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Lara knew she was in trouble the moment Megan said, “Wait, you remembered my coffee order?”
Because the thing was… Lara remembered everything.
Not in a creepy way. Not in a stalker way. Just in a very unfortunate, extremely obvious, painfully down-bad way.
Megan liked iced vanilla lattes with oat milk. No caramel drizzle because it was “too sweet.” Extra ice, even in winter, which Lara thought was actual insanity but also kind of adorable in a concerning way.
“Yeah,” Lara shrugged, trying to play it cool, like her brain didn’t have a dedicated Megan folder with subcategories. “You’ve said it before.”
Megan blinked at her, eyes wide like Lara had just recited ancient prophecy instead of a coffee order.
“That’s so sweet,” Megan said.
And there it was. The word.
Sweet.
Lara smiled. Of course she did. What else was she supposed to do? Scream? Collapse? Phase out of existence?
“Don’t make it weird,” she said lightly.
“I’m not making it weird!” Megan laughed. “You’re the one making it weird.”
Lara wanted to pass away immediately.
Because this was the problem.
Megan said things like that. Megan did things like that. And none of it meant anything. Or maybe it did. Or maybe it didn’t. Or maybe Lara was just one more delusional girl in a long line of delusional girls who had misread basic human kindness as romantic interest.
Except.
Except.
Megan also did things like grab Lara’s arm when they crossed the street. Like always choosing the seat next to her even when there were other options. Like texting her “are you home safe?” at 2am with three exclamation marks and a heart.
A heart.
A literal heart.
Lara had stared at that heart for twenty minutes like it was going to start speaking.
So yeah. Confusing didn’t even begin to cover it.
---
“Just ask her,” Manon said, shoving fries into her mouth like she hadn’t just dropped the most stressful suggestion imaginable.
Lara stared at her. “Ask her what?”
Manon paused mid-chew. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” Lara said. “Dead serious. Enlighten me.”
Manon swallowed, took a sip of her drink, and leaned forward. “Ask her if she likes you.”
Lara laughed.
Not a cute laugh. Not a charming laugh. A slightly unhinged, bordering-on-breakdown laugh.
“Oh yeah,” she said. “Great idea. I’ll just ruin my life real quick. Sounds fun.”
Manon rolled her eyes. “You’re being dramatic.”
“I am not being dramatic,” Lara said. “I am being realistic. There is a difference.”
“You literally just told me she held your hand during a horror movie and didn’t let go for like ten minutes.”
“She was scared.”
“Of what? The CGI ghost from 2007?”
“It was a psychological thing,” Lara said weakly.
Manon stared at her.
“Lara.”
“Manon.”
“You’re actually embarrassing.”
“Thank you.”
Manon sighed. “Okay, fine. Let’s review the evidence, yeah?”
Lara groaned. “This is not a courtroom.”
“It is now,” Manon said. “Exhibit A: she texts you first. Constantly.”
“Because we’re friends.”
“Exhibit B: she calls you pretty.”
“People call people pretty.”
“Exhibit C: she literally said, and I quote, ‘If I ever dated someone, I’d want them to be like you.’”
Lara froze.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “When you say it like that, it sounds—”
“Exactly.”
“But,” Lara said, pointing aggressively, “counterpoint: she also asked me if I think she and Josh would be cute together.”
Manon made a face. “Okay, that’s… unfortunate.”
“Yeah,” Lara said. “Unfortunate. Devastating. Soul-crushing. Same thing.”
“And Exhibit D,” Manon continued, ignoring her, “she bought you a hoodie because you said you liked it once.”
“She said it reminded her of me.”
Manon blinked. “That’s even worse.”
“I KNOW.”
They both sat there for a moment.
“So,” Manon said finally, “either she likes you… or she has absolutely no idea what she’s doing.”
Lara dropped her head onto the table.
“Yeah,” she mumbled into the wood. “That sounds about right.”
---
Megan, meanwhile, was having a great time.
Not like… maliciously. Not like she was out here plotting emotional chaos.
She was just… existing.
And in her mind, everything made perfect sense.
Lara was her favorite person. Obviously. That was just a fact.
Lara was funny and smart and pretty and had this way of looking at Megan like she actually mattered, which wasn’t something Megan was used to.
So yeah. Of course she texted her all the time. Of course she wanted to sit next to her. Of course she bought her things that reminded her of her.
That’s what you do when you really, really like someone.
Platonically.
Obviously.
Probably.
Okay, but here’s the thing.
Megan had never been in a relationship before.
Not because she didn’t want to be, but because every time she tried to figure out her feelings, her brain just… buffered.
Like.
She’d look at someone and think, they’re cute.
And then she’d immediately follow it up with, but like… in a normal way, right?
Because what even was the difference?
No one had ever explained that.
So when people asked her about crushes, she’d just panic and pick someone random.
Like Jonah.
Jonah was fine. Jonah was nice. Jonah existed.
That seemed like a safe answer.
It was not, as it turned out, a safe answer.
Because every time she mentioned Jonah, Lara’s entire vibe shifted just slightly.
Not enough for Megan to fully clock it.
But enough that something in her chest would twist.
And she didn’t know why.
---
“Do you think I’m a bad person?” Megan asked suddenly, lying upside down on Lara’s bed.
Lara, who had been peacefully scrolling on her phone, nearly dropped it on her face.
“What?”
Megan shrugged, her hair falling toward the floor. “I don’t know. I just feel like I might be accidentally ruining someone’s life.”
Lara’s stomach did a full somersault.
“Cool,” she said. “Love that for you. Very reassuring.”
“I’m serious,” Megan said, frowning. “Like, what if I’m leading someone on without realizing it?”
Lara sat up.
This was it. This was the moment.
The universe had handed her an opportunity on a silver platter.
All she had to do was not mess it up.
“Why do you think that?” she asked carefully.
Megan shrugged again. “I don’t know. Manon said something weird earlier.”
Lara blinked. “What did Manon say?”
“She asked me if I liked you.”
Time stopped.
Actually stopped.
Like Lara was pretty sure the earth paused its rotation just to watch her suffer.
“Oh,” she said. Smooth. Casual. Totally fine. “And what did you say?”
Megan scrunched her nose. “I said obviously, yeah. You’re my favorite person.”
Lara’s heart dropped straight into her shoes.
“Right,” she said.
“But then she gave me this look,” Megan continued, “like I’d said something wrong. And now I’m overthinking it.”
Lara stared at her.
This was it.
This was the moment where everything either got better or significantly worse.
“No,” Lara said finally. “You didn’t say anything wrong.”
Megan relaxed slightly. “Okay, good.”
Lara forced a smile. “Yeah. You’re good.”
Because what else was she supposed to say?
Hey, actually, when people ask if you like someone, they usually mean romantically, and your answer just emotionally wrecked me?
Yeah. No.
She wasn’t that brave.
---
The thing about Megan was that she noticed things.
Just… not always the right things.
Like she noticed that Lara got quieter sometimes.
She noticed that Lara laughed a little less when certain topics came up.
She noticed that sometimes, when she grabbed Lara’s hand, Lara would freeze for just a second before relaxing.
And it made her feel weird.
Not bad-weird.
Just… off.
Like she was missing something important.
---
“Do you think I’m straight?” Megan asked, out of absolutely nowhere, while they were sitting on the floor eating takeaway.
Lara choked on her noodles.
“I’m sorry, what?”
Megan shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it.”
“Now?” Lara wheezed. “You’re thinking about it now?”
“Yeah,” Megan said. “Is that weird?”
“Yes,” Lara said immediately. “Extremely.”
Megan laughed. “Okay, but like, answer the question.”
Lara stared at her.
There were approximately a thousand responses she could give.
None of them felt safe.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. “That’s kind of something you have to figure out yourself.”
Megan hummed. “Yeah, I figured.”
Silence fell between them for a moment.
Then—
“Would you ever date a girl?”
Lara’s brain short-circuited.
“Would I—”
“Yeah,” Megan said. “Like, hypothetically.”
Lara took a deep breath.
This was dangerous territory.
Extremely dangerous.
“Yes,” she said.
Megan nodded, like she’d just confirmed something important.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Lara echoed.
“Yeah,” Megan said. “That makes sense.”
WHAT DID THAT MEAN???
Lara was going to lose her mind.
---
Manon, unfortunately, was having the time of her life.
“This is better than any TV show,” she said, fully invested. “The tension? The drama? The complete lack of communication? Incredible.”
“I hate you,” Lara said.
“No, you don’t.”
“You’re right,” Lara sighed. “I hate my life.”
Manon grinned. “So, any updates?”
Lara groaned. “She asked me if I’d date a girl.”
Manon sat up straight. “Oh?”
“And then she just said ‘okay’ and moved on.”
Manon paused.
“…okay, that’s actually insane.”
“I KNOW.”
“But also,” Manon added, “kind of promising?”
“Or she’s just curious,” Lara said. “In a normal, non-me way.”
Manon tilted her head. “You really think she’d ask anyone that?”
Lara opened her mouth.
Closed it.
“…I don’t know.”
---
The turning point, as it turned out, was stupid.
Like genuinely, objectively stupid.
It happened on a random Tuesday.
They were walking home together, the sky that weird shade of almost-dark, and Megan was talking about something completely unrelated.
And then, mid-sentence, she grabbed Lara’s hand.
Not in a crossing-the-street way.
Not in a scared-of-the-dark way.
Just… casually.
Like it was the most natural thing in the world.
And Lara—
Lara couldn’t do it anymore.
“Megan,” she said.
Megan stopped talking immediately. “Yeah?”
Lara looked at their hands.
Then back at Megan.
“You can’t keep doing this.”
Megan blinked. “Doing what?”
“This,” Lara said, gesturing vaguely. “All of… this.”
Megan’s expression shifted, confusion bleeding into something softer. “I don’t understand.”
Lara laughed, but it came out wrong.
“Yeah,” she said. “I know.”
And then, because apparently she’d decided to ruin her own life that day—
“I like you.”
There it was.
Out in the open.
No take-backs.
No undo button.
Just pure, unfiltered honesty.
Megan stared at her.
“Yeah,” Lara said, nodding like that would somehow make it less terrifying. “So. That’s why.”
Silence.
Heavy. Loud. Endless.
And then—
“Oh.”
Just.
Oh.
Lara nodded again, even though she felt like she might actually pass out.
“Yeah. Oh.”
Megan looked down at their hands, like she was seeing them for the first time.
“Oh.”
---
“What do you mean oh?” Lara asked, voice cracking slightly. “That’s not— you can’t just—”
“I didn’t know,” Megan said quickly.
“I figured,” Lara said. “That’s kind of the whole problem.”
“I’m sorry,” Megan said, pulling her hand back like it had burned her.
And that—
That hurt more than anything else.
Lara swallowed. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act like you did something wrong,” Lara said. “You didn’t. You just… didn’t know.”
Megan looked at her, eyes wide and overwhelmed.
“I still don’t know,” she admitted.
And honestly?
That tracked.
---
They didn’t talk for a few days after that.
Not because they were mad at each other.
Just because… what were they supposed to say?
Hey, remember when I accidentally confessed my feelings and now everything is weird?
Yeah. No.
---
It was Megan who broke the silence.
Of course it was.
She showed up at Lara’s door at 10pm, looking like she’d run here.
“Hi,” she said, slightly out of breath.
Lara stared at her. “Hi?”
“Can I come in?”
“Yeah,” Lara said automatically, stepping aside.
Megan walked in, pacing slightly like she had too much energy and nowhere to put it.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said.
“Okay,” Lara said cautiously.
“A lot.”
“Also okay.”
“And I think I’m stupid.”
Lara blinked. “That’s— not where I expected this to go.”
Megan huffed a laugh. “No, listen. I’m serious. I think I’ve been… misunderstanding things.”
Lara leaned against the wall. “What kind of things?”
Megan stopped pacing.
Looked at her.
“You.”
Lara’s heart did that thing again.
“Oh,” she said.
“Yeah,” Megan said. “Oh.”
They stood there, just looking at each other.
And then Megan took a step forward.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she admitted. “I don’t know what this is supposed to feel like, or how I’m supposed to know, but—”
She hesitated.
Lara held her breath.
“But I know that when you said you liked me, I didn’t feel weird about it.”
Lara’s chest tightened.
“I felt… scared,” Megan continued. “Not because of you. Just because it made things real.”
Lara nodded slowly.
“That makes sense.”
“And I don’t want to mess this up,” Megan said. “Whatever this is.”
Lara let out a shaky laugh. “Yeah. Me neither.”
Megan smiled, small and nervous.
“So,” she said. “Can we… figure it out? Together?”
Lara looked at her.
Really looked at her.
At the girl who had accidentally driven her insane.
At the girl who still had absolutely no idea what she was doing.
At the girl who was trying anyway.
“Yeah,” Lara said softly. “We can do that.”
And this time—
When Megan reached for her hand—
Lara didn’t hesitate.
---
It wasn’t perfect.
It wasn’t clear.
It wasn’t labeled or defined or neatly packaged into something easy.
But it was theirs.
And honestly?
That was kind of everything.