what if - walker scobell

013

"this movie is so dumb." walker pointed at the TV, where leah and dior had insisted they all sit down and watch pride and prejudice. "darcy obviously likes elizabeth. she clearly likes him back. why wouldn't he just say so? i don't get it." 

they sat in silence for a second before leah and dior both started laughing manically.

"you're one to talk." leah muttered between giggles.

walker glared at them. "what's so funny? what do you mean?"

"'kaitlyn made me watch this movie, but we got bored and played fortnite instead.'" leah said in a low voice, mimicking walker's comment from earlier in the movie.

"'i wish kaitlyn were here. it's so stupid that she has to film today.'" dior added in walker's voice before laughing again.

"that doesn't mean anything! she's my best friend!" walker threw a pillow at dior's head.

"okay, fine, fine." dior got out her phone, opened an app, then seemingly changed her mind and set it down on the table. "tell us why she's your best friend, then. tell us what you like about her."

walker rolled his eyes, but obliged. "okay, well, since the day i met her, i knew we were going to be best friends. she's so smart and so funny, but she's serious when she needs to be, you know? you guys know that. she was wearing a spiderman t-shirt that day, which i thought was cool immediately, because i love marvel, you know? so then we started talking about spiderman, and how she's in love with tom holland, even though i don't see it. and then we went and got food after filming, and now she's my best friend. we hang out all the time. um, i like everything about her, like i like how her voice gets all croaky when she's tired and she gets all sappy when she's really tired and starts talking about how much she loves me, and-and all of you guys too, of course. uh, i like her dimples and i like her smile, and i like her hair and i like how she's always laughing or blushing, and -" walker realized he was talking too much about her physical appearance and redirected himself. "and i like her laugh a lot. and she's really funny. so yeah. that's it. well it's not it, but-" 

he finally looked up and saw that dior was trying not to laugh and leah was covering her mouth, her eyes shining.

"uh huh. best friends, huh?" dior grinned. she grabbed her phone and started playing back a voice recording of walker's voice.

walker rolled his eyes again and grabbed the phone, his cheeks flaming red. he was starting to see where they were coming from. why did he sound so stupid when he talked about her? almost like- no. nope. nuh-uh.

"look how red he is!" leah squealed, poking at his cheeks. dior started playing the recording, and walker cringed at his voice coming through the speaker. "i like everything about her, i like how her voice gets all croaky when she's tired and she gets all sappy when she's really tired..." walker covered his ears. "stoooop."

"... i like her dimples and i like her smile and i like how she's always laughing or blushing and... and i like her laugh a lot. and she's really funny. so yeah. that's it. well that's not it, but..."

"homeboy is in LOVE!" dior shouted. 

"SHUT UP!" walker grabbed for the phone, but even he was laughing now, too. "let's just watch the dumb movie."

just then, the doorbell rang. "speak of the devil. she told me she was coming over to borrow some shoes." dior jumped up and opened the door. "KAITLYN! you look so pretty! all ready for your date?"

date?

"DIOR! oooh, are you guys watching pride and prejudice? me and walker tried to watch that once, but-"

she walked in the room and everything else she was saying became drowned out. voices felt muffled, like walker was swimming underwater. he felt like someone had dumped a bucket of boiling water on his head. his face heated up. she was all dressed up. why was she all dressed up? her makeup was done and her hair fell perfectly around her face, and she was wearing that one black dress and hoop earrings, and her lips were glossed, and she looked really, really pretty. she was always pretty, but she looked downright gorgeous. and then he started thinking about what dior and leah were saying...

"where my hug at?" kaitlyn joked, walking over to him and holding her arms out. "i haven't seen you in a week, and you don't even get up to say hi?"

"hi." he said quietly. kaitlyn dropped her arms. "hi." she said back, even more quietly. "why are we whispering?"

"i don't... we're watching pretty and prejudice. pride and prejudice." he stumbled over his words, avoiding eye contact.

"yeah, i recognize it from that one time we tried to watch it. remember?"

"nope." he lied, standing up on shaky legs to walk into the kitchen. he remembered that one time when they'd been in the kitchen together baking cookies and he'd almost kissed her. why hadn't he? why was she going on a DATE? a date with WHO??

"what is with him?" he heard her say.

"no idea. he's always weird. you should go. don't want to be late!"

"right. i'll just go say bye to walker." kaitlyn hobbled into the kitchen on the shoes she'd borrowed from dior. they gave her an extra three inches, but he was still about a head and a half taller than her.

"hey, wanna hang out tomorrow?"

"can't. i'm getting my wisdom teeth out." it was the only thing he'd said that made sense since she'd walked in.

"oh, i forgot about that. well, i'll come visit you in the hospital. walker on pain meds is definitely something i want to see." she leaned her head on his shoulder as she often did as a sort of hello and goodbye, but he shrugged her off. his shoulder felt like it was on fire.

 she hesitated, tilting her head, looking confused. then she shrugged and walked away."okay, weirdo. see you tomorrow!" 

he heard her hug leah and dior goodbye and shut the door behind her, and he felt the panic within him subside.

panic? why was he panicking?

he walked back in and flopped on the couch. "best friends can talk about best friends that way." he said defensively, picking their earlier conversation right back up. leah and dior looked at each other knowingly.

"okay, well, maybe." leah conceded.

"thank you." he said, a little disappointed that she hadn't fought him back on that.

"but..." she started.

he turned away. "i'm done talking to you now."

"...they don't look at each other that way." she finished, grinning at him. his heart dropped a little bit. some part of him knew she was right. but what did she mean? who was looking at who in that way? because for some reason, he really, really wanted kaitlyn to look at him in that way now. but he refused to speak.

"SO TRUE!" dior shouted. "did you see those goo goo eyes? that's love, man."

when he didn't answer their prodding, leah and dior sighed and turned the movie back on, but their words were still ringing in his ears.

what was going on?