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The group reached Oaklands Road and split. Most, including Bec, headed south towards the shops, while Erin and Lucas went north. Bec would have ordinarily gone with her sister, but she had an appointment at the hairdressers. That left Erin and Lucas alone with each other as they walked towards the latter's home. Bec smirked as she walked with the rest of the group. She thought a bit of alone time was exactly what those two needed.
Erin and Lucas continued on in awkward silence. They had done this walk many times before, but something was different this time. This time they each had something they wanted to tell the other, but neither had the courage to do it. Bec had been teasing Erin for weeks about it; despite her protests and insistence she did not like Lucas that way, deep down Erin knew her younger sister was right. What worried her was whether or not Lucas would feel the same way. She could tell something was on his mind. Had he noticed her noticing him and felt uncomfortable? She was so close to asking him, but could not clear the final hurdle, which was somewhat ironic, given her results at the last athletics carnival.
Lucas broke the silence before Erin could ruminate further.
"Good day today."
Erin jolted a little; she had been so caught up in her own thoughts that Lucas had surprised her.
"Y-yeah. It was."
She over at him, then quickly looked away when she made eye contact.
'Dammit, just tell him!' her mind insisted. 'Don't drag this out any longer!'
"H-hey, Lucas..."
"Hmm?"
Erin focused on studying the texture of the footpath as she continued walking.
"There's um...there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while."
"What's that?" Lucas asked. His heart began beating a little faster. 'Is she going to?'
"Well, I..." She stopped and grabbed Lucas by the arm. "I've been trying to psych myself up, but I haven't managed to get there yet."
Lucas was confused by Erin's behaviour, but said nothing and waited for her to continue. She suddenly found the courage to look him in the eye.
"I've found myself being drawn to you more and more recently. At first I thought it was just as a friend, but I now know it's more than that. I love you, Lucas."
When Lucas said nothing, Erin's anxiety ramped up and she let go of his arm.
'Shit. I've just ruined everything,' she thought as tears began to well up. "I..I'm sorry. I've made things weird. I...I'll leave you alo-"
Lucas grabbed her left wrist. Erin turned her head and looked at his hand, then his face. She noticed a small smile was present on it. He did not seem upset or uncomfortable. He almost looked relieved.
"You haven't made things weird, though," he said as he glanced to the side, "I do feel a bit silly now."
"What? Why?"
Lucas turned his gaze back to Erin.
"I've been feeling the same way for a while as well, but was too scared to say anything."
"Because you thought you'd weird me out?"
"Yep."
Erin shook her head and chuckled.
"Bec is never gunna let me hear the end of this."
"Well, she doesn't need to know we've fancied each other this long."
Erin scoffed.
"Are you kidding? She's known for ages that I was into you. She's been giving me suggestions for how to get your attention for weeks. She could probably tell you were into me as well."
"Suggestions?"
Erin pointed to the uniform skirt she was wearing.
"Why did you think I'd been wearing this more often?"
"Ah. Well..." Lucas looked a little sheepish, "That definitely helped."
Erin blushed a little.
"Oh. Well that's good to know."
Their feelings known, the new couple embraced. Erin rested her head on Lucas’ shoulder and smiled.
“This is nice,” Lucas said.
“Yeah, but…” Erin pulled away a little and looked at Lucas, “You know what would make this nicer?”
“No?”
Erin slowly leaned back towards him; in a moment, Lucas’ confusion dissipated. The couple closed their eyes in anticipation. Erin’s heart began to beat faster as their first kiss drew nearer. Their lips were about to lock…
The buzz of Erin’s alarm clock brought her back to reality. She cracked open and looked over at the flashing red display. As she began to properly wake up, she realised that her dream self had yet again managed to do what she could not. She groaned and pulled her blanket back over her head, which did little to muffle the still buzzing alarm.
‘May as well get up.’
She reached out to switch off the alarm, stretching herself while trying to locate it in the dimly-lit room. Just as she was about to reach the button, she realised she had overreached. She tried to push herself back to the bed, but with only her lower legs still on the mattress, she quickly lost her balance and fell unceremoniously to the floor in a heap. A moment later, she heard snickering from the other bed in the room.
“Shut up, Bec.”
“Sorry, Erin,” Bec said, “But I just can’t help it when you try so hard and get so far…”
Bec rose from her bed and switched off the alarm, then stood over the elder twin.
“...only to fail at the last hurdle.”
“Are you going to help me up, or stand there and make jokes at my expense?”
Bec cocked her head to the side.
“Who says I can’t do both?”