Trials Of A Heart | ✔️

17

~Brielle's POV~

I blinked as I stood outside of my apartment door after Phoenix had driven me home from school, where I found Harmony standing beside my front door with a big, scary grin on her face.

"Was that Phoenix?!" She giggled excitedly and grabbed my arms gently, shaking me a little. I wrangled my way out of her grasp, secretly a little glad that Phoenix had already drove off so that there was no chance of him hearing any of this. "Y-Yes, it was." I nodded, stepping around her with my keys in my hand. She squealed so loudly that it startled me, making me miss the hole when I tried to stick the key into the lock. "You didn't tell me you guys have become so close!" She exclaimed, causing me to glance up at her. I pushed the key into the lock without any problems this time, and unlocked the door. "Are you guys dating?" She asked, making my eyes widen.

My face burned at her question and I pushed open my door a little more roughly than I meant to, making it knock against the wall. "No! What? He doesn't... He sees me as just a friend." I said assuredly, heading inside with Harmony trailing right behind me. She shut and locked the door so I wouldn't have to, whilst I set my keys down on the table by the front door. Our eyes met when I looked over at her, finding an unconvinced expression on her face as she raised a dark brow. "Geez, you're still just as naive as always." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm telling you, Bri, there's no way that man doesn't like you. I've seen the way he looks at you." She said, giggling like a schoolgirl. I sent her an uncertain look, biting on the inside of my cheek. "The way he looks at me?" I echoed, wondering what she meant.

Harmony kicked her shoes off next to the front door and looked at me like she wanted to put her head through a wall. "Duh." She huffed. "Bri, I've never seen a man flirt so discreetly and yet look at a girl like he's imagining thirty different ways to bang you." She said, laughing loudly when I gave her a horrified look, not at all expecting her to say that.

"He doesn't do that..." I said, but I sounded uncertain even to my own ears. "Does he?" I mumbled, furrowing my brows. She snorted and then giggled softly, as if this were actually funny to her. It probably was, from her perspective, but I didn't know what to think. "Yes! That's what I've been trying to tell you! There's no way in hell he doesn't have a thing for you." She insisted adamantly, the mere thought of Phoenix liking me making my heart race.

"I dunno, Moni. He's probably just being nice." I said, not wanting to get my own hopes up too much. It was already obvious enough that I had a crush on Phoenix as it was, and I knew that my crush would only grow stronger as I got to know him more. Thinking that he must've had a crush on me just seemed like a way to eventually break my own heart. I mean, he was way out of my league. Why would he even like me when he could have any girl he wants?

"Pfft." Moni scoffed and slipped past me, walking down the hall. I hurried after her, frowning as she plopped down on my couch and gave me a look. "Bri, I'm saying this because I love you, but you have no experience with guys and you're incredibly oblivious. Trust me when I say I can tell I'm right." She said, causing me to bite on my lip. "What if you're not, though?" I responded weakly, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch. I curled my legs up to my chest and rested my chin on top of my knees as I looked at her. "I'm right." She stated, not even considering that she could be wrong.

Continuously chewing on the inside of my cheek, I considered her words for a moment, wondering if it was possible that she really was right. After all, Phoenix had told me himself that he didn't treat me the way he did to other girls he had known. He had even confessed to checking me out, and friends didn't check each other out.

She giggled as she noticed that I seemed to be thinking seriously about it, her eyes practically sparkling. "You like him, don't you?" She asked, seeming to easily catch onto my feelings, which I kind of expected from her. After all, we'd been friends for years now and knew each other well. Plus, I was pretty easy to read. I pushed my hair back, my fingers shaking from how nervous I was feeling. "W-Well...He is nice to me and I find him attractive." I admitted reluctantly, but that answer didn't seem to satisfy her because she gave me a blank stare, not amused or pleased in the slightest. "That is not what I asked. Do you like him?" She repeated in a firm voice, making it clear that she demanded a real answer out of me.

Blushing, I sealed my lips shut and stared at her, deciding that I could definitely tell Harmony. It wasn't like she was going yo tell Phoenix, considering she didn't talk to him unless I brought her to him. She didn't have his phone number, and they didn't go to the same college like he and I, so she didn't have any form of communication with him. "Fine." I whispered. "I like him." I admitted softly, my face burning as I did so.

Harmony squealed in excitement, giggling like a little girl as she bounced up and down in the spot she sat on my couch. "I knew it, I knew it!" She laughed gleefully with a giant grin on her face. I felt embarrassed but I did my best to hide it. "Bri, this is a big deal! You guys would be so cute together." She exclaimed, but I just nervously bit on my bottom lip and gave her a weak smile. It wasn't like I didn't understand why she was so excited about this whole thing, because I did. Having a crush was not a common occurrence for me. My first real crush began in seventh grade and it was in the tenth grade that it turned out horribly. When the boy, Harvey Glade, had found out about my crush on him from people that I had once called my friends, he and his friends made fun of me for the rest of the year about my parent's deaths, which had only happened at the end of ninth grade, not even a year prior.

After an experience like that, I was hesitant on the idea of crushing on anyone and even more so about anyone possibly crushing on me. That didn't seem like something that was even possible, at this point, but I knew I was crushing on Phoenix regardless. "Do you really think so?" I asked softly, unable to help myself from divulging in the feelings I was having. Even if it was silly or even hopeless, I kind of hoped that maybe Phoenix did like me.

My best friend grinned widely and shifted on the couch, lifting her legs up onto the couch as well. "Yes!" She exclaimed exasperatedly. "Look, Bri, I know you think that Phoenix is just being friendly and nice, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: he's only being friendly for now. At some point, he's going to want more. The friend zone isn't going to cut it forever." She said, causing me to frown. I wasn't even sure exactly what she meant by that. "So, he's going to start being mean to me because he wants more?" I asked, thoroughly confused. She snorted, amused by my genuine confusion, and shook her head. "No, no. That's not what I meant." She assured me, a small smile on her lips.

"Phoenix is going to be more than friendly with you, Bri. Poor girl, I can only imagine how you'll react if a man like him puts the moves on you." She said, tilting her head in thought, as if trying to picture it. It must've been quite a funny thought to her because she giggled and then looked at me with sparkly eyes, whereas I just frowned at her in confusion.

"Oh, yes." She breathed out, grinning. "You're definitely going to be in for it."