#midnightsakura9

“I’ll be back with some drinks,” the man said, walking away towards the bar.

You couldn’t recall the man’s name, nor too much about him. You had only met that night, having both been at the dance hall with your friends and met each other. He wasn’t the most charming man, but was fairly attractive, and seemed to be interested in you, which had become a rare occurrence. Maybe you would have liked him more if you weren’t in love with another man but as you doubted anything would come from it, you decided to seek out someone else.

Sadly, your heart wasn’t so willing to move on. Even with a somewhat decent guy who was willing to buy you a drink, you couldn’t have cared less. Your heart belonged to someone else and if that wasn’t a fault on its own, the owner of your heart was crossing the dance hall to join you.

James Barnes had been your close friend since childhood, your mothers having been friends. He was a year older than you and had always been there for you when you needed him, but he was also very good with women and rarely needed your attention seen as he could gain it from anyone he wanted. It did hurt you to see him with other women but you daren’t tell him that as you would much rather stay being friends than lose him all together.

“Is that fool bothering you?” He asked, leaning against the wall beside you.

“Why would the attention of an attractive man bother me?” You questioned trying to sound nonchalant.

“You don’t know him like I do,” he frowned. “He’s not a good guy. He’s just trying to take you to bed.”

You cocked an eyebrow at the man you called a best friend.

“If I didn’t know any better James, I would say that you were jealous,” you joked.

“Of course, I’m jealous, but I’m also trying to protect you.”

His words seemed to escape his lips without his knowledge as his face fell pale when he realised what he had said to you. You didn’t take it quite seriously though, making you rather nervous at the thought of him liking you but you didn’t want to believe it in fear it was merely a joke.

“Do you like me Barnes?” You said, trying to keep your nervous under control.

“I didn’t want to tell you like this,” he apologised. “I’ve liked you for a while, but I was scared that you would laugh at me if I told you.”

A laugh escaped you. It was terrible timing, but you couldn’t help the fact that you had both hidden your feelings which did make you laugh.

“I’ve liked you for years James,” you frowned. “I thought you didn’t like me in return though.”

He joined the gentle laugh.

“We have both been daft,” he chuckled. “Would you like to dance with me?”