Juggle act

Okay, she had to admit, she was surprised when she woke up on the couch to her notify light on her phone blinking. It was a text from "Asshole" (she giggled), asking if she'd kept her word. The time stamp glared at her, 4:37, sent at terribly early hour of the morning. She hadn't thought of him as a morning person. Then again, hadn't he mentioned something about his circus starting to tour again?

She'd sat up on her couch, pushing away the blanket and the TV still poured out the menu music. If she knew replying to him would've been the beginning of a very expensive phone bill, she probably wouldn't have responded.

They texted the whole day, talking about the movie (him appointed himself as her personal movie recommender). It all was so… easy. It was easy to talk to him. The conversation effortlessly went to one conversation to another. He was funny in his own sarcastic and rude way. Every day he put a smile on her face. Every morning she would giggle from a stupid text insulting her inability to stay away until he went to sleep. She knew it was a joke since he went asleep at a very late hour while she often fell asleep on the couch, surrounded with her responsibilities.

There was never a moment she realized how much he had wormed into her daily life. When she woke up, she sent him a good morning picture on snapchat. At lunch, she skyped with him. Around dinner time she called his cell. In between they would text. It could take hours before the person would answer, but she was okay with it. It was better than her previous boyfriends who blew up her phone and nagging her about responding quicker to their texts. This was exactly what she had hoped to find in a friend. And he was more than okay with the slow responses because he was also busy with his career. It was completely new. A friendship with a guy she could maintain while it allowed her to focus on her job. She didn't want to admit it, but he was a distraction.

She was smitten.

The asshole trapeze artist had her pulse rushing when he smiled. Her cheeks heated with pleasant warmth when the corners of his eyes wrinkled when he laughed. There was something with him, something that made her feel alive. It was exciting hiding behind her desk and texting him during lectures when she showed a short clip from an observation. He broke her routine and it was great. Exciting even.

Never had a person made her feel like this. Never had any of the poor attempts at a relationship resulted in her feeling anything like this― and they weren't even together! She didn't even know if he was interested in her that way. She didn't even know if she wanted a romantic relationship between them. They were very good friends. What if a romantic relationship fucked it all up between them? She would hate that. If they were a couple, it would require her to put in more time into them; time she didn't have, and he would end up as the rest of her boyfriends; needy. Begging for her undying attention and talking about marriage and kids and houses and― ugh, things she wasn't interested in.

She couldn't decipher her own feelings.

"This is an unusual sight." Kim commented as she slid into their usual booth. "Have you been here since lunch and worked or what?" She smirked wittedly.

"I don't know what to do." The smirk was immediately whipped from Kim's face at her unusual confession.

"What's it about now? A lecture? A student?"

"No, it's about… Soul," Maka whispered his name as if it was a shameful secret.

"Soul? What about him?"

"I'm…" She leaned closer to her friend. "… catching feelings."

"Feelings―"

"Not so loud!" Maka hushed Kim down.

"It's not like he can hear you. He's out of the state!"

"Kim," Maka said sternly. "I don't know what to do."

Kim sighed heavily and massaged the bridge of her nose. "You're so dense. You ask him out. Duh."

"It's not that easy." Maka fiddled with the mouth of her coffee cup, circling the edge of it, feeling the hot steam on her palm. "What if he doesn't like me? I don't want what we have to end. I actually like talking to him." The waitress arrived with block and a pen ready, quickly taking their order before she disappeared.

"Let me tell you a story then," Kim spoke after the waitress left with their orders. "You and Soul have quite similar dating philosophies."

Maka cocked her eyebrow, not knowing if it was a good or bad thing. Most likely a terrible thing.

"He used to date a little, and just like you, it didn't really go that well. His partners didn't really like him being gone touring and all. When he was home, they were clingy and needy, wanting him to call them every hour of the day, you know it. He didn't like it and he decided it was too much work putting into a relationship."

The waitress returned with Kim's milkshake and a refill on Maka's coffee.

"That's awful! That's not helpful at all!" Maka groaned and buried her face in her crossed arms on the table. "Even if I had wanted to date him he isn't open to the idea."

She snickered at her friend's ridiculousness. "Now you see what your dating philosophy has led you."

"This isn't funny!" Maka whined. "He won't date me."

Kim rolled her eyes as she sucked on her strawberry milkshake. The straw popped when she removed her lips. "Geez, get over yourself. If there's one person he would date it's you."

She lifted her head, eyes fluttering with confusion. "It is?"

"Yes," she said as if it was obvious. "He doesn't really talk to a lot of girls. If he didn't like you, he wouldn't talk to you as much as he does."

"He wouldn't?" A ridiculous smile played on her face. She tried to cover it with her cup of coffee but she knew Kim had spotted it already.

"Geez, you're already planning the wedding, aren't you?"

She spit out her coffee, coughing. "I'm not!"

"But you aren't denying the fact you want to date him."

A deep sigh escaped her lips. "I don't know. Maybe? It's so confusing. I genuinely care about him and I see potential between us but… I don't really know."

"Listen." Kim held her milkshake in her hand. "You don't have to decide now. No one is forcing you to make up your mind. Take every day as it comes and when he asks you out, you can talk things out and see how it feels." She smiled her rare soft smiles. "Do what you want to do. Just don't overthink it all."

"Thanks." It was exactly what she should do. If it happened, it happened. Instead of uselessly overthink the situation as she usually did, she needed to slow down, live in the presence and see where things went. If they got there, she didn't even have to decide then. It was okay to slow things down.

Kim slurped up the last of her milkshake and she shook her now empty glass. "It will be four dollars."

Maka rolled her eyes and both of them burst out laughing.