Begin Again - A.I

twenty seven.

"Shit, there she is."

I roll my eyes at Michael, who's trying to hide himself behind the bushes. "Obviously," I say. "This is why we're here."

"No, but, like, she's actually there." He waves his hands around whilst trying to stay incognito. "Like right there."

I stand up, frustrated, and Michael only pulls me back down. I yelp and he covers my mouth. "Michael!"

"Look at her." His eyes just peek out of the bushes. If you looked in this direction you'd just see the top of his purple head and wonder if Barney the dinosaur had come to visit you after all. "She's so pretty."

"Get your man hands off me!" I screech, dusting myself off from the fall. I pick a leaf off of my jacket and flick it away. Michael's crush on Natalie was getting bigger each day, yet he continued to do nothing about it. Due to my excellent research (of stalking her for a day straight), I found out that she visits the local coffee shop every morning on her study break. Thinking this was a brilliant breakthrough, I told Michael that he should 'casually bump into her' one morning. Yet he hadn't left the bushes for about half an hour now.

"Michael." I pick more leaves off my attire. "Are you planning to do something?" I look at him. "This year?"

His eyes dart back and forth, watching the love of his life as she reads alone at the nearest table. It's really a fool proof plan, hence why I made it for Michael. You go up, approach her, strike up a conversation. The two were already friends, so I didn't really see the problem. But Michael sure seemed to.

"I can't just ... I can't just go up there, to her, right there, where she is. I can't just do that," he babbles. "I mean look at her."

I do. I didn't really see her appeal. She was a small girl, a lot smaller than Michael who was like a bear, and she wore glasses. Not even the cute kind either, not like the 70's tortoiseshell chic, just the big chunky black frames that screamed nerd. In fact, nothing about her seemed Michael's type at all. She was all the things he wasn't, quiet, reserved, academic. Which is why it confused me that Michael thought she had the power over him. He was in your face to absolutely everybody else, but when it came to her he was like a cowering chicken.

"We only have limited time," I remind him. "Her break will end soon, and your one and only chance will be gone. Forever."

He turns to look at me. "Thanks."

I roll my eyes. "For god sakes, just go and talk to her."

"Okay, but like, what do I say?" He bites his lip, looking genuinely lost. "I mean, what do you say to a girl like that?"

"Well, what do you want to say?" 

"I think you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, can you please date me?"

I give a small smile. "Aw, that was kind of sweet." I reach out and push his shoulder. "You big softie."

He blushes. Actually blushes. "Shut up, alright? If this gets out to any of the guys, I swear to god-"

I hold up my hand to silence him. We had already spoken about this and I didn't need to hear his empty threats about 'kicking me to the curb so hard I'll turn into stone' again. "It won't." I then falter. "Why is it such a big deal for them to not know anyway?"

"I don't want them to know about her," he says somewhat softly. "They won't understand. It's not always about sex. Not with Natalie anyway." He looks back over at her. "She's not like that."

I look at him watching her, and I feel a sense of compassion that I didn't think I could ever feel. "You really like her, huh?"

He just shrugs. "Yeah."