Your Love is Just Your Alibi

Chapter 13 (Explicit Content)

Chris steps forward, "Yes...I'm in love with you."

Naomi pauses, then speaks, "Oh my God..." She says before leaning on the dresser, "Oh my God..."

Chris again steps forward, "Don't be scared."

"I'm not scared, I..." Naomi trails.

There's a pause, then Naomi pushes Chris aside and walks downstairs. Chris follows her.

"Naomi - "

"What the Hell, Chris?!" Naomi exclaims, turning to face him, "You've been in love with me for four years and never bothered to tell me?! Why?! Why would you do that?!"

"Because, I...I didn't think you'd feel the same way about me and we're such good friends...I was afraid of losing you."

There's a pause.

"How did you find out?" Chris asks.

"Nevermind how I found out! How could you do this to me?! Do you have any idea how sick this is?!"

"What?"

"I've changed my clothes in front of you! I've told you some really deep and personal and private things because I thought I could trust you! I started to think I actually had feelings for you and made a complete idiot of myself because I didn't think you saw me as anything more than a friend! What, were you hoping that this 'marriage' would turn into something real?! You made me feel so stupid, Chris! And God, we made out last night! Was that your motive?! To finally get me into bed after all these years?!"

Chris takes a big step back, "Wow, Naomi. I knew you've never been in love before, but I had no idea you don't even know what it means to be in love."

"What are you talking about?"

Chris grows frustrated, "Naomi, I'm in love with you! I'm not lusting after you! Don't you have any idea what that means?! I was under the impression that you and I would pretend to be married for a few months, get Tony thrown behind bars and things would go back to exactly the way they were before. I was willing to pretend to have everything I've ever wanted to have with you for as long as I've known you and then put the whole thing aside like it never happened once Tony was taken care of just to make sure you'd be safe. When we first moved in together, I was under the impression that you would probably find a guy that you liked soon and would start seeing him and would probably have him over spending the light a lot, and the mere thought of that killed me...but I had you move in anyway because you needed a place to stay."

Naomi pauses, taking this in.

"Naomi, when someone says 'I love you', it...it means that they would do anything to keep you safe and happy; it means they put you before themselves every single day...no matter how much it hurts." Chris says, "The reason I never told you how I felt about you is because you are literally one of my best friends, and...having you as a friend and living with the pain of not being able to love you has been far less painful than even the idea of not being able to love you because I'd lost you forever...I couldn't live with myself if I..." He trails.

Naomi just stares at him.

There's a knock on the door.

Naomi looks over her shoulder to the door, then back to Chris.

"Let's get through tonight before we do anything. This conversation never happened, got it? We'll finish this later." Naomi says.

Naomi goes over to the door, opens it and smiles, "Hi!" She says, enthusiastically, "Come on in!"