Becoming closer.

I’m no relationship guru or an expert in love science but I’m confident enough I can tell when there’s a change in the chemistry between one of my girlfriends and myself. My gut feeling was proven correct that very next morning after Alice told me everything, and this change in chemistry was definitely for the better.

We were the first ones in the club room. I was already there, sitting at the table, when Alice arrived only a couple minutes later. She sat down next to me and moved her chair even closer so that we’d be touching shoulders.

“Good morning,” she said, beaming a smile at me.

I reciprocated. “Morning.” I leaned in and kissed her. A tender, lingering kiss on the lips that felt surprisingly electrifying for how tame it was, especially when just yesterday I could’ve sworn I felt her trying to shove her tongue down my throat.

My eyes also lingered on her. On her big, beautiful blue eyes; on her pink, glistering, grinning lips; on those cute, flustered cheeks. I felt excited just to see her, to have her close to me. More than usual, I mean.

Alice reached out and held my hand, interlocking fingers with me as we stared into each other. We kept quiet for a while, letting our fingers move and play. Alice began to feel my fingertips with her thumb and giggled.

“I never gave it much thought, but you have rough fingers,” she said, gently rubbing my middle fingertip in circles.

“Years of guitar practice with metal strings. When I started I got really nasty calluses. And yours are a little rough, too. From countless hours of driving, I assume.”

“Yeah. They used to be worse. Gloves and hand creams are my life savers.” She leaned closer and kissed me like I did her, only this time she playfully licked my lips. “Sorry I interrupted your practice yesterday.”

I shook my head. “It was worth it.”

Alice smirked. “Because of that heavy make out session we had?”

“That too,” I said, chuckling.

It was my turn to go for a kiss. I slid the tip of my tongue between her lips and she met it with hers. We kissed with playful, short flicks of the tips of our tongues.

“Hmmm… Kissing feels so good,” Alice said, gasping and chuckling. “You’re so tasty.”

“Am I?”

“Yep.”

“What do I taste like?”

“Like sweet, sweet anticipation.”

We both laughed softly. We pressed our foreheads and rubbed our noses together. We were the classic, obnoxious couple that can’t get their hands off each other even in public, but we were in our own little safe space, so it was okay.

Then we heard the sound of someone snapping a picture and turned towards the door.

Sarah and Noelle were standing there, with the blonde holding her phone towards us.

“Now that’s a nice picture, don’t you think?” Sarah asked Noelle, who giggled cutely and nodded in agreement.

“I’ll forgive you for interrupting if you send me that photo,” Alice told Sarah.

“Oooh, scary.” Sarah laughed, but began to type on her phone. A moment later, Alice’s phone buzzed with a notification.

We looked at the picture together. We really did look like those obnoxiously lovey-dovey couples I used to hate seeing. Man, what have I become? Alice, on her part, didn’t hesitate to make that picture her new screensaver.

“So what’s this?” Noelle asked as she and Sarah took their seats across from us. “You two seem a little different.”

“Do we?” I asked.

“You can tell?” Alice asked, blushing but staying very close to me.

Sarah narrowed her eyes and theatrically stroked her chin. “Wait. Don’t tell me. Let me guess.” She gave it some thought and finally gave her answer. “You’re pregnant.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “I wish.”

I felt my chest tightening and a full-body chill. My jaw fell slowly as I stared at Alice, stunned.

“Alice!” Noelle gasped in a reproachful tone, but she was clearly holding back her laughter.

Alice’s straight face broke immediately after and she burst out laughing, hugging me tightly as she apologized. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I couldn’t resist!”

I groaned into my hands. I’d gotten better at handling their teasing, but this one I did not expect. Dammit, I should've played along!

“Alright, if not that, then what happened?” Sarah asked, smirking. “You two definitely feel closer.”

Alice sighed, and though her laughter stopped and she became more solemn, her smile didn’t leave her. “I… told Oliver about my… first relationship. I feel like I just got rid of a huge, stupid weight on my back.”

“Thank god!” Sarah said, sighing deeply in relief. “Do you have any idea how long we’ve been waiting to hear you say that?”

Alice lowered her head between her shoulders and smiled shyly at Sarah. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“U-Um… W-What first relationship?” Noelle asked hesitantly.

So she didn’t know, either. It made sense, I thought. Sometimes you just don’t want to burden your friends with your own baggage.

“I’ll tell you later,” Alice said. “Isabelle, too. At this point, it would be unfair to keep you in the dark.”

“...You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Noelle said.

“I admit, I don’t want to,” Alice said. “I didn’t want to tell Oliver, either, but I’m glad I did. I don’t want you to feel like I don’t trust you in the same way, because I do.”

Noelle pursed her lips and nodded slowly. I felt her emotions. Noelle didn’t want to make Alice uncomfortable, but she did want to know what she was talking about. No one likes to know there are things your friends don’t want to tell you. Makes you feel like you’re… untrustworthy and unreliable. I wasn’t worried. I knew for sure that Noelle and Isabelle would be supportive of Alice.

As an aside, there is one slightly annoying thing about being a big group of friends, and that is having to repeat things to those that weren’t there when you first talk about something. When Grace and Mila arrived, they made the same comment about Alice and I. It was basically a repeat of the exchange Alice had with Sarah just before.

It was kind of funny, admittedly.

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