And You Are...?

Hate, hate, hate.

Come on, Chloe, it's not that bad.

Hate, hate, hate.

"Chloe, snap out of it. You've gone into la-la land again," said Reese, evidently oblivious to the pain and suffering I was going through. I mean, here I was, suffocated by the clothes and weird statues wearing said clothes, and my best friend didn't even notice. Or bother to, for that matter.

Ouch.

"You agreed to come," whined Reese, "at least try to lighten up and have fun."

"Clearly, I was going through a moment of insanity, and I am really bothered that you took advantage of me at that time," I said defensively.

"Shopping isn't that bad, you know," she said all-knowingly.

"You know," I said saccharinely, "dentists fool you the same way. They always say that nothing hurts before they push you into the seventh circle of hell."

"Oh, stop over exaggerating," she said, showing a black, flashy dress close to me. "in case you forgot, my uncle's a dentist. Hey, do you think this fits?"

"Sure," I mumbled, not looking at the dress. As long as Reese heard the answer was on the brink of being positive, I'm pretty sure she'd buy it. Scratch that, I was sure she would buy it.

"Oh my gosh, this would look great on you!" she suddenly said, sounding all too eager. "Try it on!"

Well, that snapped me out of my reverie. The first thought that came to my mind when I actually looked at the dress was how people actually willingly wore things like that. They actually spent money on it. Then I heard my internal self yelling at me to run out of the store.

"I'll tell you what?" continued Reese, ignoring my open mouth and aghast expression. "You go put it on, and I'll buy it for you."

"But…" I spluttered, words failing me. "They won't let you buy it while I'm wearing it," I finished lamely. Okay, so maybe I couldn't come up with anything better than that. My brain was frozen! Not really my fault.

She rolled her eyes at my logic. "Take one look at the guy behind the counter," she instructed. I let my eyes travel to the counter and the person behind it and understood what Reese was talking about.

He was openly ogling at Reese and I was pretty sure he'd even sell it for free if she flirted with him a little. The only problem was that I wasn't very keen on wearing the dress. However, Reese refused to listen to me. She insisted I put on the dress, and just to shut her up, I did.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror in the dressing room, and as much as I loathed admitting it, I didn't necessarily look that bad. I mean, I didn't look like something you'd want to rip your eyes out when you saw. Not that I usually did. I had no problem that I wasn't breathtakingly beautiful like Reese. I knew that every guy I passed didn't immediately have his mind going blank and I knew I wasn't the girl who guys couldn't stop lusting over. Frankly, my looks don't matter to me.

I walked out of the dressing room, slightly hesitant because I knew this wasn't something I would go around wearing. As soon as I stepped out, Reese gasped in pleasure.

"You look beautiful! You are so not changing out of that dress, I already bought it. Oh wow, every guy out there will love you when they see you like this. You look gorgeous," gushed Reese. Okay, so maybe she was sugar coating it a little (a lot), but it still felt kinda nice.

"Really?" I asked with a nervous smile. She bobbed her head up and down excitedly.

"Tell you what," she said, "there's a Starbucks right over there. Why don't you go and get something? I just have another dress I want to try on; I'll join you there in around ten minutes."

"Yeah," I agreed, "I'm pretty thirsty anyway." I walked out of the shop and into Starbucks. After standing for a few minutes, I got my coffee and went outside. There were so many people crammed into one mall, it was pretty mind-boggling!

Humming a tune to myself, I took another sip of my coffee, and impatiently tapped my foot on the floor. I was almost being pushed from side to side by rushing people.

Suddenly, and very abruptly, two warm hands covered both my eyes. I almost dropped my coffee in surprise and was too shocked to scream. I heard the person behind me take a deep breath. I didn't really look back; I was pretty much rooted to the spot.

"Listen, Alana," I heard him say in a deep voice, "before you turn around and say anything, I just wanted to apologize. I was stupid, and selfish and a total jackass. You have every right to curse me, or tell me that you couldn't believe I said that. I really won't blame. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I really am."

Okay, who was this guy? And, damn it, why was his voice so sexy?

My muscles finally decided to function again and I spun around and found myself lost in deep, dark eyes. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. I wasn't exactly lost in his eyes; I was more or less staring at him in confusion, probably with a twisted expression which said, Huh? I watched as his eyes slowly widened, and took in his appearance. Right from his flawless face, to his gorgeous eyes, to his unruly hair.

He cocked his head to one side, and I noticed his eyes were clouded with uncertainty as well. He was probably still wondering who I was.

"You," he said slowly, as if trying to figure out a 1000 piece puzzle, "are not Alana."

Took you long enough.

"No," I said, words flowing at the same pace, "I'm not."

He straightened up and cleared his throat. I didn't know whether to be freaked out or amused.

"Well," he finally said, "this is awkward."

"Yeah," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck, "uhh…"

Smooth.

Shut up.

Hey! You cannot tell your conscience to shut up!

"The thing is," he said, "I thought you were someone else."

"I actually figured that out. Quite a while ago, actually."

He smiled.

On your ground, Chloe.

"The whole speech thing," he started again, "was actually meant for Alana, who is my girlfriend. You know, the other day, I caught her making out with another guy. Now, I don't wanna be the kinda of guy who jumps to wrong conclusions you know? But she didn't exactly look as though she were forcing him away. So, maybe, I said what I was thinking. Then she got all upset and started crying and told me that she couldn't believe me. Really, I can't handle watching a girl cry. Before I could say something, she ran out crying, and left me feeling like an asshole. You know what I mean?"

"Uhh…" was what I managed to get out. "Who are you again?"

He looked at me with an amused expression, and stuck out his right hand.

"Stephen Grey. You can call me Tuesday if you want though."

My eyebrow quirked upwards. "Why would I call you Tuesday?"

Stephen smiled. "That's why I added the 'if you want' part. And you are…?"

"Chloe," I said, shaking his hand (damn it, what a wonderful hand!), "so, you have a screwed up love life, huh?"

He nodded. "What do you think I should do?"

"I really don't know," I admitted. Forgive me; I'm not Dr. Phil, okay? "But," I continued, realizing I might as well give the poor guy something to think about, I said, "I think you should give her another chance."

His eyes, which were cast downward, immediately flew up. "You do?" Why the hell was he so shocked? Wasn't he about to apologize to Alana or whatever anyway?

"Well, you're not really sure if she cheated on you or not. So I'd say give her a chance. If anything goes wrong again, then you can break it off. And you won't even feel guilty about it."

"Yeah," he said, "I guess you're right."

"Why don't you take down my number?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow. Realizing how that sounded, I turned red. "I mean," I quickly said, "so you can tell how things finally worked out. I mean, that's all. Nothing more. Just curiosity, you know?"

If possible, he looked more and more amused by every word. Well, if you can excuse me, I'm just going to go die now.

He flashed me another one of his gorgeous smiles. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

I grinned, and gave him my number. For purposes which include curiosity only. Nothing else. Really. Ahem.

"Well," he said, "I think I should go. It was nice meeting you, Chloe. I'll let you know how things worked out."

"You do that," I said, nodding as well, "I mean, not that I'm forcing you or anything…you can do that if you want…I mean, um, bye."

I really need to go back to first grade and learn sentence constructing.

He winked at me and walked off. AAAH! He winked at me!

Pull yourself together, Chloe. He's taken.

Well.

"Hey," said Reese, coming up to me and holding around gazillion shopping bags, "who was that? I knew it! That dress is a boy magnet!"

At the rate things were going, I was this close to blowing up. Literally. I had the one of the worst days ever, and now I was trying to cheer myself up in a coffee shop. Except I wasn't enjoying my coffee. I mean, it was made like normal coffee and all, but I was just in a really bad mood. My cell phone suddenly vibrated. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw I had one new message.

Hey. How did your day go?

It was from Stephen! He…he messaged me! How…not romantic. Oh, whatever. It wasn't like we were going out anyway.

Not much, I replied, you know, had a late party, drank too much, nearly committed suicide and woke up with a killing headache.

I smiled as the cell phone vibrated again.

You're kidding, right?

I laughed and gave him my answer. Right. So what's up between you and Alana?

I waited for the answer. Oh, we broke up.

I raised my eyebrow. What?

It was nearly five minutes before my cell phone vibrated again. I was about to apologize, but I walked in on her and another guy. In bed. I'm not all that nice.

I smiled, and tried not to get my hopes up. And you're okay with this?

Yeah. I realized that I didn't even like her that much.

I raised my eyebrow. I see.

My cell phone vibrated again. Is it okay if I call?

Sure.

Right then, I heard my ring tone and immediately answered it.

"Hey," I heard his deep voice.

"Hi," I replied in a slightly squeaky voice. Stupid voice had to give out on me now.

"So…" he trailed off, though I could hear the smile in his voice.

"So…" I replied, feeling giddy. And just like that, we spent an hour on the phone.

"Just ask him out," groaned Reese. "You've known the guy for like a month by now!"

"I don't know him that well," I replied back lamely.

"Oh, please. You meet up with him almost every weekend! Even I tag along sometimes! I'm telling you, this dude has totally got the hots for you."

I blushed. "No, he doesn't." Was this one of the cases where the guy likes the girl and she's too shy to admit it? Unfortunately not.

Reese scoffed. "Come on. I've seen you guys at lunch. He can't keep his eyes off you!" Pfft.

I rolled my eyes and turned away. Right then, my cell phone vibrated.

"Speak of the devil," muttered Reese. "He can't go a minute without thinking of you. Go ahead," she encouraged, "read it!"

I flipped open my cell phone.

Hey, can I see you at Starbucks? Now?

I frowned, and looked back at Reese. "Reese, do you have the car with you now?"

She nodded. "Why?" she asked curiously.

"Stephen wants to meet me there." She immediately smiled and hurried to the car.

Once we got there, Reese told me that she'd be checking the other stores. I walked into Starbucks and immediately spotted Stephen, who was looking slightly nervous.

"Chloe," he said when I sat down, "remember when you gave me advice when we met in the beginning? Well, I thing I need some again."

Okay. Okay, okay, okay. So, he likes another girl. No big deal. Breathe in. Breath out. Damn, that hurts.

I nodded slowly, with a blank look on my face.

"There's this girl I like," he said, "and I'm not sure if I should tell her."

Well, if he's happy, I guess I should be. Even if he likes another girl.

"Does she like you back?" I asked.

"I don't know," he confessed, "but I hope so. She's…perfect."

I took in another deep breath. "You really like her?"

He nodded. "Hell, yeah. I can't stop thinking about her."

I gave him a small, sad smile. "Oh."

"But," he continued, "I just realized that she thinks I like someone else."

And I, being the idiot that I was, couldn't understand what he was saying.

"I think you should tell her," I replied in a tiny voice, "Umm….I should probably go now." There was no way I could stand looking at him - at least for another week. Not when I knew he was crazy about some other girl.

As I got up, I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around my waist. Confused, I turned around, and found myself staring at Stephen's shirt. I blushed and looked up.

"My, my," said Stephen, sounding very amused, "you really are dense, aren't you?"

Well, that earned him a well-deserved whack on the head.

"So what you're saying is…" I trailed off.

"Let's forget the words for now," he said huskily and brushed his lips over mine, which sent shivers and tingles down my spine.

It was my perfect first kiss.

"You can say something now, though," he said, smiling.

"Will a 'wow' suffice?"

"No," he replied, entwining our fingers, "it won't."

"Well, too bad," I replied nonchalantly, but melting on the inside, "that's all you're going to get."

A/N – I figured it's been a while since I wrote a one shot and stuff, so here it is. Let me know what you think, okay?

Review!