change of heart 6

Liam had never thought of himself as the relationship advice guy. He barely had his own love life figured out, so why would anyone come to him for help?

And yet, here he was—sitting across from Daniel, watching his best friend stress over his phone like a teenager waiting for a prom date to text back.

"So let me get this straight," Liam said, leaning back in his chair. "You finally meet a guy you actually like—which, let's be real, never happens—he asks you out, and now you're… what? Avoiding him?"

Daniel groaned, rubbing his temples. "I'm not avoiding him. I just—" He exhaled. "I don't know, man. It's been a weird few weeks."

Liam raised an eyebrow. "This about your mom?"

Daniel shrugged. "Partly, yeah. That whole conversation stirred up a lot of stuff. And now, suddenly, there's Josh—who's great, by the way—but I don't know if I'm in the right headspace for all this."

Liam took a sip of his beer, thinking. "Alright. So what's the actual problem? You don't like him? Or you do like him, and that freaks you out?"

Daniel gave him a dry look. "You're alarmingly good at this."

Liam smirked. "Turns out I've been paying attention."

Daniel sighed. "I do like him. He's smart, funny, gorgeous—like, stupidly gorgeous—but I don't wanna screw this up."

Liam shrugged. "Then don't."

Daniel scoffed. "Wow, thanks. That was so helpful."

Liam rolled his eyes. "Look, man. I'm not gonna pretend to know what it's like to be in your shoes. But I do know that you overthink everything when it comes to dating. Maybe instead of trying to map out the next six months, just… go on the date. See what happens."

Daniel stared at him for a moment, then chuckled. "Since when did you become Dr. Phil?"

Liam grinned. "Since you started acting like a lovesick idiot."

Daniel smirked, then finally—finally—picked up his phone and texted back.

"There. Happy?" he asked.

Liam raised his glass. "Proud of you, bud."

Daniel rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

A week later, they were back at the bar, and Daniel was in a much better mood.

"So?" Liam asked. "How'd the date go?"

Daniel grinned. "Amazing. I swear, Josh is a literal angel. Great food, great conversation, and—" He wiggled his eyebrows. "A fantastic goodnight kiss."

Liam groaned. "Dude. I don't need details."

Daniel laughed. "Fine, fine. But seriously? You were right."

Liam smirked. "I usually am."

Daniel raised his drink. "To me not being a coward."

Liam clinked his glass against Daniel's. "And to you finally shutting up about it."

They both laughed, and for the first time in weeks, everything felt right.