Jake stared at the door as it swung closed. He was trying to make sense of what had just happened. Somehow, he had spooked Ryan.

He looked at the last text he had sent to the boy.

‘Is it okay if I kiss you?’

There was a little red exclamation mark beside the question. A notice informed him that the message was ‘not delivered’.

“Shit.” Jake scrambled to turn off the computer and ran from the room. He had heard other people complain that the cell phone service in the computer rooms wasn’t very good, but he had never had an issue. Of all the times for it to decide to not work for him.

He looked up and down the hall, but couldn’t find any sign of Ryan.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Jake fumbled with his phone, trying to dial Luna as he ran for the exit.

“Hello?” He heard something in the background when she answered. He was probably intruding on her ‘research’ time.

“I screwed up.” He admitted. There was no sign of Ryan outside either. Had he decided to sprint all the way home? Jake kicked himself for taking the time to properly shut down the computer. One jab at the power button and he probably would have caught up to him.

“How bad?” Luna asked lazily. “Delete all your work bad, or emailed your teacher a nude bad?”

“I kissed Ryan.”

The show Luna had been watching turned off. “You kissed my brother?”

Jake froze. “Shit!” How had he not realized what this would lead to? He had called Luna because she was who he called for advice and help. How had he overlooked the fact that she was also Ryan’s sister?

“I’m sorry.” He started apologizing. “I didn’t mean to. I mean, I did mean to kiss him, but I didn’t mean to… I don’t know.”

He looked around. Should he go to Ryan’s apartment, or give him space until tomorrow? Waiting would probably be the more courteous thing to do. But what if he chose to give him space, and then never saw him again?

“Calm down. I’m not mad at you.” Luna chuckled. “I don’t care if my best friend and my brother start going out. Who do you think I am?”

“You’re a wonderfully caring sister who’s going to kick my ass for hurting him!” Jake gasped out, startling an older woman on the sidewalk.

Luna stopped laughing. “You hurt him? What happened?”

Jake rushed through the events of the past few minutes, dancing on the balls of his feet the whole while. He still didn’t know where to go.

“Sounds like a farce.” Luna said dryly when he was done. He heard her sigh. “I’ll talk to him and make sure everything’s cleared up. Don’t worry.”

“But--” He looked down the street in the direction of Ryan’s apartment.

“Jake, I’ve got this. He was probably just surprised. Just give him some time for everything to sink in.”

“Are you sure?”

There was silence on Luna’s end. Just when Jake was afraid the call had dropped, she sighed. “You’re really worked up about this.”

“Yeah, I am.” He had to move to get his nervous energy out, so he started walking in circles. “I took a chance sending that text, and then everything got screwed up. I’m really scared I’ve ruined everything.”

“This wasn’t a spur of the moment thing, was it?”

“No!” Jake took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. “I mean, I didn’t wake up today thinking ‘today’s the day I try to kiss Ryan’, but it didn’t exactly come out of left field.”

Shit, this was embarrassing. How had he ended up confessing his feelings for Ryan? And he wasn’t even confessing to Ryan!

He took another deep breath. “Luna, please. Help me make this right. I don’t want to lose him.”