragging his hands over his face. His frustration showed evidently and it somewhat motivated Maja to just be honest with him.

"Richi and I broke up." The girl blurted out, causing Andi's head to snap up. A worried and confused expression quickly made its way onto his face.

"I swear I didn't tell him anything what you said-," he cut himself off. "I mean..."

"It's not because of that... It's my fault"

"What happened?"

"You want to know what really happened?" The girl asked and received a nod from Andi, inviting her to continue. "I caught feelings for you and I refused to admit it, but after everything there's just no point hiding it. Apparently everyone else knew it for a long time besides me anyway.."

Andi burst out laughing. He shook his head in disbelief. He felt relived.

Maja on the other hand felt embarrassed. She wanted to escape the room immediately, but before she could move, Andreas approached her. Without hesitation, he cupped her face carefully into his hands and kissed her as if he has been waiting for this moment for a long time. Which he just might have.

"Why... Why did you do that?" She spoke quietly.

Andreas shook his head. Did she really still not understand what was going on.

"You're a smart girl Maja."

Her eyes diverted to the floor. "But what about Nina?"

Andreas bit the inside of his cheek as a sheepish grin made its way onto his face. "What if I told you Nina is just a friend who I asked to pretend to be my partner?"

Maja crossed her arms over her chest as she gave the boy a judging look. "And why would I believe that?" She questioned bitterly.

He stepped closer to her and placed his hands on her waist, at that moment she felt as if his hands would burn her skin if the material of her t-shirt wasn't in the way. His mesmerizing eyes captured her gaze.

"Because I'm about to confess that the only reason I brought her along was to make myself feel better when I saw you with Richi."

"Well did it work?" The words left her lips before the girl even had a chance to think about them, causing Andi to laugh.

"Of course it fucking didn't! You were happy and I wasn't. That's how it was no matter how hard I tried to pretend otherwise. So that's why I sent her home."

Maja shook her head. "I wasn't that happy..."

Andi smiled, brushing his thumb over her cheek. "Why's that sunshine?"

There was a long silence, but none of them dared to break the eye contact. The brunette swallowed loudly, while choosing her words wisely this time.

"I might have been drunk last night, but what I said is still valid." Her voice was soft and just above a whisper. "I want you Andreas and the more I think about it, it might have been you I wanted all along."

He didn't waste another second and he simply captured her lips in another kiss.

Two hours later, the two found themselves watching Shrek and munching on popcorn as if nothing happened. Everything seemed great. Maja had her head resting comfortably on Andi's chest while the boy tightly held her waist. The only problem was that one of them wasn't sure where their thoughts had wandered off to.

Maja began to think about her break up with Richi, a guy she really wanted to make things work with. The break up only happened a few hours ago, but she was already sat here cuddling and kissing some guy. Not just any guy of course, which made the situation slightly better, but didn't stop her from feeling a little guilty.

Andreas noticed the girl was lost in her own world, which was proven when he turned off the tv and Maja hadn't even noticed. She was still staring off into space.

"Maja what's bothering you?" He asked, his tone soft and soothing.

The girl cuddled into his body instead of answering, which only made Andi worried.

"I think it's just too soon Andi. I'm sorry, I don't want to rush into something new right after ending something."

He just stared at her without saying a word. A knot began forming in her throat the longer the silence lasted.

"I'm sor-," She was cut off by a short, but tender kiss.

"I understand. Take all the time you need. I mean as long as you don't start avoiding me again it's all good." He laughed, letting Maja breathe normally again. She relaxed into the warmth of his body again and let herself just enjoy the moment.

Stephan came back to the apartment around three hours later. He assumed it was the right amount of time for the two to had finally sorted out their issues, which he found he wasn't wrong about when he saw Andi and Maja asleep on the couch. He grinned to himself, thinking how it's probably the first and only time he has ever see them so peaceful and quiet. He placed a warm blanket over the two before he carefully trailed to his room, making sure not to disturb them.

He was certainly proud of his achievement.

It was evening by the time Andi and Maja had woken up from their nap, which was majorly caused by the rumbling of their stomachs.

Stephan suggested that the three of them head out to a restaurant for dinner, well unless they wanted to spend time only with each other.

"We're only friends, Stephan." Maja spoke and sat up straight when she noticed the unhappy look grow on his face. "Well for now at least..." She quickly added.

"Excuse me?! Did you just friendzone me?" Andreas gasped, but he knew exactly what she meant. It didn't stop him from being a drama queen of course.

It baffled Stephan that his friends finally confessed the feelings they had been hiding for months and yet, they didn't want a relationship. He wasn't sure that was the right decision.

The puzzled feeling began to ease up however, when they had arrived at the restaurant. After spending just a few minutes with them, Stephan noticed how much happier the two were now compared to the days they avoided each other.

He was willing to accept their almost-relationship.

A/N: Hello lovely people, it's been a while... again. I really hope this chapter wasn't too bad. I have a bit of a dilemma whether to finish this story in the next chapter or keep going until 20 chapters like I planned. 🤔💜