I'm getting a little touchy. And I don't know if I like it, or not.

Maybe because I can't distinguish the moment I'm being friendly with Dani, or the moment that I'm being really friendly with Dani.

I've been noticing how I would involuntarily touch her either on the arm, her hand, poking her nose, and even hugging her.

After we had hot chocolate after basketball practice, and I dropped her off at her house, I literally unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled her in for a hug. I mean, I do it all the time with Dennis, and Natasha, so it shouldn't feel any different.

But goddamn it, it feels totally different.

When I pulled back, I gave her a tight smile and awkwardly stared at her for a few seconds. I wondered, for a short moment, if she finds my behaviour oddly different. But Dani just looked like she was making fun of me, as always.

"Alright, Mave." She said as she burst out laughing. "I'll see you later."

Dani opened the passenger door, and was starting to step out when I said,

"I'll soon catch the later-"

I faced palmed, and I groaned in complaint. Again, because I get so nervous around her, my brain will function so fast that I literally couldn't even form words properly anymore.

"What?" Dani asked, giggling and looking back at me with total amusement.

I breathed out into my mittens and refused to look at her. Dani was now on full laughter mode. I glanced at her sideways, thinking how she could look so lovely when a loud snort came out of her from laughing too hard.

She reached forward for my toque and teasingly pulled it down on my eyes.

"I'll soon catch the later, Mave." I heard her say. "Or-" she held up an index finger. "If we're being poetic here, I shall say, I'll soon catch the latter, with you." She added a wink, and a finger gun while clicking her tongue.

"Smooth." I said, shaking my head in disbelief, but totally flattered. "Real smooth. You've completely took an idiom to another level. It's something Shakespeare would do, and you should be proud."

"I beg to differ." She said, stepping out of my vehicle and closing it. I pressed the automatic button to pull the window down. "Why can't they be called, the Danielle level? I'm important enough, aren't I?

"You have to make history."

"I made history when I was born." She said chuckling. "Every single one of us made history when we're born. We're making history, every second! See, I'm saying this to remind you again that you're important."

I gave Dani a genuine smile.

"You're right." I said. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You better." She replied, as she started to walk backwards towards their house slowly. "See ya." She wiggled her fingers goodbye playfully.

I rolled my eyes and shooed her goodbye.

"Do you know how much our budget is for the party that we're throwing this winter break?" Natasha asked nonchalantly, as soon as I entered my bedroom.

She was standing in the middle of the room, a notebook and pen in hand, and was glancing at me like she wanted a serious answer.

I didn't expect her to be there at all, and it scared the shit out of me. So, acting on my defence-mechanism, I automatically threw my water bottle at her, and screamed bloody murder.

Natasha caught the water bottle mid-air, and didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned.

"Oh my god, don't do that!" I exclaimed, placing a hand on my chest and feeling my heart beat."Did my mom let you in?"

"No, it was your dad actually." Natasha replied, tapping the pen on her chin and looked at her notebook. "And I texted you, like, three times and you won't answer."

"I was... Uh, driving." I said, feeling my palms suddenly sweaty. I frowned at my response, and turned my back at Nat, wondering why I couldn't tell her that I was with Dani. Finally, with a deep breath, I added, "Oh, and Dani and I went to get hot chocolate after practice."

I stripped off my winter jacket and threw it on my desk chair.

"And I wasn't invited?" Nat asked, pouting at me.

"Oh come on, don't sulk about this." I said, and limply side-hugged her because she wasn't hugging back.

"Fine." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Are you- are you wearing my sweatpants?" I asked in bewilderment as I noticed her wearing my comfy, and baggy grey sweatpants.

"Yes." She answered, laughing. "What? I practically live here already anyways."

I laughed with her and asked her if she could pass me another pair of sweatpants from my dresser. Natasha did, and I started to strip down my skinny jeans.

Nat sat down on my bed, her legs crossed, and wrote something on her notebook.

"Do you like beer pong?" She asked, as I pull on my sweatpants. I paused, and stared at her for a second in totally disbelief.

"Nat, I've never played beer pong."

"It's fun." She said, wiggling her eyebrows at me. "We should totally put it on our list of activities!"

"Well then, be my guest." I answered. "Are we really doing this?" Sighing, I pulled off my fuzzy sweater, and threw it across the room. "I mean, if we are, then can we... Can we not invite people that we don't know?"

"Yeah." Nat nodded in agreement. She seemed to look like she got distracted, and her gaze focused on me. She paused, then stared at me up and down. "Damn, Mave... You've gotten toned."

I coughed, and stared at her in amusement, my hands on my hips.

"Look at that!" She exclaimed, and walked towards me. Her eyes on my torso, and she poked it. "What the hell is that? Is that a four-pack? And look here- Your arms-"

"Okay!" I said, laughing hard and slapping her hands away. "I've been training hard this past week, okay? There's a tournament after winter break, and I want to perform my best for the team. I guess... I shed some fat? I don't know."

"Oh my god, you're hot." Natasha said, her eyes narrowing.

I blushed and pushed her away playfully.

"Shut up." I told her, chuckling and finally putting on an oversized white tee.

"No, for real." Nat said, showcasing my body. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Oh stop it." I waved her off, and sat on my bed, while looking over at her notebook.

"You don't know how to take a compliment, do you?" Nat asked, smiling at me.

"I guess not."

"If a guy says to you, hey I think you're really pretty. What would you say?"

I burst out laughing, and showed her a text message from James a few nights ago.

You're really pretty.

Fuck off.

Natasha laughed so hard, there were tears streaming down her eyes.

"Noted. James is definitely not invited." She said, wiping her eyes, and grinning at me.

"So tell me something, Nat." I said, now laying my head on her lap, while she's typing away on my laptop, searching for party decorations. "What exactly is your type?"

"My type?"

"Yeah, you know, your type of guy."

"Gay, apparently." She replied, snickering.

I frowned at her.

"Oh come on, you have to admit, it's pretty funny." She said, chuckling. "Alright, alright, fine. I guess you could say... Shoot, I don't really know."

"From my point of view," I started, and looked at the laptop screen. "You always date, athletic guys."

"They got hot bods."

"Natasha."

"What? I have a point." She argued, smiling at me. "Now that I think about it, I've always dated self-centred, egocentric, and douchebag guys."

"Not counting Dennis and Thomas?"

"Oh yeah, we're totally counting them. They're assholes." Nat said, then she burst out laughing. "You know what they say, you are what you eat."

I slapped her leg.

"You're horrible!" I told her, giggling. "But yes, continue. Why do you think that is?"

"That Dennis and Thomas are assholes?"

"No. I mean, why do you keep on dating, and I quote, self-centred, egocentric, and douchebag guys."

"I don't know, they're just sexy to me." Nat admitted. "Which is pretty lame, to be honest. We don't have anything in common at all! All they talk about is, oh, I worked out today and I benched four hundred pounds!"

Nat's impression of a hunk guy made me laugh so hard, I had hiccups.

"And they carry their smelly gym bags around school, like saying, oh see this bag? Yeah, it reeks of sweat and body odour. That's the smell of being cool." She continued. "Ugh. I'm honestly sick of it."

"Then try something different." I told her.

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking at me oddly.

"Well, you're a classy gal, right?" I asked. "You love classical music, you love playing the piano, and you're super smart- I guess, all I'm saying is... I don't understand why you would date someone that you have nothing in common with."

"Wild, isn't?" Nat replied, smiling at me. "I don't understand myself either. But I think it's because a lot of girls are so into jocks, and I find that normal... And I guess, I don't want to be different."

"What's wrong with being different?"

"Nothing! That's the point! This irks me so bad!"

"Why don't you try it?" I asked again. "Date a musically nerd like you. Like, Marco!" I suggested, my face lighting up with excitement. "You should date Marco!"

Marco West is my next door neighbour, a guy our age that usually plays the piano at church. He doesn't go to our school, but because we go to the same church, and my parents, Nat's parents, and his parents get along, we practically grew up together. I don't see him quite often, but Nat does because they both have the same piano teacher every after school.

"No!" Nat, exclaimed her eyes narrowing. "Remember when I kissed him when we were twelve, and he said I was disgusting?"

"That's because you were kissing all the boys-"

"He still called me disgusting!" Nat argued.

"Nat, we were twelve years old! Who knows? Things might've changed?"

"But I hate him." Nat frowned. "He keeps winning all those piano competitions. And I'm always second."

"Sounds like we found your match." I nudged her playfully.

"I hate you so much right now."

"You're not denying it." I teased.

"You're opening up a Pandora's box, Mave." She said. "What if I don't wanna look at Marco like, like, like someone I should be attracted with?" She was getting nervous, I could tell.

"But what if," I started. "What if you've always been attracted to Marco, but you're repressing it?"

"Marco West? Really?"

"We should invite him to the party." I suggested.

"You're being such a hypocrite right now." Natasha said, holding both sides of my face and squeezing my cheeks. "What about you, huh? Why don't you date some guy that you have in common with?"

"Beedos I mot shere if I'm minto derm." I replied, my words won't come out properly because Nat was still squeezing my cheeks. My eyes narrowed at what I was trying to say though, and Nat was doing the same.

Her hands released my face, and she was looking down on me with complete and utter shock.

"Wait, what did you just say?" She asked.

I'm totally panicking right now, and hid my face on her leg instead.

"Nothing." I said, my voice muffled.

"I think I heard you say..." Nat said, moving so she's also now laying down with me, and facing me.

My hands were shaking, and my breath was ragged when I tried to calm myself down by taking a deep breath. I've been meaning to tell her what I felt about guys, and what I felt about girls, but I couldn't.

"I'm not sure if I'm into them." I finally whispered.

"Why are we whispering?" She asked.

"Because it's a secret." I said, my voice so small, I wasn't sure if Nat heard me. But she did.

I bit my lip, and couldn't look at her. I thought I felt an urge to cry, but it was gone. Then, I watched her reaction.

And Nat only smiled at me, and said,

"Okay."

______

AN: Pumpkin Spice Latte is pretty darn sexy.

Unedited.