When Timid Turned Into Tension.

It’s been over a month since we last had a chance to spend time with each other, pull yourself together Amelia. She thought to herself while also thinking back to how they had said goodbye to each other that night, shuddering when the image of the dreaded one armed side-hug came up as their parting gesture. Clearing her throat lightly Amelia grabbed the bowl of popcorn and walked into her living room where Tom was waiting on the couch.

Once she was settled back into her end of the couch curled into a ball even tighter than when they were last together. Tom pressed play on the movie, both of them not paying much attention to the screen and more attention to the thoughts in their heads.

Taking a deep breath in through her nose and out of her mouth, Amelia made a valid effort to set her frustration with herself aside and start on small talk with Tom. After a few minutes she soon felt the awkwardness ebb away and started to enjoy their conversation, much like how when they had first began to see each other on a semi-regular basis. Moving on from subject to subject, from which plays Tom was interested in auditioning for to the topic of Amelia’s love life that always remained the same.. Nonexistent.

“But Tom, I don’t know why you always ask me these questions, you know that if anything was to change it wouldn’t be for a while. Or maybe it won’t even happen at all.” Amelia answered sounding somewhat annoyed at having to explain this again while hiding her blushing face.

“Oh, and why not?!” Tom countered back, “you and I both know that’s a load of bull. What makes you think it will never happen?”

“You.” Amelia muttered quietly, but not quiet enough.

“Me?!” He questioned, his voice ringing loudly of confusion but also something else, something that seemed like pleasure but Amelia didn’t notice. She knew that if she hesitated too long before responding this conversation would quickly turn for the worse. Sitting up to look him in the eye Amelia felt proud as she readied to answered him, knowing he wouldn’t be able to see through this little lie she was about to tell.

“Well Tom, I’ve known you for how long now and how many relationships have I been in? And those little flings from school don’t count, you know how they all ended, which may I add was nearly almost as quickly as they started.” Pausing to take a breath Tom began to interrupt but Amelia held up a finger to him, “right, so there is that. And, well, you kind of have a problem with not allowing me to even really find someone to be interested in.”

Now Tom looked really confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You always manage to find a way to prevent anything from really growing into something more when you don’t send whoever it is running for the hills.” Amelia nearly smiled at the even more confused look on his face but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of how he was always able to distract her from what she was talking about, even if it would have been unintentional this time.

“Really?” He asked, receiving a raised eyebrow in response from Amelia. “Okay, fine, I admit I am a little bit protective of you but you honestly can’t say that I put a stop to every single budding relationship before it starts.”

“Well, I guess you’re right about that. But do I need to remind you that the rare times I am asked out on a date you always kind of, you know, end up calling me up or coming over to my place and surprising me, then leaving me to cancel. It’s like some sort of spidey sense.”

“I would never ask you to cancel any of your plans for me.” Said Tom slightly hurt.

“No and you never have,” replied Amelia, “but you wouldn’t even have to ask. You know how much I love spending time with you, and with the way the past couple of years have gone we don’t see each other as much as we used to.” A bit of sadness tinged to her voice at the end.

“You know that I’m sorry about that.” Said Tom after a moment with the same tone of sadness. Taking a deep breathe he laid his arm over the back of the couch, wordlessly inviting Amelia to sit up against the warmth of his side. “And maybe I have been too protective. I just don’t think I could stand to lose you.”

“You don’t have to worry about something so silly as that, you know you’ll never lose me.” Amelia said quietly, softly snuggling up to his side and smelling the trace of cologne that he had worn for as long as she remembered. It was hardly a minute until Amelia found herself standing up and asking Tom if he wanted something to drink before she let her imagination get away from her.

Once in the kitchen Amelia put her hands on the counter and hung her head.

---

The day he introduced himself to her Amelia was surprised and pleased. She had taken to sitting in the tree everyday since he helped her down the second time and she had taken to reading for a few hours, never staying out later than dinner. The main reason was to see him of course, but Amelia was starting to realize that looking through a window into the world outside doesn’t mean you’re really experiencing what you see. She felt her shyness starting to break away, thinking back and being proud of those moments she spoke to the blonde haired boy with fierceness and abandoning her timid nature.

She cried out rather comically when his head poked up in between some branches and he asked if he could join her. Awkwardly shifting her weight on the branch where it connected to the tree, Amelia made room for him and closed her book careful to avoid him from reading the cover.

“Tom.” The boy said, inclining his head and staring into Amelia’s eyes.

Blushing lightly Amelia held out her hand, “Hi.. Tom” she said with a smile at the end, which Tom returned.

“So, Amelia, why do you come up in this tree so often?” He asked while also proving that he remembered her name so that she wouldn’t have to reintroduce herself.

Surprised by his question Amelia formed a response. “Well..” she started to answer, “It’s a whole lot better than what I was doing before..”

“You mean ‘before’ as in when you sat at the window all day reading??” Tom questioned. Not a few seconds later and she found herself amused at the fact that he was the one to blush this time.

Not wanting to cause him further embarrassment she brushed his comment aside, “I know I’m doing the same thing that I was then, but I just want to do it outside now.” Hopefully he wouldn’t see the truth behind this lie and figure out the real reason was because she wanted to see him.

There was no reply, just a small grunt that acknowledged he heard her as he was intently staring at a clump of leave a few feet away. These few moments weren’t awkward, or at least not as awkward as they should have been. They just sat there. Soon this became their habit, Tom even started bringing a book too and they would spend time slowly getting to know each other of just reading together.

---

Shaking her head out of the memory as well as to organize her thoughts Amelia stood up straight and opened her cupboard grabbing a bottle of wine and two glasses.

Walking back into the living room she saw Tom with his arm still in the same position as it was when she got up. Amelia poured the glasses of wine and handed one to Tom. Taking a deep sip she sat herself down next to him and felt him tense up. Sighing softly Amelia gathered her hair and threw it into a ponytail before laying back down in her spot and curling up into her ball again. A few seconds later Tom reached and took a swig from his wine glass then set his arm at his side, stretching it out a little to grab onto and give Amelia’s foot closest to him a gentle squeeze. After a couple of minutes of his hand resting on her foot the pain came to be too much for Amelia and she slowly pulled both her feet closer into her body, forcing Tom to let go.

She closed her eyes, hoping to give the illusion to Tom that maybe she was sleeping. He wasn't convinced. Looking in her direction for a moment or two Tom thought about what Amelia had said about him preventing her chances of ever really having a relationship. He sighed and facing the glowing television again Tom settled himself more comfortably into the couch, realizing he wasn't going to be be as comfortable as he was earlier when Amelia was huddled up against his side.