He Was a Friend

/18/ She needs help. /

Help her, she said.

Eric heard the sound of firecrackers exploding inside his head.

I think my brain just had a short-circuit. I guess I'm reaching my limit.

He looked at Louise's direction. She was anxiously massaging her nape with both her hands as she waited for his response.

"Elaborate," he managed to fork some reasonable words out, despite his ongoing brain malfunction at the moment.

I mean, how in the world, can I help her? I'm the one who needs help here, he screamed internally.

"Help me brainstorm through this?" she asked, smiling to him awkwardly.

He sighed, defeat all over his face.

Fine.

"Okay. Do you like him?" he asked.

"I don't dislike him."

He crossed his arms. "So you do like him at least. Can you date him?"

This time, she crossed her own arms. "He's a celebrity. If I date him, I feel like I just flushed all my privacy down to the drain. You know privacy is my second name," she grunted, rolling her eyes.

His eyebrows arched. "So if he's not a celebrity, you would?"

"It would be just easier to decide if he's not, but it's not 100% certain, too."

He groaned.

This is going nowhere.

"I'd jump a little fast forward here, honey, since we're both adults here and we've been friends for decades anyway," he declared, and tilted his head as if to properly concentrate on her answers from then on.

She gulped.

"He kissed you. Can you... imagine doing that everyday from now on?"

She blushed.

You blush in front of me? I think I just pushed my self-destruct button with the way this conversation is going...

"I don't know."

"How about further than that?" he insisted.

She blushed even more now. She suddenly looked outside the window as if the plain black view outside was suddenly such an interesting scenery.

"Can we stick to the 'getting to know' phase? I'm already panicking with just that," she responded warily as she looked at him again, while crossing her legs, complaining.

"Getting to know phase...? You've been friends for about 15 years now, what else do you wanna know at this point?"

"I didn't know about the Art that I saw in the airport a few hours ago."

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"You've been my friend for 25 years as well, but I don't know you inside out," she added.

"Alright. Point taken," he retorted, nodding.

"I mean, I know you as a friend, but I don't know how you are as a lover."

Huh.

He chuckled. He crossed his legs just like she did, tilted his head more and while grinning, looked at her straight in the eyes.

"Lou. Did you just made a pass on me?"