"So they're definitely going to break up within the next week."

I spun to my right and raised an eyebrow at my friend Erin. "Well, that's optimistic. I'm sure they'd love to hear that."

"Well, look at them! The guy looks majorly pissed off and the girl looks like sunshine and rainbows."

"True," I amended, "but as they say, opposites attract."

"I wonder why people even bother saying that. As far as I can tell, in high school, the jock guys dated the jock girls, weird people dated other weird people, normal people dated normal people…you get the drift. I mean, I hate making stereotypes, but you know how true they were at our school. Pop culture is so misleading when they make a zillion movies about some hot, popular guy falling for the nerdy girl."

I grinned. "I've taught you well, my friend. You're becoming just as much of a cynical person as I."

Erin and I loved people watching. In high school, we had gone to the mall every month or so, and spent the day shopping or sitting on a bench and observing passersby. Now that we were in college, we made mall trips during our breaks. Currently, we were on our three-week winter break, and enjoying the cozy warmth that the mall provided, so different from the weather outside.

"I wonder if people watch people watchers," mused Erin, wrinkling her nose at a bright red and green reindeer positioned about three feet away from where we sat.

"I think they're more concerned with getting their holiday shopping done," I replied, watching a harried-looking mother with shopping bags in one hand and a small little boy in the other walk by, speaking rapidly into her headpiece. I caught a few phrases such as "stupid Christmas shopping" and "your damned relatives". Ah, the cheerful spirit of the holiday season.

A few more people passed, including an elderly couple holding hands. Erin and I managed to withhold our squeals of delight, since we adored everlasting romance, despite the current divorce rate of fifty percent in the country. Then a man in his late twenties came by from the nearby Macy's and offered me a sample of perfume, accompanied with a rather lecherous wink. I was horrified. Erin was shaking with laughter beside me. I managed to decline politely and, with a tight smile, drag Erin off the bench and into the bustling crowds of store-goers.

Five minutes later, and Erin still couldn't get over the scene. "He was so hitting on you," she chuckled. "He was kind of cute, too."

"He was probably ten years older than me," I replied flatly.

"Hey, you're legal; isn't that all that matters?"

I groaned, and Erin grinned. "Come on, you know I'm kidding. So, what should we do now? Let's walk for a bit and find more people to stalk."

We walked a bit further before we came upon an arguing couple outside of American Eagle. The boy was tall, about six feet, and had unkempt brown hair flying over his face, which was scrunched up with anger. The girl, whom I assumed was his girlfriend, was about my height, with blonde hair, brown eyes, and wore, in my opinion, way too much eyeliner. Which was getting smudged by the tears leaking out of her eyes.

"Trouble in paradise," muttered Erin, as we both watched the girl slap the boy across the cheek. "Ouch. That's got to hurt. He either deserved it, since he may have cheated on her, or the girl's just a bitchy drama queen."

"That's a tough one," I agreed, and examined them more closely. "The girl does look kind of slutty."

"Either way, they're goners for sure. Geez, why did they even get together in the first place? They were probably freaking Homecoming Queen and King, the jock and head cheerleader…that whole deal. I think we just witnessed the break-up scene. That was like right out of a TV drama."

After Erin finished speaking, I noticed that the shouts disappeared. Curious, I turned toward the direction of the couple and found them gawking at us. Shit. I nudged Erin and nodded discreetly in their direction.

"Oh, gosh." She paled. "They heard what I said, didn't they?"

As if on cue, the blonde girl stomped toward our direction, her eyes glinting dangerously. "For your information, I may have been a cheerleader in high school but I got a 2200 on my SATs, so there!" She shoved Erin roughly and glared at me. Then she stalked off toward Victoria's Secret.

I glanced quickly at the boy, who still remained standing. "I think we'd better go. Now. Before the guy beats us up."

Erin scowled, but nodded, as she dusted herself off. "We still did better than she did on the SATs, though." Her phone started ringing. "Hello? Oh, hey Mom. Um, yeah, I got just about everything I needed. You want me to what? Oh, geez. Fine. Love you, too. Bye." She snapped her phone shut and looked at me apologetically. "My mom's making me go home and help her wrap presents. We're having our awful family reunion tomorrow and she isn't even close to done yet."

"No problem. I'll just stick around for an hour or two and get some more shopping done. I'll call you to make plans for New Year's."

She hugged me, teased me some more about the perfume guy, and left for the parking lot. I let out a small sigh of relief. We had gone through a lot more drama that day than usual. I was also slightly glad at getting rid of Erin, because I still had to buy her a Christmas gift. After thinking of all the gift possibilities, I narrowed my choices to either a Borders gift card or something fun from Target. But first, I had to get her a card.

When I entered Hallmark, I was greeted with a dazzling array of holiday cards. I decided to go for a generic one, as Erin was always accepting of all religious celebrations. I finally spotted one with an adorable polar bear on it, and reached out to retrieve it from the shelf. Instead, I ended up holding hands with a stranger who had apparently wanted the same card as I did.

I looked up at the owner of the hand and immediately panicked. It was that guy who had just broken up with his girlfriend. Oh, dear. I had a fleeting thought of sprinting away, but for some reason, my feet remained rooted to the ground.

The boy peered at me closely. "Hey, you're that girl whose friend pissed off Kathy."

"Um." I was experiencing difficulty forming words. "Uh…Kathy?"

"Oh, the blonde girl that I was arguing with. She's my girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend."

"I'm sorry, my friend didn't mean to say anything mean," I blurted. "We're nice people. We just sometimes make horribly incorrect stereotypes. I hope we didn't cause your breakup. If we did, then I'll definitely—"

He snorted. "Don't worry. We were bound to break up any day now. Long-term relationships never work out."

"Oh." Awkward silence ensued. I really wanted to get away, especially since I was still unconvinced that he wasn't angry with Erin or me. Well, it didn't matter if he was angry or not at Erin, because she escaped, unscathed. As for me, well, I wasn't sure.

"So…" He looked at me, and I noticed the color of his eyes for the first time. Green. I had a weakness for green eyes. He held out his hand. "I'm Alex."

I took his hand. It felt nice and warm. "I'm Allie."

He grinned. "So, were you going to get this?" He handed me the polar bear card.

I nodded, biting my lip. "Yeah, but you can have it if you want. I mean, I can just get my friend another one."

He shrugged and then reached out and took—ingeniously—another card from the shelf. "That's why they sell multiple copies. So we can both get the same one." He offered me a half-smile.

"Oh—right." I was an idiot. The funny thing was, though, I didn't think that Alex was mocking me. He seemed like a nice guy. Then again, I knew him for approximately five minutes, including the break up scene, so who knew what secrets he held.

"So…" He studied my face, and I flushed under his gaze. "Do you live around here? Or just visiting?"

"Oh, I live here, in Chattam. I'm just on break from school."

"Yeah? Where do you go?"

"Princeton," I replied, bracing for the inevitable "wow, you must be a genius" comment, which always made me feel awkward. I never knew how to take in compliments.

He grinned, running a hand through his tussled hair. "Huh. Interesting. I guess I'm your rival then, since I go to Harvard."

I blinked. Today was certainly a day of coincidences. "Well," I teased, "I guess that makes you arrogant."

Alex was playing along as well. "So, that just means you've got a yacht, a multi-million mansion, and a daddy who works on Wall Street."

"Wow. Is that really what people think of Princeton students?"

He shrugged. "That's what I hear the people at school say."

"Well, I do have a dad who works on Wall Street. But I don't have a yacht—I get sea-sick really easily—and I'm pretty sure our house isn't worth more than a million dollars."

"And I'm not—too arrogant."

We looked at each other and laughed. I never, for once, believed all those stereotypes that the Ivy League schools made up about one another, but the banter between Alex and I had been amusing. The kid was funny. It was a wonder how he ever got together with that Kathy girl, who didn't seem to possess any sense of humor.

"I actually have a brother," began Alex, once our mirth subsided, "who goes to Princeton. He's a sophomore, and his name is Cameron Kesselman—I know, funny name. Do you, by any chance, know him?"

"Yes, Cam!" I exclaimed, my eyes widening. "Wow, so you're Cam's older brother? He mentioned you before. And yeah, I'm a sophomore too, and Cam's one of my good friends."

"Really?" Alex seemed surprised as well.

"Yeah, I love the guy. He's hilarious, although he could have a better work ethic. But he's a freaking genius, especially at math and science, and I'm completely jealous about it, because I was such a dunce in that physics class we took together last year. I think he was the one who helped me pass the class."

"Yup, that's my brother. Very smart kid."

"He says you're a genius."

"Does he?" Alex appeared thoughtful, his hand cupping his chin, as he looked up at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. "Huh. He used to tell me that I was the dumbest guy ever. Real encouraging."

"Well, you can't expect him to compliment you directly," I argued, rolling my eyes. "You males have some sort of pride thing going on that makes you unable to say good things to other guys without seeming like a pansy. It's completely inane. And Cam totally has that whole macho man thing going on. At one time, he would hold the door for me everywhere I went. It was cute and all, but got to be very overbearing."

Alex nodded, a frown forming on his lips. I stopped talking, and examined his features. He seemed upset, for some reason. Or maybe I was being paranoid. But suddenly, that warm smile of his—wow, I sounded cheesy, and no, I did not like him—disappeared. Okay. Maybe he was secretly a killer and ready to pounce. I nervously edged farther away from him, hoping to be subtle about my escape.

"Do you like him?" He suddenly burst out. I jumped, startled at his remark, and, for a few seconds, couldn't think straight. Then I regained my ability to think and speak.

"What?"

"Do you like him? Did you two date?" He seemed awfully pushy and nosy about it, but at least I knew that he wasn't a killer. I just didn't know why he was so upset and insistent upon this topic, though.

"Um, no. I don't like him. I mean, I do like him, but only as a friend. And no, we didn't date; Cam was just going through a weird phase of being chivalrous. Thankfully it didn't last long. Besides, he's halfway in love with my friend Erin, the girl who, um, kind of insulted your girlfriend today."

"Ex-girlfriend," he corrected, smiling again. Okay. The boy had some mood swing issues. Male PMS, maybe? I wasn't sure. "Oh, okay. I was getting a little worried there."

"Why?"

"Because…I kind of like you."

Today was the strangest day of my life. First my friend and I witness major drama at the mall, which never happens when we go here. Then I run into one of the people who were involved in said drama at a greeting card store. I find out he goes to my rival school and is the older brother of one of my guy friends. And now he likes me. Which I don't believe, since I've known him for less than half an hour. You don't decide that you like someone in a romantic fashion after knowing him or her for such a short amount of time. It just doesn't happen. I wasn't a big believer in love at first sight. Then again, it technically was a second sight, since the first time we met, Alex was in a fight with his now ex-girlfriend. Still.

"You like me?" I repeated incredulously. "I barely know you."

Alex furrowed his brow. "That's true. But I want to get to know you. How about you come to my house for New Year's Eve? My brother and I are inviting friends over, and since you're one of his friends, you're definitely invited. Bring along that friend of yours too. We can do a little matchmaking."

I gaped at him. "Are you always this—straightforward?"

He nodded, a smirk gracing his lips. Very full lips. Lips that I really wanted to have on my own and pry open—oh, dear, I did not just think that. I felt dirty, considering that my thoughts regarding guys usually fell within the PG zone. This boy was trouble. He was corrupting my pure, innocent mind. And I didn't mind one bit.

"Life is short," he drawled, draping his arm loosely around my waist. "You need to seize every valuable moment. And babe"—he gave me a once over—"you are definitely diamond-worthy."

I couldn't help it; I laughed. "That was just awful."

Alex shrugged, chuckling. "Hey, I'm not an engineer for no reason, you know. So, are you in or what? Or do I have to find ways to persuade you?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"All right," I agreed. I was single, in college, decent-looking…and I was in desperate need of relaxation to prepare me for my grueling finals that were to take place after break. Plus, Alex was one attractive boy.


"Well, this is certainly interesting," said Erin from the passenger seat. We were heading to Alex's New Year's Eve party, and I was "designated driver", although neither of us ever drank alcohol at parties. I was usually the driver, though, since Erin had an unfortunate incident at age sixteen, when she had mistaken the accelerator for the break and ended up crashing through the door of her garage. Needless to say, her parents weren't too pleased. She hadn't driven more than a mile from home since that fateful day.

"The fact that we're going to the house of lover-boy, you mean?"

"What? No!" Her face was bright red. "Stop calling Cam that; we aren't going out."

"Yeah, but he's practically in love with you, so you might as well be. You two are just both too cowardly to actually admit your feelings for each other."

"He doesn't like me."

"Oh, please."

"No, seriously—all right, whatever. I was actually going to say that it's interesting how you're together with Cam's older brother, whom we happened to see at his mall having a massive fight and break-up with his girlfriend."

"Yeah…wait, I'm not together with Alex!"

"He basically said he wanted to date you."

"No," I corrected. "He said that he liked me. No one said anything about a relationship."

"What's the difference? Liking, dating…soon you two will be doing the deed."

"Erin!" I scowled, putting pressure on the break when the approaching traffic lights turned red. "Don't tell me these things. I'm still a lip virgin, for goodness' sake!"

"So am I, but we can still talk dirty. It's not like I don't know what happens during a fully developed relationship."

I sighed, and tapped the accelerator once the lights turned green again. Thankfully we were almost there; Erin's promiscuous side was rather disturbing, especially since she was usually sweet and innocent. When we arrived at the Kesselman's house, I pulled over to the curb and turned off the engine. Surprisingly, Cam lived very close to the town where Erin and I resided—my life, apparently, was just one little coincidence after the other. We walked up the steps of the house, ready to press the doorbell, when the door suddenly opened, revealing a dark-haired boy with sparkling hazel eyes.

"Cammy!" I launched myself onto him and hugged him. Cam was a teddy bear and, despite his "manly" image, he was a softie at heart. Erin stood by, and when I pealed away from him, she tentatively embraced him, while he rubbed small circles on her back and buried his face in her curly red hair. Oh, yeah right, Erin. The boy didn't like you at all.

"Okay, guys, the fun's over," said a voice from behind Cam. I looked over and saw Alex rolling his eyes at the still-embracing couple. "Get a room, seriously."

Cam and Erin sprang apart, both red-faced. I laughed and pushed my friends into the house. Then I turned around and faced Alex, who was still standing at the doorway.

"Hey there."

"Hey yourself." He grinned. "I'm glad you finally showed up. Everyone's already hooking up with each other and I'm feeling a little left out. So, I say, you should be my date. And we can people watch."

"People watch?"

"That's what you and Erin were doing at the mall the other day, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I figured it would be pretty entertaining to do it here, especially since you don't know a lot people. It would be interesting to see if your first impressions of them are correct."

I nodded, feeling excited. I loved trying to figure out a person based on their words and actions, even without actually meeting them. So I nodded and grabbed his hand, feeling warm tingles go through my body. And I was sure it wasn't because of the heating system.

We walked through the family room, where everyone was gathered. Alex was right. Most of the people were paired off, and when we entered, their eyes were all upon us. I saw a few of them look at one another and move their lips, although I couldn't hear what they were saying. Great. I was already the center of gossip.

"Ignore them," muttered Alex. "They think I'm still mourning over Kathy."

"What happened with you two, anyway?" Then I realized what I had just asked. "I mean, you don't have to tell me—"

"No, don't worry. It's not a big deal. We've been together since senior year of high school. I'm a junior right now, but we've been having issues for a while. Kathy goes to school in Georgia, so we don't see each other that much, except during breaks. I'm pretty sure she's been cheating on me since our freshman year of college, but she denies it." He sighed. "I think we've just grown too comfortable with one another and just assumed we'd be together for a long time. I haven't really liked her since high school, to be honest with you. But I've always been loyal to her…haven't dated at all in college, even with all the hot girls in Boston." He smirked, and I swatted his arm lightly.

"I'm sorry, though," I said sincerely. "If it makes you feel any better, I haven't dated in college either. Or ever, for the matter."

"Seriously?" Alex raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Why? Any guy would be lucky to go out with you."

I shrugged, hiding the smile that was about to break through from his comment. "I never had time to date. I'm always busy with school and stuff. And no one has really caught my interest so far."

"Well…maybe Princeton just doesn't have the right type of guys." Alex leaned closer until his face was inches away from my own. "Maybe you need to look a little further away."

I gulped, but before I could react, he snapped back up to his normal standing position and stared toward a couple in near the punch bowl. "What do you think of them?"

I inwardly sighed with relief at the escape, and glanced over. A pretty girl with brown hair and blue eyes was standing there, chatting with a guy dressed casually in jeans and a sweatshirt. Nothing fancy about either of them. I turned back to Alex and shrugged.

"They look like the normal couple to me. Good girl, nice guy. They have a good chance of getting married."

Alex slowly shook his head. "You'd think that, huh? But appearances can be deceiving. The girl, Anna, is a good girl, but the guy, Eric, used to do some serious shit in high school. Hung out with the bad crowd…you know how it goes. But Eric's been doing really well, though. He's been clean for two years and is going to community college. He and Anna have been together since high school. They're actually getting married right after they both graduate from college."

"Wow." I snuck another glance at the couple. "That's a really touching story. There was no way I ever would have gotten that just by looking at them. I mean, I never took people watching seriously, but I do like knowing the real story behind each person."

"Want to give this another try?"

I nodded. "Why not?"

"Okay. Look over to your left. See that girl with the dark blonde hair and that guy with the massive Afro?"

"Yeah. The guy looks like a musician."

"Cha-ching, she's got it." Alex's lips turned upward. My heart started beating rapidly. This guy really didn't know the effect he was starting to have on me. "And the girl?"

"Mm." I blinked, examining her more closely. She looked like your regular girl. "She looks normal. But then again, I thought Eric had been normal. Um…she's a devoted girlfriend who goes on tour with him, but only during breaks, since she also thinks school is important."

"That was good." Alex gave me a nod of approval.

We continued our little game until it was almost midnight. I was surprised at how at ease I felt with Alex. He possessed the traits of all my favorite heroes from romance books (a.k.a. Jane Austen novels). He was witty like Mr. Tilney, kind like Mr. Knightley, handsome like Mr. Darcy…plus, he had green eyes. Green was my favorite color. That was a definitely plus.

"So, it looks like our favorite couple is going at it before midnight," Alex commented, looking amused. I looked over to where he was pointing and my jaw dropped when I saw Erin making out with Cam. Well, finally, I say.

"There was too much sexual tension between them for those two to wait," I said, laughing. "Oh, gosh, that was Erin's first kiss! I'm so excited for her."

"Wow, I can't believe Cam got lucky like that." Alex glanced over at me. "I really want to kiss you right now."

"Excuse me?" I spluttered. I had never met anyone so unsubtle as Alex. He had no filtering system. Seriously. Although I guess I did appreciate the fact that he was honest. So there would be no tiptoeing around between us. Wait. He wanted to kiss me. Dear God. I had no idea what to do. I'd never been kissed before. In fact, I always thought kissing was kind of gross, with someone's wet, mushy lips on yours. I hated wet and slimy things. And the whole tongue business. Gee whiz. I gagged easily; every time I got a strep test, I would practically gag to my death when the doctors stuck the wooden stick down your throat. I wonder how I would answer him—

Alex's lips were already on mine before I could even form a decision. They weren't wet and they definitely weren't gross. They were nice. Really nice. Then he slid his tongue along my bottom lip and I shuddered. Okay, his tongue was definitely not slimy. A shudder ran through my entire body, and Alex pulled back, suddenly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

I nodded, dazed. "It's just that—I've never done this before."

He smiled. "I know. You told me that earlier."

With one swift movement, I grabbed the back of his head and placed his lips back upon mine. His hands roamed under my shirt while my own hands played with the taunt muscles of his chest. In the background, I vaguely heard a countdown but was too distracted by Alex's very…talented hands.

And the rest, they say, was history.

Well, not really. In fact, I remembered the circumstances of our meeting just as things began to get more heated. Then I forcefully pulled back.

"I'm just a rebound, aren't I?" I hissed, my hands on my hips.

"What?" Alex looked thoroughly shocked by my outburst. "I—no! I told you, Kathy and I were over a long time ago. We just made it official that day at the mall. Look, Allie, I really like you. You're smart, you're funny, you're gorgeous…I'd take you back to my room and get down to business, if I wasn't such a gentleman." I snorted at this bit, but he ignored me and continued. "I'm not a fan of long-distance relationships, but I think we can work it out. You're friends with my brother and you two go to school together, so we already have a connection to each other. Plus, Harvard's only a few hours away, so we can see each other pretty often—especially during football season, when Harvard kicks Princeton's ass."

"You wish."

"Oh, no, honey, it's true. But really, Allie, everything I said is true. I feel like I know you so well, even if we haven't spent that much time together and—"

"Hey, Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you just kiss me?"

He grinned and practically tackled me to the ground, his lips already seeking mine. All right. I believed every word he said. Was I taking the relationship a bit too quickly? Maybe. Perhaps later I would ask Erin what she thought of Alex and I. People watching could be useful; after all, it was what brought Alex to me.


Author's Note: So, I don't know if I developed this story well enough. It was supposed to be cute and funny, but it didn't quite reach my expectations. Oh well. Please review with any feedback you may have! Oh, and the part about the perfume guy? True story. Except it happened to me in NYC, when I was in Saks Fifth Avenue with my friend, and some random guy came and tried to put perfume on me. And my friend did think he was hitting on me. I was just completely creeped out by the incident.

Anyway, this was kind of cliché, but...I love clichés, so I hope you do too! Oh, and this is a one-shot. So I won't be continuing it. BUT I will be doing NaNoWriMo this year for the first time, so eventually, I may put up a novel. Anyway. Thanks for reading!