What did a friend do that instantly made you catch feelings? #shorts #redditstories #reddit #story — Transcript

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1. 0:00What did a friend do that instantly made
2. 0:01you catch feelings? Back in college,
3. 0:02there was a girl named Margo who lived
4. 0:04two doors down from me, and every Friday
5. 0:05our entire floor crammed into my room
6. 0:07for game night. I need to be clear about
7. 0:08something before this goes anywhere. I
8. 0:10do not lose at Mario Kart. I have never
9. 0:12lost at Mario Kart. People on my floor
10. 0:13used to draw straws over who had to sit
11. 0:15next to me because I am, by every
12. 0:16available measure, insufferable about
13. 0:18it. Margo knew this. She'd been beaten
14. 0:19by me something like 40 Fridays in a row
15. 0:21and kept showing up anyway, which,
16. 0:23looking back, probably should have told
17. 0:24me something. This particular Friday, it
18. 0:26was just the two of us. Everyone else
19. 0:27had a midterm. She walked in wearing one
20. 0:29of those oversized hoodies dropped onto
21. 0:31the bean bag next to me, grabbed the
22. 0:32second controller without asking, and
23. 0:33said, "Tonight's the night I finally
24. 0:35take you down." I laughed. I told her
25. 0:36people had been saying that since
26. 0:37freshman orientation and the graveyard
27. 0:39was full. She just smirked and cracked
28. 0:40her knuckles like she actually meant it
29. 0:42this time. First race, she's doing her
30. 0:43little focused thing, tongue poking out
31. 0:45the corner of her mouth, leaning hard
32. 0:47into every turn like the couch is going
33. 0:48to steer for her. At one point, she
34. 0:49nailed a shortcut she'd never landed
35. 0:51before and threw both fists in the air,
36. 0:52and the hood fell back, and her hair was
37. 0:54a complete mess, and she was grinning at
38. 0:55me like she'd won the lottery. Something
39. 0:57in my chest did a stupid little flip.
40. 0:59For about half a second, I forgot I was
41. 1:00holding a controller. Then I remembered
42. 1:01I was in second place. Unacceptable. I
43. 1:03hit her with a red shell on the final
44. 1:04straight and took the checkered flag.
45. 1:06The flip went away. There was work to
46. 1:07do. She called me a menace under her
47. 1:09breath. I took it as a compliment.
48. 1:10Second race, she actually leads most of
49. 1:12the way. I'm grinding my teeth, hunched
50. 1:13forward like a gargoyle, and she glances
51. 1:15over, catches me sitting there that
52. 1:16intense, and just starts laughing. This
53. 1:18warm, helpless laugh, the kind you feel
54. 1:20in your own ribs. She put her hand on my
55. 1:21arm and said, "You are taking this so
56. 1:23seriously. It's actually kind of
57. 1:24adorable." Adorable. She said adorable.
58. 1:26And I'll be honest with you, for one
59. 1:28shining moment, I thought, "Maybe this
60. 1:29is it. Maybe two years of game nights
61. 1:31have been quietly building to exactly
62. 1:32this." Then I noticed she'd let off the
63. 1:34gas to look at me. Rookie mistake. I
64. 1:35banked off the wall, threaded the inside
65. 1:37line, and stole first by half a cart
66. 1:39length. I do not get distracted. She
67. 1:40does. That right there is the entire
68. 1:42difference between us. By the final
69. 1:44race, she's somehow tied with me on
70. 1:45points. Whoever wins this one wins the
71. 1:47night and the bragging rights and
72. 1:48possibly the rest of my dignity. And
73. 1:50here is where it got genuinely dangerous
74. 1:51because halfway through she spun out on
75. 1:53the Rainbow Road track, dropped straight
76. 1:54to last, and made this tiny defeated
77. 1:56sound. Then she looked over at me with
78. 1:57these big sad eyes, and I felt it. I
79. 1:59felt the urge to slow down, to let her
80. 2:01catch up, to let her have one, just one.
81. 2:03After 40 Fridays of carnage to be for a
82. 2:05single fleeting moment a decent and
83. 2:07loving human being. My thumb actually
84. 2:09hovered over the break. I want you to
85. 2:10understand what I did next. I had been
86. 2:12hoarding a blue shell for 9 minutes,
87. 2:14nine real minutes. I'd been holding it
88. 2:16since the first lap of the first race
89. 2:17specifically so that I would never under
90. 2:19any circumstances not have it. I did not
91. 2:21let her catch up. I dropped back into
92. 2:22second on purpose, sat there patiently
93. 2:24while she clawed her way up to first on
94. 2:26the final lap, and the instant she took
95. 2:28the lead, I launched it. That blue shell
96. 2:29found her at the finish line like it had
97. 2:31her home address. She crossed in eighth.
98. 2:32I rolled through the wreckage into first
99. 2:34place without ever touching the break.
100. 2:35She stared at the screen. Then she
101. 2:36stared at me. You had that the whole
102. 2:38time. It wasn't a question. I set my
103. 2:40controller down gently, like setting
104. 2:41flowers on a grave. Margo, I said, I
105. 2:43have liked you since sophomore year. I
106. 2:45think about you constantly. You are
107. 2:46genuinely the best part of my entire
108. 2:48week. Her face started to soften. And I
109. 2:50would still blue shell you into the sun
110. 2:51on the final lap of a tied night every
111. 2:53single time without one ounce of regret.
112. 2:55Some things matter more than feelings.