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Owen had spent their entire dinner thinking of a way to tell Claire that he was more the sure that he was falling in love with her, the trick was to do it in a way that didn’t scare Claire off. Things were just starting to go really well between them, and the last thing Owen wanted to do was mess everything up by telling her he loved her too soon. It wasn’t until he was standing right next to her, helping her wash the dishes, that he worked up enough courage to just blurt something out.
“I can’t stop thinking about you.” It had just sort of tumbled out of his mouth, it wasn’t exactly what Owen had planned on leading with, but it was too late to take it back now.
“…What?” Claire stopped what she was doing and looked up at Owen in confusion.
“I, uh, sort of can’t stop thinking about you. I mean, I can just be minding my own business and going on with my day and all the sudden I see something that reminds me of you, or think of something that I know would make you smile or laugh…I think I’m in love with you.” He finally said it; it was finally out there in the open between them, and Owen found himself feeling relieved, though still anxious about what her reaction to this kind of confession might be.
Claire seemed to be frozen in place, the only thing telling Owen that she wasn’t frozen was how her eyes shifted from holding his gaze to down towards the floor while she chewed on her lower lip. The silence was slowly eating at Owen, making him a nervous wreck on the inside while he tried to hold it together. He knew it was a risk telling Claire something like this just as they were getting comfortable with where they were in their relationship.
“I think I love you too, Owen.” Claire had said it so quietly that Owen almost missed it, but when he saw her smile, he couldn’t doubt what he had heard.
Owen knew he caught Claire by surprise when he stole a kiss form her, she made that little squeak that she always made when he caught her off guard. But as quickly as he pulled away, Claire wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back in for another kiss.
“You know what, I know that I’m in love with you.” Owen mumbled against her lips.
“Good, because I love you too.” Claire giggled.