Moments of Love

oblivious.

Short but sweet. This one is inspired by a story I saw on Reddit.

About ten months ago my sister got married. Since then I have obtained a brother-in-law, who is very nice I might add. As my sister and I are quite close in age, it's easy for him and I to be friends.

Now, my new brother-in-law has a sister. A sister who is the same age as me. A beautiful sister who is the same age as me.

She and I have become good friends. We attend the same university, so we see each other quite a lot.

Her name is Delanie. I call her Deli. She hates it because she thinks it makes her sound like a meat shop. It's all fair though since my name is Maximilian, you know like a pompous eighteenth century prince, which she enjoys shortening to Maxi.

Like I said before, Deli is beautiful. And as I am a twenty three year old male, I developed a large, to put it simply, crush on her. As juvenile as it sounds, I genuinely have loving feelings toward her.

At first I was confused, thinking it was sisterly love, but I have a sister and I definitely don't feel the same about her as I do about Deli. But I knew for sure it wasn't when a couple weeks later her brother asked me when I was going to pull up my big boy panties and ask her out. To which I promptly replied, 'I'm sorry, where do you keep your big boy panty collection?'.

But in all seriousness, that talk made me realize that it's okay. And just because our families are already kind of intertwined doesn't mean she and I can't be together too.

Of course, none of this is important if she doesn't like me as well, which she hasn't shown any signs of. So you can imagine how disheartened I feel.

As long as she's happy, though, all is fine.

_______________

Deli, my sister, her husband, and I were having dinner when Deli piped up from across the table.

"Maxi, would you want to go out to eat after classes tomorrow?" She asked. She seems nervous, I wonder why.

"Yeah, of course, Deli. Why do you look so nervous?" I chuckled.

"Oh, uhm, I guess I just thought you'd be annoyed since you had that exam to study for." She stuttered a bit.

"Oh, please. Thought you knew me well enough to know I don't give a damn about those exams, darling." I continued grinning at her.

"Max! You're paying for those classes!" My sister screeches.

"Relax, sis. Just because I don't care about them doesn't mean I'm not passing." I jokingly scoffed and gestured at her as if to say 'what are you gonna do?'. However, when I looked up I noticed Deli had a blush across her cheeks. Weird.

"Are you getting a fever, Del?" I asked her.

"What?" She suddenly looked up.

"You're looking red." I was concerned, genuinely.

"N-no I'm not!" She smacked her hands on her cheeks.

I widened my eyes, "aaalright then"

And we continued eating.

________________

After classes the next day, Deli and I walked to a small diner we frequently visited.

She opened the door for me and bowed, "Ever the gentleman aren't you Deli"

"Only for you, Maxi." She chuckled.

                 _______________

Near the end of our meal Deli and I were talking about why neither of us are in a relationship. Well, I know why I'm not, but I was interested in her answer.

"You're a real damn catch, Deli, you know that? I know lots of people who are interested, why haven't you accepted any?" Not to mention I'm one of those people.

"I don't know, I guess I have my eyes on one particular person." She blushed a bit.

"Really? You haven't told me about that."

"Yeah, well. Anyway, you've got a lot of eyes on you as well."

"Really? I didn't know people thought of me like that." I guess I just haven't been paying attention to other people recently.

"You really are oblivious." She laughed.

I laughed out loud, "I'm so oblivious a girl could smack me on the head and I wouldn't realize she was into me" I said, waving my hands

I suddenly felt a hand slapping the back of my head.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" I yelled, startled.

"Are you serious?" She said, exasperated.

"What?" I asked. What good reason for hitting me?

"I like you, you idiot!" She sighed.

"What? So you hit me? I literally just told you that wouldn't work!"

"Do you hear yourself? I like you!"

"Oh, yeah. I like you, too. I thought it was obvious."

"Huh?" She looks dumbfounded.

I grinned, "You're so oblivious, Deli."

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