bestfriend to boyfriend? //Nick Austin

12

The next morning I awoke to Nick's voice. He was talking to his mom on the phone I assumed.
"Yeah I know mom." He sighed. "I know, mom. I'll talk to you later. Love you"
I squinted my eyes as I adjusted to the sunlight in the room.
"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you up." He shyly smiled.
"It's fine" I closed my eyes again. "Why did you sleep in here?"
"I don't know really." He shrugged.
"You're 19 and still scared of the dark?"
"No..."
"Oh my god Nick." I rolled my eyes. "You're ridiculous."
"Sorry it won't happen again."
"I'm not mad."
"About me sleeping in here or?"
"Both." I pursed my lips. "I don't like fighting with you but I also don't think we should be anything more than friends. It's too complicated."
"Uh... oh... okay." Nick frowned. "Whatever you want."
"I'm sorry. We've just been friends for so long that I'm scared that it would end badly if it didn't work out. I mean, we couldn't even really make it past one day so far so..."
"I promise if you give this a real try I won't make you regret it Zoey. Because at this point, I don't know if I can even be just friends. I mean how do we go back from this?"
"I don't know. But we can try I guess."
"Yeah sure, if that's what you want. What do you want to do today?"
"Nick you really don't have to stay here anymore. You can go back to your real home I'll be okay here alone."
"No. I'm gonna make up for lost time. It's been so
long since we've gotten to hangout just me and you and I miss it. Do you know why I kinda went ghost on you?"
"Why?"
"When I realized I was in love with you, it got harder and harder to be around you without trying to make a move or tell you. By the time I got the opportunity to move into the Hype House, I jumped at it because I knew if I was away from you maybe you would find someone and I could move on but my feelings for you never changed no matter how far away I was. I was terrified of messing up our 'family' or ruining our friendship so I distanced myself more and more so I couldn't fuck anything up. I really did miss you a lot."
I just nodded in response, not really knowing what to say. No one has ever really expressed their feelings for me so I was kind of at a loss for words. It was silent for a minute.
"So wanna go swimming?"
"Yeah." He smiled. "I'll go change and meet you outside."