I was giggling to myself like mad as I clung to Talyn's arm, the two of us gradually making our way over to a cute shawarma stand she'd picked out.

Dude, what was with me tonight, man? Was I drunk? No, there was no way alcohol could make you feel this good. It tasted bad, and the only thing I'd tasted tonight was more lightly salty. Wait, I didn't lick her cheek, did I? No, that would've been weird.

Hehe, Talyn's arm is kinda meaty, I wonder if she works out.

'Tal, do you work out, or just touch yourself a lot?' I chuckled, glancing up at the blonde giantess I clung to like a wad of gum.

It was then that Talyn scraped me off her arm and into a plastic chair outside the shawarma place, before taking her own seat on the other side of the tiny, round table blanketed in red-and-white checkered flannel. Hm, the latter then.

'You good, Tal? You look like you worked 7 hours straight for U-Haul?' I asked, noticing that Talyn looked almost exhausted. 'And I don't think either of us are butch enough to carry out that stereotype,' I added, glancing over at Talyn with concern. Maybe this place was too much for her?

'I'm ok, just, a lot all at once...' Talyn sighed, and I returned it with a nod.

Realizing my sudden squirrel-on-crack euphoric energy wasn't exactly a match for this worn-out Talyn, I decided to cycle through my breaths in attempt to bring myself back down to earth. It worked for Talyn when her feelings were too much, so maybe it'd work for me too?

'Do you, um, want to- talk about it?' I flinched at my own words. Fuck, I don't think I'd ever muttered that sentence in my life. It was usually "tell me," or I'd just jump right into the interrogations. Something was seriously wrong with me tonight.

Talyn just nodded at me, and she still looked tense in spite of her exhaustion. Oh, "guess what Talyn wants when she goes mute," my all-time favorite childhood game.

'Ok, how do you wanna tell me how your feeling? Another analogy?' I questioned softly, and Talyn, her arms still limp by her side, nodded response. 'Cool, find something in the plaza that describes you right now. Like... a... spilled milkshake or... uh... a-' I explained, my voice slow and articulated, before she immediately pointed to the lamb roasting on a spit behind the shawarma stand's counter.

'You feel like you're being cooked alive? Or that you've had something stabbed through you?' I mused, trying to maintain my vaguely therapeutic tone. It might not be about you, Al, you can get through this. She shook her head with a small smile. Phew. The show must go on.

'You feel like someone's tearing pieces off of you and slowly eating you down to the bone, withering away your very essence of being? Is it draining?' I asked gently, yet I could feel my eyes suddenly darkening. Had to get the extremes out of the way before getting to the real shit, I guess. At this, Talyn violently shook her head, now grinning at me like I was an idiot.

'Something to do with the method of cooking?' I asked, and Talyn gave a slight nod, retaining her composure. 'Shawarma... slowly and continuously roasted on a vertical split, so it's cooked evenly inside and out and... doesn't burn...' I pondered, wiping drool from my mouth as it suddenly dawned on me. Talyn didn't nod this time, but her eyes lit up in anticipation.

The "eureka" moment made my face suddenly glow hot like the lightbulb that may as well have materialized over my head. How was I going to phrase this in a way that didn't sound... well, how it sounded?

'We're moving too quick, and you want to take things slow-' I expelled in one breath, feeling as though I myself was being roasted on a vertical spit. What was I, her girlfriend?

'Yup, that's it- I got you to say the couples thing~' she teased, rewarding my efforts with a slow clap. So she was aware it was going to sound like this? So she cast the embarrassment onto me under the guise of selective mutism? I swear, my heartrate had just jumped up to a mile a minute. Was I like, turned on, or something? Nope! Shut up, Alda!

'Welp, I just got mildly aroused, I'm gonna go off myself now,' I admitted, pretending to get up from the table to find the nearest lake to jump into. At this, Talyn slammed her head onto the table and had a small giggling fit. Um, ok?

After a few seconds, those piercing blue-green eyes rose up again to meet mine, and she smirked at me. 'Nope, against the rules, remember? If the forced proximity trope plays out, we commit to the pact or make out, and I already drank your backwash before you ate out my lipstick stain~' she reminded me, and I promptly slipped back into my seat with a grumble.

'Why does it feel illegal to say I hate you, now? I'll just go with fuck you. Fuck you,' I muttered, arms crossed, and eyes averted.

'Because you called me "my love" in Spanish and just played couples therapist after saying we couldn't be friends and-?' she cited with a sneer, and I could feel myself almost about to duck under the table. Fuck, had she looked it up? Of course she fucking had. I didn't even know why I'd thrown it in, but I was expecting her reaction to be more flustered than whatever this was.

'Ok, but we're not dating, this isn't a date... just two not-friends-enemies-or-lovers eating shawarma...' I informed her, now physically poking the upper half of my head above the table while the rest of me crouched underneath.

'Mhm, just taking it slow, Romeo~' she ragged, clearly on a high from getting me off guard. She was just breathing in that air of superiority, and blowing the smoke in my face.

'Ah! Just shut up and order the shawarma, woman!' I begged, begrudgingly pulling myself up into my seat, as Talyn walked up to the counter. Jesus, what was this girl doing to me?

● ● ●

'Mmm, fuck, I love shawarma,' I declared with a mouthful of seasoned meat, and Talyn promptly glowered at me as she silently enjoyed her own. Then, suddenly, she swallowed and turned to me, and I gulped in kind for a different reason.

'Al, you get any action in the seven years we were apart?' she slipped in casually. What the fuck was that question? Was the girl who just told me off for not taking whatever this was slow just ask request a "history of STDs" form?

'Um... well... my hymen did break...' I evaded, my gaze drifting upwards.

'You did it yourself,' she concluded. God fucking damnit.

'Oh, and I bet you totally got with that chick you were crushing on all through school, right?!' I retorted sharply, my mind immediately flushed with awkward childhood memories. 'Y'know, the one in the other class you never even talked to, and I'd have to sit down with you every time she made you feel "fuzzy" or some shit,' I grumbled, stabbing my fork into another piece of lamb and tearing it apart before her.

Talyn, falling completely silent, only held her finger up to speak before she must have realized the inevitability of my oncoming rant.

'And I remind you I didn't once see this elusive girl, hell, I only knew she existed because you'd never lie about those feelings that scared the shit out of you. Other class? Which one? Were you scared I was gonna scoop her up if I found out-' and so begun my rant, fueled by spite and seasoned meat. 'Oh, "she looks so pretty in that dress," "I have the urge to smell her hair for some reason," and "I can hear my own heartbeat when she's near me," and "she's such a good listener, you'd love her," bleh blah bleh,' I rambled, and I knew for a fact I was being unfair. What was this from, like, over seven years ago? Why was I going on and on like a child?

Now inexplicably beet-red, Talyn once again held a finger up to say something before lowering it. Whatever she did say I already knew. I was being petty, I was rambling, I was making a scene.

'What, how good of a listener could she be if I never even saw you two talk, like, how could she possibly understand how your brain works, it's just-' I stammered, and I swear I could feel my eyes begin to glisten. Talyn took my moment of silence to butt in, a sudden smugness shining through her reddened face.

'Oh, well, now that you mention it that does ring a bell, but I think she chose a different high school' she started, smiling gleefully to herself while her cheeks still burned red. Huh? 'You see, me and that girl reconnected not too long ago, actually,' she reminisced, tapping her chin as she gazed upwards. Was she getting some kick out of this?

'Hm, I bet you two had fun,' I grumbled, cringing at my own rising pettiness.

'I mean, yeah, but she's kind of a mess, you know?' she continued, and I couldn't help but fight back a smirk. Ok, so she wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Wait, only kind of? Damn. 'But she listens to me, she understands my feelings more than I do, and she's like, super, super pretty,' she continued, her grin only growing wider.

'Wow, now I want to shag her,' I chuckled, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.

'Funny thing about that, actually,' Talyn drawled, plucking a piece of lamb off her fork before turning to me, her beam brighter than headlights, and her eyebrows sitting smugly half-mast on her face.

'You already have~' she revealed theatrically. Would it ruin the mood if I told her I was a virgin? Wait, what mood? I guess whatever mood this crazed jealousy-hungry blonde was feeling.

'But I'm- wait. No. No,' I gasped, the full depth of her words, descriptions and practically everything I'd just ranted about crashing into my core like a fucking tidal wave.

Sinking into my chair, I decided to merely frown at her. 'You really got me to give you love advice for myself... for three years... and you didn't even use it?" I groaned, but all I could think about were the words "super, super pretty," repeated ad nauseum in my head.

'Haha, you're jealous of yourself~' she mocked in a sing-song voice, seemingly refusing to acknowledge the fact that she once had a crush on me, of all people.

'Well, you had a crush on me, so, uh- take that!' I countered weakly, and Talyn just gave me a knowing look which caused me to instantly avert my gaze.