Flash Fiction

You're so nice to look at.

"You're so nice to look at." 

My best friend, Harrison Lee James, shifted his gaze from my eyes up to the sky on a warm summer night. I glanced down at his hands, which were placed delicately on the patterned picnic blanket we had set up camp on in our favorite spot in the woods. 

"No I'm definitely not" he replied back with a slight chuckle in his voice, dismissing what had taken me so much courage to say. 

"No really. I'm serious, Harrison. The way your hair curls right in front of your nose, how scattered the freckles fly across your cheeks, how deep and honest your eyes are. You're incredible." 

Harrison stared back into my eyes now, realizing the intent in my voice when I spoke.
"You really notice those things about me?" He said softly.

"I notice everything, Harrison. I try to absorb every single detail I can. I don't ever want to forget you." 

I'd been best friends with Harrison since 2nd grade and learned how to read his thoughts from the slightest shift in body positioning or facial expressions. 

But in this moment I was drawing a blank.

I think he was too. 

"Can I tell you what I notice about you?" He whispered as if he didn't want anyone around to hear, even though we were alone, save for the croaking of frogs, the hiss of distant cicadas, and the bubbling of a small forest stream. 

I nodded my head gently, not breaking eye contact with him. 

"I notice how in our 9 years of friendship you've never once shown interest in a girlfriend or even had a crush on a character on tv. I notice how you brush away when Lacy Fields tries to touch your hands. I notice how you look at me when you think I can't see you. I notice that you scrunch your nose when you start to get shy, and that you're scrunching it.. right... yep, right now" He poked his nose as I spoke.

I shook my head as he laughed, pulling back from his touch, 

"No I don't, and no I'm not"

"You do, you are, and it's beautiful. You're beautiful." 

"Harrison-" 

"Levi. You are not going to win this one." 

I rolled my eyes, collapsing back onto the picnic blanket and throwing my arms over my face. 

"I think you're kind of beautiful too," I whispered, half-hoping he wouldn't hear me. 

For a moment, I didn't think he did. A silence befell the woods, even the stream and the birds seemed to hold their breath for this moment. 

And then I felt it. 

The hairs on my arms stood up as I felt warm breath, inches from my face, and I felt my stomach move in a way I was unfamiliar with. 

I had never felt someone this close to me. 

I had never felt so vulnerable in a single moment, let alone with him. 

The silence was screaming my name, pulling at my skin, begging me to open my eyes. 

"Levi?" My name snuck out of Harrison's mouth like a secret. 

Like he didn't want anyone to know it but me. 

"Harrison?" I copied his tone, echoed his nervousness, kept my eyes shut. 

"Can I kiss you?" 

My eyes opened. 

I don't think I meant to open them, but all of a sudden I was looking at the freckles that danced across his crooked nose, counting the clusters near his cheeks, sinking in the pools of honey that shone around his eyes. 

I couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say, I was in a space that was completely unfamiliar to me. 

I had never been kissed. 

I had never seen Harrison like this. 

Or had I just told myself not to? 

Words still eluded me, my mind had gone both blank and buried with thoughts simultaneously. 

But some sort of instinct, some sort of will-power, some sort of chemical reaction caused me to nod my head. 

It didn't happen like I'd seen in movies, or like I'd fantasized in private. 

This wasn't making out, this wasn't a preface to sex, this wasn't passionate. 

This was tender. 

His lips met mine with such gentleness, I almost wasn't sure if we were kissing yet. 

He cradled my neck, guided me softly, took the lead without taking the reigns. 

Our pace was slow, treading lightly to feel the boundaries of the other, years of trust and respect creating walls that surrounded our lips. 

We had never done this before, but it felt familiar. Like the way it feels to be in the car with him, to listen to music with him, to watch a movie with him, to eat breakfast with him. 

When we were together, we were simply us and that was simply enough. 

This wasn't the kiss of two star-crossed lovers who were ready to take on the world. 

This was the kiss of two best friends of nine years, discovering each other for the first time.