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“ Sasha, ” Tim pressed. “You can’t just not tell me!”
Sasha grinned, glancing up at Tim from her notebook. “I absolutely can. Definition of mitochondria?”
“Powerhouse of the cell,” Tim answered immediately. “And no, you cannot! ” He sighed dramatically, resting the back of his hand on his forehead. “It pains me to be left in the dark this way. You wound me, dear Sasha. I fear I shall die.”
“I’m not telling you who it is because I’ve seen how you are about things like this,” Sasha replied. “You wouldn’t stop teasing poor Basira for a month when she told you about her crush on Daisy.”
“I still haven’t,” Tim pointed out. “I’m not a quitter.”
Sasha raised an eyebrow.
“Point taken,” he sighed. “But Sasha, you know you’re my best friend. I would only tease you a little bit. And I’d be your wingman! You’ve got, like, the package deal here.”
Sasha grinned, throwing a pillow at him. “You know we’re supposed to be studying, right?”
Tim threw it back. “Aw, come on. You know Dr. Elliot’s tests are easy. Even I have a high grade.”
At this, Sasha sighed, familiar by now with this line of thought. “Tim, you really are smarter than you think you are. It’s not your fault that teachers won’t put in the effort.”
Tim shrugged. “It’s not their fault I can’t keep up.”
“You’re keeping up with Dr. Elliot.”
“He’s different.”
“So are you.”
Tim hesitated, then sighed. “Alright. You win for now, I suppose.” He grinned up at Sasha. “So, what’s next?”
Sasha smiled back. “Definition of ribosomes?”
—
“You know,” Tim said, turning his head to look up at Sasha from where it rested on her shoulder. “You never did tell me about that crush of yours.”
Sasha sighed as the movie they’d put on the TV played in the background. “Tim—”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Tim added hurriedly. “Sorry. I was just curious, I guess.”
Sasha hesitated. “I get it. And maybe someday I’ll tell you. Just…not right now, okay?” She laughed quietly. “Honestly, I don’t even know if I’ll ever tell them. I mean, they’re nice and all, but I’m friends with them. I don’t want to ruin that. And what would I even do if I told them?”
“Uh…date them?” Tim suggested.
“I’ve never dated anyone,” Sasha admitted. “I don’t have any idea how it works. I think I’d just mess it up. Like, how do you plan a date? Or, I dunno, how do you kiss someone?”
“You’ve never kissed anyone?” Tim asked.
“Nope,” Sasha replied. “I mean, I don’t really get crushes often enough that anyone has liked me back yet.”
“Ah,” Tim replied. He paused for a moment, before adding, “I haven’t either. By the way.”
Sasha grinned. “What, you? Tim Stoker?”
“Maybe I’m saving myself for someone! You don’t know!”
“You flirt with everyone!”
“It’s my sense of humour!”
Sasha sighed, chuckling. “You’re a strange one, Stoker.”
Tim was silent for a moment. Then, “do you want to?”
Sasha blinked. “Want to…what?”
“Kiss someone.”
“Oh.” Sasha paused. “Like…just in general?”
“I mean, uh.” Tim sat up fully, averting his eyes as he felt a blush creep across his cheeks. “Right now. We could, uh. Practice.”
“Oh!” Sasha stared at Tim, eyes wide. “I mean, we. We could. If, ah, if you wanted to.”
“I mean, if you want to—”
“I’m really alright with whatever—”
“Honestly, I shouldn’t have even suggested it—”
The two paused for a moment, staring at each other in silence. Then, Tim began laughing, and before long the two had erupted into a fit of giggling.
“Offer still stands,” Tim said after their laughter had died down.
Sasha hesitated, then smiled. “Sure. Offer accepted.”
Tim nodded, and the two leaned towards each other. There was a brief moment of pause, and Tim was about to ask if they were actually going to do it, before he felt Sasha finally close the distance between them.
It was awkward, to say the least. It was both of their first time after all, and neither of them knew what they were doing. Still, in that moment, Tim could have sworn the entire world outside of the two simply faded to black. He could no longer hear the people talking on the TV, nor the soft hum of the refrigerator, his mind too consumed by the thought of ‘god, this is actually happening’ .
Still, the moment didn’t last long, and soon Sasha pulled back.
They were silent for a bit, just staring at each other in mute uncertainty.
“So.” Sasha said after a moment. “I guess we can say we’ve kissed someone now.”
Tim nodded, mind still reeling. “And you didn’t…mean anything? By it?”
A look Tim couldn’t read crossed Sasha’s face, and she averted her eyes. “No,” she agreed with a nod.
Ah. Of course. “Right,” Tim said. “Uh…we’re cool then?”
Sasha nodded. “Yep. Cool.”
The two resumed watching the movie, not speaking for the rest of its duration. Tim considered resting his head on Sasha’s shoulder again, but somehow he felt that if he did, it wouldn’t be the same. Like maybe he was inadvertently asking for something she’d made it clear she didn’t want.
He felt stupid for suggesting they kiss. Hadn’t she just told him she was interested in someone else? Don’t be an idiot, Stoker! He should have just kept his thoughts to himself. What if it was awkward now? What if they were never the same around each other again? He really didn’t want to lose his best friend to this.
But then the movie ended, almost exactly as Sasha’s parents got home, and suddenly Sasha seemed perfectly normal, like nothing had happened. They hugged as they said goodbye, same as always, and promised to see each other the next day at school.
Nothing was different at school either. They didn’t talk about their kiss, but they weren’t awkwardly avoiding it, either. It was as if nothing had happened in the first place.
A week later, a girl named Hannah had asked him on a date, and he’d said yes. After all, nothing was happening with Sasha. There wasn’t much point in following that train of thought.