16
The night had gone great. In fact, it was probably the best night they had ever experienced as a group of friends. They learned more about each other that night, like how Chase was absolutely afraid of olives and Amie couldn't stand onions on her pizza.
They stayed so long, and caused so much noise at the pizza place, that by the time they left, the employees were ready to kick them out themselves.
Now they were all laying in the floor of Becca's parent's basement in a circle, with their heads touching in the middle.
"This is like one of those cheesy photos that every group of friends has." Becca commented. She had been taking pictures all night so that they could remember the first time they all went out together.
After snapping the picture, she rolled onto her stomach to look at it. "Oh that is good!" Amie agreed. "I want a copy."
"No worries, you'll get one." Becca smiled as she sat up and leaned against the couch.
"Why don't we play, like, strip Go Fish or something?" Chase suggested and everyone laughed.
"No way am I stripping down in front of you guys," Amie laughed, and Becca agreed.
"Yeah, you perv."
"Fine, we could just play and not strip," Teddy grabbed the deck of cards sitting on the end table and handed them to Becca to shuffle. When she grabbed them, her hand brushed up against his and all she could think about was how much she wanted to tell him.
- - - -
"I give up!" Becca laughed as she threw her cards in the air. She had lost the last seven games they had played and was tired of it.
"Only because you're losing." Teddy laughed at her as she propped her feet on his legs. "Ew. Feet are so gross."
"Oh, but you love my feet!" She giggled and waved them in front of his face.
"Only when I can do this!" He dropped his cards and grabbed her feet.
"I swear Teddy if you tickle me I won't talk to you for the rest of the night!" She threatened.
He began tickling her and talking at the same time. "You couldn't go the rest of the night without talking to me!"
He laughed as she tried to wiggle free and eventually ended up in Chase's lap.
She cleared her throat as Teddy finally let go of her feet. "Sorry," she apologized to Chase as she stood quickly and sat on the couch away from everyone.
"Ok love birds, we don't want to get involved in a domestic dispute between you guys, so we're going to the store to get some candy. You two can talk amongst yourselves and work this out while we're gone." Amie grabbed her brother and began pushing him up the stairs. "Be back in a bit!"
Becca knew what Amie was doing. Her real motives were not to buy candy, but to take as long as possible in the store so that Becca would have plenty of time to tell Teddy how she felt about him.
She heard him sit next to her on the couch.
"Ok, so I'm willing to call a truce so we don't end up on the next episode of COPS or something," he finally spoke and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Ok, fine. Truce."
"Could you imagine how that would look?" He chuckled. "Sir what's the problem? 'Oh well, you know, I was tickling her feet and she got mad at me'."
She playfully punch his shoulder. "Shut up Ted. You're crazy."
"Not as crazy as you are for me!" He was always saying things like that, but to Becca it was like he was trying to coax it out of her, like he knew she had plans to tell him something tonight.
She snorted as she laughed. "Don't flatter yourself, Geiger."
"Everyone knows it. Heck, everyone wants me." He giggled and she poked his side.
"Now you're just being ridiculous." She laughed as she laid her head on his shoulder. "I like you Teddy Geiger."
"Well, I like you too Becca Mercer."
An awkward silence fell over them, because Becca felt like he didn't understand exactly what she was trying to tell him. But, instead of going into further detail, and to hide her embarrassment, she kept quiet, hoping he wouldn't notice her red cheeks.
They were quiet for what seemed like an eternity, but was really only minutes, before Becca finally jumped up and decided to get something to drink.
"Do you want anything?" She offered.
"No, I'm fine."
"Ok, 'cause I-I'm just gonna go... get me some water," she stumbled over her words, and turned quickly to get away from the situation, but was stopped when he grabbed her hand.
His face was only a few inches from hers. They were looking into each other's eyes and Becca couldn't help but notice how it was the perfect for a kiss. She had seen it in so many movies, but in real life it was never as easy as it looked on screen.
"Maybe I will have something," he said calmly and let go of her hand.
She nodded before backing up and running up the stairs to escape. Amie and Chase were coming in the door just as she made it to the top, and Amie joined her in the kitchen.
"Well?"
Becca sighed and rolled her eyes as she pulled four bottles of water out of the refrigerator. "It was horrible. I said 'I like you Teddy Geiger' and all he was back was 'Well, I like you too'. Just like that! With no sort of feeling behind it!"
"I'm sorry, Becks." Amie tried to comfort her friend. "Maybe it was just one of those ambiguous statements that no one really knows how to respond to. We can think of a better way for you to tell him."
"I don't know." she shook her head. "It seemed pretty clear when he said it that there were no sort of romantic feelings for me. What if that was my one chance and I completely blew it?"
What if? What if he really had feeling for Amie now or even someone else she didn't know? What if? What if she would never get her chance to see if they could have a relationship?
She had been scared of this. She knew that if she said anything, she would only be left with a bucket full of embarrassment and rejection. She had never had to confess her feelings for a guy before, and now she was sure she would never do it again.
"At least he didn't totally reject you, I mean, he's still your friend."
"Yeah,
friends."
- - - -
"So did you tell her, man?" Chase asked as he sat down on the floor.
"I tried, but it didn't go so well." Teddy laughed at himself. "It was like the perfect moment and everything. We were all doing our usual flirty thing and then she was like 'I like you Teddy Geiger.' Which, I mean could have been some sort of confession on her part, but I didn't know how to take it so all I said was 'Well, I like you too.' I'm such an idiot! What if that was my one chance?"
"Dude, seriously. Everyone knows she feels the same way, it's just kind of a hard statement to reply to, ya know? Maybe you could come up with a better way to tell her while you're on tour or something and tell her when you get back."
"I don't want to wait to get back. What if she moves on?"
"She's not going to move on," Chase laughed. "She's crazy about you. You're crazy about her... And I'm sure that a couple of months apart won't make any difference."
"Maybe." Teddy was starting to agree with him as they heard the girls coming down the stairs to join them.
"Ok dudes, who's ready for some chick flicks?" Amie said cheerfully as she handed her brother a bottle of water.
The guys groaned in response as the girls each picked out two movies for the four of them to watch before Teddy had to leave.
" 'The Notebook', Ame? Seriously?" Chase laughed. "She's always watching this movie at home."
They were all seated comfortably in front of the television. Becca and Teddy shared one end of the couch, while Amie laid in the floor on her stomach and Chase fell asleep against the wall.
Becca took a few more pictures of everyone before she felt herself growing very tired. It had to be past midnight.
"Go to sleep," Teddy whispered after seeing her yawn.
She smiled to herself as she laid her head on his shoulder and drifted off to sleep.
*****
Ok! So what did you think?
