First Love

<1> Beginning

"You should go and confess your feelings already bro" Josh, one of Steven's friends said as he saw who Steven was staring at. "What do you mean?" Steven asked, still staring. Admiring the person he's looking at. "Look at him. He's about to drool" Vince teased with a laugh. Steven glared at him.

He tried to check up on Toni again but after a few seconds, Toni suddenly looked in his direction.

His eyes widen and hid his face behind his bag.

"What? Why?" Josh asked, confused. Vince looked at Toni to check what she did that made Steven react like that.

"BRO, did you just get caught staring?!" Vince exclaimed and looked at Steven, eyes widen. Josh looked at Toni and waved. Toni waved and smiled back then changed her attention to what her friend was showing her.

"Dude!! Can't believe you got caught" Vince laughed. "Shut up. Let's just go to class." Steven said and stood up. Josh and Vince did the same while laughing at Steven.

Steven liked Toni for a long time now.

Actually, Toni was his first love.

He just hasn't found the courage to confess his feelings yet.

His friends would always tell him that he's being obvious about having a crush on Toni, but he would still deny, making his friends tease him a lot.

"Girl, I saw him staring at you again" Alex, Toni's best friend said while they were walking to go to their class. "Who?" Toni asked while reading a book. "You know who~" Alex replied with a teasing tone of voice. "You even waved back to one of his friends" Alex added after rolling her eyes. "Who? Oh, you mean Josh? Yeah, I did wave back at him but a friend of his staring at me? Who are you talking about?" Toni asked and looked at her best friend with a confused look as they've arrived at their classroom.

Alex knew that Steven liked Toni for a while now. No one told her but she could tell since Steven was being too obvious. Alex would often catch Steven stare at Toni and would sometimes see Steven buying something, then asking one of his friends to leave it on top of Toni's desk.

She'd often tell Toni about it but she'd just shrug and wouldn't believe a thing about what Alex is saying when it's about Steven.

Toni only sees Steven as an acquaintance. She did hope that they could be friends but she would get shy every time there would be an opportunity for her to talk to him.

She really didn't know why she felt shy and how would she approach Steven.

~~~~

Days passed by, Josh and Vince would tease Steven and would always encourage him to confess his feelings for Toni.

It had always been like that for a few years. They were the only ones who knew Steven's feelings for Toni from the start until recently.

"She might like you too, you know" Vince smirked in a teasing manner. "Yeah dude, you'll never know unless you confess" Josh added.

"You guys should stop. You've been telling me that for who knows how long now. Don't you guys ever get tired?" Steven asked with a laugh. "No. Not unless you finally have the courage to tell her your feelings." Josh replied.

"We could get Alex to help you," Vince added upon seeing Alex walking nearby. "What?! Hey don't-" Steven couldn't get to stop Vince from calling Alex. "Hey! Alex!! Over here!" Vince shouted.

Alex looked in the direction where she heard her name being called. Once she saw that Vince was the one that called her, she smiled.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Alex asked once she got to where Vince and his friends were. "We need your help," Vince said, obviously excited. "With what??" Alex asked. "Nothing. It's nothing. Sorry for bothering you" Steven quickly said and smiled, feeling embarrassed because of his friends. "Shh!! Don't listen to him. Anyway, can you help us with something?" Josh asked, clearly as excited as Vince. "Is it about Toni?" Alex asked with a smirk.

Josh and Vince's smiles got wider. "See? Told you. You were being obvious, even Alex can tell." Vince nudged Steven on the shoulder. Steven stayed quiet and hid his face since he felt shy. "Sure! I'd be willing to help!" Alex enthusiastically replied with a slight laugh, which made Vince and Josh high-five with each other.

"So? What's your plan?" Vince asked as they cleared a spot for Alex to sit down with them. "Wait, aren't you always with Toni? Where is she?" Josh asked as he noticed that Toni wasn't with her. "Oh, she went home early today" Alex replied which made Steven lookup. The three noticed Steven's reaction and chuckled. "You don't have to look so worried, Steven. She's fine. There was just an emergency" Alex stated upon seeing Steven's reaction to what she said.

Steven sighed in relief.

Vince, Josh, and Alex laughed which made Steven blush due to embarrassment. "Anyway, my plan doesn't really involve the three of us. It's going to work if Steven would really make an effort and would take the initiative." Alex started. The three boys listened to her attentively which made Alex laugh. "What's funny?" Steven asked. Vince and Josh stared at Alex, confused as to why she was laughing. "You guys should've seen the look on your faces right now. Ya'll is so serious" Alex exclaimed in between laughs.

The three looked at each other and laughed as well.

"Hoo~ Anyway, as I was saying. Steven would be the one who could make this really work. We'd just assist him or help him when he needs preparations or even money" Alex joked.

The three boys nodded, trying to understand Alex's plan. "You guys look so dumb right now. It's not that hard to understand. Haven't you guys had girlfriends before?" Alex laughed again. "Steven hasn't." Josh shortly stated, making Alex look at Steven with wide eyes. "Wow" was all that Alex could say which made the three chuckled at her reaction.

"When could Steven start?" Vince asked. "He could start tomorrow. You can try to be close with her first" Alex stated.

"It would be easy to become friends with her when you approach her first but got to warn you though.." Alex said, pausing.

"Toni is not that easy to get when it comes to love so good luck, hun" she added with a smile and a pat on Steven's shoulder.

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