“Come in,” he calls out.
I push the door open and step inside before shutting it behind me. My anxiety grows as my eyes settle on Forest, where he’s switching off the bathroom light.
When he meets my gaze, I gesture to the bed and go to sit on the mattress. I cross my legs in front of me and take a deep breath.
Forest sits down on the side of the bed, and tilting his head, he murmurs, “Talk to me.”
“Promise you won’t take this the wrong way,” I say as I scoot a little closer to him.
A worried look tightens his features. “I promise.”
“So… uhm…” I tuck a couple of strands behind my ear. “I’m…” I take a deep breath.
This is hard. How do I tell my best friend he’s making me feel things? Emotions I never thought I’d get to experience.
Forest reaches for me, and placing his hand over mine, he gives it a squeeze. “Hey, it’s okay. You can tell me anything.”
God, what if I open a can of worms?
My eyes drift over his face. This is Forest. My best friend.
Gathering my strength, I admit, “When you kissed me,” I swallow hard, “it made me feel things.”
Forest’s fingers tighten around mine.
I let out a burst of nervous laughter. “Either you’re just that good at kissing, or the guys I’ve dated can’t kiss to save their lives.” A shaky smile tugs at my lips. “Or…”
I don’t know what I expected. Maybe for Forest to call off the fake relationship? But instead, he gives me a reassuring smile and says, “Or maybe it feels good being kissed the way you deserve to be kissed?”
I let out a grateful chuckle. “Yeah, that too.”
Forest drops his gaze to our hands. “What do you want to do?”
“If we stop with the act, we’ll look like two idiots to the entire campus,” I mutter. “But I’m scared if we continue, it will start affecting our friendship.” Forest lifts his eyes back to mine. When he doesn’t say anything, I continue, “You’re the most important person in my life. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t,” he states with so much certainty it makes me feel a little better. “Let’s look at the worst that can happen.”
“Okay,” I breathe.
He hesitates for a moment, then asks, “We love each other, right?”
There’s a spike of anxiety right through my heart. “Yeah.”
Forest takes a deep breath. “And there’s chemistry between us?”
I hesitate, but then push through and admit, “Yes.”
“Would it be such a bad thing if this fake relationship became real?”
God.
I’ve never had a relationship last longer than two weeks. Forest… he’s my life. I’d die if we dated, only for it to end in fourteen days.
Emotion pushes up my throat. “I won’t risk losing you.”
Forest must see the fear on my face because he pulls me to him. His arms wrap around me, and he holds me tightly while murmuring, “You won’t lose me. We can remain best friends, or we can try the real thing and see where it leads. No pressure either way.”
I pull a little back and staring into his gray eyes, I whisper, “I suck at relationships. You know my longest one lasted thirteen days.”
I sit down on my knees and dropping a hand to Forest’s thigh, I begin to fidget with the fabric of his sweatpants.
“Okay,” Forest says, and bringing a hand to my chin, he nudges my face back up so I’ll look at him. “How about we continue with the fake relationship. Use it as a trial period to see if we can last longer than two weeks. If we make it, we can reevaluate whether we want to make it real. If things start to unravel, we stop and go back to being best friends.”
“As long as we don’t end up fighting and ruining things between us,” I say.
“At the first sign of a fight, we instantly stop the relationship,” Forest states.
“So… how will this work?” I swallow hard. “Do we stick to what we already agreed to?”
Forest’s eyes burn on mine, and after a moment, he says, “Let things take their natural course. If the relationship progresses between us and we’re both okay with it, I don’t see why we should put rules in place.”
Needing to be on the same page as Forest, I ask, “So, we kiss whenever we want to, not just for pretend to fool the campus?”
“If you’re okay with it, yeah.”
Because of my past relationships, especially after dating Eli, I’m scared to open up to another person intimately. I let out a shaky breath, and my hands begin to tremble. My breathing speeds up as I admit, “I’m scared.”
Forest moves his hand to my cheek, and his touch is electric and gentle at the same time. He leans into me, and our eyes lock. “It’s always been you and me. Nothing will ever change that. Okay?”