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ONE

CHAPTER 1
SOMEDAY IN JANUARY

TOBIAS WACH

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I sometimes wondered if those really cute strangers, I stared at, stared at me back. You know, when I wasn't looking. I was never bold enough to stare at them long enough for them to stare back at me. It was always just quick glances. Quick moments of infatuation but with him, it was different.

I couldn't help but stare and get lost in his beauty. Those dark curls with his clean taper cut. His brown skin that was free of all foreigners. His jaw-line that wasn't too prominent. He was absolutely beautiful. Every time I looked at him I felt my heart jump out of my chest as it tried to tug me to finally say something to him or do something to capture his attention.

I wondered if he noticed me. I wondered if he knew my name like I knew his. His name was Brandon Hynes, and we shared a Microbiology class together. We also shared the school library together and the retro-themed restaurant, "The Grill," together.

I felt like it was destiny. Like we were made to cross paths on a regular basis. If we weren't at school, we would be at that restaurant, and it was always around the same time. He was with his friends, and I would be with mine but unlike him, I was always too busy daydreaming instead of eating and chatting. I dreamed about us being together. I dreamed about me being in his arms under those red fluorescent lights, and in that cozy red booth as we laughed with his friends at whatever they laughed about.

Then when they finally left us, we would share a kiss right outside the door before we say our goodnights to each other in the chilly winter night.

"Earth to Tobias!" My best friend Isabel said as she waved her hands in front of my face.

"What?" I still had my eyes on him.

She sighed. "Not this again."

"What?" She said nothing, so I looked at her as she drank her milkshake."I was totally not looking at him."

"I didn't even say anything about him so that's how I know you were staring at him like the creeper you are."

"Is it creepy? It probably is, huh? He probably thinks I'm creepy. He'll never come talk to me now." To stop myself from hurting myself, even more, I drank my milkshake.

"Calm down. I was just joking." She dipped her fry into her ketchup. "You're so overdramatic."

"Am not."

"You so are." She had thrown her fry into her mouth before she took another sip of her drink. "I have an idea! How about you go talk to him?"

I looked over at him and my heart started to beat ten times faster. "I can't." I looked back at Isabel. "I'll mess it up. He wouldn't like me. I'm not his type."

Isabel narrowed her eyes at me. "And how do you know you're not his type?"

"Because-" I was staring at him again. "Just because okay." I then looked back at Isabel who was sucking her finger of ketchup. "Just look at me and then look at him. He's too cute for me."

"You're just as cute, Tobias. If anything, you two complement each other."

"No-No-No. See. Listen." I sighed. "You got it all wrong. You see he's...really really cute. Like Instagram model cute. Attractive, fine, and sexy. Beautiful. Cute. I'm average. Decent. Someone you date if you're desperate. I know what gay guys like, and I'm not what they like. For starters, I'm 5'5 which is way too short. My freckles are stupid. I have acne that seems to never go away. My voice is not masculine enough. I'm not masculine enough. I'm a twig. I have no abs or ass. I'm just...there. You know what I mean?"