The Key to my Heart

Chapter 15: Wonderful Linh (Tam's P.O.V.)

Isn't it strange how the time flies when you're having fun? That's what been happening to me, for probably the first time ever. September had already come and gone, and October was coming to a close, which meant Halloween was coming up. Not just coming up, actually. It was tomorrow! I loved Halloween, because it's the one night in the year where you can be whoever or whatever you want. Change your appearance. Change your personality. Change your you. And this Halloween was going to be better than any other year, because all nine of us, plus the triplets, were going trick or treating together. I smiled. Okay, fine. It didn't matter to me whether the rest of them were there or not. I just wanted to spend a little extra time with Sophie.

After the whole Truth or Dare fiasco, things had been weird and tense between us. Maybe I'd be able to loosen things up a little bit. And, if I was lucky, get some real feelings out of her in the process.

"Thinking about Sophie?" Linh asked as she dropped into the chair across from me at our dining room table.

"No," I lied, turning my face away from her so she couldn't see my blush.

"You had that look in your eyes, Tam. You can't lie to me," she pressed, turning my face back towards her so my neon cheeks were plainly visible.

"I wasn't!" I argued, which was a bad idea. Linh had other ways of getting information out of me.

She narrowed her eyes at me and smirked. "Yes, you were. You were daydreaming about holding her and touching her and kissing her lips and taking her on dates that last until midnight and-"

"Geez Linh, okay." I said finally. "I was just thinking about trick or treating tomorrow."

Her face fell. "Oh. That's... nice," she said. Then an idea formed and she smiled. "Sophie's going to be there."

I  put my head down on the table. Here we go again.

~*~

If I could survive the bus ride, the rest of the day would be fine. That's what I  had to keep reminding myself, all the way to school. Today was one of those days where Linh would do absolutely anything to annoy me. I get it, it's her job as a sister, but does she have to be so good at it? I let her get on the bus first, which was a huge mistake, and she sat down next to some random sixth grader and was already showing her pictures of her cat when I got on. I looked around for an empty seat, but there weren't any, so without any other choice, I slumped into the seat next to Sophie.

"Hey," I said, not expecting much of an answer.

"Hi. Is Linh mad at me?" she asked.

I sat up straight. "What? No, she's fine. Why?"

Sophie stared at me. "She normally sits with me. You know that."

I mentally slapped myself. Of course! "Right, yeah. Um..." I could already feel my cheeks heating up. "She's torturing me today."

"You mean it's torture to sit here?" Sophie asked. She looked hurt.

"No! I mean, yeah- but not like that! It's not you. It really... It's not you." I took a deep breath to calm myself down. Hesitantly, I took her hands in mine. "Listen, Sophie. You already know I like you, so there isn't really much for me to say, but-" I froze. Sophie leaned up and pressed her lips against my right cheek. They were so soft, and that made me wonder if they'd feel the same if they were on my own. I pushed the thought away, at least for now. I'd let her decide when it was time to move on.

"I like you, too, Tam," she whispered, so only I could hear her. So the words were just for me.

After a couple seconds I remembered to breathe, blinked a few times, and then turned away from her and stared at the back of the seat in front of me for the rest of the bus ride.

Yayyyy so we're finally getting into the real Sotam stuff! This is completely irrelevant, but has anybody else noticed that the lowercase and uppercase 'I's are the same height? Like iI. Computer, that's not how it works.