"It doesn't have do," Arden said, firmly. "We could just agree that we'd rather stay friends the way we are. I don't...like? The idea that it's something that has to happen, like...automatically? Or because there are weird rules about it?" He could probably guess where some of that came from. "I want to be more than friends with you. But because we're both choosing to do that, not because we feel like we have to? Does that make sense?"

She squeezed his hand. "But also? I'd understand if you're not sure? Or you wanted to go slow? Cause like you said you're still trying to figure things out. And I don't want you to feel pressured to do something because you think it's what I want or the expectation is there for something specific?" She bit her lip. "Can I ask possibly a bad question?"