Halley

36- Confessions

"Okay!" Halley found herself back in front of her mirror the very next day, once again trying to hype herself up. "James, I think I'm in love with you!- no, too cliché. James, I really like you- also cliché. I don't see you as just a friend- no, I don't think-"

"I really like you too," Halley whirled around, to see James standing right there. She felt her face flush bright red. "I don't see you as just a friend either."

"I- er, what?"

"You were telling the mirror how much you love me," said James, a completely neutral expression on his face. "I heard my name, and then I heard what you were saying."

"I- um."

"It's just- I've been trying to think of a way to tell you. And here I am," James's eyes bore into hers, "no one else feels right Hal. I've had girlfriends, but they never fit me right. With you, everything is easy- what I'm trying to say is, I don't want to just keep going like we are Hal. It's killing me."

"Dammit James, you're stealing all my lines!" Halley exclaimed. The pair stood in an irregular silence (they were never normally quiet in each other's presence), regarding each other strangely. "You're not joking are you?" Halley asked eventually, "because if you are, it's really not funny."

"I'm not joking," James confirmed.

"So, if what you're saying is true-"

"-it is."

"-and you actually like me-"

"-I do."

"-then we're at an impasse aren't we?"

"What?"

"Because I really like you too Jamsie."

They stood there, smiling like utter idiots for a while. James seemed to shake himself to reality first. He hurried around the bed, and to Halley's utter surprise, he pulled her into a kiss.

The kiss was perfect. Halley had kissed people before, but this one sent chills down her spine and made butterflies flutter in her stomach as if she were a teenager again.

Neither of them seemed to want to be the first to pull away, but eventually, Halley broke the kiss. They stared at each other once again.

Without warning, both of them burst into fits laughter.

"Well," Halley gasped with laughter, "that was new."

"It certainly was," James agreed. They fell back onto Halley's bed, lying on their backs, still laughing long after the joke had gone cold. All the while, their hands remained intertwined tightly.

It was a long time before either of them caught their breath enough to speak, but eventually, Halley pushed herself up on her elbows, still grinning widely at James.

"Well, I feel a whole lot better," Halley declared.

"Is it because of my amazing kissing skills?"

"No you prat, it's because I've been keeping that in for months."

James rolled his eyes, "only months, I've been wanting to tell you that for years."

"Alright, it's not a competition Jamsie," Halley flicked him on the nose.

"You flicked me!"

"You deserved it!"

"I don't deserve abuse, I was just saying that I've been in love with you for years, and what do you do? You flick me!"

Halley grinned, she moved over and kissed him on the nose, in the very spot that she had flicked him. "Better?"

"Much," James smiled.