The Other Half ✓︎

T w e l v e

"So, how was your birthday this weekend?" Lia asked.

I shut my locker and turned to face her. She was dressed nicely as usual, her cinnamon eyes sparkling mischievously. She grinned at me.

"Put that Cheshire smile away," I told her, leaning against the cold metal.

She pouted. "You're no fun."

I shrugged.

"Oh, come on, C. You gotta give me something here," Lia complained.

"Okay, but no screaming or outward freaking out," I bargained.

She nodded eagerly.

"He took me out to dinner, we walked around downtown, got hot coco, and then he walked me to the door and gave some chocolates for my birthday," I answered.

Lia narrowed her eyes at me,

I looked back at her with a bored expression on my face.

"Something else happened," she accused.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Did he kiss you?" she gasped quietly.

"How did you get that from what I told you?" I asked her instead.

Her hands flew up to her mouth. "You two totally kissed!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, we did."

"C, this is huge! Why didn't you tell me?"

I shrugged, breaking eye contact.

"Oh, C," Lia sighed, pulling me into a hug.

I hugged her back, burying my face into her shoulder.

"How are you?" she asked when we pulled away.

"I don't know," I confessed. "It was a really nice kiss. I think I'm still scared."

Lia nodded as we walked out towards the cafeteria.

"Have you talked to him since it happened?" she asked.

"Kind of. He texts me in the morning and before bed, and we chat at the gym, but that's about it, honestly. I haven't brought it up."

"I want to ask you something."

"What's up?"

"Would you have wanted more?"

I thought about her question as we reached our table.

"No," I finally answered. "I'm not ready."

"That's understandable. You mentioned that he knows, right?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Maybe he hasn't said anything because he's freaked out by it?" she suggested.

"I thought about it, to be honest. But I don't know that I'm ready to talk about it just yet. I don't want to get to this part of my life right now, not when I need to figure out what's going on with Lucas's situation."

"About that, actually. Tony's coming over to my place today to talk about some of the stuff he found. He said he has something to show us that we need to see."

"Happy Monday to us," I grumbled under my breath.

"That bad of a day?" she asked as we walked to lunch.

I sighed.

"Ah, new rumors?"

I nodded.

"What about this time?"