A Crush with Consequence

A/N: Hey guys! So I spent the last half hour trying to understand LJ and failed~ I wanted to post this there 'cause I think this might not be 'adult' enough, but I didn't want to put it on my DA, but I gave up. xD So this is where this story shall go. :U

I have to tell you, when I named Erin's best friend, Aaron, I didn't realize they were like the same name until about five minutes passed. I kinda just get stories going, and do names last sometimes. xD So go me on thinking clearly! Hurr.

Anyway, I wanna carry this one out for a while. Not sure how long, but I think the idea is cute... 'Cause I'm lame. So yeah! Enjoy~ Sorry if it's short. D8

--------------------

There I was, just standing there when what I wanted to do was forbidden. Had things been different, I could have thrown my arms around him. I could have told him things would work out; that I was willing to care for him. Unfortunately, things weren't different. He wasn't mine. He had someone else. He had my heart, and he didn't even know it.

I think I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm sorry. My name is Erin; Erin Sage. Not sure what to say about myself without making it feel like a personal ad in the paper. I'm a college student. Third year, majoring in writing, although I'm no professional. Sometimes I wonder if this is really what I want to do in life, but dad always says, "If you can get a degree, you can do anything you want with it." I'm getting off subject again, aren't I? I'm sorry, I do that a lot.

The boy who has my heart, and doesn't know it... Well, we'll get back to him. I haven't seen him in two weeks. Not since he patched things up with his girlfriend. Yup. My Romeo already has a Juliet, and me? Well, I must be the Rosaline. Actually, that would insinuate that he did in fact like me at some point. I suppose I'm not a character fit to be written into this play. Here I am again boring you with my heartache, leaving out the story. Let me try this one more time...Take this back to about six months ago. Don't worry, we'll get caught up soon.

The May of my second year of college. That's where it all started...

I was at the on-campus cafe with my best friend, Aaron. That's right. My best friend and I share the same name. Well, when you say them anyway. The world works in weird ways, doesn't it?

We were supposed to be studying for our Critical Thinking final, but we kept getting distracted. Somehow we got onto the subject of video games provoking thought when you have to solve puzzles, which led to a discussion about one of my parties from high school, and then somehow found it's way to ice cream. So Aaron, being the sweetheart he is, went up to order us some root-beer floats. He knows I never carry cash on me, and this cafe is so stingy about cards. Yeah, sure, there's an ATM, but that charges me two dollars to use. Seriously. Two dollars! The world is so cruel on my wallet.

Aaron was taking a while; I turned around in my seat towards the register. Ah. Problem solved. Cute girl at counter, plus Aaron's natural flirt instincts, equals what feels like an eternity of waiting for him to sit his ass back down with our order.

It seemed like he would be a while longer, so I went back to my books. God this stuff was so boring, but our final was in a week, and I really wanted to be prepared. God damn it. "God damn it." Wait. That wasn't me. I lifted my head and saw a tall figure, fumbling with his pockets near the pinball machine. I think he's looking for a quarter. I got up from the booth and walked up to him, "Um, excuse me?"

He swerved around startled, flashing wide, brown eyes at me. I choked on air, silently. I wasn't anticipating him to be so cute. He tussled his short, dark hair, "Oh, I'm sorry. You startled me." He chuckled and it was followed with silence. "Was there something you needed?"

Oh god, I've been staring like a moron. I started breathing normally again, "Oh, right," I dug my hand into my pocket and pulled out a dull quarter. "You looked like you needed change." I held my hand out, offering him the coin.

He stared at me in thought, and then broke out into a big grin. "Thank you," he took the quarter from my hand. "I had a quarter earlier, it just must have fallen out of my pocket." He turned to the pinball machine, flicked the quarter through the slot, and the lights and sounds went off. Feeling accomplished, I turned to leave.

"Hey, hold up a sec, buddy." His eyes were on the pinball, but he was angling his head towards me. "Let me finish," he jerked a bit, bashing at the buttons, "you can stay and watch me." He stuck out his tongue in concentration, "I didn't thank you properly, is all."

I came up to the side of the machine, looking through the plastic covering, "A-all right." I stared at the little silver ball bouncing around for a long while, trying to cool my blushing cheeks. Hey, he was cute, all right? This is rare for me.

"Nnnn-- Damn it!" He fell back from the machine and laughed, "Ahh well." After a moment of silence he looked over to me, and straightened himself up, holding out his hand, "Name's Derrick."

I took his hand, and he gave me a firm shake. "I'm Erin. It's nice to meet you."

"The feeling's mutual. Without that quarter, I could have had five minutes of boredom added to my day." He chuckled, and then pulled his cell from his jeans pocket, flipping it open. "Ah crap. I gotta get going. They need me in the studio." Digging his phone back into his pocket, he gave me another smile, "I'll see you around, Erin."

"Oh, umm see you." Man, he just wanted my money. I tried my best to make a good, totally not fake and disappointed at all, smile.

He reached the door, and pushing it open, turned to give me one last smile and a wave. With that, he was gone.

I walked back over to the booth and collapsed onto it's cushions. I glanced back towards the cash register, and saw Aaron finally done with his flirting. He turned around, floats in both hands, and a napkin in his mouth, as he walked with a spring in his step back to our table.

"How'd it go, Flirty McFlirt-face?" I pulled my drink over to me the moment it hit the table, and took a long sip. God, that was good, too.

He took the napkin from his mouth, while sitting down, "I got a number out of it, so I think it went well. What can I say? Women can't resist my charm." He playfully shrugged. "Such a hard life I live."

"Oh, I can tell." I rolled my eyes.

After a moment of silent sipping of drinks, he looked up at me, "Who were you talking to?"

"Hm?" Straw in mouth, I glanced up at him, and finished that gulp. "Oh, just some guy. He needed a quarter for the pinball machine, so I gave him one. That's all."

"Did you get a number out of it?" He grinned, waving the napkin around.

"Nah. He said he had to go to some studio or something. Probably was bullshiting me." I glared a bit towards the door through which Derrick had left moments before.

Aaron looked at me, the door, and back to me, and cracked a smile, "You thought he was cute, huh?"

I snapped my head up, "No! Well, yeah... Bah, I shouldn't get my hopes up."

"Aww you're plenty cute, don't worry, you'll snag a good one." He dug at the ice cream with his straw, "Did you get a name?"

"Yeah, Derrick." I twirled my straw around in it's glass.

"Derrick?" He looked up at me, eyebrow raised, "And he had to go to some studio?"

"Mhmm." I nodded, sipping some more of my drink until it started making that slurpy noise that annoys moms across the world.

"I think you just met Derrick Young."

I stopped my slurping immediately, and looked up at him, "You mean that Derrick? The painter Derrick that like everyone loves?"

"Yeah, he could have been. I mean, just 'cause everyone loves him, doesn't mean he'd never step foot into the cafe." He gave me one of those, "are you stupid" sort of looks, that I find myself getting so much from him.

I sighed. "Well, whatever. There are a lot of Derricks I'm sure." I picked up my spoon and started digging at my leftover ice cream.

"I hear that no one has ever seen him with anyone." He was grinning.

"What's your point?" I asked through a mouthful of ice cream.

"He might be single... And, well, you're single. Maybe the two of you could--"

"That might have not even been the right Derrick," I pointed my spoon at him. "Besides, I'm not creative enough to date another artist. They'd probably see my work as nowhere near as good as theirs and--"

"You really need to stop saying crap like that."

I looked down at my lap and we sat in silence for a few seconds. Aaron spoke up, "You never know what'll happen until you try."

"Fine," I sighed. "If I ever run into him again, I'll try to get to know him or something. What do you want from me?"

"Nothing really. I just like making you feel uncomfortable." He smirked.

I playfully kicked his leg under the table. Yeah, that guy was cute. Seemed likable. If I got to know him, who knows? I may even get a crush on the guy! What a silly idea.