salem frowned as ciarán pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex.
"want me to walk you to your apartment?" ciarán offered, noticing her change in attitude.
"yes, please." her mood brightened a little, only slightly, though.
as soon as ciarán locked his car, he scurried on over to salem and held out his hand, silently offering her to hold it.
she took it gratefully, and together, they made their way to salem's apartment.
"we should go on more dates." salem suggested.
"yeah?"
salem only nodded, smiling at the thought of the many more dates to come.
"five." she suddenly said, causing ciarán's brows to furrow in confusion.
"only five more dates?" ciarán couldn't seem to hide the disappointment that was present in his voice.
salem's smile grew even wider, "no. you did five cliché things on our first date." she recalled how he held open her car door, sang to her, told her to close her eyes, gave her his flannel, and paid for her ice cream.
"you really were counting, huh?"
"why wouldn't i be? you did a lot of cute things, you know." salem shrugged, pulling her apartment key out of her bra.
"you keep everything in there, huh?" ciarán snorted.
"it's handy!" she exclaimed. "i don't really like using purses, so this is a way better option."
they walked in a comfortable silence. as they grew closer to salem's apartment, her grip on ciarán's hand tightened.
"i don't wanna leave you." salem said solemnly, and ciarán swore he could hear his heart shattering.
"hey, i'll see you soon, yeah?"
"okay." salem said, but her bottom lip still jutted out.
before they knew it, they were standing in front of the apartment door.
"i had so much fun tonight, thank you cici." salem smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him tightly.
ciarán's arms found their way to her waist, and salem felt secure in his arms.
"i want a lil' kiss, so bad, but a promise is a promise." salem said into ciarán's chest.
"one little one won't hurt." ciarán pulled away, just a little, so he could give her a peck on the forehead, but he was interrupted by the apartment door swinging open.
"okay! that's enough." tavia grabbed ahold of salem's wrist, pulling her and causing her to almost go flying into the apartment.
tavia rolled her eyes, "stop being so dramatic. it's not like this is gonna be the last time y'all are seeing each other."
"bye, ciarán." salem waves at him, and before he could respond, tavia shut the door on his face.
through the door, ciarán could hear salem shout, "tavia!"
"you've grown way too attached to ciarán." tavia said as a matter of fact.
"no i haven't." salem said, crossing her arms.
"yes you have. now, are you gonna tell me about your first date with him or what?"
tavia knew ciarán, but she didn't know him that well. he was her boyfriend's friend, but so was ryan. she thought part of the reason him and salem broke up was her fault, and she didn't want to let that happen again.
she was being extra cautious, looking out for her best friend who could fall in love with somebody within a heartbeat. tavia only wanted to make sure salem was confident in her actions before running off into another relationship.
salem told tavia what they did, and the latter couldn't help but notice the dreamy gaze salem held while talking about ciarán.
she remembered when salem first got with ryan, she was the exact same way, but as she stayed in that relationship, she lost that passion. the relationship wilted, and along with that, so did salem's feelings.
maybe it was for the better.
salem snapped her fingers in front of tavia's face.
"hello? are you even listening to me?" salem frowned.
"hm? yeah! i am, i'm just busy thinking about your relationship with ryan and your relationship with ciarán."
the furrow in salem's brows only deepened.
"what about my relationship with those two?"
"i encourage you to find someone that makes you happy, but you seem to fall for someone really fast."
"tav, you have me confused as shit. first you're telling me to get with ciarán, but now you're telling me to slow down? i don't even get what i'm supposed to do at this point." salem let out a groan.
"listen, i do want you to get together, i really do, but do you realize how long you guys have known each other? and you do realize how much you guys have grown attached? it's not healthy! i encouraged you before because i didn't know how fast you'd actually fall. i should've known." tavia said the last part more to herself.
when salem didn't respond, she kept on going. "weren't you the one who said you didn't wanna see him? and that you knew it'd take time? not too long ago, you were aware of your feelings, and now you seem to be head over heels! sae, did you really get blinded by your feelings again?"
salem knew what tavia was saying was right—because she was almost always right—but tears still welled up in the rims of her eyes.
"i didn't mean for this to happen again, tav. i'm sorry." salem's bottom lip started to tremble and one, single, stray tear rolled down her cheek.
in an instant, tavia wrapped her arms around her best friend, engulfing her in an almost-suffocating hug.
"hey, you don't have to apologize for something you have no control over." tavia softly rubbed circles into salem's back, in an effort to calm her down.
then, a brilliant idea occurred in tavia's head.
"how about we go on a road trip, to get away from everything?"
a/n:
i got an a on my english project that i've been stressing over for so long :)) bless
