April Fools

This is for all those who got pranked today- Happy April Fools'!

Bzzt.

I grin as I hear my roommate key into our shared dorm room. The door opens, and closes, and I pause to force my face into a solemn look before swivelling around in my desk chair.

"Danny."

He looks at me with wide eyes, freezing where he's putting his backpack down beside his desk. "Yeah?"

"I... could I talk to you?"

He immediately falls for my faux-serious look and pulls his desk chair over to mine, sitting in front of me and looking at me with big, earnest eyes. "Of course. What's up?"

"I just..." I look down, then back up at him, putting on a hopeless face. "I've been thinking about this a lot, and... I think I need to tell you."

His eyes are huge. "What is it?"

I sigh, looking away in a show of embarrassment. "I... I'm in love with you."

I'm expecting him to be horrified or think it's a joke- which would really ruin the prank, but we've been best friends for three years, I feel like he's gonna figure it out anyways- but he's silent. When I peek back at him, he looks shocked- lips parted slightly, before suddenly breaking into a massive smile. "Really?"

I blink. This is not how I thought this was going to go. "Um. Yes?"

He beams at me. "Does that mean... can I take you out for dinner tonight?"

It seems like a pretty terrible time so say 'April Fools!', so I smile back at him instead. "Yeah."

— —

It's kind of ridiculous, getting ready for a date with my date about seven feet away from me doing the same. He's humming to himself as he ruffles his hair in the mirror, and he keeps looking over at me and grinning. I can't even help smiling back. I've never seen him like this, all bouncy and smiley. His face must be hurting from all the smiling by now- mine is. But I can't seem to stop, and I don't want to because Danny seems to get happier every time he spots my smile.

Still probably not the best time to say 'April Fools'. Maybe I'll wait until we get back. We can split the bill so he doesn't spend money on me.

— —

"You're impossible, it's not that hard to eat tacos without spilling."

"It is!" I huff as more of my lettuce falls into the napkin I've strategically positioned on the bench where the majority of my taco fillings seem to be falling. "You're some kind of magician."

He's being incredibly smug about this. "Maybe I'm just coordinated enough to know how to eat a taco without making a mess worthy of a toddler."

I gasp in faux-offence. "That is slander and I will sue."

He smirks and throws a wadded up napkin at me. "You can't even eat a taco, how are you going to hire a lawyer?"

I throw the napkin back at him. "I bet I can find a law student who would do it for extra credit. You're done for."

He laughs. "So is your taco."

I scowl and eat the remaining part I can actually hold, then stand up dramatically and pretend to leave. "Well if that's how this is going to be-"

He catches my wrist before I can even take a step, and when I turn to grin at him, he's already smiling.

— —

Danny pays for my ice cream, not through any fault of mine but because he ordered first and then went ahead to the cashier and paid for both of us before I'd even started talking because he knows I always get one scoop of the chocolatiest flavour available on a waffle cone. I try to glare at him for it as we're leaving the parlour, but his incredibly pleased grin makes it really hard.

"What'd you get?" I ask him once I've given up pretending to be mad (as if I'm even capable of being mad at him).

Danny holds up a bowl of something swirly. He's one of those people that gets ice cream in bowls, and also gets a different flavour every time. "Lavender swirl. Thought it could be fun."

"Is it?"

He beams. "Yes. I love it."

"You say that about every flavour you try."

"So I love ice cream. Sue me."

"I already am, for slander."

He elbows me in the ribs, and I burst out laughing. He has to grab my hand so I don't drop my ice cream, and then we're standing face to face, both grinning like idiots.

And then-

His lips taste like lavender. And my heart racing, and the tingles shooting down my spine, and the jumpy thrill in my stomach tells me I like it. I like it a lot.

I think I'm the one that kissed him, too.

April Fools on me, then.