Pickup Notes

In The Beginning

IT ALL STARTED when I was five. I know, I know. A long time to five a crush on someone who never looked twice at me...especially since I'm eighteen now. But I can't help it.

Sure, I've dated before. One night stands, the works. I don't really do commitment. But that's not the point.

I'm a player to a T. Sleeping with random girls, getting drunk...at least I'm careful. But I am just fooling around. There isn't harm in that, right?

That isn't the point, though. My name is Nathaniel Haze Ryder. My sister's name is Natalie Jane Ryder. And her best friend's name is Peyton Taylor Kane. And I have had a huge crush on her since...well...forever. Ever since Peyton and my sister met, I've been so entranced my her, I practically stalked the girls, watching them play around in my backyard everyday for two years, Kindergarten and First Grade. To be fair, I didn't mean to stalk them. I didn't even know what stalking was, to be perfectly honest. And I wasn't a creepy kid-pervert. Though, my sister might not agree.

Still, my point is proven. I used to be a love-sick little puppy that stalked his sister and her best friend.

So I still stalk them? No. I learned the error of my creepy child ways.

Do I still have a huge crush on Peyton? Absolutely.

Am I trying to get over it? Unless you count be a player and man-whore, not exactly.

She barely acknowledges my existence. Maybe instead of stalking her, I shouldn't played with Peyton and Natalie as kids. Instead I creepily watched then from my bedroom window.

Not something I'm proud of, to be perfectly honest.

But still...I am not just pining over her every second of my life. I have a life now. Friends. Girls lining up to get a piece of this...not that I blame them. I'm hot.

But that's not the point. The point is, I want to regain my pride by proving how I'm not as obsessed anymore.

"Nate!" A voice called out. It was my mommy. I looked at my badly drawn picture of sail boat, decided art wasn't my thing, dropped my half warn bucket of crayons on my bed, and walked to my door, peering it open a crack.

"Yeah, Mommy?"

"Come down here! Nat brought home a friend from school, say hello. And don't forget your manners!"

"Okay, Mommy." I said, and sauntered down the steps, occasionally using the railing to support myself and jumping two at a time.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I think everything just stopped working. Talking engagingly with my sister was the prettiest girl my age I have ever seen.

She had startling green eyes, and pretty, wavy brown hair. Like Carmel and chocolate together. The best kind of mixture.

My eyes widened, and I'm pretty sure I just stared at her, my eyes bulging.

"Nate, come say hi to Peyton."

Her name was so pretty. I liked it.

The pretty girl-I mean Peyton stopped chatting with my sister, and looked at me. She walked over to me with a confident grin, and said proudly; "Hi! My name is Peyton Taylor Kane. P-E-Y-T-O-N." She smiled like she just won an award. that, or she'd been practicing spelling her name. "What's yours?"

"Nate." I said in a small voice.

"Just Nate?" Peyton's eyebrows creased. "You only have one name? Me and Alie have three." She held up three small fingers.

"Nathaniel Haze Ryder," My mom smirked. "He has three names too. He is just shy."

"I thought he was Nate? Now he is Shy?" Peyton said to my mom in an adorably innocent voice that only a four year old could pull off.

"He is," Mommy chuckled.

"Oh?" Peyton said in that adorable voice. "Well, I'm going to play with Alie. Bye, bye, Natey."

Looking back...I think that seduced me...I guess I really was a five year old pervert.

"Hey, mommy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I like her."

My mom smiled and clapped her hands together. "Oh, I already knew that, son."

I frowned. "I don't think she likes me. What should I do for her to like me?"

I swear my mom's eyes twinkles and sparkled. Then she leaned real close and whispered advice that I knew I would always remember.

"For her to like you...use cheesy pickup lines."

"Pick up limes?"

"Lines."

"That-whatever it is- really works? She will like me, like in the movies, if I use pick-up-thingys?"

"Yup," Mommy smiled. "That's how I started falling for your father."

And that's how I was going to get Peyton Taylor Kane to like me.

One cheesy pickup line at a time.