Page 64 of Academically Yours

I tried to ponder that thought. “Yeah,” I muttered, frowning at her being right, “I guess I do.”

“Cheer up, you sap,” Bryan grinned at me. “You like her. We could tell from the way she was looking at you last night that she likes you. And she certainly let you kiss her—”

I flushed. Like, my neck and ears were red, and I knew that they could see it if I could feel it. Great. Now we were going to talk about me shoving my tongue down her throat at the game. Lovely. A grown man, basically blushing over kissing a girl.

“It’s not like I haven’t caught the two of you sticking your tongues down each other’s throats a few dozen times over the years.”

“Well, that’s different,” Elizabeth insisted, looking at her husband as I raised an eyebrow.“We ended up getting married,” she grinned at me as she picked up her breakfast sandwich.

Bryan rolled his eyes at his wife, before turning back to me. “We also never tried to hide us from you. Once we realized we liked each other, that was it. We were together.” My best friend smiled smugly, looping his arm around his wife. And maybe I was a little envious of their college romance, and how easy it had been for them.

“It’s not that easy,” I finally said, shaking my head.

“Isn’t it? Just man up and tell her you want more with her, dumbass.”

“It’s—”

“Don’t you dare tell me it’s not that simple or it’s too hard or anything like that. Matt. I’ve known you since we were eighteen. Since we were stupid freshmen walking into our dorm rooms. I’ve never seen you act this stupid over a girl before. So can you just… I dunno, tell her how you feel?”

“What if…” I said, and then I paused. Saying the words out loud seemed like I was dooming myself. But, when Bryan raised an eyebrow and Elizabeth just sighed at me, I knew I had to keep going. “What if I tell her, and she doesn’t want me like that? What if… she rejects me?” Could I handle that? I didn’t know.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Don’t let your fear of losing her keep you from going after what you want, Matthew. And if that’s her… just tell her.” She glanced at Bryan, and then looked back at me.

“What?” I asked her, suspicious over the look she shared with her husband.

“I have an idea. But you have to trust me.”

I did. Of course, I did—she was one of my closest friends. She married my best friend, for goodness sakes. I would do almost anything she asked because that was how much I trusted and respected her. So I nodded.

And then she told me her idea, and I knew what I had to do.

I took a big gulp of water, hoping I wasn’t making the dumbest decision—or biggest mistake—of my life.

Hoping that the girl I wanted more than anything wanted me back. Hoping that there was a future in front of me that didn’t involve me, alone.

It was all I wanted, and suddenly—all I needed. Her, just her.