Close (A21)

She was giggly. Drunk. Just a little dizzy. Five wine slushies and two shots into the night and way too tipsy for all of this right now.

Way too tipsy to do anything but stare at the pink lips of her friend. Friend her mind screamed at her, but her eyes stay focused as he licked his lips absent mindedly while talking to one of their coworkers.

Right, because this started as a work event.

It had clearly moved past that, with the five of them staying hours beyond happy hour. She giggled into her hand at the joke delivered next to her and glanced at the teller. With a roll of her eyes, she settled back on her friend. She wouldn’t even be this drunk if he hadn’t asked her she would finally be getting married. Maybe never, at the current glacier pace this was all going. As if pulled by the force of her stare, he turned to face her.

Eye contact. Normal. Everyday.

Sizzling.

He looked away before meeting her eyes again. She looked away to focus on anything else. Another minute and she was looking at him again. Maybe it was too much, maybe she was being obvious. She was a little too far gone to care. She spent years asking him on dates he mistook as platonic, almost forcing him into next levels of friendship. There was no way he was going to look any further into this than she had a good time. She was known for friendly flirting. She was the touchy friend. There was no way he’d look into this. She was free to look.

She sighed as she stirred her wine slushy.

…

He casually placed his hand on the wall by her head. She looked up. Maybe he didn’t realize how suggestive this position was. Maybe he was teasing her. He smiled as he looked down at her. His eyes glanced down at her lips and he moved closer.

It was everything she ever wanted, and it terrified her.

“Please don’t do this.” She said, lifting her hand in between them. He moved until her hand was pressing against his chest but stopped there. He towered over her with half a smirk and she swallowed.

“Don’t do what?”

“Don’t ruin my marriage.” Oh no. Too much honesty. She looked away, but he didn’t pull back. Her heart pounded a string of curses at her as she closed her eyes and tried to will herself to be sober.

“Could I?” He asked. She looked up to see his eyes were round in shock. He stepped back from her. “I was teasing.” He said, taking a step back. Oh no. She could feel embarrassment and shame warm her whole face as she extended her arms and pushed him back.

“Right, so, so was I.” Her voice isn’t firm enough to make the lie any semblance of passable. He reached for her but she ducked under his arms and practically ran to the door. He called her name but she didn’t dare turn back. How could she have let something like that slip?

She ducked into an alleyway as he ran out of the bar, and called a car to come pick her up. She leaned against the brick wall behind her as she heard his footsteps fade. He called her name.

I’ll make my way home fine. No need to worry.

That was close.

Too close…