More than a Crush

~Kiara~

"Order for Lia!"

"Ah, finally. My throat feels like sandpaper," Lia adjusts her denim skirt as she stands to grab our drinks and pastries from the counter.

"If you drank even half the volume of water you should, you wouldn't need a cup of sugar to quench your thirst," I subtly suggest.

"Excuse me for wanting to treat my best friend to something nice," she feigns offense and takes a sip from her whipped cream-covered straw. "The semester's almost over. We deserve all the sugar highs we can find time for. And all the regular highs, too."

I would never openly admit it, but Lia's sort of onto something there. This semester has been kicking both our asses so far, and with final exams on the horizon, our spare time has been few and far between. We might as well indulge and blow off steam whenever we get the chance.

I keep a brave face, "We've been through rougher semesters. And we've never once needed additional support. Why start now?"

"Right," Lia narrows her eyes as she brings her straw back to her pursed lips, obviously seeing right through my disinterested facade. "But, just a word of advice: a little foray into natural supplements wouldn't kill you. Or maybe even a break from the books to take on a little... physical challenge.

"One that involves you, at least one other individual, laboured breathing, and a comfortable surface of your choosing," Lia pins a scarily meddling expression, featuring an all too familiar smirk, on me.

If I weren't her roommate and closest confidant, I'd be genuinely afraid of this girl. Fortunately for me, we know each other well enough that I actually trust her not to screw me over, a luxury not many people who know Lia Crenshaw have had the opporunity to enjoy.

Honesty and a zero tolerance policy for bullshit is what you get with Lia. Her bad side is not a place any person with self preservation skills would ever want to be.

I pin her with a look of my own that says, "Don't start this. We're in a public place, I'm shy, and you know it."

"I mean, I could even help set up a rendezvous with someone I know for a fact checks every single one of your boxes," she takes a bite of her chocolate croissant, brashly ignoring my glacial glare and continuing her one-sided conversation about my non-existent romantic life. "Unless you've suddenly had a change of heart about the infamous Sa—"

"Lia," I cut my friend off before she can publicly out me for my longstanding crush on the most sought after bachelor at our small town university. And in the only on-campus coffee shop, Cuppa Cafe, no less. Prying eyes and ears are all around us thanks to the heavy foot traffic in this place.

Lia is many things, but tactful doesn't often make the list.

"Kiara..." She drags out my name with a knowing look in her eye.

I have to change the subject before she says something she can't take back. News travels fast when everyone knows everyone else.

"Why did you invite me here?" I ask, my half finished cup of slightly sweetened english breakfast tea still warm at my fingertips.

"What? I'm not allowed to invite my bestie on an impromptu coffee date in the midst of a stressful school week? It's not like we haven't done it before," she quirks a brow and fidgets with the last bit of her croissant on the napkin in front of her.

She answered my question with a question, and she didn't look me in the eyes while she did it. Both are very out of character for her. There's absolutely something Lia's not telling me.

I quirk my brow right back at her as I taunt, "Yeah, and of course my extremely altruistic best friend has an unbreakable habit of not only paying for my food and drink, but offering to let me drive her car whenever I need. Oh, and let's not forget her very generous offer of allowing me unfettered access to her closet. Because fashion majors are in no way overprotective of their wardrobes—"

"Fine, Sherlock. I need a favor," Lia concedes as she crosses her arms over her chest defensively.

"See? Was that really so hard to say?" I try and fail to hide my amusement.

"Shut up, and let me finish my drink before I have to humiliate myself by," she shivers mid-sentence, "asking for help."

I sit back in my seat and wait patiently. Now I'm the one smirking as I contemplate what she could need from me.

In the three years we've been friends and roommates, we've helped each other out before. I've rescued Lia from a number of dates gone wrong, helped her cram for exams at the last minute, and even pretended to be her girlfriend on nights out when the occassional drunk asshole decided to shoot his shot a little too determinedly.

Lia has always been there for me with the same dedication, no questions asked. We always tell each other anything and everything, and I'm not someone who takes that level of trust lightly. I can't imagine what kind of favor she'd need from me now, especially not one that she felt I had to be buttered up to accept.

Her plastic cup completely drained of it's overpriced contents, Lia sets her gaze on mine and clears her throat.

After a moment of silence, she speaks, "There's this event at my internship this weekend. I have to be there. Like, it's the opportunity of a lifetime that could make or break my chance at landing a job after graduation. But, I agreed to tutor one of my best clients the same night. Which happens to be tomorrow... I didn't realize the time conflict until yesterday, and there's not enough time to cancel, so... Do you think you could take over for me?"

Lia barely takes a breath until she's done with her spiel, which leaves me even more confused about the elusiveness with which she'd guarded this rather tame dilemma only minutes ago.

"Umm... Of course I'll take over. I've stepped in before when you've had plans come up. It's not a big deal, Lia," a question slips into the edge of my tone. Why is she making such a big deal out of a minor favor she's already asked of me a number of times before?

Lia lets out a sigh of relief at my agreeance, "Great. Now that that's settled—"

"Hold on a second," I stop her before she can change the direction of the conversation. "Why were you so uncomfortable asking me to take over for you? I've tutored in your stead before. And I assume you already cleared me with the kid's parents?"

Lia's side hustle is tutoring teenagers and young kids whenever it fits into her schedule. She's also interning for the most popular fashion magazine sold in our tiny town. The headquaters is in a corporate building dowtown, and she assures me it's nothing like The Devil Wears Prada. It's about an hour and a half drive, and luckily, Lia only has to travel there twice a week. This week, though, seems to be different.

She nods in response to my question, "Yeah, I cleared it with his guardian. I trust you, and they trust me. So, naturally, they said you're welcome to cover my shift."

I wait for her to continue, still not seeing an actual problem.

"It's just that," she clears her throat for the second time in the last five minutes. "This time, the change in plans was really last minute. The event at the magazine is a mixer with, like, every other major fashion magazine in the country. I'm gonna get to rub shoulders with the most influential names in fashion in under 24 hours from now. And finals are coming up. And... holy hell, I'm just so stressed."

Lia always seems to be swamped in responsibilities. She never stops moving, that girl. More than a few of our peers envy her tenacity, but it isn't as easy as she makes it look. I'm the only one she ever lets see this side of her boss-bitch coin.

She's killing it, but she's not invincible.

Suddenly, her awkwardness about broaching this subject makes sense to me. She's got a lot on her plate and she's getting into her own head about it. Who would I be if I didn't take a little bit of that responsibility off her shoulders when she needed it?

"Hey," I reach across the small cafe table and grasp onto Lia's wrist. "It'll be fine. Everyone's gonna love you at that mixer, and short notice or not, I'm fine with taking your tutoring shift for you. I've got it covered, okay?"

She snatches her arm away from where I held it a moment ago and brushes a hand through her wavy brunette locks, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips, "Okay, well don't get all sappy on me Kiki. You'll pull a muscle if you're not careful."

"Shut up. So, what subject are you tutoring this kid in, anyways?"u