Miss Atomic Bomb | a.i

•8•

Holy shit.

Not just a second ago Rae called me cute. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to say. She was acting as if she was nervous around me when really, I was the one who was almost shitting myself right in front of her. She had an affect on me that no other crush had ever had on me.

I didn't have many crushes but when I did, they were a big deal. It was only because I never really payed attention to 'love', and gushy things like that. Even though I wasn't much if a man, I just never got much into relationships and things. I've only ever had one girlfriend and it didn't end well.

We dated for about three weeks before I caught her with some guy I had never seen before. I wasn't surprised so it was no milestone.

"So, uh, maybe I could come to your house tomorrow and we could study?" She asks. My mind starts to break down as I think about everything for a second. My parents weren't awful but they were just a bit embarrassing. I didn't want her to meet them and change her mind about me all of a sudden. I would have to convince them to go out or something.

"Sure, I- oh shit." I mumble in realization, scratching the back of my neck nonchalantly.

"Why the 'oh shit'?" She asks.

"I'm not on the team or anything but I sort if have to go to the practice tomorrow for the soccer team. I'm sure Luke told you.." It was embarrassing admitting that I was the water boy to Rae but I'm sure Luke had already told her about it.

"Oh, yeah.. He did." She puts her hands behind her back, kicking at her feet as she walks down the street with me. "Actually, maybe I can come?" She says as if it was a question for me to answer.

"Sure, if you'd like, but I don't know if you would enjoy smelly guys running around for an hour. Wouldn't you be bored?" I ask.

"Well you could always entertain me." She says and laughs. Before I knew it the heat started to rise to my cheeks and I felt myself blushing. Just her words had an affect on me yet she wasn't even touching me.

"I don't really know I'm sort of a boring person." I said, not actually lying.

"I doing believe you. I'll see you tomorrow, Irwin." She says and walks away, once again leaving me with a gaping mouth.

_

The next day went the same as always, but with the difference of being excited. Yesterday I had the same feeling, but I was sure that Rae was being honest this time.

The only thing I didn't want to let get to me, was the fact that she will have to watch me being unmanly and be the water boy. She had told me she already knew I was the water boy but I would just be embarrassing myself if she really saw me 'in action.'

I was also terrified that Luke would make me look like a fool in front of her as he practiced.

I could already tell that Rae totally hated Luke, and it was actually not weird at all to me that my sarcasm in the beginning actually worked. I had told Calum that he would probably end up cheating on her, or even just dumping the poor girl, in the matter of two weeks. Look where she is now. Lonely. And actually after thinking about it, she was probably just using me as a rebound if anything after her tragedy with Luke. But right now I didn't have a care in the world.

The only thing on my mind was the thought of Rae coming to practice, just for me.

Just for the water boy.

I was currently at my locker, not seeing Rae like usual. She would occasionally come by her locker at the end of the day, but mostly she just carried around her bag from class to class. It wasn't as if she was ignoring me.