I stared hard into the face of Mike, the boy I loved.

“What is your problem?” he asked accusingly.

“My problem?”

“Yes, your problem. You have been in a sour mood all day and I want to know what the problem is,” he said stepping closer to challenge me.

“I already told you! I’m just not having a good day, I’m tired. Is that so impossible to believe?”

“It would be fairly easy to believe if you were just some stranger, but I know you! And I know when you’re not telling the truth, so why don’t you stop pretending, drop the whole ‘I’m tired’ crap and just tell me,”

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because you’re my friend! Because I hate to see you upset, and I hate even more when you act like this. You don’t have any idea how to trust people! You have to learn that not everyone is going to use the truth against you, so--,”
“FINE! I’m in a ‘sour mood’, because I had to be around you all day with your little groupies following you around, practically kissing the ground you walk on!”
“Wait, what?”
“I’m in love with you, ok? And I hated having to see all of the girls that you could choose from trying to win your attention, when the whole time I just wished that I could have had some time alone with you!”
“In love…with me?”
“Yeah. So you can sleep easy now that you know the truth,” I turned to head for the guest bedroom, but he caught my wrist.
“Please wait, can we talk about this?”
“What is there to talk about?” I asked.
“Why?”
“Why what?!”
“Why would you be in love with me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you love me??”
“I don’t know. Because you make me smile, and when I’m with you I always have butterflies in my stomach, and you always laugh at my jokes and make me feel special. And never once have you asked me to change anything about myself.”
“Why would I ask you to change yourself? You’re perfect the way you are…”
“You think that?”
“Yes” We stood there looking at each other, his hand still holding my wrist. I gently pulled it away.
“I’m going to go shower,” I managed quietly.
“Wait…”
“I have to think, maybe we can talk later,” I turned and walked away. I didn’t look back, but I knew that he was still standing there, hands hanging loosely at his sides. I walked into the guest bedroom and shrugged out of my jeans and t shirt, before walking into the bathroom. I turned the water on hot and waited until steam started filling the room before stepping in. I washed my hair, shaved my legs, then stood there letting the water run over my face. What just happened? He hadn’t turned me down completely, but he hadn’t said that he loved me back. And, I had walked away from him.

After another few minutes under the hot water, I turned it off and wrapped a towel around myself. I wiped of a small section of the mirror and looked at my reflection. My nose was slightly long, my eyes big and gray. My lips were pink and pouty. I wasn’t ugly – I knew that – but what made me special? Was I special?

I toweled off my hair before pulling on my clothes and brushing it out. I sat on my bed. I had been here one whole day of my 3 week stay, and things were already complicated. I sighed and pulled out my copy of To Kill and Mockingbird trying to clear my mind. 5 minutes in, I heard a knock on the door. It opened slightly and I saw Mike’s face.
“Can I come in?” I didn’t answer, but he slipped in and closed the door quietly anyways, “Look… I just, I really need to talk to you right now.” He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I questioned.
“For …everything I guess. For dragging you along with me today, when you probably would have had more fun just staying here. For making you tell me the truth instead of just making you feel better, even though I’m glad you did. I’m glad that I know how you feel. And I’m glad that you trusted me…even though I had to push you.” He was looking at his hands. I scooted over, and patted the space on the bed next to me. He smiled slightly and moved in next to me. We were both quiet for a while before I spoke.
“So, where are we now?”
“I don’t know. Lia, I can’t say that I’m in love with you, because right now I just don’t know, but I would be lying if I said that I don’t have feelings for you.” He was looking into my eyes, and my heart was going crazy inside my chest. I felt my cheeks getting hot, but I didn’t look away from him, “but, I think that for now, we should just be friends…” the disappointment must have registered in my face, because he quickly said “Just for a while so we can get used to the idea of being more,” before I could say anything, he pulled me back so we were laid on my bed. He grabbed the TV remote and turned on an old episode of I Love Lucy. Soon we were laughing along with the studio audience of the show and everything else was forgotten.