Page 64 of Chasing The Goal
“I’m not.”
“You have ‘I want to kiss her but I told her we’re just friends and now I’m spiraling’ energy radiating off you in waves.”
I sat down hard on the edge of the couch, head in my hands.
“She looked so good,” I muttered. “And she was funny, and calm, and she talked about baby names like she wasn’t holding my entire nervous system hostage.”
“So you like her.”
“I’ve always liked her. That’s the problem.”
“Then tell her.”
“She’s pregnant.”
“Not with an alien,” he deadpanned. “It’s not contagious.”
“She’s vulnerable.”
“So be something steady.”
I stared at him. “You make it sound so easy.”
Logan shrugged. “It kind of is.”
“Easy for you. Ava looked at you like you hung the moon. Mallory’s trying to raise a kid on her own. She doesn’t need me confusing the one good thing she’s got going.”
Logan leaned forward, arms braced on his knees. “Okay, hear me out. What if you’re not confusing her? What if you’re exactly what she wants but she’s too scared to believe it’s real?”
That stopped me.
“I don’t want to screw this up,” I said, quieter now.
“Then stop doing nothing,” Logan said. “Nothing is its own kind of screw-up.”
We sat in silence for a beat. The TV murmured in the background, some muted post-game commentary we weren’t listening to.
Then Logan looked at me, completely serious.
“Next time you see her,” he said, “kiss her.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Kiss her,” he repeated. “Stop dancing around it. She already trusts you. You already see her. Just show her she’s not imagining it.”
I shook my head, half-laughing. “And if she freaks out?”
“She won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I don’t,” he said. “But I know you. And I know you’re not gonna survive much longer pretending she’s just your friend.”
And I hated that he was right.
Because I didn’t want to be just her friend.
Not anymore.
