Chasing Zero

Seven

"I may have only known you for like...not even a year, but even I find this to a be a little out of character for you," Gray claimed as we sat down in a booth near the coffeehouse's door.

Taking a sip of my latte, I snickered. "Why? Cause I asked someone out instead of being asked out?"

"Basically, yeah," he said as he scratched the side of his neck. "You're not the type of person who goes out on dates with people, let alone be the one to ask them out. Didn't you say you never had any interest in dating when you were in high school?"

I stared at him. "No offense, but have you ever met a high school kid?"

"You graduated almost a year ago."

"Yes, and the people I went to school with sucked. No one liked me. No one tried to be my friend, despite the multitude of times I tried. Not until I started seeing Johnathon did I begin to make friends, but now they're all out of state for college, living their lives with a new set of people. Just like me. I'm now in college, and people actually want to get to know me. And one of those people happens to be Sky. I want to get to know him more, too, so why not go on a date with him?"

"There are other ways to get to know someone instead of going out on a date with them. You two can get to know each other and be friends."

"But I want to go on a date with him."

"You only do that if you really like someone."

"You don't have to be in love with someone to go on a date with them. Even your aromantic ass should know that."

He laughed. "Well, yeah, obviously, but that's not what I said."

"But you're implying that I don't like him."

"I just find it weird since I've never seen you interested in someone. You've never even talked about it before."

"Because I never had a reason to. Now I do, and it's been a bitch to figure my feelings out," I grumbled, slumping into my hand.

He cocked his head. "How so?"

"Well, I know I like him as a person. I can see myself being friends with him for years and years and years. That's a good thing, right? Yeah, you know I'm right," I teasingly smirked upon his eyeroll. "But- I mean...I don't know, I've never actually dated anyone before. I've never wanted to date anyone before. I didn't have friends through high school, only the one before junior year. Then I made two others who adopted me into their friend group and helped show me new things. Now they're in out of state colleges, living life with all their new friends, and they're seizing their moments. They're living the college life.

"College has now presented me with opportunities I never thought would actually happen. I never imagined I would have friends that I would look forward to hanging out with outside of class. And I definitely never imagined being given the chance to publish a book this early. I'm mean, an actual book. I might actually become an author now-"

"Spencer," Gray chuckled. "I get it. New opportunities."

"Exactly! But most of all, I never imagined I would meet someone I would want to date. I have these feelings I've never experienced before with Sky, and they feel really good. I want to figure them out. I want to date him."

Sky was my ticket to getting in the fast lane of becoming a published author. With the experience I would gain from him, surely I would be able to spit out romance novel after romance novel. And what if my life turned into a romance novel? One where I would fall head over heels in love with him and our romance would blossom into something more than I could have ever imagined?