Microwaved Love

20 |

"Seth, I like you." I whisper again when he does not reply.

I pull away from our hug a little to look at his face. He is staring at me in this dumbstruck way and it makes me swallow because he still has not said anything.

"What do you mean by that?" he asks in a hushed murmur.

"I have feelings for you." I say, looking him in the eyes even as my heart thunders away and nerves rush over me and make my palms all sweaty.

I gulp when he continues to stare, and when I see him opening his mouth to speak I lose it and duck my head down. A flare spreads to my cheeks like wildfire, and the closeness and contact our torsos share is no longer a comfort but rather another reason for my anxiety.

"I get that you don't feel the same way. I never thought that you would, I just wanted to get it out there and tell you, you know? On the off chance you would um well I guess I just..."

My uneasy babbling is cut short when he smiles and brushes his thumb across my mouth only to then pinch my lips shut.

"Shhh just shush for a moment." he says.

He is smiling this beautiful smile, and it looks great on him and it is totally dazzling me and when he leans his head in to touch his forehead against mine it takes all of my control as to not collapse into a puddle of absolute goo.

We stare into each others' eyes for a long moment.

Damn his eyes, the beauty in them could make flowers grow, and be a cause for angels to sing, and when he just looks at me like this... I feel weightless, floating on a bubble of joy, a cloud of exhilaration, a balloon bursting with love.

Seth, Seth, Seth. What did I ever do to be given the pleasure of knowing you?

"I like you too, Sage." he breathes.

All around me the earth keeps spinning, birds keep chirping, cars keep moving and feet keep stepping, totally and utterly unaffected by the weight of the phenomenon which has just occurred. But me? Me, I am falling, my soul is aflame, my mind in disarray, my whole world has stopped because suddenly I am invincible.

Invincible from the power of his confession. Nothing can touch me now because he likes me too.

"You... like me?" I whisper, craving confirmation and a repetition of his glorious words.

"Yes Sage, I like you." he replies, smiling his beautiful smile.

"Like like me?" I ask again.

"Like like you." he answers.

Then I am smiling too, a smile which mirrors his. One which is full of joy and promises of the future. A smile which I can not stop smiling because I am just so happy now because he likes me.

But then his eyes seem to darken a notch and the life his face shines with falters. He pulls away a bit, but I lean in again, stubbornly not wanting to lose any form of contact with him.

"But maybe we shouldn't." he says.

My balloon of love deflates a smidgen.

"Shouldn't what?"

"We shouldn't do anything about it."

The air is whistling out now.

"Why? If we both... Seth?"

"Sage," he says quietly. "I've thought about this. I really like you, which is why I know it's better if we don't. I'm not good. I'm not good for you."