The Story Of Us

Enough

She didn't consider herself to be shy. In fact, many had told her she was friendly enough.
Enough.
That's the word most used to describe her. Smart enough. Pretty enough. Talented enough. She was just enough. And she was more than okay with that, in fact it was perfect. Enough was good.
That's why it was more than enough for her to just see him everyday at the library when she was looking up books and he was hanging out with his friends. It wasn't like she had meant to start liking the stranger, in fact it had started the opposite. When she had first seen him, being loud with another guy and sneaking cookies from his backpack straight to his mouth when he thought no one was watching, she had decided he was the most obnoxious thing to have ever come to the library. And the next day he was there again, but this time he was quiet as he crunched over his laptop working on some assignment. And from then on it had been like that. One day goofing off, the next working on something. And everyday she would see him, and soon he had become part of the scenery. Just like any other chair or book cart that was there. It wasn't anything especial.

Until the God forsaken day he decided to wear a tight shirt. Until then she had not seem him wear anything other than baggy long-sleeved shirts, which given that it was Winter and cold as heck it wasn't strange. But when weather had warmed up enough that you didn't have to wear layers over layers of clothing that's when he had really seen him. There he was, just like any other day except he was wearing a well-fitting black v-neck. And as soon as her eyes had spotted him, she had simply not been able to pull them away. It had never been noticeable before, but the guy was buff. He was muscular and lean, and given that it seemed like that day it was an assignment day, she could see his muscles twitch ever so slightly with every press of the keyboard. The low-cut of the shirt gave a small peak to a pretty well toned chest, which she was more than sure led to some pretty well toned abs too. And with that she began to notice other little things every time she would see him. For starters, he was a pretty attractive person. He had chestnut-brown hair, and a pair of brown eyes that light up every time he was with his friends. When he smiled there was dimples on the right side of his lips, missing on the left side. And to as if to add the final perfect point, there was a small beauty mark right underneath his right eyebrow.
And it wasn't like she had meant to eavesdrop into his conversations, but she just happened to be close enough to overhear him. He seemed to be majoring in architecture, had a dog that was quite mischievous, and his name was Adam.
And so Adam became the highlight of her days. Sometimes she stood close enough to hear him joking with whomever had accompanied him that day, or hearing him slightly grunt or sigh as he seemed to be stuck on something with his assignment. Other days when she had her own assignments to work in, she would sit in a table far away so she wouldn't get distracted, but close enough where she could steal a few peeks at him once in a while. And this was more than enough for her.

***

"So have you talked to the hot guy at the library yet Emma?"
Emma spat her coffee out at the loudness of her friend, who was simply writing on her notebook and acting as if she hadn't just asked that outrageous question.
"Could you ask that a little less loudly?" She looked around, checking to see if anyone in the room had heard the question, or worse, if Adam had happened to somehow be close by. But everyone's eyes were stuck to their own notebooks, all awaiting for the professor to come and class to begin. Her friend raised an eyebrow at her, silently telling her she was being overdramatic.
"Yeah, yeah. But seriously, are you ever gonna talk to him?" Asked her friend, returning her attention once more to her notebook.
Emma bit her lip and shook her head. No. And she wasn't planning to. Things were fine the way they were, there was no need to ruin things by trying to get more than what she already had. Watching and being near him was enough.
"What are you really scare about?" This time her friend's attention was all on Emma, her eyes glued to her, a serious expression on her face. Emma had to take a minute to ask herself this. Just what was that she was scared about? That she would embarrass herself? That she would get rejected? Hurt? But it wasn't like she had never had that done to her. It wasn't like she never had a boyfriend before, or had been rejected or hurt. So what was so different about this situation? And though she had known the answer for a while now, she finally admitted it to herself out loud.
"I'm afraid of not being good enough for him". She answered, barely above a whisper as the professor entered the room and began announcing what would be covered in class.