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Bryce’s heart was racing, pounding so loudly she was sure Hunt would soon be deafened by each beat, but she did her best to ignore it. Deep breaths. There is absolutely no rational reason to be nervous. It’s just Hunt. Now that she had successfully gotten her mind racing as fast as her heart, there was no stopping the torrent of thoughts.
You’re best friends. You can’t think about him like this. Stupid crush. Stupid heart. Stupid feelings. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Hunt glanced over at her from across the room, drumming his pencil on Bryce’s roommate’s desk, leaving little lead marks on his homework.
“You okay, Bryce? You haven’t done a single problem in like ten minutes,” Hunt said, looking pointedly at Bryce’s math homework, the problems left mostly unsolved. Bryce shook her head to clear it.
“Uh, yeah. I’m fine. Just got distracted for a little bit.” She looked at Hunt’s worksheet, barely registering that every single problem had been solved, before Hunt threw his hands over the paper.
“I’ll let you cheat with my answers if you stop lying to me,” he demanded. Bryce felt her heart skip a beat, absolutely convinced he knew exactly what had been running through her head a few short minutes ago. “What are you really thinking about? You didn’t just ‘get distracted.’ You were thinking about something. ” Bryce breathed a sigh of relief before realizing she was not off the hook at all.
“I wasn’t…” she looked Hunt in the eyes and trailed off. He raised his eyebrows. “Fine. I was just thinking through an equation.” It was a weak excuse and Bryce knew it, but it was the first thing she could come up with. Hunt huffed a sigh and rolled across the room, the wheels of the desk chair squeaking in protest.
“Look at me Bryce,” he said firmly. Bryce raised her eyes to meet his for the briefest of moments, not able to hold the stare without blushing like a teenager trying to flirt for the first time. “Bryce.” Hunt’s fingers gripped her chin gently, tilting her face up, forcing her to look at him.
“Tell me what you were thinking about. You seemed upset.” Bryce shook her head. “Bryce. I won’t laugh, if that’s what you’re worried about. We’ve been best friends since we were freshmen. I think you know me well enough by now to know I wouldn’t ever laugh at something you’re this nervous to share.”
“I can’t tell you,” Bryce whispered. She didn’t know why she was whispering. She cringed. Now it was just weird. Why did she have to whisper that? Where had all of her usual cocky confidence gone?
“Yes, you can. Look at me Bryce.” Hunt’s fingers squeezed her chin, gentle but insistent. Bryce’s heart felt like it was about to explode. “This isn’t the confident Bryce that I know. Tell me what you’re thinking so you can go back to normal. I know you won’t until you get it out.” Bryce took a deep breath, admitting to herself that he was right, and steeled herself.
“You.” Hunt blinked.
“What?”
“I was thinking about you. I’m always thinking about you, Hunt.” Now that she had started, the words just wouldn’t stop coming, pouring out of her in a flood of emotional admittance. “I was thinking about how every time you get close to me I feel like I might just fall over dead. I was thinking about how you look at me like you really see me, not just my jokes and my body. I was thinking about-” Bryce had to stop and take another shuddering breath. “I was thinking about what it would be like to kiss you.” Hunt was sitting completely still now, hanging onto every word Bryce said. He removed his fingers from Bryce’s chin and she looked down, her face red with embarrassment.
“See, I told you I couldn’t say anything, because now I’ve overshared and you won’t want-” Hunt pressed his lips firmly to Bryce’s, effectively shutting her up.
“You’re an idiot. I can’t believe you never figured out my massive crush on you. I thought it was the most obvious thing in the world!” Hunt said once they broke apart. Bryce was breathing kind of heavily, unable to take her eyes off Hunt’s lips.
“Shut up,” she breathed, and kissed him.