Secret Admirer

There were too many things going on that day. And she never expected it to happened. For one, there were no signs. He was good at that. Not giving any signs at all.

It was a Wednesday. The school was packed with students early in the morning, as always, before the bell rang. She came always half an hour early. And he expected it. But she didn't expect to see him early that day.

They first bumped into each other on the stairwell at the back of the school. Since she was a student representative, she had school obligations to man the stairs and kept the hallways peaceful in the morning.

When he passed by, her sixth sense perked up. And she easily noticed him. His appearance came as a surprised since she never got to school that early before. At first, she didn't think much of it until she noticed something odd.

He whispered amongst his friends, a good distance away for her.

Before she found a way to eavesdrop, she noticed him turned in her direction. She looked away and pretended like she hadn't notice.

Of course he knew she noticed him. He made sure he stood within her peripheral vision. He made sure her eyes wandered in his direction. If she didn't, he wouldn't have got the nerve to walked up and said a casual greeting.

"Hi," he said.

"Hey," she timidly replied.

"I didn't know you were on duty today. Are you by yourself in the area?"

She shook her head. "I'm not. But my partner is late though."

"Who's with you?"

"Josh's on duty with me today."

He nodded. "I see." He paused a minute like he was thinking. "Would you like me to cover for him until he arrives?"

She arched her eyebrow, surprised at his offer. But it wasn't the first time he treated her in a special way.

She thought about it, but she already knew her reply. "If it's okay with you... but I can do it by myself." She quickly shut down her offer as she sensed eyes straying in their direction.

People's stares were lingering too long that made her reconsider it.

However, he didn't notice. Hardly anything did as his focus was mostly towards her. Nothing bothered him unless it involved her.

"No. I can do it. And I want to," He said. "Let me help you."

Her eyes wearily peered around the slightly crowded hallway. Too crowded than it did a minute ago. And she knew she had to act fast before she'll be gossip by lunch today.

"No. I got it. Thank you."

He looked defeat for a moment, but quickly recovered once he overheard the whispers behind him. Now he got the hint. Feeling apologetic, he nodded and gave her some space.

"Okay. Then, I'll see you late in class?" His words dangled into a question.

She noticed it. He was still hesitating.

With a smile, she replied, "Of course. And thank you for the offer."

His confidence grew a mile. He answered with a smile as well. "See you." He waved and slowly headed up the flight of stairs towards their classroom.

Once she was alone, yet not completely alone as people passed by her, she felt both relieved yet disappointed. Why did she asked him away when she clearly didn't want to?

But she knew not to add that in her list of things she'll regret later. For one, she did had reason - she hoped that was a great reason to trick herself into believe it. Being the school's topic of gossip is hardly one of the list of things she wanted in life.

Her guilt didn't last long since he came and talked to her again. This time it was during the short morning recess.

She wasn't in the mood to be coop up in the classroom. So she gone out for a change of pace. She found a good spot by the stairwell. It faced a window with the view of the school's front lawn. Not a minute sitting at the top, basking in the quiet hallways - to her surprise, he suddenly walked up from below.

His twinkling eyes of triumph was palpable. As he guessed, she would be there, as she'd always do when she didn't like staying in the noisy classroom.

The first time he found her private spot was around the same time he started noticing her. Out of respect to her special hiding spot, he never tried and came over to talk to her.

But today was different.

Today he needed to talk to her. And just like this morning, he had been trying his luck at finding the right moment to be alone with her. Though he felt guilty to ruin her moment of peace, he knew he had little chances of finding a time to do it. So he had to intrude - just this once.

He could only hope this intrusion won't ruin it for him.

He held up his hand. "Hey! Would you mind if I join?"

She nodded. But she didn't gesture him to sit beside her. Yet he did. She watched as he stretched and crouch down, keeping a little distance between them. Unsure of his intention, her body language did most of the talking. She leaned closer to the wall. He turned to her and started a conversation.

"So," he started. "Where you able to finish this afternoon's assignment? We have the afternoon off for an event, right?"

She nodded. Still unable to formulate a word.

For one, she was nervous. What did he want from her?

"What do you think are they showing us this time?" He asked again, to keep up conversation.

Finally, she was able to choke a word. "Not sure."

In a second, she noticed his expression change. But he was quick to hide it with a smile. "Yeah, I'm not sure either. Our seniors aren't as theatrically inclined as most from our year."

She chuckled and nodded. "True. I agree on you on that. However, we're not Broadway level skills as well. We just have a lot of eccentric people who are ready to do the impossible."

Upon seeing his face brighten up and his infectious laughter, she found herself smiling and feeling more comfortable. By the time their break was over, she noticed that she was already leaning closer to him. The mere inches were gone.

As she felt conscious he'd noticed, she was the first to stand and break away from their engrossed conversation.

He was disappointed how it was short. But he knew he'll get another chance. And he'd already asked, not only his friend, but hers as well to give them the privacy to talk later in the afternoon. The way she walked in front of him, looking innocent and beautiful as ever, gave him confidence that she wasn't aware about later. Though he was guilty as for making all these calculated meetings, he found out it was the only for him to get some time with her.

Because as they entered their classroom, she quickly went back to her seat, surrounded by her protective friends. It nearly took him even a week to ask that favor from them. It wasn't easy. But it was worth all the begging.

After lunch break was over, which was also a failure to talk to her, his nerves caught up to him. His palm was sweating. His heart beating faster than normal. And he found that he wasn't as focus than usual. He could hardly listen to their advisor listing instructions for the event in the afternoon. All he could think about was what's to come. And he was well aware of it. He's been planning for this for weeks. There's no turning back now.

His friend noticed him looking worried. He approached him and slapped his back to gain his composure. "Dude, you'll be fine. We've already asked her friends, and they were very receptive. They even assured us that she has feeling for you."

He looked up at his friend, who was the only one closest to her group of friend's. "Are you sure? Because I had talked to her earlier, at her favorite hang-out spot, and she seemed... distant? I don't know."

His friend groaned and sighed in disbelief. "You're seeing what you want to see because you're nervous, my friend. You'll be fine. You got this. And we got your back."

"Okay. You're right. I got this. I'll be fine." He muttered to himself for encouragement. It's the only thing he needed at that moment. Encouragement. Strength. And all the prayer he needed.

As the class stood up and piled out of the classroom towards the theater, he nearly lost sight of her. She had walked ahead from most of the group and found the best seat for her friends. Once she got a good row, she quickly reserved seats and waited for them to follow.

However, as she got the exact number of chairs down, she was confused to see them leaving one seat beside her. She urged them to move for more spare for their other classmates to seat, but they didn't until she saw him walking at end of the row. Once he slowly walked further down towards the vacant seat beside her, passing in front of her friends who let him through, it finally dawns on her.

They knew. They all knew it was happening. As she looked around her classmates, meeting their stray gaze diverting away from hers, she knew that it was a class secret. And she was the only one who didn't know.

How can she be this oblivious?

But that wasn't her concern any longer. Because now, she had to face the facts that the guy she had been crushing on for years was going to seat beside her. In a minute, the theater was dim. In the darkness, she wasn't sure what to expect.

Yet he knew. This was the moment. He knew he had to finally do it. She wasn't an easy woman to catch. Even if he did find the time before or after school, she'd easily find something or someone else to keep her company. But now, at this moment, there was nothing to keep her attention except for the play the seniors were doing on stage. And he knows no one's going to keep attention at a low budget school play. He even saw people started yawning, ready for a quick nap. But to him, this was a good opportunity. The only one he could think of other than earlier in the day.

So finally, he tried. He musters up the courage, say his prayers, and said his piece.

"Hey," he started and cleared his throat. Good thing the play hadn't started yet. Yet the room was dim and set for it. "I know we haven't gotten the time to actually hang out together... just us."

Beside him, he noticed her eyebrow furrowed in confusion.

She wasn't sure where this conversation was going, or she tried to pretend not to know. Because she knew that cue. Her friend wasn't subtle about it last week either. But she didn't know it was this week, even today, at this moment. And she wasn't sure what to say.

"Yeah. I think we did. We've went with a couple of my friends and yours at the mall a month ago. You forgot about that?" She inquired.

"Oh. No. I haven't. But we've never... I mean, just the two of us... going out. We haven't gone out just the two of us." He stuttered a bit but regain his composure.

"No... we haven't." She whispered in reply. But she wasn't going to be the one to ask. And from where this was going, it was obvious he wasn't leading up to it.

Another minute had passed and the stage play by the senior class started. So he waited until a brief intermission to bring it up again.

"So, where were we?" he asked, but she didn't reply. "Oh, yeah. Do you... um... would you like to go somewhere this weekend? Are you free his weekend?"

He finally got the around to his question. "Yes. I'm free. Why? What do you have in mind?"

"Do you want...um... do you want to go watch this new movie this weekend? My treat." He asked.

She tried to hide her smile. Thankfully, the dim lighted theater was enough to hide her expression, because he didn't point it out. "Sure. I'd like to go. But would it be better to go with more people? It'll be more fun."

"No!" His abrupt response caught her off guard. But he quickly recovered his composure. "No. No, what I mean was," he paused to take a deep breath. "Would you like to go with just me to the movies?"

"Are you asking me..." She trailed off, waiting for him to actually point it out word for word. For one, it was amusing seeing his so unsettled just asking her out. It was cute.

"Yes. Yes, I'm asking you out on a date." He sighed in frustration. But when he finally said those words, he looked relieved. Like a burden was lifted off him.

She started chuckling, unable to hold it back any longer.

He watched her, feeling a bit hurt she was laughing at him. But hearing her laugh and seeing her smile and relax, it was more important to him.

"What so funny?" He started chuckling himself.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh when you're so nervous just trying to ask me out on a date. I just... I didn't expect you to be the guy to fall apart when asking a girl out. You've always been confident around everyone. And people gravitate towards you. They're the one who's mostly nervous to approach you rather than you towards me... someone like me shouldn't have made you react that way."

"But I am nervous. I have been nervous since this morning just to ask you out. You don't know how difficult it is just say those words to you. You aren't an easy person to approach as well, you know." He argued back.

She smiled and shook her head. "So, if only we were more approachable people, this wouldn't have taken this long? Is that what you're implying?"

"It would have... I had been planning to ask you for weeks now, you know." He admitted.

She scoffed at his bluff. "Are you for real?"

"Yes. I am."

She started chuckling again. "I'm so sorry. Than let me make it up to you as well."

"For real? You're giving me a free card?"

"Yes... but not really?" She wittily replied.

"What does that mean..."

He trailed off in silence. She caught him off guard with a brief kiss on his cheeks. He was stunned for a good minute before he found his voice again.

"I did not believe it to be true." He was still baffled.

"Believe what?" She cheekily asked.

"That you're my secret admirer."