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I’d completely forgotten that we’d decided to hangout to watch something instead of just talking the entire time.

But there was something about Theo that made it hard to stop.

I genuinely wanted to talk to her. I’d always been chatty and Iris and I could go for hours if we didn’t have class or work pulling us away.

But with everyone other than Iris—truly my platonic soulmate—I’d eventually get bored .

But conversation with Theo was genuinely fun, and texting her was the same.

It was new for me to feel that way. Most of my interest in previous flings began and ended with them giving me attention and having a story to tell.

Once the initial who are you? What do you want to do after college?

questions were asked, there wasn’t anything else to say.

Part of me was waiting for the other shoe to drop. We’d only just gotten to know each other; surely, there was something in her that I would grow to dislike.

Our plans to watch a movie got pushed further and further into the background as we talked. Theo let me talk for far too long about the dynamics about the One Tree Hill characters, while Theo contributed occasional vocabulary assistance when I talked about the games and team.

Mostly, though, she just let me talk.

When her phone suddenly vibrated in the middle of us chatting, it seemed to break both of us out of a trance. I had no idea how long we’d been sitting on the couch for, our candy mostly untouched.

“Oh, shit,” Theo said when she checked her phone. “Sorry. It’s later than I thought it was. I need to get back. There’s a game tomorrow and I have this kind of routine I like to follow the night before.”

“Oh,” I said, hoping I sounded more surprised than disappointed.

Part of me wanted to protest, saying it wasn’t that late or that we hadn’t been there that long but Theo was right— four hours had somehow slipped by like it was nothing.

I couldn’t believe it when I looked at the time; I was convinced somehow all of the technology in my house had been set to the wrong time.

“So much for watching a movie, I guess. Got a little sidetracked.”

“Yeah, a little,” Theo teased. She got up and I followed, both of us heading toward the door in small steps as if waiting to see what the other person was going to do.

“Do you want your candy back?” I asked.

“Oh, no. I bought it for you,” Theo said.

I tried to think of a smooth response but I was so surprised by her direct answer that I threw me off my game.

I’d never had anyone buy me something like that before—flowers, candy.

I never let it get that serious. But Theo made it sound like the most casual thing in the world.

“Oh. Thanks,” I said, the best I could come up with.

We headed to the front door and paused in front of it as Theo slipped on her shoes. For the first time since she got here, the silence between us felt a little weird—and heavy.

Probably because, for some reason, kissing her right now felt like the most natural course of action.

Even though this wasn’t a date.

And even though we weren’t actually interested in each other. Not romantically, at least.

Obviously.

“This was really fun,” I said quietly, unable to come up with a better way of describing it.

It felt like such a simple word for the expansive feeling that being around Theo evoked in me.

But she was fun. She was running in the sprinklers in the summer as a kid, getting tipsy and silly with friends over drinks on a sun washed patio during happy hour, kind of fun.

We’d only crossed paths a handful of times, but she managed to leave me with a warm ball of light in my chest just at the sight of her smile and the sound of her voice.

I was growing to really appreciate her easy going personality, no longer seeing it as a front to seem cool and laid back but as who she actually was.

The front hallway entrance of my apartment had never felt so compact.

I had my back practically against the wall with Theo standing so close to me I could feel the heat radiating from her body.

She was a whole head taller than me, forcing me to look up at her from what felt far too close.

My heart thudded, my body going haywire.

“Yeah, thanks for inviting me over.” Theo looked at me and I looked at her, the feeling passing between us something I’d never felt before.

It was the adrenaline of knowing a first kiss was coming after a date combined with the uncertainty of if it would really happen combined with the confusion of if I really actually wanted that to happen.

“Yeah.” I knew I was stalling. I was waiting to see what she was going to do and follow her lead.

I locked eyes with Theo and my lips parted. My attraction to her had been undeniable from the beginning, so the logical part of my brain was hardly putting up a fight. Fuck worrying about a mess and what would happen next; I wanted Theo now .

The only thing I didn’t know was if she wanted me just as badly.