The Confrontation

Drabble
Shayne and Ayla sat in their apartment, silent. Something had been bothering them both for a long time, Shayne for a bit longer, and they had to acknowledge it.

Ayla steeled herself and twisted in the couch to face her roommate. "We need to talk, don't we?"

Shayne chuckled nervously. "We're really that bad at hiding stuff from each other? Damn."

"Yeah. So..."

She looked up at him, too scared to speak. Shayne noticed how scared she was and took a deep breath before he started the much-needed conversation. "I'm in love with you, Ayla." He sighed, the huge weight of his words lifting off of his shoulders. "I have been for a long-ass time and now, for some reason, it's been really eating at me." He looked up at her after a beat. There were tears in her eyes.

"You know we can't."

He nodded. No other words were needed.

"Honest-to-god, I can't even look at you without wanting to kiss you," she said with a laugh. "You asshole."

He laughed as well, but the tension between them could be cut with a knife. "I can't think half the time knowing that you're so close... And you said it; we can't. And we'd get in a world of shit if we tried and got found out."

"This is too dangerous, Shayne." Ayla took his hand in her own. "I think I should move out."

He gave a curt nod. "Remove the temptation for both of us, right?" Shayne squeezed her hand and smiled sadly. "Where would you go?"

"I'll ask Keith if he can accommodate another hungry-ass person in his life. If he can't, my parents' place isn't too far away from work." She smiled, but it was short-lived. She looked down at the pair's joined hands and her eyes immediately filled with tears. Her bottom lip trembled and a sob escaped her threat.

Shayne dropped her hand but gathered her up in his arms. His lungs constricted and his chest ached as he suppressed his own sobs. He rubbed Ayla's back as she cried, burying his face in her hair.

"I don't want this to ruin what we've already built, Ayla. You're my friend first, okay? Nothing's changed that," Shayne said quietly.

Ayla pulled away and wiped her eyes. "Thank you. That means a lot." She dragged her hair over one shoulder and smirked. "You mean a lot. To me. And I'm serious when I say that in the future after we get our shit together, I'm ready to fight for us."

Shayne nodded. "Me too, Ayla. Me too."