Crushes

Her name is Maddie

Her name is Maddie. She is my crush. She is someone that makes my stomach tie in knots. I'm usually an outgoing, "out-spoken" (as my teachers like to call it) kind of person, and much to my surprise, having anxiety it is not fun. I know relationships you have in High chool don't usually last, maybe for a month, but I hope. I hope that one day I could be the one that tastes her cherry lip-gloss while we kiss outside in the rain. Except we aren't in a movie and I could probably never afford fake rain and a camera crew to film it all. Maybe I'll become a director so I can live vicariously through my exquisitely written characters, with amazing casting, costume, and maybe a bit of CGI to really top it off.

Oh sorry, I didn't introduce myself, my name is Rachael. Now that we got that settled, how do you think "R+M" surrounded by a heart would look carved out on a tree? Maybe "M+R"? I don't really want to ruin a perfectly good tree trunk, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Maddie and I have most of our classes together, so we spend a good amount of time with each other. Let me rephrase that, I spend a good amount of time awkwardly staring at her while she talks to her friends. I'm not saying that we don't talk at all, this is real life, not an action movie with a badly written love story because at the end, the guy always gets the girl. What kind of person would I be if I didn't allow any character development? Back to what I was saying, Maddie and I do have some chats here and there. While talking to her, I like to share some jokes in between our awkward pauses. We have broken through the "acquaintance" meter to "awkward friends". But before I knew Maddie, I didn't know how funny I was. I guess remembering all those egg puns was worth it. She laughs every time! Do you think I would be a good comedian? I'd be... eggcelent! See, I'm a natural.

In totally related news, Valentine's Day is coming up. A day full of love, and people showing their loved ones how much they love each other by basically, drowning them in gifts. Every year the staff of the school says the same thing, "No one gets permission to bringing teddy bears, chocolate, or balloons to school." No one listens anyways, but I'm kind of undecided on the topic though. Imagine someone buying lots of presents just for you! All that gloat-power you have at your fingertips! ... But then imagine someone else getting lots of presents while you are stuck with a card from your dentist. We all know that you love your partner, if you didn't you guys wouldn't be in a relationship in the first place, but there's a reason why the term "PDA" exists.

With all the love in the air, I am contemplating on whether or not I should ask Maddie on a date, or if I even have the guts to ask her out. Our relationship is never going to go anywhere unless one of us steps up to the plate and takes a swing at what could be, the end of our friendship as we know it. Hollywood makes it look easy. "Just be the cliché nerd, be attracted to a popular kid and you're good to go!" Life Tip #38: Stop comparing your life to fake movies. I'm still working on that one.

Yesterday I went to the store to buy a Valentines card and chocolates for Maddie. I walked to the section that held the cards, and surveyed them until I found the ones I was looking for. Long story short, I found a card said "You are the eggs to my bacon" and that was the end of it. You have to appreciate the small victories. I think we should take a second to appreciate the event-card gods that gave me this opportunity to make a funny reference to our friendship while also being really cute. I just turned the card around and it said it was actually written by a Hallmark employee named Harriet. Someone should give her a raise! What was even better was that it came with little breakfast food stickers. Bad news is that now I'm hungry. After that I went to get the chocolate. I didn't know what kinds of chocolate she liked or disliked, so I just got a party bag mixed with all kinds, and if she doesn't like some of them, she could always share with me! I thought of also buying a teddy bear, or extra gift that isn't more chocolate, but I think that'd be overdoing it for someone who I'm not going out with (hopefully yet).

Today is the day ladies and gentlemen, the day where I, Rachael, ask out an amazing person, Maddie, in hopes of one day, having a long-lasting relationship. (It is after school, the sound of teenagers rushing to go home after a long day can be heard loudly from the halls. Rachael walks around, hoping to find Maddie.) That's all I've attempted to write so far,I don't know what I want the play to be called, but it will definitely be clever.

After school I walked over to Maddie, she was by herself, when I was close enough to her, she noticed me and walked over to me to speed up the process of me having to walk all the way to her.

"Hey Maddie"

"Hey Rach, I got something for you"

"I have something for you too actually, hey, what a coincidence!" Maddie laughed at my comment.

"Or...we just got both of us Valentine's Day stuff, since you know" she said.

"Well, I knew that..." I said, a bit embarrassed.

"Not it" I quickly called out so Maddie would be forced to give me mine first.

"Dang it!!" she exclaimed, I love messing with her.

She hands me the envelope, it looks kind of familiar, but I brushed it off. I quickly tore it open, with no consideration to the neatness of it, and pulled out a card. I read out loud "You are the eggs...to...my bacon." I slowly realized that Maddie and I had bought the same amusing card that referenced our friendship. I still was happy, we both took the opportunity to get an awesome card. I didn't give my card to her yet (but it made me start to not want to give it to her).

I gave her, her card, and she had the same realization I had. She stared at me for a while, until we couldn't hold it in any longer, and burst out laughing. We laughed for, what felt like forever, which was actually about 15minutes. Each time we calmed down, we would start again. Our laughter finally ended after we both had stomach aches now from laughing so hard, and then there was silence.

"So..." I said trying to break the silence, and to ask her out. She looked at me shyly, blushing almost.

Suddenly, words that I never thought would come out of Maddie's mouth were blurted out, almost like the words were rushing water broke the dam that was her lips.

"Want to go out sometime?!" she covered her mouth, embarrassed about what she just accidentally said.

I was shocked, I did not plan for that to happen. I thought I specifically told life to hold, on the improv.

"Really?!" I exclaimed. I could see my cheeks blushing, my smile grew wide.

"Of course!!" I exclaimed.

"*cough* Uh I mean, uh, yeah, sure"

Maddie hugged me and said goodbye, realizing her parents would freak if she wasn't home soon. Before she turned away she kissed me on the cheek and walked off. This might be an exaggeration, but this was probably the best day of my life. Maybe it would have been more exciting if the antagonist was an actual person and not just a feeling, but I think it wouldn't really change anything, maybe.

Tomorrow's going to be a good day.