Family Matters

Chapter 20

"Joe, listen," Liz took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment to concentrate, "What I'm about to say to you is not easy for me and I'm asking you to let me finish before you say anything, okay? Please? I've never done anything like this before and having this talk with you is especially hard because it can ruin our friendship and I really don't wanna lose you as a friend," she took another deep breath, "Lately, I... I've been having these strange feelings. You remember at the birthday party? When we were in the water, we got," Liz made an awkward face, "kinda close," she laughed a little uncomfortably, "and that kind of... hit it off, I guess? Ever since then, I don't know, I kinda wanna," she groaned at her loss for words, "be more than just friends? I'm not quite sure myself. I just know that when you told me you and Maddie started seeing each other again it kind of bothered me. As your friend I should be happy for you but I'm just not. You know what I mean? I think what I'm trying to say is, I want to be more than just friends with you. Or at least I want to try. So, what do you say?"

Liz' counterpart remained silent, so she let out yet another deep sigh. "Come on, give me something, anything." He tilted his head a little then jumped off the chair and waddled over to his food bowl. Liz raised her hands in disapproval. "Really? That bad?" She sighed and got off the chair deciding that having her animal best friend play her human best friend so she could practice her confession was probably not her best idea. So, she picked up her phone and her notes from the table, walked over to the couch, sat down on it, and opened her chat with Mindy. She checked three times that it was the right one and sent her a voice message reciting her speech. She forwarded it to Cindy and Lauren, again checking twice to send it to the right people, then put her phone away and started an episode of Friends.

Cindy sent her a voice message five minutes later:

"I like it, but it seems too rehearsed. Maybe it's better to be spontaneous or he'll think it's weird."

"I can't do it without my notes. If I go in there without any preparation, I'm gonna die," Liz sent back as a voice message.

The next message by Cindy was typed:

When will you see him again?

Tomorrow night, we're babysitting

Nice

Liz rolled her eyes at Cindy's reply when she received a message from Joe.

Round of UNO with JJ, B & T tomorrow night when C, E & A are in bed?

Liz just replied with a thumbs up and immediately got a reply:

U ok?

Working, she lied which Joe didn't buy.

It's seven

Lots to do, more people got fired – which wasn't a lie this time.

I'll crush you all in one big swoop, she added with a smile on her face.

By cheating?

Liz gasped and raised her eyebrows: You're forgetting our bet, Mister. Careful or this calls for compensation payment

You wouldn't

A Lannister always pays his debts

I see myself more of a Stark

You wish

What are you then?

Targaryen obviously

Of course, the mad house

Careful

What are you gonna do?