"Unrequited love is the infinite curse of a lonely heart." Christina Westover

Nick walked over to Samantha's locker where she was putting in her textbooks. Like a good best friend, he knew she had just come from Mrs. Jensen's Calculus class and was now going to lunch, probably off campus. He'd probably be able to convince her to get him some fries if she did since he had AP Physics next period and wouldn't get lunch until after.

He was surprised to see that she was alone; Samantha always seemed to have one of her friends buzzing around. He didn't mind her friends, they were nice enough. He had to like them a little, since he had dated one of them. Hanging out with them just wasn't his idea of fun.

When Samantha turned and saw him she smiled. Her blonde hair was up in a messy bun with pieces of it falling out of her hair tie and resting on her blue t-shirt. He liked how she looked when she smiled, it made her eyes light up.

Nick also liked how she didn't wear much make up, just a little lipstick. Not bright lipstick, just a pink color that she said went with her complexion, or whatever the word was. He could never remember. She had worn lipstick ever since she had read some quote about how some idol of hers felt "naked without her lipstick." Now she couldn't be seen without it.

She shut her locker when he reached her.

"Mr. Kincaid," She said.

"Miss Lawson."

"Have you come to continue your courting?" She was continuing a bit they had where they were people in Regency England. Samantha, of course, was the young lady, an heiress, while Nick was her suitor, someone well below her station.

"I may have. Has your father accepted me as your suitor?"

"He has not yet decided. After all, I am his only child. He is worried you are going to take advantage of my potential fortune."

Samantha's family situation in this bit always changed. Sometimes she was the only daughter and youngest of three, sometimes she was the oldest daughter of five like in Pride and Prejudice, and now she was an only child whose mother had passed away.

"I assure you, Miss Lawson, I will do nothing of the kind," He said.

"Very well, I will try to convince my father that your intentions are pure. But you must take your leave immediately, I am expected for luncheon," She pretended to walk away but turned back around, laughing.

"You ready for Physics?" She asked. He leaned against the locker next to hers.

"I'm never ready for Physics."

"Well you should have been smart like me and not taken Physics."

"Oh really," He said.

"Yes. If you had, you would have been going off campus for lunch with the girls and I instead of going to class with your stomach growling," Nick groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"I know, rub it in. I'm already starving."

"I can get you some fries if you'd like," She was smiling at him again, looking too angelic for him to think clearly.

"Now how'd you know that I was going to ask you to get me fries."

"Because what kind of best friend would I be if I didn't?" She said.

"One that rubbed it in my face that I had to go to AP Physics instead of going to lunch," She gave him an exasperated look, one that he was used to seeing.

"Please. Like you'd want to come with me and my friends to lunch. It would be all of us in one car and you would have no personal space and they would be blasting music you don't like," He rolled his eyes as a response.

"Is that you agreeing with me?" She asked. He rolled his head to the side then looked back to her.

"Possibly," She smiled again.

"See, where would you be without me?"

"I'd have fries," She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, you know I'm great," She poked him in the stomach, "Besides, you don't even like my friends."

"I like them fine," He said.

"Liar."

"I like Lorie."

"Lorie is in Texas now, she wouldn't be coming to lunch with us," She said.

"I like Meredith."

"Not that much."

"Talia is cool."

"You have to think that, you dated her."

"For only a little while and we're still friends. The main reason you're even friends with her is because she and I dated," He said.

"But now you're not dating her and you naturally don't like her as much as you did before you dated," He sighed.

"Fine. It would not be my idea of fun to go with you and your friends to lunch," She grinned and jumped up and down like a little kid.

"Yes! I'm right!" She continued to do this as people passed by and looked at her like she was crazy. This was another thing he loved, and hated, about Samantha: her enjoyment of being right.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're a genius."

"You know it," She said, tapping him on the nose as she did. He rolled his eyes then decided to just man up and ask.

"Hey Samantha?"

"Yeah?" They had switched positions now with her leaning against the lockers and him standing straight. He hoped the bell wouldn't ring before he could even ask.

"What are you doing Saturday night?"

"Hanging out with you of course," They always hung out together on Saturday nights, they had done so for years.

"Oh, yeah," He tucked his head down for a second, hoping she wouldn't see him blush. That would be a little embarrassing.

"I just meant to ask if you were willing to do something other than just hang out and watch movies and stuff," He said.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I thought maybe we could get some dinner? Dress nice and actually sit at a restaurant that has actual food?"

"What's the special occasion?" She asked.

"No special occasion. I just think we should class us up a little bit," To his relief she smiled.

"That sounds great," He opened his mouth to respond but they were interrupted by Meredith, Samantha's closest friend other than Nick, with the warning bell following soon after.

"Hey guys!" Meredith said, throwing her red hair over her shoulder. Nick could not help but like Meredith. Then again, no one could. In a word, she was lovely.

"Hey." Samantha and Nick replied.

"We better get to lunch if we want to have time," Meredith said, then turning to Nick, "You coming?"

"No sorry I have class. I'll see you guys later," He moved toward his classroom. He would most definitely run to get there on time.

"I'll get you some fries," Samantha said as Meredith pulled her to the doors leading to the parking lot. Nick forced a smile and gave a little wave.

The bell rang and Nick was left in an empty hallway.

"Shit," He said, running to his class. He was not upset when he was late and received a detention. He had succeeded in asking Samantha to dinner. Now he could finally tell her how he felt.

...

That Saturday, Nick had his mother help him get ready. He hadn't wanted to at first but when he had faced his closet he knew if he chose his own outfit he'd end up showing up to dinner wearing a band t-shirt (most likely a dirty one) and the pajama pants he wore last night. That would not exactly sweep Samantha off her feet.

That is when his mother, the angel that she was, arrived home from work with his little sister, Gwendolyn, who was eleven. He rushed down with only his boxers on, thankful Gwendolyn hadn't brought her best friend, Candace, who was also Samantha's little sister, over. He didn't need her to see him like this. He couldn't say anything, he was practically hyperventilating, but his mom just walked past him and up the stairs to his room.

Once inside his mother, for once, ignored the mess of clothes on his floor and headed straight for his black hole of a closet. She reached around for a few moments then pulled out a light blue button down he thought looked too formal and a navy blue blazer he didn't even know he had.

She reached around the floor a second and somehow found his only pair of clean jeans and handed the ensemble to him. He took it and stared at her in shock.

"How did you do that?" He said.

"Years of practice. Now get ready, you need to pick her up soon," She said, smiling at him and touching his cheek as she went to take a shower.

Nick then raced to the shower and got dressed as soon as fast as possible. It was already seven forty five and he said he'd pick Samantha up at eight. He knew she wouldn't be ready by then, he'd be waiting until at least eight fifteen, but that was why their reservation wasn't until eight thirty. But he still wanted to be on time like he was picking her up for a date. Hopefully by the time the night was over, they could consider it one.

He arrived at her house at seven fifty five and tried to fix his collar as he made his way to her door. He rang the bell and Candace answered the door. She grinned when she saw him.

At eleven years old, the same age as his sister, it was already easy to see that Candace was going to be a little heartbreaker, a sort of preppy and peppy cheerleader that was as charming as could be. He was glad she and Gwendolyn had become friends, he could tell that they would always be there for each other.

"Hey Nick! Samantha isn't ready yet," He chuckled.

"I figured as much. I told her the reservation was at eight fifteen so she'll be right on time for our real eight thirty reservation."

"Good plan," Candace said laughing. She pulled Nick in the door by his sleeve and shut it behind him.

"How's school?" He asked.

"It's fine. I hate math," Candace said, suddenly distracted by the TV, walking away from him and plopping herself on the couch in the living room.

"Believe me it doesn't get any better," Nick said as he messed with his collar once again and sat down next to her. Candace was watching one of those stupid kids shows that she and Gwendolyn both seemed to love.

"I'll be down in a second!" Samantha called from upstairs.

"No rush!" Nick yelled back.

"Good because it's gonna be more than a second!"

"Okay!"

"And this is why our reservation is at eight thirty," He said to Candace, who giggled.

It was eight twenty five by the time Nick got Samantha down the stairs and into the car, making sure to open every door for her as he did. She looked so beautiful, glowing even, in a flowing pink dress. Her hair was down for once and he liked it.

Once they were in the car Samantha said,

"Sorry for taking so long. Do you think the restaurant has given our table away?"

He did have to agree they were running a little late. He had had to go up and practically pull her down the stairs, but she still did not know that their reservation wasn't for another five minutes.

"I'm sure they haven't," He said.

"Did you call or something?"

"I didn't have to."

"Why not?"

"Because our reservation isn't until eight thirty," He said, bracing himself.

"What!"

"Hey, at least now we're on time!" Nick said as they pulled into the parking lot of their restaurant, Ca'Dario. It was only eight thirty one.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you's a genius," Samantha said.

"You know I am," He said as he got out of the car and raced over to open her door before she could. Tonight, everything had to be perfect.

When they entered the restaurant they continued their argument as they made their way over to the head waitress, who saw them coming and already had their menus ready.

"Hello, you must be our eight thirty reservation," She said.

"We are," Nick said, instinctively placing his hand on the small of Samantha's back.

"Come along then. You guys look so fantastic, you're a very adorable couple," Nick and Samantha immediately went to correct her, Nick's face starting to flush.

"No, no, no," Samantha said.

"We're not, we're just-" Nick said.

"Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Here's your table," The head waitress departed and Nick helped Samantha into her chair, hoping she wouldn't think it was weird that the waitress had thought they were a couple.

When he had sat down she said,

"Hey don't look all worried. She wasn't implying anything." She was smiling at him again with that angelic smile. The smile that kept him from keeping straight. The smile that made him just want to tell her.

"I know it was just kind of embarrassing," He laughed nervously.

"It's fine, Nick. Besides," Samantha got a sly look in her eye. "We do make quite the impressive couple."

How he wished she wasn't kidding.

After that they settled back into their usual repartee as Samantha told Nick about what Meredith had told her about some soccer player having a crush on Samantha.

Apparently Meredith had been told the day before and had told Samantha all about it on their way to lunch. The soccer player's name was Luke and according to Meredith he was "so hot" and "couldn't stop talking about Samantha."

However, she did mention how fleeting Luke's attentions could be; he had already made most of the way through the volleyball team and a good amount of cheerleaders so Samantha decided that he just liked her because she was a virgin and he had some sick thing for virgins.

"He just wants to get me on the soccer field, if you know what I mean," She said.

This story and the other stories Samantha had to tell him, she always had many stories to tell him, took up so much time that he decided to wait until dessert to tell her. That seemed more romantic anyway.

So Nick waited.

Halfway through their lava cake he saw his window. They were both quiet, the first time all night. He geared himself up to begin. He had just opened his mouth when a waiter, not the waiter they had had before, brought over their check. His nametag read "Luke" and he was smiling at Samantha. Not at them, just her.

"Hello, how was your meal?" Luke the Waiter said, still only looking at Samantha, who was blushing at the attention.

"It was okay but now it's great," Samantha said, pulling out her flirting voice. Nick felt his stomach drop.

"Wonderful," Luke said, resting the bill on the table but not taking his hand off it. He and Samantha fell into silence, smiling at each other. Nick felt like he was going to be sick.

"Yeah, so it was good and now it's great so I think we should go now so..." Nick said, too aware of the fact that he was babbling. Neither of them seemed to notice.

"I've seen you around school. Samantha, right?" Samantha nodded and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I think I've seen you around school too," She looked at his name tag. "Luke."

"Yeah," He said laughing and looking at his nametag, "That's me. I'm on the soccer team."

"It's a wonder the jock could spell his name for the nametag," Nick muttered, knowing full well this was the guy Meredith had been talking about. Luke didn't hear him, or pretended not to if he did, and Samantha sent Nick a sharp look, like it was his fault she was ignoring him.

"The soccer team? That's great. I love soccer," Samantha said dreamily, resting her chin in her hand as she gazed up at Luke.

"You do, that's great," Luke pulled up a chair and straddled it. "You know I asked one of your friends about you."

"Oh?" Samantha said.

"Yeah. I was disappointed since she made it seem like you were in a relationship with this guy," He motioned to Nick without actually looking at him.

"Me and Nick? We're definitely not dating," Samantha said, laughing at the very idea. Nick couldn't look at them anymore. This whole night had been a mistake.

"Good, good," Luke said.

"Yeah, good," Samantha said, practically drooling while Luke decided subtlety was not needed when you undressed someone with your eyes.

"I like your dress," He said.

"Thank you, it's new," Samantha said.

"The only thing I don't like is that it's very, what's the word? Virginal."

"Oh."

"Plus, I think you would look much better in much less," He leaned towards her as he said this.

"Really?" Samantha squeaked.

"Yes," Luke said, lowering his voice and resting his hand on hers. Samantha looked like she was about to scream.

"That's, that's-"

"I know. Can I get your number?" Luke asked.

"Of course!"

It only took a matter of seconds for Luke to have his phone out (which Nick doubted he should have)and for Samantha to put her number in. She was nervous, Nick guessed.

Once Luke was gone Nick knew he would not be able to tell Samantha. Even if under regular circumstances she would receive this news well, now she would just freak out since she was obviously smitten with Luke.

Nick paid the bill and listened as Samantha went on and on about how hot Luke was and how she couldn't believe that she had brushed Meredith off when she had told her about the soccer player who liked her.

She went on about how she couldn't wait for him to text her and what if he actually called, which she said would be so old-fashioned but she said it would be great and she wished he would and then Luke texted her and she screamed. Actually she squealed but it seemed like a scream to Nick. Finally he said,

"You know, yours was not the only number he got tonight."

"What?" She said.

"I was thinking about how he wasn't our waiter before, and how he came over to give us out check even though our original waiter could have. He was going around to a lot of tables and flirting with girls. I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Get my hopes up?"

"Besides remember how you reacted when you first heard about him?" He asked.

"You know what, why don't you tell me how I reacted."

"You decided you didn't like him because of how much you heard about how big of a manwhore he was?"

"That was before I even met him. You're just saying this because you can't believe a guy like him would like me," She said. Nick was gripping the wheel so hard his fingers were turning white.

"No, that's not why. I'm not saying that."

"Then what are you saying?" She said.

"That you shouldn't get too attached."

"I just met the guy how could I be getting attached!" Samantha said, turning and leaning towards him, her eyes were blazing.

"You're attached enough to not be able to stop talking about him for the past half hour." Nick said, not caring that he sounded bratty.

"Oh shut up," Samantha said, turning forward again and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Shut up?"

"You heard me."

"Well aren't you in just a fantastic mood, Sam," He said, knowing full well that she hated being called Sam, it made her feel like a guy.

"Don't call me Sam," She said coldly.

"Sam, I can if I want to."

"Stop it."

"What's the matter Sam? Is something wrong Sam?" He said.

"I said, stop it."

"I can't stop Sam, I love calling you Sam."

"Stop it Nick," Her voice was low and icy.

"Never, Sam."

"Stop it!" She screamed, uncrossing her arms and turning only her head towards him. He almost kept going but then he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Okay. I'm sorry, Samantha," He said. She nodded, moving back to her previous position.

"Can't you just be happy for me?" She said, sniffling.

"I know, I should be happy for you. Forgive me?" He shot a smile at her and she crumpled up her mouth like she was trying not to smile.

"Samantha... I know you want to..." After a few seconds she cracked a smile.

"Fine. You're forgiven."

"Yay!" He yelled, making her jump. He didn't mind.

"Oh shut up," Samantha said, this time in a joking tone.

"Never," Nick said as they pulled up to her house.

"Good thing I'm home then," Samantha said, going to open the door.

"Unless I don't let you leave," Nick said, clicking the button so all the doors locked.

"Hey!" She said, pulling on it to no avail. They were both laughing now.

"Nope sorry, I can't let you do that."

"Come on Nick!"

They argued for a little while longer until Nick finally let her out. As she got out he rolled down the passenger side window. She leaned down, grinning.

"I'll see you Monday?"

"Try and stop me."

"Bye Nick," She turned to go.

"Bye Sam," She turned around and narrowed her eyes at him, placing her hand on her hip. He couldn't breathe for a moment, seeing her there.

"Bye Samantha," He corrected. She rolled her eyes but waved as she made her way into the house. He watched her go.

Nick rolled up the window and sat in the car and pondered his current situation. How had he messed up the perfect chance at telling Samantha how he felt about her? That stupid Luke, that's how. He hit the steering wheel in frustration.

But as he drove away he thought about how happy Samantha had been when Luke had asked for her number. Then he thought about how upset Samantha had been when he hadn't supported her about Luke.

That's when he knew what he had to do: stay quiet. Samantha couldn't know how he felt. Not until this whole Luke thing ran it's course.

A/N: This is dedicated to sugarsweetmiracles for the cover she made me. I love it!

Also, since this is from a teenage boy's point of view there won't be a lot of "feelings" stuff in here. There will be feelings, yes, but not like it be if it was from a girl's. So please keep that in mind.

Last thing then I'm done, I promise. The song on the right ("Sarah Smiles" by Panic! At the Disco) reminds me of this story because of Nick's reaction to Samantha's smile. And the whole "does she know that my destiny lies with her" line from the song. Hope you enjoy it as well!

P.S. The image on the right is who I have cast as Samantha, Lily James :)