Just Liking
~*~
"Trust me, I know a thing or two about liking people. And in time, after much chocolate and cream cake, 'like' turns into 'what-was-his-name-again.'"
He isn't lying; he isn't just saying that to try to get her to shut up about the boyfriend. He's speaking from experience. He can't count how many times he has liked someone else. After all, liking is easy, and getting over liking someone is even easier. He's had practice.
He has a history with girls. They flock to him, more likely for the free supply of emotion tea it provides than for the pleasure of his company, but he doesn't complain. Some he favors more than others and some seem to show an actual interest in him as a person, not just as the owner of a tea shop, but no matter the initial feelings, in the end it all ends the same way: him alone.
He's a big boy though, he gets over it. Cake helps, but he doesn't need it…much. After all, liking people is no big deal. Liking doesn't last long. And with his business booming, his hat collection growing, and life as good as it is, having a girl is nice, but not necessary. He tells himself that over and over every time he has to get over someone. It helps with the recovery process.
He tries to convince himself that how he feels now is exactly the same as the way he's felt before, and that he'll be able to forget it in exactly the same way. But something's changed. This, what he's feeling now, this is different. The butterflies of liking are there, the tingle under his skin as their skin brushes, but the feeling is stronger than it is with plain liking. The butterflies, instead of a helplessly fluttering within his gut, are swarming, amassing into a feeling that's so strong it keeps him from thinking straight sometimes. And instead of just a vague tingle, there's a raging fire that radiates from the area of contact and continues to smolder long after they've touched. The novelty of the sensation scares him.
It is definitely not something he has felt before. This is worse than liking, and he's completely unprepared to face it.
He wonders what's happening, what about her makes him feel this way, so different and strange yet exhilarating at the same time. He wonders why it has to be her. He wonders how this is going to end.
No.
No, he doesn't want to see how this ends. He knows that this time, chocolate and cream cake isn't going to cut it. He knows that this time, forgetting her name will be impossible. He's prepared to try though, he tells himself, because after all, he just likes her.
Liking, he can handle. He's dealt with liking before.
Love, on the other hand? That's a completely unfamiliar situation. And it's a situation he's heading towards all too quickly.