Unexpected Turns

3

"Hey, Scott," I say nervously, playing with my hair. "Can we talk?"

Scott looks up from his phone, a curious look in his eyes. I'm not really an open person who likes to have heartfelt conversations, so he was probably worried when I told him this.

"Yeah," he says, crossing my room to sit on my bed with me. "Of course. What's up?"

I sigh, glancing at Scott, unsure. "Well...Erm...I don't really know how to say this..."

"Aw, come on, Char," Scott says, nudging me with his elbow. "You can tell me anything."

I look at him, staring into his eyes in indecisiveness. "I know I can. But I'm not even sure yet that this is something serious."

"If what is something serious?" Scott asks. He stares back into my eyes with a blank expression, searching my face for signs. Unfortunately, I am a very easy person to read. Scott can tell what's on my mind like he can tell what his mom is making for dinner.

His eyes suddenly light up in recognition and I wince, knowing that he's figured it out. "It's a guy, isn't it!" Scott exclaims with a big smile. When I don't reply, he knows he is correct. "It is! Looking for a rebound, eh Char?"

He wiggles his eyebrows at me as I shake my head, laughing nervously. "No, no. I think it's more than that."

"A crush, then," Scott says. "You have a crush on a guy."

I bite my lip. "Not just any guy."

Scott looks at me through squinted, confused eyes. "What do you mean? Who is he?"

I tug on my lip harder, starting to regret this even before I do it. "I-It's, uh, er," I procrastinate. I didn't drag out my sentence intentionally, I just couldn't think of a way to tell him.

"Spit it out already!" Scott half-yells impatiently, a smile on his face.

"Chris," I blurt out, the word falling out before I can even register it forming on my tongue.

Scott's smile suddenly falls, his eyebrows furrowing. "Chris who? Chris David, from our English class last year?"

"No," I say, fidgeting with the hem of my blanket. I look down at the seems, not wanting to look him in the eye. "Chris Evans."

When Scott doesn't answer for a moment, a giant knot twists inside of my stomach. Panicking, I glance up at him, seeing his face expressionless.

"Scott," I say, snapping my fingers in front of his face. "Scotty? Are you in there?"

Scott shakes his head, snapping out of his daze. "Yeah," he said, a small smile on his face. "I just zoned out for a second there."

I roll my eyes at him. "How can you zone out when I just told you...what I told you?"

"Because," Scott says, his smile growing bigger. "I was just thinking about you two together."

I bite my lip again. "So..."

Scott rolls his eyes. "So I think that this is adorable! I've been shipping it for a while now actually," he adds matter-of-factually.

I raise my eyebrows at him, blushing slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the chemistry between you two is obvious," Scott says in the same exasperated tone he says 'duh' in.

I shake my head, mostly to try and hide my now furious blush. "No. He's like a brother to me," I say, realizing how stupid my declaration sounded out loud to Scott.

"No he's not," Scott says. "I know you. I'm like a brother to you. Sure, Chris has acted like it, but there's always that one part of the story where the best friends fall in love. It didn't happen with us, so I figured it would happen with you and Chris sooner or later."