Kissing Strangers

"You, you mean Clarissa?" His voice almost cracks at the end as he points a thumb back in the direction of your friend group, referring to it's newest blonde member, but you don't even bother to look.

You know who she is.

"Oh? Is that her name?" The charade you're putting on sounds so real you almost believe it yourself for a second, and you have to drag your attention back to the conversation at hand to keep from verbally patting yourself on the back.

"Clarissa?" You repeat (for clarification, of course), and the name sounds harsh and abrasive in your mouth, but that doesn't keep you from saying it with perfect pronunciation.

"Yeah, yeah no she's back there chillin, I guess." It's his turn to shrug now, and he almost acts as if he didn't spend the entire movie sitting right next to her. While you were all the way on the other side.

Out of the group, you and Erik were the only single people, and while you usually hated it when your friends' boyfriends tried to set you up, you liked Erik.
He'd just happened to be back in town the same week his boy had made plans, so it wasn't like he was there for you.
He was just... there too.
But you'd clicked instantly.The whole night you and Erik had been hanging together, picking right up where you'd left off from the other night.
Then Clarissa showed up.

Your voice keeps its same curious tone, and you press on. Not to make him uncomfortable or anything, but just to...understand better. After all, it's not like the two of you were dating or anything, you were just friends.

Friends were allowed to be curious, right?

Maybe the feeling you thought you had between the two of you was wrong.

"Oh, OK." You say, and silence falls between the two of you again for a moment as you reach the double door exit of the movie theater. He opens the right side, holding it for you, and you brush past his chest a little as you walk out.

You can feel the solid muscle resting underneath his sweatshirt and smell the scent of his body wash, and before you can let yourself get distracted by it you accidentally blurt out your next sentence more aggressively than you wanted to.

"Umm, you can go hang out with her if you want, you know. You don't have to be up here with me." You word vomit, and you squeeze your eyes shut, mentally face palming.

So much for trying to be subtle.

"What?" He walks out behind you, letting the doors shut, but you don't stop walking, not wanting to have to look him in the face.

Your feet unwittingly stop in their tracks after a few steps and you blow out a sigh, your body betraying your urge to flee. "I mean..."

You scratch at the back of your head, gathering up all your courage to deal with the dumbass situation you've just put yourself in.

"...don't feel obligated to be up here with me. If you wanna go be with her that's okay-"

"Be with her? Who said I wanted to be with her?" He interrupts you, and you open your eyes to see he's standing in front of you now, eyebrows scrunched in confusion and what looks like frustration.

Shit. You so didn't mean for it to go this way.

"Nobody! I'm just, I'm just saying that if you wanted to you could-"

"Y/n." He stops you again, but this time when you look up at him his face is oddly calm, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth barely hidden by his bottom lip tucked between his teeth.