Why Don't We date already? | oneshots

the treehouse

Christina's POV

    I sat atop my treehouse, not necessarily inside it, but on top of it. I, of course, had a book with me, perched on the book stand that Corbyn had made me ages ago.

    "Christina, get down, we've having a picnic," Corbyn frowned, standing at the bottom of the tree house.

    "In a bit," I muttered, my eyes scanning the pages, devouring the book.

    "Chrissy, Uncle James doesn't want to start without you."

    I rolled my eyes. Dad was always so polite. "Let me finish the chapter, Corbs."

    Corbyn just sighed and climbed the worn ladder. He grabbed the sides of the book. I ignored him and kept reading. He carefully folded a corner of the page over and slammed the book shut, the loud noise startling me. I fell off the top and into Corbyn's arms. He placed the book onto a nearby table as he rolled his eyes. "You read too much."

    "Excuse me?" I asked, cuddling into his chest. "There's no such thing as reading too much."

    "You just made that a thing," he rolled his eyes. "Let's go eat lunch."

*****

    Corbyn and I made our way across the creek that separated our houses from the hay fields that we would go to play in all the time when we were younger.

    "Remember Mr. Bear?" Corbyn asked, a grin lighting up his face as he relived old memories.

    "Hell yeah," I smiled. "He would play with us and dance with us."

    "We would basically ask thin air what he wanted to do today."

    "Remember the arguments we had over what he said?"

    Corbyn laughed. "You were so sassy back then."

    "So were you," I shot back. He stuck his tongue out at me. It became a blowing raspberry war until I caved and started a shoving war.

    "This is so dumb," I muttered, shoving Corbyn so that he fell back a couple steps. "I could be reading right now."

    "Uh huh," Corbyn muttered before tackling my waist, causing me to fall into the tall strands of wheat. His head nuzzled into my stomach as I laughed from the swooping sensation.

    "Hi Corbean," I murmured, playing with his now blonde hair. His face was still smushed against my torso, his arms tight around my waist. We were in an awkward position on the field since the wheat stalks were evidently not used to being bent under the weight of two teenagers. We spent a few moments there, his even breathing caressing my stomach and me playing with his hair. He looked so cute. I tugged his hair a little bit, teasing him. He poked my side, causing a smile to grow across my face.

    Corbyn propped his chin below my sternum. "I love you, Christina."

    A shiver ran down my spine. I would have hoped that he meant it in a more than platonic way, but then again I had been hoping that for years. It was just so hopeless. "I love you too, bud."

    I felt him slightly frown. He pulled away, causing my chest to grow cold immediately. I shivered involuntarily as Corbyn stood up. He grabbed my hands, tugging me upwards. "Let's go, Chrissy."

    "I was chilling," I complained as he pulled me upwards.

    "Yeah, but it's getting dark," he said, pointing at the stars now appearing.

    "True," I amended. He held my hand as we crossed the creek and parted our separate ways into our backyards.

*****

    I jumped out of my window, a flashlight in my hand and my book in the other. I ran through the backyard and onto the treehouse, shutting the small windows and door. I arranged the old pillows into a comfortable stack, resting my back against them as  I propped the flashlight and my book up.

    "You're terrible at sneaking out."

    "Shit, Corbyn," I cursed, nearly dropping my book. "You scared me."

    He just shrugged. "You woke me up. We're even."

    "Fine," I muttered, sliding over so that he could fit in next to me. He carefully crawled in, wrapping an arm around me. I snuggled into his side, flipping a page.

    "Which book is that?" Corbyn asked, trying to look at the cover. I pulled it up so he could see.

    "It's Still Alice by Lisa Genova," I said, setting the book down. "It's really good."

    "I'll take your word for it," he sighed, resting his head on mine as we read together.

Corbyn's POV

    I loved Christina.

    Our parents were friends. Our grandparents were friends. Heck, our younger siblings are friends. It's been in our family for ages. We've lived next door for our entire lives. How was I not supposed to fall for her?

    I loved everything about her. I loved the concentration of her face as she read, the small crease in between her eyebrows and the set of her lips. I loved her hair, which used to be long until she cut it to her shoulders. I loved the shape of her body and how it fit perfectly into mine. I loved her laugh. God, I could hear her laugh for days. I loved it when she was being sassy with me. I loved her everything and anything. Her passion to be an author. Her fidgeting while she was nervous. Her blushes and her shoves. Her hands in mine. Everything. I. Loved.

    I loved her.

    But she never seemed to like, much less love, me back.

    It was foolish to hope that she ever would.

    I felt her book drop onto my lap. I placed it on the tiny bookshelf in the corner of the room and looked down at Christina, fast asleep. "You won't understand how much I love you."

    As I bent down to kiss her forehead, I was instead met with soft lips. I opened my eyes, shocked. Christina's wonderfully brown eyes met mine as she moved her lips against mine. I smiled, pulling her onto my lap. We made out in the old treehouse, giggling and cuddling.

    "Look," Christina whispered, pointing to a carving in the wood behind my head. I turned to get a better look at it. It read "CMB and CMH forever."

    "We made that dream a reality," I said, pulling her in for another kiss.

*****

corbina is too cute to use another couple