#3. Confession
Author: nat-chan
Rated: Oh-so-very-G
E-mail: natalie. http/oceansofnat. Notes: You should listen to the song "She Loves You (Yeah Yeah Yeah)
when you read this fic
She said you hurt her so
She almost lost her mind
But now she says she knows
You're not the hurtin' kind
She loves you
And you know that can't be bad
She loves you
And you know you should be glad
She hesitated, taking so long to gather her thoughts
and react and look up at him that he realized he'd held
his breath too long and tried to subtly blow it out the side
of his mouth without her noticing.
"I-I don't believe you." she said shakily and he cursed his
best friend for convincing him this was a good idea.
"You're just trying to get me to let my guard down and then
you'll go right back to teasing me."
His face pinched with a half-desperate look then as he
tried to think of a way out now that he was in too deep.
But then he realized. She hadn't said it angrily or even
as though she were completely convinced.
Her voice had been feeble as though the last of her
defenses were crumbling. He felt a kindling of hope.
"I'm really, honestly not." he said earnestly and dared
to reach over and take the tips of her fingers in his own
making her eyes widen and lock onto his.
He silently blessed his best friend for convincing him
this was a good idea.
"You really mean it?" she said quietly, her expression
slowly unfolding from fear to something that traveled
up his spine like a cool, exciting scream.
All he could do was nod vigorously, his hand going
numb from holding it so absolutely still around her
fingertips.
"But, I don't understand. All you've ever done is
make fun of me! Every time you saw me you had
some new insult! I thought you hated me!"
And I thought I hated you. She added silently to herself.
"I only did it because I--I wanted to talk to you so
much." He said with a very red face, "I didn't know
what to say. I thought you might not like me."
She just stared at him in shock.
"But, you seemed to LIKE teasing me! You
always laughed and laughed!"
And now his face finally broke into a crooked,
guilty grin, "Well it WAS a lot of fun! You
always came up with the most hilarious
come-backs and..." he faltered and looked
embarrassed again, "You look really cute
when you're angry."
She blushed and looked into his eyes, then at
his own red cheeks and finally started to believe him.
He watched her, waiting for some reaction, some
sign that she might possibly feel the same way in
return. He was so nervous he heard himself
keep talking--unsure anymore of what he was
saying, fairly sure he had just listed off everything
he USED to tease her about as virtues instead
of vices.
Finally Darien could take it no more. He stood up
from his stool at the bar, abandoning his coffee
and marched over to the booth where the couple
were sitting and having their humiliating confess-out
in full public hearing and said desperately,
"Oh buddy will you PLEASE shut-up! You are single-
handedly RUINING MY LIFE!"
The tall, blonde-haired fellow stopped mid-stream
of flattery and simply gaped at Darien who was
looking half-furiously, half-desperately between him
and something off to the left.
The girl was staring at Darien too and her hand was
still in the blonde-haired fellow's, just at the fingertips.
Darien looked from the two of them to the
Meatballhead sitting two tables over with her
friends and prayed that she hadn't heard a
word of their "conversation" then turned tail
and bolted out of the arcade leaving Andrew
laughing so hard he had to lean on the
counter for support.
Serena's friends were still chattering happily,
oblivious to the way their friend--who had in
fact heard every word--was drinking her milkshake
even faster than normal, her cheeks as red as
tomatoes.