The next day, the two girls watched movies, played games, and had a good time just talking to each other. Caroline found it felt nice just to be in Ava's presence. For a while, the two sat in simple silence. Instead of being awkward, it actually brought her comfort. She found that when Ava did certain things such as leaning against her or even just smiling her heart started racing for no reason. This wasn’t even counting the many times Ava teased her throughout the day.

It was clearly flirting, not that the Caroline from then would understand that. Something Ava was fully aware of. But, Ava was much more ‘behaved’ today than she was last night. Caroline was able to pass things off as ‘sisterly’ even if they weren’t.

Around dinner, they were interrupted by the sound of the door bell ringing. They both looked at each other in confusion before cautiously going to see who was at the door. They weren't dumb. Two girls alone with neither even having so much as a weapon meant they had to approach carefully. The dog's wouldn't be much help either. They were lovers, not fighters.

But after seeing who was at the door Caroline sighed in relief and opened it. Ava's expression, on the other hand, quickly soured, not that Caroline noticed.

"Hey! I picked up some wings and thought we could share, that ok?" It was Drew. Their college friend, one of the nicest guys she knew who happened to have an obvious crush on her. He didn't live that far away from here so she thought it was kind he thought to bring them food. But while she was oblivious to certain feelings, Drew's were as clear as day to her. However, that didn't mean she knew what to do about them.

She laughed and gestured for him to come inside, "Sure! We were just thinking about dinner."

Ava forcibly chimed in, "Not to mention we aren't going to say no to free food!"

Maybe the three of them might have seemed happy, but there was this sort of air about the place that made Caroline uncomfortable… however, she couldn't place it. Everything seemed normal enough. She hadn't felt like this before dinner, so what was it? The blonde started to play with her fingers numbly, ignoring the rising sense of dread.

Soon, dinner was over and Drew was walking out the door before he stopped, taking a deep breath, "Hey Caroline, can I talk to you outside for a moment?"

She blinked and looked back at Ava who just looked away, not meeting her gaze. Her heart squeezed slightly. 'Oh,' she thought.

The two girls had spoken about this a few times before—about Drew possibly confessing to Caroline—but Ava was always against a relationship. Every time it was brought up, her argument was sound. She argued that Caroline didn't have any feelings towards him and that a relationship built on pity wasn't a relationship at all.

They'd had more than a few spats about it since Caroline didn't want to hurt his feelings by turning him down. He worked for her parents and they adored him. They always raved about how he was an upstanding guy they wouldn't mind her marrying. For some reason, Ava always seemed upset when she mentioned that part. But those talks made her uneasy, so she avoided them. Sure, she had thought about marriage, but it was always in the context of making her family happy.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"Alright," she answered Drew with a strained smile, walking out the door with him into the cold night. Caroline heard the door shut behind her and assumed it was Ava likely not wanting to hear any of it.

She still didn't know what to say as they walked over to his car… reject him? Go out with him? Maybe she didn't like him like that now but maybe she would later? Everyone always said he was such a catch… Maybe she should just be happy that he liked her out of all people. Surely her family would be happy about this… Caroline's mind unintentionally drifted back to her best friend who had already made her stance perfectly clear.

For awhile they just sat in silence, looking at the stars, before he finally started speaking, "So uh…" His blue eyes looked away as they reached the side of the road. He was sitting on the bumper of his small red car while she leaned against the back of her family's old, white chevy. It was quite the contrasting sight.

He took a breath and looked her in the eye, "I like you, a lot. It's hard for me to ever get you off my mind. We're almost always together since we have the same friend group but… I want more… I want to be more than just friends." He dipped his head so that he could awkwardly scratch his neck. Obviously it had taken a lot of courage for him to say any of that at all, "Please, be my girlfriend, Caroline."

Just those few words, and she knew their friendship wouldn't ever be the same. His gaze was so earnest and she had no doubt that he was in love with her, but Ava was right. She didn't like him like that… "I, well, I…" It was hard for her to collect herself as she stuttered over her words, "I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me happy that you feel this way… but… I'm not really sure."

Before she could say anything else he seemed to desperately speak up, "If that's the case, t-then maybe could I just ask that you let me pursue you? Romantically, I mean… You don't have to feel anything for me right now, but I don't think my feelings will ever change."

Caroline was a bit startled at the declaration. Romantic pursuit meant he did't want to give up. That he wanted to make her fall for him, even if there was no promise of that ever happening. How was she supposed to say no to that? Actually, could she even say no to that since he would still like her either way? She couldn't tell someone who and who not to like.

She hesitated for a moment before offering a meek response, "I guess that's ok… But…" Her eyes drifted down and then evasively to the side, "Just know that's your choice. I won't hold it against you if you fall in love with someone else." In fact, she hoped that would happen.

That was honestly the best way she could think to answer him, but it seemed to make him happy anyways, "Then, is it ok for me to ask you on a date?"

A date… Well you could go on dates without actually dating a person so, "Maybe after finals?" She referred to school so that it could give her more time but also so she could just put off the whole thing in general.

"After finals it is!" He stood up and shockingly kissed the side of her mouth, "I'll see you back in class after the weekend!" Then like a little boy who just got away with something devious, he jumped into his car without another word and drove off, leaving her in shock at his stunt.