A Little More than Just Friends

Chapter Two-

    Lee shut the door softly, turning to look at me with an obvious look of relief and huffing out a breath he'd been holding since his sister walked in. I returned the same expression, collapsing on one side of his bed; my right leg draping just over the edge. I listened as he shuffled over to join me, falling into the other half of the mattress, his hand touching mine only slightly. Turning my head to look at him, I fidgeted until I found a comfortable position. Lee looked back at me blankly. 

    "That was close," I muttered into the few inches of space between us. His blonde hair shook gently as he nodded in agreement. An unfamiliar emotion washed through me, my eyes sweeping across his face trying to evaluate my feelings.

    "What are we doing, Lee?" My voice lowered to a mere whisper. Lee's eyes found my own, holding my gaze, his eyebrows curved down in confusion. 

    "What do you mean?" His voice was no louder than mine. 

    "You know what," I licked my lips and took in a breath. "Us, fooling around and shit. It's gonna' get us caught some day and people won't see it the way we do." 

    "How do you see it?" The question came with surprise on my behalf, taking me a moment to understand.

    "How do you?" I blocked, pushing the spotlight onto Lee instead. He rolled his eyes at me before cocking an eyebrow. 

    "I asked first." There was a moment of silence whilst we stared at each other before we both huffed out a breathy laugh and slid our gaze up to the ceiling. I stayed quiet though, I wasn't about to make the first move into the uncomfortable discussion of our feelings. That isn't territory I'm familiar with, for a start.

    "Okay, I see it as just us being...us, really. I mean, you've always been a bit camp, dude." I fixed him with a glare, the words I have not just on the tip of my tongue. His blue eyes squeezed shut as he chuckled. "But I mean, so have I. I guess." 

    "Are you trying to tell me something, Lee?" My eyebrows raised, my eyes staring at him with a pleading gaze that clearly asked him to save this conversation for another time. Maybe when we're both married and have kids. Completely tied down where there can be no possibilities. "Cause you know that I don't want to hear it." 

    "You can chill, Jake. I'm not about to profess my love for you." He laughed in a way that sounded forced. All sorts of thoughts then broke out from the little box I kept locked away; thoughts that included what if's and maybe's. I shook my head inwardly and the box shut away again. I concentrated on acting unfazed.

    "At least until," he began, his body rolling onto it's side which closed the distance between us. "You've figured out how you feel about me." I swallowed against the tightness in my throat, my eyes blinking excessively. Lee licked his lips in a slow manner that could only be suggestive. My breathing took a dip in the shallow end as my heart beat accelerated. 

    "You know what we've never done, Jake?" I shook my head from left to right, in place of vocally saying no. He smiled briefly, his eyes dropping lower before flitting back to my eyes. "Kissed." His voice was barely above a whisper. "We've never kissed, Jake." My mouth opened slightly to allow short, silent breaths out; feeble way to calm myself down but I did it anyway. Lee shuffled closer, to get anymore closer seemed impossible. 

    I wanted to look away, but I didn't dare; I needed to watch his every move, I needed to know what he was going to do. I should leave, I thought, but I didn't listen. His hand rested lightly against my cheek, the pad of his thumb brushing over the skin beneath my eye before moving lower to slide across my bottom lip. My breathing was ragged now, I didn't dare speak. Lee's eyes kept flickering from my lips to my eyes, assessing my actions and looking for the moment where I made it clear I didn't want him to. He seemed to think of my lack of control over my rationality as an invitation.