iMate

The smell of buttered popcorn filled the air, a scent Eden had long ago come to equate with Harry. It was the smell of their weekly movie nights and his favorite snack. It was in the scent of his hair, even hours after they’d finished the bowl. She couldn’t go to a theater without thinking of Harry and the thousands of movie nights they’d had together.

“What’d you pick this time, E?”

Eden looked back at Harry, who was carrying the large bowl of popcorn in his hand. He popped a piece into his mouth, as he plopped down in the spot next to her. His feet were kicked up onto the table in seconds, with his leaning as far back into the sofa as he could, and it was as though he’d never left.

“Dale and Tucker Versus Evil,” Eden said, chuckling as she spoke. She knew a groan was about to pass from Harry’s lips, as he’d never been a fan of the film she forced him to watch at least once a month. It’d been a long time since they’d had a movie night, since he was always away on tour, so she figured they were overdue in watching the large goons and their antics.

Harry whipped his head in her direction, looking at her with raised eyebrows and pursed lips. He batted his eyelashes over and over, and she couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“You’re lucky I love you so much.”

Harry turned his head back towards the television, but Eden couldn’t stop looking at him. At his words, she froze. She couldn’t remember if he’d ever said he loved her before, but in their years of friendship she was sure that he had. She was sure that when he did, like he surely must have done, she’d never caught onto it like she did in that moment. Her heart never thudded in her chest and her breath never hitched in her throat. She never noticed it before, but she noticed it then.

Had it been the first time he’d said it since she felt that pulse? Had it been the first time she’d noticed at all?

Her lips quivered, and she forced herself to look away from his perfectly curly hair. Harry had always been gorgeous – millions of girls told her that – but she’d never seen how perfect he really was. His eyes matched his smile in a way that only Harry had. His dimple pressed against his cheek in a brilliant display of how confident he was. His curly hair grazed his forehead in all the right places. Everything about Harry added up to something that no girl in her right mind could resist. How had she never noticed it before?

“Want some popcorn?” Harry asked, pushing the bowl in her direction. She shook her head quickly, and he shrugged before popping a few pieces into his mouth.

Eden forced herself to keep her attention on the screen – on the hilariously scary movie – and completely away from Harry. She hated the way he was suddenly making her feel. It was though she’d been hit by a truck by just a few simple words. Even the pulse of her iMate didn’t feel as strong as the thudding in her chest when he’d told her he loved her. He meant it only as friends – the way he always did – but she wondered what it would feel like to have him say it and mean it.

“Is everything alright, E?” Harry was looking at her, with his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed. He rarely looked at her like that – like he was concerned for her – because he rarely had anything to be concerned about.

She gave a quick shake of her head, hoping to brush it off before he could press any further. She wasn’t that lucky, though.

Harry sat up, placing the bowl on the coffee table in front of him, before turning in his seat so he was facing Eden. He looked at her with his soft eyes, his hair falling into his face. His teeth tugged at his bottom lip, and he paused a moment before speaking.

“Eden, don’t lie to me.” She cringed; he rarely ever used her first name, so she knew he was serious. “You know I can tell when you’re lying. You’ve been dead quiet all night. What’s going on?”

Eden couldn’t tell him the truth – both her contract with Apple and her denial wouldn’t let her – so her mind raced to come up with a believable lie. Her eyes went up to the sky, and his hand immediately went to her arm.

“Don’t do that,” he said, as he inched a little bit closer to her. “Don’t make up a lie. I know all your tells, E, so just give me the truth.”

A deep breath filled her lungs, and she let it out as slowly as she could. She was at a loss for what to do, as the truth was last on the list of things she would want to tell him.

“I’d really rather not talk about it,” she said, her voice soft, while her teeth tugged at her lips. He looked back at her with his soft eyes, the green passing over her blue ones again and again.

He sighed, before leaning forward and wrapping his arms around her. Her face nuzzled perfectly against his shoulder and the scent of his cologne filled her nose.

With his lips just against her ear, he whispered to her, his voice laced with the concern she’d only heard when she’d been dumped by her boyfriend or when her grandmother passed away.

“That’s fine, but when you want to talk, just know that I’m here.”

Eden nodded, her face rubbing against the cotton of his shirt, and he pulled slowly away from her. His lips twisted in a half smile, before he plopped back onto the sofa, with his arm wrapped around her. He’d laid with her like that a thousand times before. It hadn’t meant anything then and it didn’t mean anything now.

Before, she didn’t care that it didn’t mean anything. She liked that it didn’t mean anything. She liked that she could lay on the sofa with her head resting comfortably against her best friends shoulder and neither of them couldn’t care less.

But now, amongst her sudden barrage of feelings that came from one little phrase, her heart cracked just a little in knowing that Harry’s arm wrapped around her meant absolutely nothing to him.