Crush on you

Fred walked inside his apartment ten minutes after he\'d left Will and the rest of his friends. He listened carefully wondering if Rob was with someone.

\"Rob.\" He called from outside his bedroom.

\"Yeah Fred, come in,\" his voice came out sleepy. Fred opened his door slowly and the moment he did he started coughing, \"damn it Rob, how can you live like that?\"

\"Like what?\"

Looking around him Fred found him sleeping on his back with a cigarette in his mouth. He walked to the foot of the bed and stared at his friend.

\"What happened?\" he asked as he sat down next to him. Rob straightened up and sighed.

\"It\'s Mandy,\" Rob answered shortly as if the name explained everything.

\"You didn\'t fight again, did you?\"

\"Yeah, we did.\"

Fred nodded his head thoughtfully. Rob and Mandy had been together for five months or something. It was too soon to be fighting all the time. He knew his friend was stubborn and knew Mandy was too, but frankly it irritated him how they fought and made up twice a week.

\"She is so stubborn.\" Rob screamed suddenly.

\"I know man but you are more stubborn than she is. What is it this time?\" Fred asked freely knowing that Rob wouldn\'t mind telling him about his problems. They were good friends and Rob had told Fred everything about him, and Fred had told Rob everything about him too. It was like that all the time. The first time they met they became friends immediately and Fred told him all about his past and about the make-over thing. He wasn\'t afraid Rob would tell anyone as he was such a good friend. Rob helped him at the beginning, introducing him to all of his friends and his girlfriend\'s friends, everybody. And in no time Fred was popular, known as \"the sexy new guy\".

\'Sexy new guy?\' he\'d thought ironically \'If only they could know how hard it was for me to go through school. How hard it was to take it from people who were very cruel to me just because I wasn\'t good enough for them. And more importantly how hard it was to change.\'

It took him three months to change the way he looked. Only three months, but there was still this part of him that wasn\'t changed. Something he knew would always be inside of him; the feeling of trying to do his best to win the approval of everyone. He was one of the people who wanted everyone to love him. Fred wanted to feel, and believe that he was popular after all these years of mockery and sneering. He knew he was still insecure but being around the team and the beautiful cheerleaders had made this part of him somehow feel complete on the outside. That was why he went out with every girl available. It didn\'t matter to him how he felt about her. It didn\'t even matter to him that the girls were using him in a way; they just wanted to be with him because he was the cute sexy guy, not because of his personality. Well truthfully he too used them, jumping into bed with each girl, knowing that it was the only way to gain a good reputation in this society.

\"So, what do you think?\" Rob\'s questioning voice startled him and brought him back to his surroundings.

\"Huh? Sorry Rob, run that by me again please.\"

\"I\'ve been talking for about ten minutes and it seems you heard nothing from what I said.\" Rob mumbled.

Rubbing the back of his neck Fred sighed, \"I\'m sorry man, have some things on my mind.\"

\"Don\'t tell me that girl again?\" Rob chuckled.

\"Oh, you got that right.\" Fred leaned forward and stared at the wall in front of him.

\"I\'m wondering who she really is.\"

\"Well, I got this new information about her today,\" Fred started and smiled as he remembered the way she walked past him with her head down, \"I asked Will about her and he said she was called shy girl. Know her?\"

\"No way!\" Rob screamed \"you actually have a crush on Leila Charles?\" he asked in a disbelieved tone.

\"Leila?\" Fred repeated after his friend, liking the way her name sounded, unaware of the astonished look his friend was throwing him.

\"Yeah well, if you say Will called her shy girl then it must be her. I went to school with Will and there was definitely a girl called shy girl in school, Leila Charles.\"

Fred stared at him for a while before he got up and walked outside his friend\'s room.

\"Wait, you didn\'t tell me what shall I do with Mandy? Do you think I have to go with her or just go have dinner with Chris and his girlfriend?\" he shouted but Fred didn\'t give him any attention.

\"Chris\'s girlfriend is Leila\'s friend!\" he stated as he watched Fred enter his bed room.

\"What did you say?\" Fred asked carefully as he turned around the moment he heard Rob\'s last words.

Rob stared at him for a while before grinning, \"I said Casey, Chris\'s girlfriend knows Leila.\"

\"Chris who?\"

\"Chris!! You don\'t remember Chris? You saw him few weeks ago at my birthday party.\" He explained but when Fred\'s expression didn\'t change he continued, \"The short guy you almost killed when you were too drunk to see in front of you that night.\"

\"Ahh yes. I remember him.\" Fred answered as the memories came back to his mind.

\"Well, if you were listening to me, I was actually telling you why I had this huge fight with Mandy. She wants me to go have dinner with her parents tonight and I\'ve already agreed on having dinner with Chris and Casey at their house.\"

\"I see, so you sure this Casey knows Leila well?\"


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\"Hey, I\'m glad you decided to come tonight!\"

\"Thanks Cas. How are you?\" Leila asked as she followed her friend inside.

\"I\'m fine. Chris!\" She shouted in a loud voice, \"Leila is here!\"

Casey turned around to look at Leila, \"he is inside with Rob watching T.V.\"

\"Rob?\" Leila asked suspiciously, \"The \"Rob\" from school?\"

\"Yup, you know he\'s a good friend of Chris\'\"

Leila stopped at the door way of Casey\'s kitchen, \"Why didn\'t you tell me someone from school was coming?\" she asked feeling annoyed by the thought of facing someone from school tonight at dinner.

\"It\'s not a big deal Lee.\"

\"Oh, it is! You know I hated school.\"

\"Honey, we are starving. Hey Lee!\" Chris greeted cheerfully from behind her.

Leila turned around with a forced smile, \"Hi Chris how are you?\"

\"Fine, you remember Rob from school?\"

\"Hey Leila, how are you doing?\" Rob said nicely, \'way too nicely.\' Leila thought as she shook his stretched hand.

\"Hey darling, Rob was just telling me about his roommate, we should invite him sometime.\"

Casey turned around and smiled at her boyfriend, \"Isn\'t that the one who almost killed you when you accidentally spilled your beer on his favorite armchair at their apartment?\" she wondered as she stiffed a giggle.

Chris\' face turned bright red as he heard her tone, \"It was a mistake and I didn\'t mean it. I apologized later and he accepted it.\"

\"Good.\" Casey replied amusingly.

\"Well Rob, why didn\'t you ask him to come with you tonight?\" Casey asked as she started setting the table.

\"Oh, he had to go see the match, you know Mr. Frederick Marten has to be in every single match.\" Rob said humorously.

Leila\'s eyes widened as she heard the name. \'That\'s who they are talking about?! Fred!\'

\"The match ends after an hour, I say you call him and ask him to come over afterward.\" Chris suggested after they all sat down and started having their dinner.

Leila\'s fork fell from her hand the moment she hear his suggestion.

\"Lee, what is it?\" Casey asked as she watched her friend\'s face turn completely white.

\"N- nothing, I... just. Nothing!\" she murmured.

\"Well, I think I can call him.\" Rob spoke to Chris after a while, \"I don\'t think he\'ll have anything to do after the match.\"

\'No, oh I\'m sure he\'s not going to spend the night alone, guys like Fred don\'t stay alone for more than few seconds.\' She thought dryly as she watched Rob dialed Fred\'s number on his cell and asked him to come after the match.

\"Okay, bye.\" Rob pressed the off bottom before turning to Chris, \"he\'ll finish and see if he is going to be able to come or not.\"

Heaving a sigh Leila started chewing on a piece of meat and thanked God that he wouldn\'t be coming tonight. \"Why would he leave his beautiful girlfriend Benny?\"

\"Fred doesn\'t have a girlfriend!\" Rob replied.

Leila felt their eyes focused on her as the realization of what she\'d just said hit her. She felt her cheeks burn and couldn\'t help the red color that covered her face and neck.

\"I... eh... um I meant... I thought that...\" she stumbled and wished she could take back her words.

\"No problem.\" Rob answered with a grin.

Leila kept quiet the rest of the meal and was happy when the two guys went to the living room and left them clear up the table and carry the plates back to the kitchen.

\"What was that all about?\" Casey asked the moment they were alone in the kitchen.

\"What do you mean Cas?\"

\"Oh, come on Leila you know what I\'m talking about. How do you know that Fed guy?\" she asked as she put the plates in the sink.

\"I don\' t. He is in one of my classes that\'s all.\" Leila explained innocently.

\"Hmm, well we\'ll talk about that later.\"

\"Listen Cas, I think I should go now. I have classes early tomorrow and I don\'t want to be late.\" She said as she grabbed her bag and went to get her jacket.

\"But Leil-\" Casey started but was cut off by the door bell and a scream coming from the living room.

\"That must be Fred, I gave him the address!\" Chris shouted.

Leila froze in her place and watched in slow motion as Casey opened the door and she was face to face with Fred!