Stoic

Awkward

"Oh shit, Linh, it's me Hunter."

I blankly stared at him. It took me a little to process what was going on, "Linh? Do you know this guy," Paisley looked between me and Hunter. "Uh yeah," I stuttered feeling my face get hot, "I'm her best friend or I was at one point before she left," Hunter explained, "I didn't know you were back already! You should've called or something," he smiled at me placing his hand on the small of my back. Luke rolled his eyes, I took a step back, "What? Are you being serious right now? You told me that you didn't want to be friends and that I should just delete your number, but now you act like nothing happened?" I began to rant, he nonchalantly shrugged, "Linh that was freshman year, I was stupid. I really have missed you." He extended his arms pulling me in an awkward hug. Paisley looked as shocked as Luke did. I wriggled out of his grasp, "you're still stupid." Paisley grabbed my hand and we stormed off, Luke trailed behind. "Oh my god, now I remember who you are!" Luke said when we got to the gym, "you're the girl everyone picked one for no damn reason, holy shit, Hunter kissed you freshman year and told all of the guys about it. Him and I got into a fight after all the rude shit he said about you," his voice trailed off and he changed the subject quickly, "so um lunch is almost over, what's your next class guys?"

Paisley and I finally had a class together, "Linh what do you think Luke was talking about earlier," she poked me in the ribs, I swatted her hand away, "I don't know, I was just as confused as you were." Paisley gave me a frown, "you don't seem so into Luke," I looked at my hands, "I mean he's cute but I barely know him, like we literally just met today." Paisley laughed, "well I don't expect you to marry the guy, just show a little interest."

After school, Paisley offered to give me a ride but I refused thinking Derek would drive me home but Jase caught a ride with him earlier so I was left to walk. "Mind if I walk with you?" I looked up at Luke and smiled, "not at all." I tried to glance at Luke to study how he looked. He had nice dark brown hair, it was kinda long and had volume to it, it was the kind you'd want to run your hands through. He also had beautiful eyes, they were an emerald green and in the right light you could see the specks of gold. He laughed, "is there something wrong with my face cause you keep looking at me weird," my cheeks turned pink, "oh crap sorry," he grinned, "it's ok, I was staring at you earlier but you didn't seem to notice." We continued to walk, barely talking but it was a comfortable silence. "Linh, can I tell you something?" Luke's face went a little stern, "I don't know why but I mean, I didn't like how Hunter approached you, ugh what am I trying to say." He looked frustrated, he rubbed the back of his neck, "never mind I don't have any right to say anything." I looked at Luke, "are you trying to tell me, you don't like the fact that Hunter was being buddy buddy with me," I gave a slight giggle when he looked away. He grumbled something and chuckled, "yeah pretty much, and it's weird cause I did just meet you today but I've known who you are for years-" he stopped smiling and changed the subject again, "where do you live?" I shook my head, "why do you keep changing the subject?" He sighed, "sorry I just get really nervous around you, always have. I've had a crush on you since like the beginning of 8th grade, but because I'm good friends with Jase I thought it would be weird. So I always admired you from afar. I loved your glasses, I always got butterflies when I saw you smile at the little things like when you would pass tests and stuff. You also do this cute little scrunch with your nose when you over think, oh fuck I probably sound really stalkerish and creepy," he put his hands in his face, "fuck I'm sorry Linh, I swear I'm not a creep." My face was bright red, he really noticed all those things? Now I feel like shit cause he knew of me but I didn't know of him. "That's actually really sweet and it means a lot that you actually noticed me," I said wrapping an arm around his waist, "not everyone liked me then let alone really knew me. Hunter was my only friend, I mean I also had Barb, the old lady that works at the diner, but yeah he was my only friend." He pulled me into a tight hug, "well I want you to know that I like you and want to be your friend or maybe more..." I smiled into the hug, "and Linh if you're not busy this weekend, there's this formal event I have to go to with my parents, and I was wondering if you'd be my date, er I mean my plus one, but if you want it to be a date then I'm all for that," he stammered on nervously. I giggled, "I'd love to be your date!" I tipy-toed up and quickly gave him a kiss on his cheek, he was surprised by my actions. "Thanks for walking me home, I'll see you tomorrow?" He was still nervously standing there and waved. I walked into the house, threw my book bag on the floor and slumped onto the couch. Where the fuck did I get all that confidence from??