Turning Tables ✔

Part 5

"Then what the hell is it?" I snapped. "If you don't love me, why do you do that? Why do you feel that way about me?"

"I... It's just because we're close," she explained. "It makes sense. It's always made sense. You are the closest person I have in my life. And I get lonely, everyone does. When you get lonely, you turn to the people closest to you. I want you because you're closest."

"No," I said seriously. "No, that's not how it works for people who are just friends. They may rely on each other, but they don't fantasize about the other while they sleep. That's something else entirely."

"Lisa," she whispered, "I'm not in love with you. I can't be. They're just confused feelings."

"I don't think it's your feelings that are confused."

Her eyes narrowed again. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means you're in denial!"

"I'm not," she said, as if she was sure of herself. I knew she wasn't.

I inched closer to her. "Oh yeah?" I asked, challenging her.

"Yeah." Jennie replied.

"So if I get closer to you..." I said, moving my body, "you're going to be able to be this close to me comfortably? You're not going to want to touch me? You're not going to want to kiss me?"

She stared at me, silent, as my face inched closer to hers. But I knew the closer I got, the more her resolve started to fall to pieces.

Actually, watching her now, I couldn't believe it hadn't been obvious to me before. The tension between us had never been more clear. Maybe it was the alcohol, though. The alcohol that made me bold, the alcohol that made her weak.

Yep, that was it. That was what this was, as I later learned. A moment of weakness sponsored by alcohol.

But she did kiss me. It took a second, but she was the one who leaned in. Her lips met mine and sparks flew by me. I gripped the back of her neck and pulled her closer. No matter how deeply our lips became entangled, it never felt like she was close enough to me.

We made out for a long time. Nothing more, nothing less. just two long time best friends wrapped up in the kiss of one another.

Eventually, she pulled away. I had no idea how much time passed.

"We have to stop, before things go any farther," she said quietly. "My parents are home, they can't find us like this..."

"Yeah." I nodded. "Okay then." Though the last thing I wanted to do was stop.

She smiled at me and pushed my then shaggy hair out of my eyes. "You're really beautiful, you know."

I smiled back. "Yeah... Yeah, so are you."

She kissed my forehead and butterflies rose up in me. I knew we'd just been making out and you'd have thought a simple forehead kiss wouldn't have as much of an effect after that. But it did, because it was different than the way we had just been kissing.

Us making out was a kiss of pure passion. Hot, sexy, concentrated passion. But the kiss on the forehead was a kiss of comfort. It was the kind of kiss someone gave you when they cared deeply about your well-being.

And that was how I felt. Like this girl cared about me, had always cared about me, and I had been too foolhardy to notice. But not anymore.

"You need to rest," she told me suddenly. "We both do. It's been a long day."

I didn't want to rest, though. That was the last thing I wanted. I wanted to stay up all night with her, exploring this new relationship.

But at the same time, I also wanted to cuddle up to her. I wanted to sleep with someone's arms wrapped around me for the very first time. Not just someone's arms, but Jennie's arms. I wanted to feel the safety of sleeping by her side.