Twisted Love Triangle

Revelation

"We need to talk."

Ugh. So cliché. Especially for something so...not cliché. I had burst into my room, practically shouting, scaring my poor roommate half to death. Which, would have been funny apart from her deadpan response.

"What did you do? Cause if you peed yourself again, I'm not helping you to clean up.", she said, not taking her eyes off her magazine.

"Seriously man?! That was when I was six!"

"Also 9, 10 and 3/4 and on your 13th birthday."

"Shut up or I'll shut you up for good."

"Love you too."

I plonked myself onto the bed in exasperation and tore the magazine away from her. "Listen, this is f*cking important. Three things." She peered at me from over her tortoiseshell, oversized glasses. "Ooh, swearing? That bad huh?" I glowered at her. "Fine, fine. I'm all ears."

We faced each other and I took a deep breath. This was gonna take a lot of explaining. "The last month has been a whirlwind, as you know. With this stupid love triangle and everything. Well, none of that matters anymore."

"Says the girl who's first and certainly not last panic attack happened because of this "stupid love triangle" .", she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She raised a singular, perfectly plucked eyebrow.  My mind raced with possibilities, causes, consequences, outcomes. Well, here goes.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Well, turns out I'm... I'm ace." My voice progressively quietened until the last word was barely a whisper. I didn't think her eyebrow could raise any higher. Boy was I wrong.

"I'm sorry, what? I'm not fluent in barely whispering."

I cleared my throat. "I'm...I'm..."

"You're... you're...", She mimicked.

"Will you stop? This is hard."

"Well, I would if you would actually spit it out."

My blood boiled as all the emotions of the month, confusion, anger, sadness, happiness, realisation, and a sh*t ton of confusion rolled into a wave of fury.

"I'M A F*CKING ASEXUAL. I'M BROKEN. I DON'T FEEL ROMANTIC ATTRACTION TO PEOPLE. THAT LAST F*CKING MONTH WAS A COMPLETE F*CKING WASTE OF TIME. AND DON'T YOU F*CKING DARE ASK IF I'M OK."

All the emotion drained out of me as I hung my head, panting slightly. Aeons passed. I refused to look her in the eye. She waited. I waited. She waited. I waited. The curtain, blowing in the wind, the fabric rippling with each gust, suddenly became the most interesting thing in the world.

A soft, careful hand cupped my chin, gently forcing me to look at her. Her emerald eyes, emanated warmth, ensnaring mine, reassuring me. "I don't f*cking care. You aren't broken. You are perfect. I'm your best friend and nothing, nothing in the world is ever gonna change that.".

My eyes filled with tears as relief crashed down like a hurricane, whipping up all the worry and anxiety of the past month. We clutched each other, joyful, salty tears dripping onto her shoulder.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Pale sunlight poured through the window, the light breeze fresh on my face. I sipped my morning coffee, finally content.

"Morning."

I looked up to see my childhood best friend, Ally, leaning against the doorway, sipping her morning ritual herbal tea. I set down my coffee as she carefully manoeuvred herself onto the sofa. We leant back and sipped in comfortable silence. I glanced at her, her blonde hair mussed in sleep, her eyes glittering and her limbs carefully folded in an elegant twist. Even her crisp white pyjamas were perfect. Everything Ally did was perfectly planned and for a reason, which drove me crazy for the first few years of our friendship, until I realised that was just how Ally was and she sure wasn't gonna change.

After a few furtive glances, I gave up, set down my coffee and said, "Ok, you've looked at me weirdly like 5 million times, what's up." Old fears resurfaced. My mind raced, a primary thought was louder than the others. Did she misunderstand and actually doesn't accept me? Am I gonna get former-friend zoned? Does she think I'm broken? Is she gonna try to fix me?

"Stop it. I can see you worrying. It's not that. Three things."

"Wait, what?"

"You said you had three things you had to tell me. And I have an inkling about what it's about."

Ohhhh, that. My second revelation.

"Oh, well, it's not exactly important and I'm not sure-"

"Spit it out, I have to go to my morning run soon."

"Well, you know Miles and Akash."

"Yes, yes the "stupid love triangle" guys."

"You're never gonna let me live that down are you?"

"Nope", she said, popping the "p" and grinning her mega-watt smile at me.

I shielded my eyes, laughing, "You're blinding me."

"Off-topic.", she warned.

I rubbed my elbow, a nervous habit that I'd had since I was a child. "Yeah, yeah whatever. Well, since I am part of the LGBTQ+ community and I am extremely empathetic-"

"Too empathetic."

I cleared my throat and gave her a meaningful look. " This means I have extremely accurate gaydar. What is gaydar I hear you ask-"

"No I didn't.", she muttered.

I threw her a beaming smile of my own and plodded on. "It is my gay radar, which gives me the ability to detect members of the LGBTQ+ community."

"And this is relevant, how?" She had put down her mug and was leaning forward, her eyes glittering in interest.

"Miles and Akash. After decades of speculation-"

"Exaggeration."

"Will. you. stop. interrupting?", I retaliated, thumping her with a pillow to accentuate each word.

She cleared her throat. "Hm, yes my apologies."

"Miles and Akash so obviously have a huge crush on each other, but they don't realise the other is reciprocating."

"Woah, woah, woah, back the hell up. That is certainly an.... interesting development but we mustn't get ahead of ourselves. Are you sure?"

"Positive. I have intel from their friends saying how they're always talking about the other. They bicker incessantly. They're always blushing and stuttering around each other. They so obviously have a huge crush on each other. And Miles' fashion sense screams bi and pssh with that level of personal grooming, Akash cannot be straight."

"So, what next?"

I squealed. This was me in my element. I grinned evilly at Ally. "Oh no, oh nonononono.", she said, shaking her head.

"Oh yes. Operation Wingwomen is go!"