How We Became Witnesses

6 :: The One With The Confession

"Hey, Marla! How was the movie?" Aaliyah asked as her friend entered the kitchen. She asked even though she could see her friend's swollen eyes and red face.
"It was really sad." Marla replied with a sad pout and hugged her friend.
"I know. I've seen it" Aaliyah said and smiled as she put her phone away to hug Marla back.
"Where is Willow?" Marla asked.
"She's in our bedroom. She wanted to take a nap before dinner." Aaliyah replied.
"Ah, so did Seth. He was tired after carrying all of the grocery bags." Marla said and giggled.

They sat down by the table and talked for a long while, about pretty much everything. Their past, school, their friends etc.

"Are you feeling any better Sam?" Charles asked.

He had wrapped a thick blanket around the black haired boy, who was already wearing sweatpants and a fluffy hoodie, which belonged to Charles.

"I've been better..." Sam mumbled. The only part of him that was visible was his face and a part of his neck.
"I'm sorry." Charles apologized.
"For what?" Sam asked and looked at his tall friend.
"For all of this. You wouldn't have left if I had just told you what was up." He continued.
"Then tell me now. Otherwise I... Won't forgive you!" Sam came up with. Yet he wasn't at all honest. He said it all with a big smile on his face.
"I'm sorry, but I really can't do that. I don't want to ruin things between us." Charles said and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Sam looked at Charles, waiting for a different response as if he hadn't even heard what Charles just said.

"Then don't say it straight up. Tell me some other way! Like charades!" Sam said happily.
"Fine." Charles said and sighed.

He felt his heartbeat accelerating as he agreed without even thinking. His body began acting before his brain, and he leaned closer to Sam. When he leaned away, his best friend's eyes were wide open, and his mouth was slightly opened as if he was about to gasp. Charles sighed and looked away. He couldn't bear Sam's wide, blue eyes staring into his own brown ones. Sam blushed. It was as if he could still feel his best friend's soft lips against his own.

"Chay..." Was all Sam managed to push out before looking away.
"I'm sorry." Charles apologized again.

Sam looked up at his best friend and then sighed. He leaned towards him, slipping out of the comfy blanket he had wrapped around himself.

"I love you too." He confessed in a whisper as he hugged Charles, leaning his head over his shoulder.
"... What?" Charles asked in shock.
"I love you." Sam said calmly, eyes closed as he dug his face into Charles sweater.
"R-Really??" Charles asked and his face shone up. Sam then leaned backwards to face his 'friend'.
"Of course!" Sam said and smiled widely.

A smile formed on Charles lips and he hugged Sam tightly. They stayed that way for a while before breaking the hug.

"Let's go downstairs!" Sam said eagerly.
"Why?" Charles asked.
"I have an announcement to make... Can I call you Babe?" Sam stopped as he realized he could use nicknames now.
"Sure, short shit." Charles said and smiled mischievously.
"Alright then!" Sam said, unbothered by the nickname he was given.

He dragged his new partner down to the living room.

"Great! You're all here!" He exclaimed happily.
"Yeah... What's up?" Seth asked as he turned off the TV as the two boys were blocking it.
"Big news!" Sam squeaked out excitedly.
"Oh, oh!! What's up??" Marla asked just as excitedly.

Sam looked at Charles, who smiled at him. He smiled back and took his hand. He then looked back at his friends, still with the smile on his face.

"We're an item!!!" Sam exclaimed happily. His friends gasped and looked at each other happily.
"Yeah, he couldn't hold it in for even five minutes" Charles said and chuckled.
"That's amazing!!!" Willow exclaimed. "Congratulations, you two!"
"Thanks." Sam said happily and looked at his boyfriend, who was smiling shyly.
"Finally you two got together. We've been waiting for such a long time!" Aaliyah said happily.
"Really?" Charles asked.
"Of course! It's been so obvious. The only ones who weren't aware was you two." Seth confirmed.

They all talked for a long time, mostly about the new announced couple, of course. But they shared many other subjects. They laughed and talked for what felt like minutes, but it had eventually been two hours.

"Wow, we should really be heading to bed." Marla said.
"Yeah. Let's go on a walk tomorrow morning as well! Let's just skip heading up to the road." Willow said, and her friends gazed at her.
"Good idea. I could use some fresh air." Charles said, and the others agreed as well.

They said goodnight shortly and went upstairs, into their rooms. All of them were quite eager to walk the same route again, as they had decided not to go up to the road to avoid traumatic memories.

"I'm so happy for Charles and Sam" Marla said as she took off her shirt, changing into her pyjamas.
"Yeah, I know right?" Seth said, unbothered by the fact that his female friend was shirtless. They had reached the level of comfort with each other that they didn't mind.
"That's six out of four. We all need to start looking for partners so we don't wind up all alone." Marla said as she out her gray sweater on. It had red and blue stripes on the sides of the shoulders and "BROOKLYN" was written in white capital letters in the middle of the shirt.
"Yeah.." Seth said and gazed at Marla, but shook his head, managing to look away before the female could notice.

They both would lay down in the bed, making themselves comfortable under their thick, white blankets. Seth turned off the lamp by his bed, and looked over at Marla on the other side of the bed, who had already picked up her book from the floor by her side of the bed.

"What're you reading?" He asked with a tired smile on his face.
"Ah, Angels & Demons by Dan Brown." Marla replied and showed him the cover of the book.
"Ah. Weren't you reading The Scarlet Cockerel by Jan Guillou on our way here?" Seth asked.
"Yeah, but I finished it. I mean, we did travel all the way from California." Marla said and they both chuckled.
"True, true." Seth said and gazed up at the roof.

Marla would lie in silence, her eyes moving fast along the lines of sentences in the thick, yet quite small book she held, and her ginger hair was spread out all over her white pillow. On the other side, on the other side, Seth fell asleep quite quickly. His energy was completely drained after such a long day. He fell asleep thinking about the graveyard they were heading to the next day.