You sit there at your desk by the arching window overhead. In front of you piles of books, reports and notes written in your familiar messy handwriting. With the moon slowly peeking from behind the clouds, beaming onto the crumpled sheets you suddenly realize the time.
You massage the bridge of your nose, right between your eyes, trying to ease the headache from your fatigue.
Damn. Perhaps it was the test tomorrow that was getting onto your nerves, making you lose track of time while you practically glued the textbooks onto your eyes.
Sighing you tidied up the mess on your desk and hopelessly thought of her. Your dazzling and captivating girlfriend that you haven't seen in a while due to school and work. Perhaps she'd already forgotten you. Perhaps the rumours were true... she really was cheating on you. Perhaps, she'd already gotten together with your missing roommate. Your phone suddenly buzzed three times.
[Can you come downstairs? We need to talk.]
{Your girlfriend is an idiot}
[I'm sorry dude. I can explain.]
Three texts. One from your girlfriend. The other from your close childhood friend. The last from your best friend and roommate. Curious about the sudden barrage of texts, you slowly get your jacket and grab your room keys. Then, still staring at your phone and replying to your close friend and asking her about the sudden statement, you leave the room and walk slowly down the stairs.
When you open the side door of the dormitories you find the three senders standing right ahead, seemingly in an argument. It was quite dark outside but judging by their voices and common actions, you knew it was them. Ellie, your girlfriend, Josh, your roommate and Diana, your close childhood friend. Seeing an opening between the group you slipped into the space beside Diana, wondering what they were all arguing about in the middle of the night. Even an idiot could guess that you were an involved party in this argument, considering how they all messaged you at the same time. But after pausing for a bit and tracking back into your memory, you couldn't seem to find anything that could possibly be the catalyst.
Lost in your train of thought the sudden sound of a slap shook you back into reality.
"You never deserved him but at least show him a shred of respect."
As Diana was aiming to slap Ellie again, you grabbed her thin arm, holding her back.
She stared at you in disbelief and confusion, as if wondering why you would stop her. You stood in front of Ellie, pulling her behind you and putting some distance between your girlfriend and her. She lowered her arm in desperation, suddenly spitting out a harsh tone.
"Do you even know what you are doing Nathan?"
No you didn't. Though your feelings for Ellie have changed, you still respected her and treated her as best you could. You tried your best with the unfamiliar and strange concept of love. You never doubted your feelings because you had nothing to compare too. But this time, even though you impulsively moved between them, you felt stumped, hesitant about this choice.
"What even is going on?" You asked, turning to Ellie and Josh.
"I'm breaking up with you Nathan."
You paused.
"What?"
"I like Josh... He treats me better than you, because what we had together wasn't really love. We were just like simple acquaintances. Thank you for everything, but we weren't really meant to be."
Josh added, "I felt bad for Ellie, and it started with that. But now, I'm sorry dude. It just happened. If you hate me I can't really change anything. I just hope that..."
"That what? You'll get his happy wishes for you?" Diana interrupted, enraged. She stormed off before anyone could say anything and subconsciously, you chased after her without a thought. Just because you knew it felt right. She arrived at the water fountain and paused, still facing away from you.
"I can't believe she got together with someone behind your back. And with your roommate of all people."
"But I really was neglecting her too much though." You replied back.
She turned around, looking at you with a raised eyebrow.
"What happened to all the dates you imagined going on with her? I thought they were nice. Don't you like her?"
"Yea I do... those date plans were nice. But I never ended up going." Diana hesitated after hearing this. She realized that this complicated relationship was not entirely blameless.
"Are you sure you like her?"
This question made you pause, considering everything.
Though you imagined all the dates with her, did you ever feel anything special when you were actually on the dates? If anything, just hanging out with Diana felt more comfortable for you. But Ellie really was a nice girl, she really was someone who was very likeable, up until she betrayed you. But would she have done that if you hadn't been so busy?
"If you weren't willing to give her time then did you really like her?"
That question struck you harder than anything else. It felt as if she were stating that everything before was just a lie. Just something done on a whim. Before you could think straight you yelled back at Diana.
"Who are you to worry about any of this? Wasn't it you who yelled at her? Why are you asking me all this now?"
"It's because... I'm your friend. I'm worried about you." She averted her gaze slightly.
"Well if you hadn't interfered perhaps things wouldn't be this confusing."
"So you're saying that I should stop caring about you."
"Yes. Precisely."
You were too furious to think straight. Did you really love Ellie? Was it really your fault that Ellie left you? Was it Diana's fault? Either way, you shouldn't have yelled at Diana. At least that was true.
Grimacing, you held Diana's arm as she turned to leave.
"I misspoke. I'm sorry. Perhaps you are right. Though I need time to sort out everything.
I should probably thank you for all that you've done shouldn't I?
You are really dear to me, you know.
You're a close... friend."
"It's fine... but... a friend?"
She paused, turned back and stood right in front of you. Staring up into your eyes with an anguished expression. She was troubled, as if she didn't know what to do. Just as you were about to open your mouth and apologize again, she pulled you in and kissed you.
Just a second past but it felt like much more to you.
It felt as if confusion and misunderstandings were fading away rather than building up.
In that moment it really did feel like she was the one for you.
You froze, trying to analyze your emotions.
But then she turned away and ran, leaving you alone in the moonlight to process your thoughts.
You were walking back to the dormitories, remembering the tone she used, a lower and more seductive voice, as if the way she spoke before was just her restraining herself. You remembered staring at her cherry red lips, the very ones that just touched yours moments ago. The ones that said words that resounded with your heart.
"You are a fool... though I suppose that I'm one too... for falling in love with you...
This was never supposed to happen. I was supposed to transfer away peacefully, leaving everything as a simple friendship... but I ruined everything, didn't I?"
If only you could tell her no. She didn't ruin everything. She just made it clearer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You awoke from a nap on your desk, feeling the tears that stained your eyes and quickly rubbing them off.
You glanced at the empty desk across from you, regretting everything that happened.
You picked up your phone and scrolled to a familiar number that you used to text and call every day. You saw the past conversations and the single line that you sent early that morning.
[Why did you have to leave this to now?] Why didn't she mention it earlier?
It didn't take long for you to realize your past foolishness. In fact, after realizing how different it was without her, you knew that you needed her. And she needed to know. So you typed out...
[I was a fool to fall in love with someone who didn't love me back.
I was a fool to think that it was love when I didn't even know what it was.
But most of all.
I was a fool to never realize that I fell in love with you.
So would you be willing to date this so-called fool?]
A moment later, your phone suddenly beeped and looking down at the sender and message attached, you smiled.
✏︎❤︎☆☾☆❤︎✏︎❤︎☆☾☆❤︎✏︎❤︎☆☾☆❤︎✏︎
Author's note: Hmmm this one was fun! Hope you enjoyed! It was sorta hard to find a song that fit this one but I did end up finding a song that I both like and fits really well. Somehow I felt like this trope was honestly a bit underrated. It's quite uncommon when I find a romance from the pov of a guy. Especially one with such a character like Diana's. I hope you caught all the bits of "in between the line" plot tho. Like the sorta stuff you only realize once the whole secret (the crush in the example) is revealed. Also, what do you think of the characters? Was there a real antagonist here or was Nathan the person who was wrong? Anyhow, have a wonderful week and thanks for all the follows, votes and reads . If you have a prompt feel free to tell me!
- Amateur Artist 💫