I should have kissed you.....

[Dani]

After nervously pacing back and forth for several minutes, Sophie sat on the bleachers and took out her phone. She figured that it would be better to take all of her energy out of Angry Birds instead. She had to tone it down before Vic got there, otherwise her plan wouldn't work. Actually, she didn't really have much of a plan, but she did have one main objective: to finally tell him how she felt about him. Time was moving by way too fast. They had been sophomores when they first met and now their junior year was coming to an end. In just one year, they would be close to graduating, close to going off to different schools and possibly never seeing each other again. She had already held her feelings in for an entire year. She couldn't keep them buried inside for another one.

[Kelli-wa]

Vic had his backpack on his shoulders seeing as it was the end of the day. He started off toward the football field where Sophie had asked him to meet her after he got out of class. He licked his lips lightly and got those nervous jitters that he always seemed to get before he saw this girl. He saw her sitting on the back of the grand stand in the football stadium and took a deep breath. He started over to the bleachers and started to walk up the steps once he got there. When he was almost to the level she was sitting on he looked up and gave her a smile. "Hey. What's going on?"

[Dani]

Sophie immediately looked up from her game at the sound of his voice. "Hey there," she said as casually as she possibly could. "Not much." As much as she wanted to tell him how she really felt, she knew that it wasn't something that she could bring up right away. It was something that she had to ease in to. Sure, Mady had said that he liked her, but that was three months ago. For all she knew, he could have changed his mind. "Here, I got you something," she added, taking out a package of peanut butter crackers from her purse and handing them to him. "I know how much you love them." Her sister used to say that the way to a guy's heart is through his stomach. Lucky for her, Vic's favorite food was always available in the school vending machine. It only cost her eighty-five cents to try and win his heart.

[Kelli-wa]

Vic smiled and sat down beside her, leaning against the chain link that lined the top of the grand stand. As she handed him the crackers he laughed lightly and took them from her hand, "Oh, so you noticed that?" he asked, a light blush appearing on his face. He did eat a package of peanut butter crackers every day. They were extremely quick and he loved eating quick, plus, it helped that they were delicious. He had hoped, however, that she hadn't figured out his strange obsession. "Thank you." He set them down on the chair in between them and glanced over at her, "Did you want to talk to me about something? I mean, usually we just meet at the locker, so..."

[Dani]

"Yeah I noticed," Sophie said with a nod. "I've noticed a lot of things, actually." Her face turned bright red at his question. Oh my god, does he know?! The very thought of him knowing exactly what she was about to say made her even more nervous. She could literally feel her palms start to sweat. "I did want to talk to you about something actually." Oh just spit it out already! "I...ummm like you....I...." Starting to feel the pressure build even more, she stood up and started pacing again. "I think I should go for a walk. I can't seem to sit still right now." This is not how this was supposed to go at all....

[Kelli-wa]

Vic listened to her and wondered what else she had noticed, hopefully not his secret love of musicals, because that was something that embarrassed the crap out of him because Bo had always teased him about it. It was Cybills fault really, but then again, that's a different story for a different time. No, it couldn't be that, he'd never talked about any musicals around her and he knew that for a fact. He licked his lips and was surprised at what he'd heard. She likes me? he asked himself, completely shocked. He assumed she had friend zoned him. Most girls did. He grinned and shook his head, "Ah, sure, we can walk, we can do whatever you want..."

[Dani]

Sophie immediately got up and began walking, not even bother to look over at him to see if he was standing next to her or not. Unfortunately, the walk did little to calm her nerves, causing her to suddenly blurt everything out at a rapid rate. "I-I like you.....I've liked you since the day I met you, but I didn't want to say anything because I thought it would be weird to tell somebody that you just met for the first time that you have a thing for them. Plus I had a boyfriend at the time, which made it even more confusing....even though he was away at college. He's gone now....He cheated on me and dumped me for someone else right before Thanksgiving, but that has nothing to do with this, I swear....I liked you before that happened and I never said anything because I didn't want to ruin our friendship and have things be all weird between us and you not wanting to talk to me or wanting to have any more cool conversations!" She stopped walking and buried her red face in her hands, still unable to turn around and look at him. "I should have just sent him a note or something," she said out loud to herself.

[Kelli-wa]

Vic followed her down the stairs, picking up his crackers as he did and they started walking and he listened to every word he had to say, still quite shocked that she liked him at all. First off, she was pretty, like really pretty and he was mediocre at best. Next, he babbled like an idiot about Greek Mythology and different animals all the time, she couldn't possibly think that was cool. Finally, he was Vic, he wasn't anyone to be that impressed with. Other than being Bo's little brother, he didn't have much going for him. Everyone loved Bo, and he did too, but he definitely lived in his older brother's shadow, even his teachers told him how much they had loved having Bo in class. He laughed lightly and shook his head, "You thought that you telling me that you like me would make me not want to talk to you?" he asked. He didn't mean to be laughing at her, but it was a funny situation. "I like you, though! I thought you put me in the friend zone. I mean, not the way Mady has because let's face it, she makes me paint her toenails--" he put his hand on his face as he realized he'd said that. "Okay, I'm not gay..."

[Dani]

Sophie slowly lifted her hands from her face and looked at him. "Yes, I did think that. Because we're friends and I didn't want to screw things up. I actually like hanging out with you, not just because I think you're really cute. I was worried that if I told you the truth and you didn't like me...." She paused as she tried to take in what he had said. "You like me too?" she asked, repeating his words. "You like Mady? You give her pedicures?" Does he like her more than me? Even though he had said he was in the friend zone, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. She had assumed that there was something going on between him and Mady, but once he introduced her as his best friend, she had put the thought to the back of her mind. "You can paint my toenails too. I-I mean if you want to....I just.....oh my goodness....."

[Kelli-wa]

Vic listened and he started to say something, but she called him cute and it caught his attention, "You think I'm cute?" he asked with a stupid smirk on his lips. He realized he'd said what he meant to say wrong and he shook his head again, "No! No! I don't like Mady. I just--I meant that we're friends and Mady makes me paint her toenails because she doesn't have any 'girlfriends' and apparently that's what 'girlfriends' do and I told her I'd do it because she was really upset and--" He shook his head, trying to get off the subject of painting toenails. He let out a breath and closed his eyes, trying to rearrange his thoughts so he didn't sound stupid when he said anything else. "Look, no. I like you too. A lot."

[Dani]

"Of course I think you're cute," Sophie said immediately, as though it was a well known fact that Vic was good looking. "I have for awhile now." She wanted to jump for joy as he explained the Mady situation. She was so relieved. Not only did he like Mady as just a friend, but now she didn't have to feel about wanting to become friends with Mady at all. Mady was a very nice person, but Sophie wasn't sure that she could bring herself to be friends with the object of her crush's affection. "Awwww that's so sweet of you. Maybe I could hang out with her some time. I don't really have any 'girlfriends' either." While she was still a little nervous, she was starting to calm down. Now that the truth was out, it felt like a weight had been lifted. "That's wonderful to hear," she added, smiling up at him.

[Kelli-wa]

Vic blushed lightly and shrugged lightly, "Well then..." He cleared his throat as the girl continued to speak. She said he was sweet and he just shrugged again, it had seemed like a no brainer. Mady was upset, he did whatever was necessary to fix it. She always did the same thing for him, for the most part. Her tasks, however wouldn't emasculate her, because she was a girl. He took a huge breath as he started to walk again, not even realizing that they had stopped. However, he just caught on to something that she'd said earlier. "Wait, you had a boyfriend?" he asked her. He couldn't recall her saying anything about him and it was his experience that girls always talked about their boyfriends. Always.

[Dani]

Sophie let out a heavy sigh and nodded. "Well to make a long story short, his name was Chris," she began. "He was older than me, three years to be exact. We got together when I was thirteen and he was sixteen. He went away to college after ninth grade and we just sort of drifted apart. He would still e-mail me from time to time, but it was like he had forgotten about me. When we relocated after the hurricane, I hadn't heard from him in like six months. Our relationship was mostly long distance." She tucked her hair behind her ear as she began to recount the demise of her relationship. "Right around Thanksgiving, he sent me an e-mail. He had met someone else and was cheating on me. I forgot her name. She was an art model or something. I always felt like I wasn't good enough for him....."

[Kelli-wa]

Vic listened to her and shrugged lightly as she finished off, "He sounds like a big jerk. I mean, what kind of guy ignores a girl he's dating for six months?" he asked, actually pretty mad about the fact that someone could treat Sophie like that. She was so gorgeous and fun, he didn't understand. He sighed. "Especially if he can't call you to tell you he's been cheating on you or break up with you." He shook his head and then looked over at her, "Sounds to me like he wasn't good enough for you. You're too awesome to have to deal with a guy like that."

[Dani]

"Yeah I get that now. I was so young when we got together that I didn't realize it at the time. It was just so exciting, having an older boyfriend. He studies photography. He used to take pictures of me and call me 'his muse'. Pretty lame, huh?" Sophie chuckled at the absurdity of the whole thing. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had seen him in person. "I know you would never hurt me like that. You're too sweet to stoop to his level." She smiled at him, trying to think of what else she could possibly say at the moment.