Lil' Short Stories

Hey, I Like You.

Just imagine this.

Imagine.
A world, where everyone confidently confronted their crush, told them they liked them, and simply moved on with their lives.

Easy as that. No strings. No bets or dares. Plain and simple. Whether they like you back or not; just stating what's on mind.
Imagine.

. . .

There's a boy. The same boy who's spent so many thoughts on my mind. A crush, you might say.

Yes.

He is my crush.

A cute neighboring boy, who helps the elders cross the street, who voluntarily unloads the cat lady's groceries into her house, who mows the aspiring writer's lawn because he's had an idea and should focus on that, and who looks out for the quiet girl in his Geometry class.

A smiling face called for my undivided attention, "Hey, Lilah! How ya doing?"

"Just fine. Thanks for asking! And you?" I tried to mask my beet red cheeks.

"I'm doing pretty well myself." He looked around for the classroom clock, and his face fell when he read the time. "Shoot, class is about to start. I should probably head over to my desk, but it was great catching up." He shyly stuck his hands in his front jean pockets and walked away.

I played the conversation in my head maybe one thousand times—or more—and smiling at the raw, raspy voice, every time.

. . .

Today's the day.

The day I tell him. I tell him that I like him. I like how he checks up on me, smiles genuinely to me, and his all too familiar chuckle at our inside jokes, the small things that make my day.

He's standing with his usual clique before class starts. Once he departs, I'll tell him.

He finally nods everyone bye, and I start making my way, mustering all the confidence one would need for a golden moment like this.

"Hey, Noah! Just wanted to say, 'Hi,' and that I like you! So, hey! I like you, Noah. Now, I hope you have a great rest of your day!" I turn away before he could see my dopey smile and before I could see his reaction.

"Wait."

I ball up my hands, cringe my face, screw shut eyes; like I got caught steeling candy from the shop. Slowly opening my eyes—one at a time—his arms are open, from confusion, and his face is contorted to an ashamed expression.

"You like me? Why?"

"Because you have a great sense of character, you don't let people get to you, you smile at me, you laugh at our inside jokes, and you check up on me. It's the small things that brought me around." I smile wide, to open myself to a near future of disappointment and rejection.

"Oh." He looks taken aback, but he tries to hide it by looking down at his shoes, and bashfully combing his hair with his fingers.

He immediately picks his head up and grabs my ocean blue eyes with his bright green disks. And I'm locked. "Well, I like you, too. And I have been for a while. Since the day you moved into the neighborhood. The cat lady, Ms. Noore, she's always pushing me to ask you out but, I didn't want to ruin an already great friendship. But since you bring it up..." His face turns hopeful.

My face doesn't change, but the tone in my voice becomes happy, "I'm glad you feel the same way."

He picks up my hand and intertwines ours together. "I think I prefer us this way." He says with a grin that grows into two dimples on his cheeks.

And that was the start. The start of a new found kindle ship.

<3

hey hey it's jules!! i wrote this in aspiration to a cutesy love story: the neighbor boy who's overly helpful and gets the quiet girl in class to fall for him. it's a cliche, but i love simple love stories, you know, the hallmark kinda love stories :) okay, thank you some much for reading and comment if you would want me to expand and develop on this!!