60. Walter's request - 2

Our first label was 'friends'. The first label I earned in his life was that of a friend, making friendship the first relationship that received validation. I was happy to finally belong somewhere in his life, but sad because it was not what I wanted, I simply described it as progress in the wrong direction. However, that was the least of my problems, the problem was that our feelings cut deeper than 'just friends', yes, there was no denying the sexual attraction between us, but what we felt was more than physical. So being friends felt like an attempt to just remain in each other's lives, I sighed, "Can we really be just friends?", because even at that moment in the car, the only thing that was stopping us from tearing our clothes off, was his marriage. 

He sat up straight, contemplated for a second, took another sip, and then calmly said "I think we can, I mean why not."

I sat silently for a while sorting my thoughts out, he seemed like his mind was made up, and the ball was in my court. I wondered if we could do it because if we missed each other like we believe we do, this whole friendship could lead to more complications. Also, if this was indeed our desperate attempt to remain in each other's lives despite the odds being against us, nothing good was going to come out of it, then there was a high possibility that we could cross the line, however, I was intrigued by the idea of it and seeing him through different lenses. 'Who knows, maybe things wouldn't be as disastrous as I imagined and this might end up being the best decision we ever made', I thought. 

"Okay, we can be friends, but Walter if we don't make it or feel like we're about to cross the line, we must stop the friendship.", I said with a serious face, having a condition like that felt like a plan to keep us both from crossing the line, especially since we both understood what was at stake.

His eyes sparkled, "Deal!...so, what do friends do?", 

His question made me chuckle, "Well, PG stuff, like hangout and stuff. I don't know-"

"Okay, uhm, would you like to meet Angela?" 

Whether the marriage was out of love or not, meeting his wife so soon didn't sit right with me, at least after we had figured out the friendship. I sighed again just imagining what that scene would look like. Without giving it much thought, I frowned, "No, too soon."

Walter chuckled at my quick response, "Well, she knows about you and how much you mean to me-"

I felt goosebumps and my heart nearly skipped a beat, I don't know what he meant, but to me, it sounded very sweet and heart-wavering, feeling embarrassed, I chucked, "Rule 1 of our friendship, we refrain from such emotional talks." and he nodded without any objections. I looked at the time, "Okay. I have to go back in now", I said as I gulped down the almost empty can and he did the same, then got out of the car to open my door. However, I noticed that his movements were now staggering and his speech was slow, the thought of him driving in such a state made me nervous, "You are drunk, my good nature doesn't allow me to let you drive like that". However, out of fear of losing our newly found friendship if he spent the night, he insisted on driving but thankfully I managed to convince him to not even touch his keys. Dealing with a drunk Walter was like dealing with a colic infant, it seems I underestimated his drunk state when we were seated and talking because as soon as he was on his feet, or barely on his feet, it became a completely different story. I balanced him as we went inside, I sat him on the couch and he fell asleep immediately, I wanted to call him an Uber but quickly realized that I didn't know his current address, I sighed, and got the blanket to cover him. I couldn't help but give in to the urge of wanting to just glance at his sleeping face, even for a few minutes. He looked so handsomely peaceful prompting me to sigh heavily at my pitifulness, "How did we get here?", I whispered to myself. I didn't know that meeting him like that would evoke so many emotions, I had already made peace with never seeing him again, but as soon as appeared, suddenly letting go didn't seem like an option, perhaps that was my real reason for agreeing to his request. I realized as I watched him sleep that I was deeply in love with him, but I couldn't understand why. I sighed again heavily as I left for my room.

For the first time in our encounter, we slept in different spaces, well, so I thought until I woke up at dawn to the sight of him curled up in the bed with me. At first, I found the way he held on to my arm cute but that came with doubts about the friendship, however, it was only the first day, and both of us had a lot of adjusting to do, so I remained hopeful. I sighed heavily just watching him, he looked even more innocent and at peace compared to when he was just lying on the couch. I smiled as I began daydreaming about a universe where he was my husband and we had a house with a big yard filled with kids' toys, well, it was a beautiful dream before his phone rang and I accidentally saw the name on the screen, "Angie". I instantly felt a pang of jealousy and in frustration, I woke him from his sleep. "Yo! Your wife is calling. She is probably worried because you didn't go home last night" 

He mumbled out of his sleep, "That's not why she's calling", he yawned, and picked up, "Okay- sure", then hung up after the brief phone call. "See... She is out of town, so she was telling me that she's extending her trip.", he calmly explained.

I don't know why I felt comforted by his words, but I tried to mask it with my hard exterior, "You didn't have to explain. Anyway, friend, you need to leave now. I have a busy day, I just let you stay over because you were too out of it to drive. Also, rule #2, let's never sleep on the same bed.." 

"Why? Is it hard to control your desires? Do I turn you on?"