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Just be casual. Try some light flirting. That was, word for word, what Theodore Nott had advised Lorenzo. Here he sat, shirtless, on her bed. The pale expanse of his broad chest was exposed. Light flirting, he reminded himself. Don't over do it.
As their hands connected for a high-five — celebratory as they'd finally passed their N.E.W.T.S. — he decided to intertwine his fingers with hers and declare, "I'm in love with you."
So much for subtlety.
He caught her by surprise. "W-What?" Her eyes were wide in shock, not expecting him to confess such a thing. "Did I hear you right?"
Lorenzo watched, breath suspended, as her hazel eyes went wide in shock. He'd been careful, trying to approach this casual flirtation with a lighter touch. His approach had obviously failed, but...
At least she didn't immediately say no.
"You heard me right", he confirmed, his voice steady despite the fact his heard was pounding loudly in his chest. "I'm in love with you."
She put her hand on her chest, almost as if she had a heart attack. "You almost got me there, I'll admit that was almost convincing." She thought he was just playing another one of his jokes on her, as he usually did. She let out a small awkward laugh. She always had a crush on him, maybe he had finally found out about it and wanted to mess with her.
As she laughed and put her hand over her chest, Lorenzo realized he'd once again screwed things up.
He'd been careful, keeping his voice and stance casual, trying his best not to overdo the flirting and she thought he was playing a joke on her. He hated this.
"I'm not trying to mess with you", he insisted, looking her in the eyes with such intensity that it actually hurt. "I'm being honest."
Her face scrunched up in confusion. "Wait, you're not?" Now she was really taken by surprise. "I thought Theodore had told you."
"Told me what?" It was clear that his own shock and confusion was now obvious, and he was trying his hardest to stay in control of himself. It was difficult when her words made no sense to him. He looked at her expectantly, hoping she would elaborate on what she meant so that he might be able to figure out where he had gone wrong.
She ran her hands through her hair. "Oh no." She just outed herself. Theodore had actually kept her secret.
Lorenzo was now completely lost, and it was beginning to show on his face. He was usually good at reading people — better at it than most — but his friend's sister was confounding him on a level he has never experienced before.
"You're being very cryptic right now. Just tell me what you mean." He did his best to keep any irritation out of his voice, though it was definitely more difficult to do now.
She let out a nervous laugh. "Theodore caught me staring at you the other day in the common room. He read me easily and found out about my crush. Of course he had always expected it, it's been a thing since I was a little girl." She rambled, her words rushed out of her mouth before she could stop them. "Now here you are, sitting in my bed shirtless confessing your love."
He sat silently for a second as her words sank in. He'd been trying to be gentle , trying to start things off slowly out of fear of his forward nature scaring her off...
... Only to be met with her confessing that she had been in love with him for years.
"Yeah", he said, trying his utmost to avoid letting the relief he felt flood through him to leak into his voice. "That is what I'm telling you, I'm in love with you."
Her face was beat red, her hand slapping over her mouth as she had finally just realized what she had confessed. "You weren't supposed to know all of that."
Lorenzo laughed softly — genuinely — at her discomfort before realizing how much he didn't care. If anything the blush that flooded her face was only make her seem more attractive to him now.
"No, but I do now." He said calmly, reaching out to take her hand in his. "And the feeling is mutual."
She intertwined her small fingers with his large ones. She felt relieved that he was being genuine and not playing one of his jokes. "You don't understand how glad I am."
"Trust me", he murmured, glancing down at their hands as he squeezed hers gently. "I understand perfectly."
"Now..", he began, pulling her hand down to rest upon his chest. "We can skip the light flirting stuff and just go straight to flirting with heavy intensions, right?" His words made a giggle slip her lips before she spoke, "Of course."
Another laugh left his lips. This was going to be an easy night — much easier than he had anticipated.
"Good", he mused, tilting his head to the side as he grinned. "Because I was about ten seconds from tackling you to the bed."
