He Was a Friend

/55/ He's shocked as heck. /

Gosh. I imagined my confession to be sweet. This guy just keep on blabbering nonsense that I ended up confessing in the same line with a curse, Louise shook his head in disbelief, while her cheeks flushed after remembering she did confess just now.

Her gaze went to Eric's face which was as blank as it could possibly be. It looked like he was struggling to patch the information his brain had this evening. After a few seconds, it seemed like his brain just had a program error so he just looked at her emptily.

"I... don't get what you mean," he managed to choke out, baffled.

She covered her face in her hands.

Damn, I'm really feeling the embarassment now that I said it.

"I mean, your actions and your words don't match," he explained slowly, as if he's still trying to analyze it as he say it. "You were clearly waiting for Art this whole week, I just saw you and Art hugging, crying even, and you go and tell me you love me? Ah. Did you mean you love me as your best friend?" he grimaced and stared at her in the most pained expression he has ever shown her.

God, where has this man's confidence just went to? He's making this a lot more difficult than I thought it would be... she mumbled to herself, internally screaming. She then removed her hands on her face, and looked at him.

"I love you as a lover," she stared at him seriously, flushing more and more as time goes by.

Eric stared back.

"Lover?"

"Yes. Lover," she blinked repeatedly, trying to supress tears of happiness that she started to feel after realizing they're finally at this point, at this moment, after years and years in the making.

"Lover, as in... you know? That...? Uh... Boyfriend? Girlfriend?" he asked blankly, as he pointed to himself and her, puzzled.

She chuckled and nodded continuously,

"But... Art and you a while ago? Was that... a goodbye then...?" he asked, patching two and two together, still confused.

She sadly smiled and nodded again, as tears flowed in her reddening cheeks. She saw his panicked face when his eyes darted down to her tears.

"Yes, you biggest dumbo. I wanted to tell Art as soon as I can so that I can properly answer to your feelings, and not hurt him any further as well. That's why I've been looking for him these past few days. But you... You just went ahead and assumed the opposite. Now my confession's a wreck," she sulked as she tried to wipe her tears which kept flowing.

She shrieked in surprise when Eric closed the gap between them in a flash, suddenly placed his hands in her waist, lifted her and make her sit on the console table just beside the door behind her. As if locking her there, he placed his hands on top of the table, with her knees in between them.

It was as if she was brought, literally on the table, for questioning.

He leaned forward until his calculating eyes are just about five inches away from her face. She had to lean back further towards the wall to even have that five inches gap.

It finally got through. This situation is a bit... mind-blowing though, she tried to return his gaze while her hands are covering her own face except her eyes.