That bench by the pool (Daerin)

True feelings

Present day:

Danielle:

I peeked down at Haerin resting upon my shoulder. She was like a rock, but not as if she was resting like one, more like she felt kind of tense. I don't know how but I could tell. What is she thinking?, I thought. Or perhaps she has a question occupying her mind like mine. How different could these questions be?

Haerin:

We both stared at the lit up water before us. It felt like ages had passed with just the 2 of us stuck in this ocean of time. But the more I stayed beneath the surface, the more I felt the urge to come up and take a breath.

"Dani"

"Yeah?"

"I think we should go now, it's getting late"

"Yeah, sure"

I lifted my cheek from her warm shoulder and hoisted my body up from the bench. My question was playing on repeat in my mind. It started to irritate me. I didn't know which answer to choose, which answer to believe.

"Hey, you okay? You kinda zoned out there" Danielle broke my thought train again.

"Yeah...sorry lets go"

Danielle led the way into the house as we weeved though the crowds of people and stepped back outside into the crisp cool air. Just as we reached the large gate of the property, the front door clicked open and a voice shouted from it.

"See you at school Danielle"

It was Yeonjun, the host. He often held parties here at his house because his dad was usually away on business and his mom was out doing god knows what. Either way both parents were usually away is what I heard from Danielle. She usually gets all the school gossip as everyone loves her and fill her in on that kind of thing, only for her to deliver that information to the person they least expected to hear about it, me. Sometimes it's funny and we can't stop hysterically laughing. The way Danielle speaks to me feels so warm, friendly and...loving? No! What am I thinking again. It isn't like that, I'm not like that.

"Uh, sure", Danielle replied to Yeonjun.

Once the door shut again I twisted my neck back to the way my body was facing and Danielle wheeled out her bike from next to the gate. Once she climbed onto the seat, I hoped on the back after adjusting my helmet on my head. Since we usually rode together a lot these days, Danielle added an extra seat cushion onto the back.

I wrapped my arms around her stomach area and leaned my face onto her back. She felt so warm. We rode in silence until we reached my house. I almost fell asleep but opened my eyes as I felt the bike come to a halt. My arms felt reluctant to do so but I brought them away from her body and stepped onto the foot path undoing my helmet and returning it to Danielle.

"Well, sleep well Haerin, I'll see you at school"

"Yeah good night"

Danielle smiled at me and turned her head to face the front of her bike again.

Danielle:

Just as my foot pushed the pedal, I felt a tug at the hem of my shirt. My foot touched the pavement again as a craned my neck around. My gaze was met with Haerin's eyes staring deeply into mine.

"Everything okay?", I asked.

"Um...er...I'm blad I have you", Haerins words came out a complete mess. I couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"You sure you're okay?", I laughed.

"..."

"Well i'm glad I have you too Haerin"

With that, I reached for her hand still on the hem of my shirt and squeezed it before letting go and pedalling away.

Haerin:

I closed the door to my bedroom and flopped onto my bed. After a few seconds I changed my position to face the ceiling. My thoughts were complete chaos all jammed into my brain. What is this feeling you gave to me Danielle? I thought about it. It was always friendship I thought. I thought. Just a close friendship different from my past ones. Different. I focused on these words and tried to make sense of my question. Yes this was different. 

I tried to not enter the corner of my mind that held that word. The word I pushed away all this time and avoided. The word I questioned myself and hated myself for. That word...love.