Jellyfish

22. Closer

I don't know what Frankie was talking about, but he was certainly adorable while doing it. The way his eyes lit up and his hands seemed to animate the story all on their own, it was absolutely adorable. To my left I could see that Miles agreed, leaning forward on the table with that silly smirk on his face as his eyes never strayed from Frankie's lips. If I was being honest, I don't think Miles was really listening either, but that wasn't surprising. He did this thing where he pretended to listen, but really he was just watching while you talked. Miles hardly registered a word half the time, too busy eyeing one of our lips and just barely refraining from cutting us off in his own unorthodox way. He wanted to, I knew that, but where he rarely held back with Frankie, I had yet to experience that kind of affection from him. He'd kissed my cheek plenty of times as well as my hands and my neck if I was feeling particularly lenient, but Miles had yet to plant a kiss where he desired most and for once, I was the one who wouldn't stop watching his lips.

"I know that neither of you are listening to me," Frankie's pout was audible and I guiltily tore my eyes from Miles' face.

"In my defense," I began, "You already texted us this story last night at one in the morning."

It was Frankie's turn to flash a sheepish smile as a soft blush covered his face. "Well, yeah, but it's different in person. And! It's not like either of you were asleep or anything."

"How was I supposed to sleep when you were right there for me to entertain myself with?" Miles asked and as it always did when he opened his mouth, the conversation somehow felt dirtier. Both Frankie and I exchanged expressions of mock disgust while Miles clarified, "I meant like, cuddles. Totally."

I watched them fall into their normal scrap with a small smile on my face, but inside I was still thinking about kissing Miles, much to my chagrin. I still remembered how it felt to kiss Frankie, though he hadn't done such since, and they kissed each other all the time, but I had yet to get there with Miles. It wasn't a jealous feeling per say, that rose in my gut when I saw them; jealousy in a relationship like mine would've been quite the killer, but it was a certain kind of curiosity that made me frown as I watched them. It had been exactly three weeks since I accepted their proposal and a total of ten dates that fully convinced me I'd made a good decision. They weren't all planned, some being just random nights Miles would text me to come outside and we'd end up at Frankie's house playing stupid games or watching movies. Ten dates and three weeks was hardly enough to even be thinking how I was, but for some reason my mind had gone down a strange track. I knew that they were closer to each other, that they'd spent countless nights wrapped up together in the same bed and maybe it bothered me just a bit that I was so behind in this relationship.

Maybe that was why I felt compelled to ask, "How did you guys meet?" When their small argument faded out.

Both seemed surprised at the sudden question, as if it hadn't occurred to them that I would ever need to know this information, but Miles happily launched into a story. "We go to the same school, in case you forgot that exists."

"I didn't," I chimed, not particularly insulted but not pleased with the prod.

"Yeah, well, we do, and we have since like, diapers. I've always been the loud one. I like people, and sports, and pretty much anything that gives me a good outlet to lose some energy, and surprisingly, Frankie does too."

"Why is that surprising?" He asked giving me a look as if to say why is he insulting us?

"Babe, you give off big book nerd vibes half the time. I love you to pieces, but you've got such a timid aura it's hard to imagine you in any kind of competitive sport," Miles gave his hand a few good pats before jumping back in with, "So anyway, Frankie's like, crazy good at soccer, right? And I'm eh at it, but I'm the one who played on the team and we were in like second grade so I saw him kick the ball around and eight year old me is like look he plays too y'all are friends and yeah I basically forced him into my friendship."