Relatable

01

"Ellie, go for it, I honestly don't know what's stopping you," my best friend, Layla, said. She clearly doesn't understand how terrifying that is because she's incredibly confident in herself and can talk to anybody. And then there's me. I couldn't flirt with a guy let alone talk to them without making myself look stupid for two minutes.

"You don't know what's stopping me? He could laugh at my face and reject me in front of everyone," the thought horrified me. Dylan Torrino has been my crush since my first week of high school three years ago. Like all clichés, I dropped my homework on the ground with a bunch of people passing me and he stopped to help me, and I fell in love. However, unlike the cliches, he didn't fall in love with me. I mean, I'm not completely invisible to him. We have like two or three classes together, but we don't talk and I can't just approach him and dump all my feelings on him.

With the final bell ringing at the end of the school day, I did not hesitate getting out of my seat and throwing my backpack over my shoulder. I stood outside the door and waited for Layla since it usually took her forever to pack up her things and get out of class. When she caught up to me, we walked over to the parking lot. Funny enough, we parked next to each other everyday. However, the cars could not be more different. She drove a fiery red car that always managed to look new and shiny, and I drove my sister's old car which had at least a couple of dents. She was never a great driver. Thankfully, she doesn't need it in college.

When I unlocked the car, I threw my backpack in the passenger seat before I realized I completely forgot to take a couple of forms I was looking at earlier in the guidance office. "Oh crap, Layla, I forgot something. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," I said, running over to her and giving her a quick hug.

I waved at her as I was running back into the school. Normally, we waved at each other as we made separate turns on Mulberry street. She lived on the Eastern side and I on the Western.

Inside the school, I made a sharp turn towards the guidance office and ended up somewhat shoving and bumping into Dylan. Not just any Dylan. Dylan Torino. "Uh, I'm so sorry," I said, not knowing what to expect. The look on his face was pretty hard to read. I couldn't tell if he was disgusted, mad, irritated, or even cool with it. He put his hand up as if it was nothing, "It's fine." Dylan walked away with his football in hand and didn't even give me a second glance.

Turning around, I walked slowly to the office while covering my face with my hands. I heard a low chuckle, and looked up. To the side of the building was a guy that I've seen around since middle school, but never really got the chance to get to know him. I had to think for a few seconds before coming up with his name...Cameron. He was staring at me and laughing. I looked behind me, thinking maybe he wasn't being completely weird, but there was no one around me who was even paying attention to him.

"Um," I said with confusion laced all over my voice, "What's so funny?" 

He stopped laughing, but still continued smiling. "Sorry, that was just difficult to watch." He replied. I hoped for a second he wasn't talking about my little bump-in with Dylan, and how did he see that anyway? 

"What are you talking about?" I asked, stupidly.

He put his hands in his pockets and said, "How you just embarrassed yourself in front of your crush."

"Psh, crush on Dylan? Dylan? Crush? Pshhh," was my solid response.

"Aw, come on. Don't deny it," he said, starting to chuckle again. "It is probably the most obvious crush I've seen the entire time we've been in high school."