LOVESICK- chris sturniolo

18

EIGHTEEN
irl, messages

"what are you doing here?" fran looked at him in shock, unaware of what to say or do.

"before you shut the door, please listen to me. i have to talk to you, i can't keep doing this anymore. please." he begged her, his voice hoarse and shaky.

fran hesitated for a moment before stepping aside to let him into the house. they both walked into the living room, choosing to stand instead of sitting down.

"i am so, so sorry that i didn't realise what was going on." chris apologised.

"how could you have known? i should have said something a long time ago." fran stared at the floor, trying to maintain any composure she could. this was difficult enough without her crying in front of him again.

"even if you should have, i should have figured it out anyway. if i had known that she was like that, i never would have stayed with her as long as i did." chris continued and fran tried to speak but he kept going.

"i know what you're going to say. you don't think i should want to do that because of you. but i don't care. no one in my life can say a bad word about you if they want to stay in it. there isn't much i wouldn't do for you, but i can't keep doing this because i love you and-" chris immediately stopped talking at the realisation of what he just admitted.

what?

fran was sure she was losing her mind. did he say love? as in, love love?

"what did you say?" was all she could think to say as she stared at the boy in front of her.

"i... fuck it, i love you. i'm in love with you. i can't deny it or try to hide it anymore. whenever you're happy, i'm happy. whenever i see you, i feel better no matter how bad my day was. and when you're sad..." he trailed off, focusing on the tears running down fran's face.

"i don't know why i feel this way about you. i just do. i can't stop how i feel for you. i won't. and it's okay if you don't feel the same, but i refuse to let you out of my life because of my stupid mistake." chris finally finished, pouring out his feelings without thinking, tears once again prickling his eyes.

fran was speechless, there was a beat of silence.

"please say something." chris waited, and then fran muttered something he could barely hear.

"what?"

"i love you too."

chris looked at his best friend in bewilderment.
"you do?" he asked, making sure he wasn't just hallucinating this whole conversation.

"yes." fran closed the space in between them, grabbing his face and connecting her lips to his.

chris didn't think he would ever have been so lucky to be in this moment with her. he melted into the kiss, placing his hands on both sides of her face, their tears mixing into one on their faces.

fran was the first to pull away as they both stared at the features on each other's faces. chris had the biggest smile on his, unable to stop the warmth inside of him knowing his feelings were reciprocated.