Maeve was confused, rightfully so. She had just admitted to herself and her brother she had feelings for someone and that someone was a girl. That girl was none other than Robin Buckley, the girl Maeve had sat next to all of senior year. Maeve had made the decision to not say anything until after she talked to Cecil. She thought that she owed him that much.
Steve tried to tell her she didn't owe him anything, but she argued otherwise. He had fallen in love with her, and she was about to break his heart. She thought that she should talk to him on their date but then decided otherwise. He shouldn't have to do anything for her or with her. That why she decided to call him.
She punched in his home number and waited for someone to pick up. Thankfully when someone did it was her boyfriend.
"Hello?" His voice rang through the phone. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath.
"Hey, Cecil," She breathed out.
"Mae! Hey, what's up? You sound nervous about something. You okay?" He questioned concerned.
Maeve took another deep breath at that. "Um, yeah. I was just wondering if you could come over sometime today. I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Uh, yeah. I can be over in fifteen, is that okay?" He asked confused.
"That's perfect thank you."
"Okay I'll see you then. I love you," and with that Maeve stopped breathing. How could she do this to him?
"Okay, see you then," she said shakily. She put the phone up and let out a breath. She couldn't even bring herself to say it back. She was about to hurt him, and she felt awful.
For the next fifteen minutes Maeve paced back and forth. One, two, three, turn. One, two, three, turn. One, two-
When the doorbell rang, Maeve's heart stopped. Her head shot towards the door, and she took a deep breath. This was it. This was when she was going to hurt him. She slowly walked over to the door and opened it.
"Hey, Mae," Cecil said when he could see her through the door.
"Hey," she said meekly.
"Mae, what's wrong? I knew something was wrong over the phone but here right now i know for sure. Are you okay? Are you in trouble or-"
Maeve stopped him before he could go any further, "No, Cecil I'm okay. I just need to- I need to tell you something that's really important."
"Okay," he said unsurely.
"Come in. I don't really want to stand there all day," Maeve said with a slight joking tone but never smiled or laughed. She was trying to ease the tension that was rising.
She led them over to the living room where they both sat on opposite sides of the couch. Maeve fold herself to sit crisscross with her hands on her lap while Cecil just lazily sat next to her. Maeve turned herself towards him and had a timid look on her face.
"Mae, you're really starting to freak me out. What's wrong?" Cecil said impatiently.
"It's not that easy to just say. You're going to hate me," Maeve said sadly.
"Maeve, listen to me," he reached out to hold her hands, but she flinched away so he backed off. "I could never hate you. Whatever it is you can tell me."
"Okay, okay. You know I love you right?" She asked slowly. She watched him nod his head, so she continued. "Okay so, I love you and you love me, but I don't love you the way you love me."
Cecil stared at her slightly angry and slightly in shock. He was about to get up and storm off when she grabbed his hand.
"No, Cecil, please just listen-"
"No! How could you say that? We've been saying 'I love you' to each other for months now! Why are you just now telling me this? I fell for you, Maeve!" He shouted angrily. Maeve was glad nobody was home because that would've just made it worse.
"Cecil, please. Look that's- Please just listen to me," Maeve begged.
Cecil looked at her and slowly lowered himself down onto the couch.
"Look, I did like you when we started dating. I really did. But I've always known something about myself that has kept me from loving you and I never realized it until recently. Last night to be exact and that's the thing I think you going to hate me for," Maeve explained. When Cecil stayed silent, she continued, "I like someone else, but I didn't realize it till last night but hear me out." Maeve stopped him when he went to get up again. "It's not what you think. God, I didn't think it would be this hard."
Cecil looked at her confused. They had always talked about challenging things, and it had been fairly easy for both of them. Granted this was different from what they normally talked about.
"This person I like is a lot different than what you're thinking I promise," she said slowly. She was trying to stall and prepare herself at the same time. She took a deep breath and just said it, "The person I like is a girl."
She was definitely not expecting Cecil to look at her the way he did. She expected him to be disgusted and storm out. But he was just shocked mostly at first but then he slowly started to smile. Maeve looked at him strangely because this was nowhere near what she imagined.
"Okay, everything makes so much sense now," Cecil laughed out.
"Wait, what?" She asked bewildered.
"Everything makes so much sense. You were hesitant to go out with me in the first place, you were hesitant to kiss me, you were hesitant about everything. Plus, I could tell you weren't as happy as I was. Wait, who is it?" Cecil asked curiously.
Maeve hesitated before saying lowly, "Robin Buckley."
"Wait, band geek, Robin Buckley?" Cecil stopped.
"She's not a band geek!" Maeve said while laughing.
"She kind of is," Cecil said with a light tone.
"Okay she is, but that's not how I see her," Maeve said with a small smile. "You know I really thought you would hate me. I thought you wouldn't understand. I thought as soon as I told you, you were going to run off and tell everyone. I knew I couldn't lose you because even though I don't love you as a significant other I love you as a friend and that's why it was so hard to tell you. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if you hated me. I mean I would've hurt you a lot and that-"
Cecil stopped her as a smile grew on his face, "Mae, it's okay. I know now and I understand."
Maeve looked up at that and smiled. She couldn't help herself as she leaned across the couch and gave him a hug.
"So how did you know? Like what made you realize that you liked her?" He asked as they pulled away from each other.
"Steve kept hinting at something and I couldn't figure it out until last night. I was thinking about how I used to get so annoyed when he would talk about Nancy and then it hit me that I think about Robin the way he talked about Nancy. I mean I don't know when my feelings changed or if they were always like this. I just know that I like her, a lot. I'm sorry, I just told you I like someone other than you and-" Maeve started to rant again until Cecil cut her off.
"Maeve, I told you it was okay. I asked you about her. Also, for the record I don't think you're alone in your feelings. I think she likes you back," Cecil said with a smirk.
"What, no. No way. There's absolutely no chance-"
"I think there is!" Cecil said in a sing-songy voice.
"Okay even if there was, I don't think I'd ever have the guts to tell her," Maeve argued.
"Well, that's a problem," Steve's voice rang out. He had only just gotten home when he heard Cecil and Maeve talking.
"Steve! You can't just scare us like that!" Maeve shouted with her hand on her chest.
"I'm guessing you took the news quite well considering what you just said," Cecil said towards Steve. Steve looked towards him with a small smile.
"Guess you did too," Steve said with a small smirk. "But anyways, seriously that's going to be a problem because Robin's not the type to make the first move either. I'm not saying I know anything for certain, but I have a small feeling," Steve lied through his teeth. He normally wouldn't lie to his sister, but he knew they had to admit it to each other.
"Steve, you're not helping. Go away," Maeve demanded. Steve held up his hands innocently but turned away and went to his room with a smile on his face.
"He's right you know. She's not the type to make the first move. Neither of you are. Especially in this circumstance. I mean if you tell the wrong person, it's going to be ugly," Cecil said concerned.
"I know, I know. Why do you think I was so hesitant to tell you? I was terrified out of my mind," Maeve said with a small frown.
"Well, I have an idea to get her to admit it," Cecil said with a mischievous smirk.
"What?" Maeve asked slowly. When Cecil had ideas, they were typically bad.
"Okay so she knows we're dating, right?" Maeve nodded still suspicious. "But we've never really been around her while being together. So, if she's like any person she's going to be jealous. So, all we have to do is make her jealous, so she'll admit that she likes you."
"Oh my God! That's the worst idea you've ever had! If we were to do that then she would be hurt," Maeve exclaimed.
"She'll understand once you explain it to her," he reassured.
"This isn't going to work."
"Yes, it will, I promise." Maeve rolled her eyes at his arrogance. His plans never worked so how did he know this on would. "Plus, you won't even have to kiss me or anything. Just little things like holding my hand and laughing at my bad jokes," he said with a small smile. Maeve smiled at that. One thing she always did like about him was that he really did care about her. Sometimes he didn't know her limits, like when her social battery ran out at a party, and she was ready to go home. But he always cared about her.
"Okay, let's do it."