It was late in the evening when Henry arrived at home after a long day of work. "Yo," he called when he opened the door and entered the apartment. There was light as well as the sound of the TV coming from the living room, so Henry made his way there – and suddenly tripped over a pair of shoes. Luckily he still kept his balance, but that didn't stop him from shouting: "Who the heck threw his shoes here?!" 

When looking down at the suspicious sneakers, he noticed that they did not belong to any of the guys. And with 'the guys' he was referring to Gen, Neil, and Isaac – not only the people he worked with in a production team, but also his closest friends and housemates.

While those shoes at the floor looked anything but girly, they definitely did belong to one ... And even before that girl appeared in front of him, Henry already knew who it was.

"Oops," Amber said with an amused grin on her lips. "Sorry."

Henry threw a glare at her and entered the living room, looking around. "Are you alone here? Where are the others?"

Amber snorted. "Hello to you, too."

"Oops." Henry turned back to her while stifling a grin. He stepped closer to her before hugging her with one arm. "Hello there, my dearest Amber."

The girl rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide the amusement in her expression and returned the quick hug. "Yes, I am alone here," she then answered his question and plopped back down on the couch. "The guys went out to watch a movie, and they wanna go to a bar or something afterwards." 

"Oh ... Right." Henry sat down next to her and glanced at the TV, on which an American series was showing. "Ah, I get it."

"Huh?" Amber looked up at him with a raised brow, not knowing what he was talking about. "Get what?"

Henry grinned down at her. "You only stayed here so you can watch our American channels, eh? Since you don't get any in the dorms."

"What?!" She laughed and shook her head, even though it wasn't completely wrong what Henry was saying. But it was just half the truth. "No, I was waiting for you. I wanted to see and hang out with my beloved Snoopy, you know." And that was the other half.

"Is that so, eh?" The brown-haired man chuckled. "Well, then – how about we get ourselves some pizza and watch a movie or something? On an American channel, of course – we don't wanna ruin your evening, do we?"

"Shut up," Amber laughed once more and hit his arm. "Sounds good, though. Delivery service?"

"Nah. Freezer and oven. Beer?"

"Nah. Coke."

 

Around half an hour later, the two were sitting on the couch again, each of them having a plate of pizza on their lap.

"And you're sure that's the only good movie that's airing right now?" Amber asked before taking a bite of her pizza. 

Henry shrugged. "Come on, it's a comedy – that can't be that bad."

"It's a romantic comedy, dude," she replied with a chuckle and leant back against the backrest of the couch. 

The man grinned slightly and drank some of his beer. It wasn't often that he drank alcohol, just sometimes when he came home after an exhausting day he drank one or two bottles of beer. "Can still be amusing."

"We'll see." Amber focused on the screen and continued eating her pizza, occasionally taking a sip of coke.

Henry glanced at her and his grin grew a little wider, then he also looked at the TV while eating. 

It turned out that he was right – this movie was amusing indeed. Even though Amber maybe wouldn't admit that, her uncontrollable laughter and giggles proved otherwise. Then, on the other hand – whenever there was a romantic scene in the movie, Amber became all quiet and seemed kind of shy.

Maybe that's why she didn't wanna watch a romantic comedy? Apparently it made her feel really awkward. And somehow, Henry wondered if that was because of him.

After taking the last sip of his beer, he glanced at the kissing couple on the screen and then turned to Amber. "You know," he started, "I've always wanted to kiss you like that."

The short-haired girl looked up at him immediately, widening her eyes in shock. For a couple of seconds she did nothing but stare at him – until she broke out laughing. "Holy , Henry! I think you had enough of this." Still laughing, she leant forward to grab the bottle he was still holding – noticing that it was empty. "Well, that explains it." She put the bottle on the table.

"Explains what? My urge to kiss you? If you think it's because of the alcohol, you're so wrong." Okay, Henry had no idea where all this came from all of a sudden. It was true, though – he really wanted to kiss her. For a long time already. He liked her – and not only as a friend. He just didn't really want to tell her that, because ... well, he didn't want to risk their friendship. Having Amber as his friend meant a lot for him, it really did. But sometimes he wondered if it'd really be enough. 

Amber looked up at him, not seeming to be sure what to think about what he just told her – but then she just sighed quietly and brought a slight grin on her lips. "Right. You, mister, need to sleep." Saying this, the girl grabbed both of their empty plates and stood up, carrying the dishes to the kitchen.

After putting them into the sink, the girl turned around – and gasped in shock as she saw Henry right in front of her. "God, Henry – don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," he chuckled and put the empty bottle of beer on the kitchen counter.

"Idiot," Amber mumbled and headed out of the kitchen again.

Henry blinked before following her quickly, grabbing the girls arm. "Amber, wait."

"Huh?" She looked down at his fingers that were wrapped around her upper arm before she raised her head and looked up at him. "What?"

"I really want to do it, you know," he answered and stepped closer to her. Alright, maybe it really was the alcohol that helped him finally opening himself about his feelings for her. They say that people get brave when being drunk, don't they? Henry wasn't drunk, though. Yet he felt so much more confident about his feelings than he ever did before. 

Maybe it was just finally time to try it. Maybe it was time to confess.

"Henry ..." Amber frowned a little bit and shook her head. "Come on, now. You don't seem to tolerate alcohol really well."

"Can you stop trying to find an explanation in that stupid bottle of beer, Amber?" Henry let out a sigh and shook his head as well before lowering his voice a bit. "I'm not drunk in the slightest. The only thing I am right now is honest." 

Amber swallowed, unable to say or do anything. She just looked up at him with slightly widened eyes, confused about what he was saying and what he would be going to do next.

"And ..." He took a deep breath. Now or never. "And I fell for you, Amber." Before letting her react to his confession, the young man pulled her closer and bent over – and placed a soft kiss on the girl's lips. Finally.

Amber didn't pull back, but she didn't return his kiss either. She just whispered against his lips, "What are you doing, Henry ...?"

"I'm kissing you, you stupid girl," he answered without removing his lips from hers. 

"No ... Don't do that." She still didn't pull back.

Henry looked at her, kissing her lips once more. "Do you really want me to stop, Amber?"

Amber didn't answer. 

So Henry kissed her again. 

And again. 

Until finally, she started moving her lips against his, kissing him back – and a smile crawled up on his lips because he knew that she fell for him as well. A long time ago already. 

And she knew it, too.