\u201cDon\u2019t look at me like that,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He moved closer, looking at me directly. That unnerved me even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKaz,\u201d he said seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, that\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been thinking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhatever for?\u201d I quipped back at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I love you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My eyes widened and my breath stopped momentarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVinney don\u2019t be so stupid, you hardly know me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKaz, I know you enough to see that you\u2019re a strong, powerful and beautiful woman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell that just proves it, you obviously have no idea who I am. What brought on this silliness anyway?\u201d I said, to lighten the mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He looked stunned; his brow creased as he scrunched up his face. I took in a deep breath not knowing what to say next. My best friend, who I thought was gay, was coming on to me and had some weird idea I was this amazing woman of his dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCome on, let\u2019s get a wine and enjoy the show,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow can you be so dismissive Kaz?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He contemplated me fully with a hurt look in his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He turned away from me, his shoulders slumped. I waited. I could see he was breathing deeply and thought, wait, he is serious. He turned around, his eyes were emotional, oh my god, I thought, he looked really upset. Now what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook,\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I love you as my friend that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFriends can become lovers you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was scowling now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re freaking me out Vinnney,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He paused purposefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy can\u2019t you imagine me loving you Kaz?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His dark eyes held mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I squirmed uncomfortably. Shit, shit, shit, not this, not now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan we get our wine, find our seats and talk about this later?\u201d I said as calmly as I could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was shaking to the core and couldn\u2019t let him see this. I breathed slowly just like my counsellor had shown me. In, out, in, out, and averted my eyes pretending there was something happening behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m just going to the loo, see you in a bit,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I needed some space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I returned, he smiled at me briefly and turned towards the bar. He bought us two glasses of Chablis, handed me mine, gazed at me seriously and said nothing. I gave him the money for the wine. We walked into the auditorium; it was filling fast. We squeezed past the people in our row trying not to spill our very full glasses. Sitting down he turned to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKaz, I\u2019ve been intrigued with you since the day I met you, you came into my life unexpectedly, I didn\u2019t want a relationship, but then this happened. I don\u2019t know what else to say to you, it\u2019s just how I feel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could not look at him and chose, instead, to stare at the beautiful gold and red velvet curtain. Vinney was eight years younger than me; and was out of bounds for so many reasons, I thought he was a safe friend, gay or not. I had been on my own for over twenty years, I just wanted friendship. I had given up on love a long time ago, too much hurt, too much pain to go there again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVinney, I can\u2019t talk about this now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was looking at me intently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnother time then?\u201d he said and turned away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And maybe never, I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spent a long time studying that curtain and wished the show would start. I stole a look at him sitting there quietly, he was very cute, oh no don\u2019t do this. l did enjoy hanging out with him, we laughed heaps and behaved like silly teenagers sometimes. We had become good friends quickly after he had sauntered into my life with his cute black beret and endearing smile. He had a weird sense of humour, was a sculptor and my intellectual match. He intrigued me. He became my bestie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The curtain raised slowly, the lights dimmed gradually, and the audience became quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The love story on the stage and in my heart was about to begin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cDon\u2019t look at me like that,\u201d I said. He moved closer, looking at me directly. That unnerved me even more. \u201cKaz,\u201d he said seriously. \u201cYeah, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":3441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[224,8,59,11,326,325],"class_list":["post-3440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-maggie-mclaren","tag-mountain-ash-chapter","tag-romance","tag-story","tag-theatre","tag-true-love"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pff1uY-Tu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4533,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=4533","url_meta":{"origin":3440,"position":0},"title":"The Strays by Emily Bitto","author":"Amanda Gambas","date":"June 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Some stories live constantly in your subconscious, as you read them. 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