A cold Tuesday afternoon rolled around, and it was snowing outside. It was late February, a particularly cold time of year. Nurah and Tim had relatively little work to be doing, as their coursework deadlines weren't until late March. This meant they both had a reasonable amount of time to kill, spending most of it cooking or playing videogames β the latter of which Nurah was particularly bad at but Tim didn't mind much. That Tuesday the kitchen was quite cold. It was quite big, and had a number of windows and the small radiator struggled to keep the room warm. Tim's room, on the other hand, was much smaller, and thus was much easier to keep warm.
Tim and Nurah had just returned from the supermarket, and were both shivering. Tim had forgotten to put the heater on in his room before they left β a fact Nurah jokingly pretended to be annoyed at. They both sat on the bed with the duvet up to their chests trying to keep warm. Without thinking, Tim lifted his arm up and beckoned Nurah closer. For a moment, she seemed to hesitate, thinking perhaps, but ultimately decided to come closer. Tim used his other arm to rub Nurah's arm and back, trying to keep her warm. Laid against his chest, he could feel her smiling even through his jumper. For a moment he pulled away, and Nurah looked up. Their eyes locked for a split second - a split second that seemed like a lifetime. Nurah smiled widely, and pulled Tim close again. Now it was Nurah holding the two together.
Tim lay his cheek on top of Nurah's head and asked softly, "Nurah? A few weeks ago..."
He was expecting her to release, but to his surprise she didn't.
"Tim," Nurah started.
There was a pause, both in deadlock waiting or the other to speak. The seconds ticked by, and finally Nurah gazed up at him. As he looked down at her, her eyes appeared to sparkle. Her eyes we dark brown, and seemed endless, like a well you could fall into, get lost in. A tear rolled down her cheek.
Immediately Tim was both confused and worried. What was wrong? Why was she crying? Momentarily he though back over the past few minutes, few hours, trying to figure out what, if anything, he did wrong. He tried to comfort her but she simply sobbed and held him tighter. As he tried to pry her arms from around his chest she simply placed them back around. Finally, his strength prevailed and she quickly released, knowing she couldn't overpower him. She turned and lay down, facing away from him.
She cleared her throat and said softly, "Tim, I... I have had feelings for you for a while now and I've been so afraid to ruin our friendship... I'm sorry...I know you probably don't feel the same about me... I can leave if you would like"
Sat behind her, he was quite speechless. He certainly had feelings for her, and his speechlessness was a combination of not knowing how to solve this dilemma, and not expecting the words that just came from Nurah's mouth.
"Nurah..." he calmly stated.
She turned to face him, expecting to hear the worst from him, expecting him to ask her to leave. He could see from her face, that her supple light brown skin had become white; her eyes were red from crying. He long flowing dark-brown hair was stuck to her face. He leaned over towards her, pushed her hair gently out of her face and placed a kiss square on her lips. It was not hard, nor was it the most romantic with Nurah's salty tears covered most of her face. Just as Tim had been speechless moments earlier, Nurah was now frozen in place. A few seconds later, Tim pulled back, took his finger and gently brushed away the tear rolling down her left cheek.
"Nurah, I never thought you would feel the same way about me as I do about you..." he smiled.
Pulling a tissue from a nearby tissue box and began to wipe away her tears, holding the back of her head gently for leverage. Just as she composed herself, he leant in to kiss her again. This time she met him in the middle. The first proper kiss they had shared seemed to last a lifetime. Tim placed his hand on Nurah's hip and pulled her gently closer. In response she gave a tiny moan, making Tim break the kiss to smile.
Nurah's face had gone from white as a sheet to blush red. Tim knew that Nurah had never been with a guy before, and that this was her first kiss. Almost immediately Nurah began to apologize for knowing how encounters like these should work. Tim calmed her with a soft "shhhh" and laid her down. He began placing soft kisses all over her face, on her chin and neck. She smiled, and began copying, kissing his cheeks.
Tim removed his glasses, which up until this point had simply been in the way. Nurah proceeded to run her hands through his hair, signaling for him to do the same to her. He reciprocated, gently tugging on it after a few seconds with a smile. Nurah returned the smile, and pulled Tim in close to kiss her again.