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Alex hated change.
It was something he had basically always hated, especially because of his anxiety. He liked the idea of normalcy. Everything being the way it had always been was something that made Alex comfortable. Of course he knew change was a part of life and he’d have to deal with it but the less change, the better. That’s why he loved holidays. They were basically always the same. He would wake up, avoid his parents as much as possible until he couldn’t anymore, have an awkward dinner with his other family members, get asked when he was going to get a girlfriend, then make some excuse about having to do homework so he could go to his room. It was the same story for basically every holiday. His family made a huge deal about every holiday, even ones like St.Patrick’s day. Alex’s family wasn’t even Irish yet his parents loved the idea of celebrating things.
When Valentine’s day rolled around, Alex was expecting nothing out of the ordinary. He was waiting for Julie and Luke to battle out who would be the “better valentine.” It was something they started doing, even before they started dating. The two of them battled it out while Reggie and Alex just watched from the side lines. It was an entertaining thing to watch to say the least. It always made Alex sort of jealous. He loved how happy his friends were together, he just wished he could have that type of bond with someone. He seemed to be the only one who felt that way. Reggie was pretty content with being single. Sure he flirted with plenty of people and the idea of some sort of bigger commitment was just something he didn’t feel ready for. Alex was happy Reggie wasn’t forcing himself into something he wasn’t ready for. That being said, Alex didn’t really have anyone to relate to in that sense. He wanted to be in a relationship, he just couldn’t find any one.
The moment Alex walked into the school, he was immediately met with Carrie. Julie and Carrie had made up from their large feud last year and now Carrie was part of their little friend group. Along with Carrie came Carrie’s friends. There was obviously Kayla, who Alex wasn’t very close to. It was nothing against her or anything, the two just had nothing to really talk about. Then there was Nick. He was nice and pretty funny but other than that, Alex had nothing else to really say about him. Finally there was Willie, who Alex really gravitated towards.
The two had met prior to becoming friends with Carrie. They actually had met when Willie ran into Alex with his skateboard when he was walking to school. Alex was practically speechless when he got a good look at Willie. To put it simply, he was the most attractive guy Alex had ever seen. His brain had turned off for a solid 10 seconds the moment Willie had taken off his helmet and shook out his hair. Willie quickly apologized for running him over and offered to walk Alex the rest of the way to school. Alex agreed, maybe a bit too fast but Willie didn’t seem to mind. From that moment on, the two were practically inseparable. It was actually Willie and Alex’s friendship that caused Julie and Carrie to make up. When Carrie found out Willie was hanging out with Alex who hung out with Julie, she was furious. He claimed Willie had been “fraternising with the enemy,” which Willie called Carrie out for being dense. While that didn’t make her any less mad, it did make her have some sort of revelation. Julie wasn’t much better at first. When Carrie went up to her to apologize, she thought Carrie was just messing with her so she didn’t even let Carrie finish before walking away. Alex convinced Julie to give her another chance and the two have been pretty close ever since.
“Hey Lex. Happy Valentine’s Day!” Carrie said happily as she shoved something into his chest. He quickly took it and looked at the new object in his hand. It was a heart shaped card with beautiful handwriting on it.
Alex quickly scanned over the card. It was a simple and cheesy roses are red poem but he appreciated what she gave him. It was super sweet of her, especially since they hadn’t been friends for a super long time. He only really ever got Valentine’s Day stuff from Julie, Reggie and Luke. Julie would give him a beautiful drawing she made, Reggie would give him a punny card and Luke usually shoved a bar of chocolate into his hand. “Thanks Carrie, happy Valentine’s Day.”
“So….any plans for today?” Her smile was slightly mischievous but that wasn’t new from her.
“Uh yeah actually. I plan on going home and doing my homework.” Alex commented sarcastically.
Carrie huffed. “That’s not what I meant. I mean date wise.”
“Yeah right. Not like anyone would ever want to go out with me.”
Carrie crossed her arms and frowned. “That’s not true. Brandon from my music class wanted to go out with you.”
Ok so maybe that was true. The guy wasn’t very subtle about it either but he was far from Alex’s type. Yeah he wanted a relationship but he wasn’t that desperate for one. “Yeah, I’ll pass on that.”
“What? Not your type? Gee Alex, I wonder what your type is, perhaps long haired skaters?”
Alex regretted the fact that he had told Carrie about his small crush on Willie. Well, in his defense, it was a total accident. He accidently let it slip during one of his rants with her. It’s not like she didn’t already know anyway. Basically everyone knew about his crush on Willie, even Nick did and he barely talked to the guy. Alex wasn’t the most subtle person in the world and he couldn’t help it when his face turned bright red when Willie casually wrapped an arm around his shoulder. The only person who didn’t know about Alex’s crush was Willie himself. He made his friends promise not to tell them, and luckily, they didn’t. He was scared Reggie was gonna let it slip but surprisingly, Reggie ended up being the least of his concerns. No, the real problem was Luke. He wasn’t trying to spill Alex’s secret, he just kept almost accidently doing it. Willie didn’t catch on, or at least he didn’t act like he did.
Alex shushed her. “What if someone hears you?”
She shrugged. “Would it really be a bad thing? Everyone knows he likes you. You should just go and ask him out. Maybe then you’d have a date for Valentine’s day.”
“Again, you guys are just assuming he likes me.” Alex responded, a light blush covering his cheeks.
“You don’t have to believe me. I’m just trying to help.” Carrie said before walking away.
“I….ok.” Alex was going to give her the thing he made her for Valentine’s Day but he guessed he’d have to wait until later to do it. Just then, Alex felt a hand on his shoulder and he immediately knew who the hand belonged to. “Hey Luke.”
“Hey man, whatcha doing just standing here?”
“Well I was talking to Carrie but she kinda just walked away.” Alex explained simply. Alex made his way over to his locker and Luke followed him. Luke was talking about his plan for Julie but Alex was only half listening. He was thinking about what Carrie had said. He’s heard it about a million times before from his other friends but never believed it. He imagined what it would be like if he actually did tell Willie how he felt. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if Willie didn’t like him back so he focused on what would happen if he did. Thinking positively about this was hard, especially since Alex was always pretty pessimistic but eventually, he got some positive thoughts to hit his head.
He could imagine them on a date.They wouldn’t go to some fancy restaurant, it would be something more lowkey yet still be just as romantic. Willie would be rambling on about something while Alex just listened. It was normally hard for Alex to focus but when Willie talked, it was actually pretty easy. Willie kept things interesting and commonly wanted Alex’s input. He could imagine the smile on Willie’s face when Alex would comment on what he had just said. At the end of the night, Willie would pull him into a soft but loving kiss before skating away. The thought of the whole situation made Alex giddy, which wasn’t a new feeling when it came to Willie.
“So, what do you think?” Luke asked, breaking Alex from his thoughts.
Of course he had to ask Alex something when he wasn’t paying attention. “Uh...yeah sounds great.” He answered, hoping Luke would just leave it.
Luke just stared at him for a second before licking his lips. “What did I just say Alex?”
He was able to get some part of what Luke had said but most of it came in one ear and went out the other. “You…..were talking about a song?”
Luke sighed before leaning against the locker next to Alex’s. “What’s got you all off focus?”
Alex opened his locker and started to put away his stuff. “Sorry man, I was just lost in my-” He started to explain before pausing once he noticed an envelope taped on the door of his locker. He looked over at Luke, who was still pouting over the fact that Alex hadn’t been listening to him. He slowly grabbed the envelope and held it in his hands. His name was written upon the envelope but he didn’t recognize the handwriting. It was super fancy and neat. The only person he knew with even close to similar handwriting was Carrie but he could tell this wasn’t hers. Alex once again looked over at Luke, who was now looking at Alex’s hands.
“You gonna open it?”
Alex hesitated. He was definitely going to open it but he was scared. “How did they open my locker?”
“Who cares man. Just open it.” Luke urged. Alex waved a hand in Luke’s direction before carefully opening the letter. He took his time to make sure not to rip the envelope, which he could tell made Luke annoyed but he just ignored it. Within the envelope, there was a piece of construction paper.
- I am glad this letter made its way to you. First off, I just wanted to say Happy Valentine’s Day. I’ve heard that you are a hopeless romantic which luckily for me, makes this a lot more fun. If you are up for it, I have set up a sort of mini scavenger hunt for you. It will take place throughout the day. I really hope you when you find out who sent you on a wild goose chase it would all worth it to you. To start it off, find Julie in her favorite place in the school.
~Your secret admirer.
“I have a secret admirer?” Alex asked, putting his gaze onto Luke, who was peering at the note over his shoulder.
“Looks like you do.” Luke said as he squeezed Alex’s shoulders.
“Julie’s favorite place in the school? Where would that even be?” Alex mumbled. Julie never really mentioned having a favorite place. He thought about it a bit more before realizing there was only one place that really made sense. Without saying anything, Alex quickly started making his way down the hall. Luke called after him to wait up., but Alex just kept going. He really wanted to know who his secret admirer had been. He made his way over to the music room and luckily enough, Julie was sitting there behind the piano. Mrs.Harrison was standing behind her. Alex carefully knocked on the door, which caused both of the girls to look up.
“Alex! I’ve been expecting you!” Julie said happily as she made her way to the door to greet him. She immediately pulled him into a hug. The moment she released him from the hug, she went back to the piano and picked something up from the bench. Alex could only assume it was the next letter. She made her way back over and happily handed the note to him. He opened this one a lot more quickly.
-Well, I guess I should start this off by saying that everything I will be saying in these letters is nothing but the truth. You are amazing Alex. Your eyes are as beautiful as the sea. The pale blue which would normally be so cold gives me nothing but warmth when I look into them. You’ll receive your next letter from Nick. I know you two share a gym class so you’ll get your next letter from him then.
~Your secret admirer.
Alex groaned. “I don’t have gym until second period.”
“Be patient Romeo.” Julie teased with a giggle. Alex shot a quick look at Mrs.Harrison, who just looked at him with a smile. He wasn’t sure if she knew anything about this but if any teacher were to know, it would be Mrs.Harrison. Alex quickly shook off the fact that she knew anything about this. It didn’t matter. What did matter was that Alex was ecstatic about the whole situation. Whoever this person was, they were a pretty good writer. Alex’s realization of this made him frown. He was secretly hoping that his secret admirer was Willie but he knew the skater was an awful writer. You would think someone so good with words would be an amazing writer but nope. He should’ve known that it wasn’t gonna be Willie. He was only mildly disappointed. He should give whoever this person was a chance. Maybe this could be his way to get over his crush on Willie.
Alex was practically bouncing in his seat for all of first period, which got him a few odd glances. Martha, a girl who was part of Carrie’s group, Dirty Candy, asked him if he was ok which he awkwardly responded with a quick yes before trying to calm his nerves. Of course he was anxious about this whole thing. Though unlike things that normally made him anxious, this wasn’t a bad type of being anxious. It was very clear to tell the difference. This made him feel excited when his normal anxiousness made him feel scared. Alex’s focus was on the whole secret admirer thing and nothing else. He went through every person it could possibly be. He quickly ruled out any girl. It wasn’t a secret that Alex was gay so even if he did have a girl secret admirer, he didn’t think they would say or do anything because they knew he wouldn’t reciprocate any of the feelings. The handwriting was something he had never seen before. To be fair, he didn’t really know a lot of people’s handwriting. The super neat and fancy handwriting really cemented that it wasn’t Willie. Not that Willie’s handwriting was bad, it just was nothing like the beautiful lettering on the card. As Alex kept thinking, he remembered the fact that whoever it was, had to have some access to his locker. If it was just dropped in, then he wouldn’t think too much of it but it being taped changed everything. Whoever it was either was super creepy and memorized his combo, already knew his combo or asked someone who did know his combo. Based on the fact that his friends were involved in this, he was thinking it was the third one. The only people who knew his combo were Luke, Reggie, Julie and Willie. Each of them having gone in his locker before.
The moment the bell signaling the end of first period rang, he quickly made his way to his locker to receive his gym clothes. Alex never thought he’d be excited to go to gym class but there was a first time for everything. He navigated the halls and made his way to the gym. With how fast he was, he wasn’t surprised that he was the first one there. He made his way into the locker room and quickly changed into his gym clothes. He waited in the gym for Nick to come out of the locker room. The moment he saw him, he started to make his way over. When he saw one of Nick’s friends go up to him, he stopped walking. He wasn’t very close to Nick and he didn’t know the person he was currently talking to but it felt wrong intruding so he just awkwardly waited for the two to stop talking. Luckily, it didn’t take long and when Nick’s friend left, Alex took the opportunity to make his way over to the blonde boy.
“Hey Alex.” Nick said happily once he noticed Alex’s presence.
“Hey Nick, how are you doing?” Alex asked. He didn’t want to seem rude by just jumping in and asking him for the note.
“I’m good. How are you?”
“Fine, just chilling around.”
The two of them stared at each other for a bit and Alex was really starting to feel awkward. He still didn’t want to ask for the note but he felt like he was going to combust if Nick didn’t give him the note within the next minute. Luckily, Nick seemed to be able to read his mind.
“Right! Oh my god, I’m so sorry. You’re here for this.” Nick reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out an envelope. He handed it over to Alex with a smile on his face. Alex opened it and scanned the notes.
~I know you aren’t the best at accepting compliments but you are so much more than you think Alex. You call yourself overly emotional but I just think you are passionate. You love the things you love and will love them no matter what. That’s admirable Alex. It’s a great trait to have. I can’t wait to rave about how great you are in the rest of these letters. The next letter you’ll get next period where you’ll meet Reggie. He should be waiting for you by the infamous water fountain on the second floor near the stairs. Why he chose the water fountain is beyond me.
~Your secret admirer.
Alex felt the curiosity get the better of him. He really wanted to know who this person was. Nick had been looking at him the whole time while he was reading the letter. “Hey Nick, you know who my secret admirer is, right?”
Nick tilted his head and smiled. “I mean, how else would I have gotten the letter?”
Alex mentally facepalmed. He was glad he had asked that question to Nick and not someone else. They would’ve probably laughed at him. Not in a mean way but either way, he didn’t really feel like being laughed at today. “Can you tell me anything about them?”
Nick didn’t say anything for about a minute. Alex was almost certain Nick was going to tell him something, he was probably just thinking of what to say in order to not give it away. “I can’t tell you much but let me just say I think you’ll be happy with who it is.” Nick said carefully.
Alex wanted to press a bit more since that clue was incredibly vague but he wasn’t very close to Nick in the first place. He had to go to Reggie next so maybe he could try to press him a bit more. He didn’t want Reggie to straight up tell him since that would ruin the fun but he did want some clue of who it was. With Nick’s clue, he could only rule out about 5 people. But he couldn’t even rule out those people completely because it was a completely subjective matter. He could absolutely hate the person but Nick might not know that. Maybe if it had come from Luke, Reggie or Julie, it would be a lot more clear. He wasn’t complaining though, at least Nick gave him something to work with.
Gym class couldn’t end soon enough. They were playing basketball and Alex hated basketball with a passion. Alex was never the best at sports in general but basketball was his worst by far. He’s never left gym class so quickly. Well, that probably wasn’t true since he practically spritned out of every gym class but this time he did it with a purpose other than to just leave the class. He quickly made his way to his locker and then to the water fountain. The infamous water fountain had basically been broken since the beginning of the school year. The school would claim it had been fixed but either no water or too much water would come out of the thing. Willie learned that lesson the hard way when the front of his shirt had gotten soaked with water. Alex offered Willie his hoodie which he happily took. Alex was unable to focus the whole rest of the day because the only thing that came to his mind was the image of Willie wearing his signature hoodie. He failed the pop quiz they had that day which his parents weren’t very happy about.
“Hey Reg.” Alex said as he made his way up to his friend. The boy in front of him had a huge smile on his face.
“Hey Lex. Happy Valentine’s Day! A little birdie told me you are on a little quest.” Reggie teased.
“Uh yeah, sorta. Wait, didn’t you already know about it?”
Reggie looked up, his face morphing into one of confusion. His face then returned to his normal grin before shrugging. “Anyway, I do believe you are here for this?” He asked as he held out the envelope Alex had been expecting.
Wordlessly, Alex took the envelope from his hands before reading it.
~Look, I’m not always the best with words but writing about how great you are comes pretty easily to me. Your humor is unmatched by anyone. I know you get worried about your sarcasm coming off as mean but it’s one of my favorite things about you. You never fail to make me smile. You are my light on my darkest days. For the next letter, you will receive it at lunch. It will be given to you by the lovely Flynn.
~Your secret admirer.
The curiosity at this point was slowly killing him. The letters made it seem more and more like someone he sorta knew. The more Alex thought about it, the more confused he got. He knew a lot of people. Maybe not on a personal level but he knew tons of people, especially since his teachers loved to do group work. Now Alex was starting to regret using his sarcasm so often because if he didn’t maybe he’d get some sense of who it was. Alex looked up and expected to see Reggie in front of him but the black haired boy was no longer in front of him. That was when Alex felt a breath on his neck and jumped. He turned his head and found Reggie standing behind him, his eyes focused on the letter.
“What? I didn’t get to read it!” Reggie reasoned once he noticed Alex had been looking at him. Alex quickly realized this was his chance to ask Reggie for another clue.
“Hey Reg?” In response, Reggie gave him a quick hum so Alex continued. “Can you give me a clue about who it is?”
“I don’t know man. I don’t want to be the one to mess this up.”
Alex hesitated before responding. “I’ll give you my lunch.”
Reggie quickly backed away so he could look at Alex properly. “No way man. You gotta eat.” Sometimes Alex forgot that Reggie’s love for his friends surpassed his love for food.
Alex sighed. “I’ll give you some money so you can buy an extra one then.”
He didn’t miss the way his friend’s eyes lit up. “Promise?”
There was no going back now. “Yup.”
Reggie, similarly to Nick, took a while to give him any sort of information. Alex could tell Reggie really was thinking hard about how to give a good clue without spoiling it. He knew Flynn wouldn’t give him anything and if Flynn wasn’t his last note, then this would probably be the last chance Alex had for a clue.
“Art.” Reggie said slowly.
“Art? What does that mean?”
He got a shrug. “I can’t tell you man. I’ve already given away too much.” He had a point. He didn’t have to give Alex any clue at all. This was miles better above nothing and pretty high above Nick’s clue. Still, he didn’t have much to work off of.
Alex spent the entirety of his next two classes thinking about who it could be. What did art mean? There were two ways of taking this clue. They were either in his art class or they happened to like art. There were people who were in his art class who hated art and there were people who weren’t in his art class that loved art. All Alex knew was that he could finally cross Brandon off his list for sure since he hated art and wasn’t in Alex’s art class. He internally victory danced for that one. If he had to actually face Brandon, chances are he wouldn’t be able to reject him. Alex was really bad at saying no to people, which he knew was a major problem but he couldn’t help it.
When lunch rolled around, he was quick to make his way over to the cafeteria. He usually took his time in order to meet up with his friends before all walking together but he was far too excited. He had a feeling he was getting closer to the end of the whole scavenger hunt thing. He really hoped this whole thing would be worth it in the end. He assumed it would be since some of his friends seemed to be in on it. They wouldn’t have helped whoever this person was if they didn’t think they were a somewhat decent person so this couldn’t end too badly, right? Alex got his lunch pretty quickly and made his way to their usual spot in the cafeteria. It was a table towards the middle of the cafeteria. When it was just Luke, Julie, Reggie, Flynn and Alex, they had sat in the back corner of the cafeteria. Not that they minded, they had chosen that spot. But once they became friends with Carrie, Kayla, Nick and Willie, they naturally gravitated towards the center of the cafeteria. It wasn’t a bad spot. Did Alex sometimes prefer the old one? Yes but it was a small sacrifice to make in order to hang out with his new friends. He anxiously waited for his friend’s arrival, which was taking way longer than usual.
Carrie and Kayla were the first to arrive at the table considering the fact that they both refused to eat school lunch. They had always brought their lunch from home. Next two to arrive were Luke and Reggie. The black haired boy was carrying two trays, showing that he had used Alex’s money to get himself extra food. After that, Nick and Willie had made their way over to the table. Based on who they were, someone would say the two seemed like a very unlikely pair but someone would also say Alex and Willie were an unlikely pair. Even though Willie and Nick were pretty different people, the two loved to talk about whatever came to their minds. Flynn, unsurprisingly, was a similar way. The three of them could ramble on forever and even though nobody knew what they were talking about, people just let them keep talking. Nick, Flynn and Willie sort of became an unexpected dynamic trio. Alex really wished Flynn was part of this trio right now. He was itching to get his letter.
“Hey, you ok there Lex?” Luke asked as he sat down.
Alex furrowed his eyebrows. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Your leg.” Carrie answered for Luke. Alex was about to ask what she meant but when he glanced down, he realized how much he was shaking his leg. Willie sat down next to Alex and slowly put his hand on his shoulder, which immediately made his leg stop shaking. Alex looked up at Luke, who had a smirk on his face. He quickly looked at the rest of his friends, who all gave him their own looks. In embarrassment, Alex stared down at the table.
“Careful, you’re gonna burn a hole into it.” Reggie joked, causing everyone to laugh.
“What’s everyone laughing at?” Alex looked up and Julie was there, taking her seat next to Luke.
“Hey Julie, where Flynn?” Alex asked.
“Oh, she’s coming. She just had to get something from Mrs.Brown.” Julie answered, causing Alex to groan and place his head on the table.
He knew he was being impatient but he couldn’t help it. Alex felt Willie’s hand go from his shoulder to his back, He felt his hand start rubbing circles on his back which made him feel a lot better. If Alex were to lift his head up, everyone would be able to see his face, which he could only assume was a bright red. He silently prayed Flynn wouldn’t come until his face calmed down. The universe seemed to be against him when he heard Flynn’s laugh.
“What’s up with him?” He heard her ask. Alex slowly lifted his head up and looked at the girl. She giggled the moment she saw his red face but didn’t say anything which Alex was extremely grateful for.
“Do you have it? My letter I mean.” Alex asked hopefully.
“Oh shoot! I knew I forgot something!” Flynn exclaimed. Alex groaned once again before putting his head back on the table. He heard Julie and Flynn laugh so he lifted his head up and saw Flynn holding the envelope. “Just kidding! Here it is!”
Alex gave her an annoyed look before taking the letter from her hands. Willie took his hand off Alex, which made Alex a little upset but he tried not to dwell on it. Instead, he opened the envelope and read the card within.
~Luck was on my side when I had first ran into you. It was almost as if we were destined to find each other. I always believed that there was a reason for things to happen and I realized the reason we were supposed to meet. You make me a better person Alex, whether you choose to believe it or not. The next one will be given to you by Kayla after next period. It shouldn’t be too hard to find her since she’ll be at her locker.
~Your secret admirer.
“You.” Alex said as he looked at Kayla, who just gave him a confused look.
“What about me?” She asked as she took a bite of her sandwich.
“Why can’t you give me the letter now? I mean you’re already here.” Alex reasoned. Did he know he was sounding extremely whiny and desperate? Yes but he really didn’t care at this point. He was dying to find out who it was at this point.
“I’m just following orders Alex.” Kayla explained.
Alex sighed before remembering the fact that he had his own valentines to give out. He reached into the small he had brought to lunch with him and grabbed the small cards out of it. He spent a decent amount of time making them and he was sorta proud of them. He was not the art type at all but he tried to draw something that had some sort of relation to them. Some of them were easy to come up with, like a dalia for Julie or a piece of candy for Carrie. But for Reggie and Nick especially, he struggled a lot. He ended up giving them simple drawings, Reggie a peace sign and Nick a lacrosse stick. Willie’s was his favorite by far. It was the one he spent the most time on and it showed. It was a dog and a skateboard. It was an inside joke the two shared and it made him giddy when he was able to incorporate the joke into the card. Alex also wrote each of them a small message. It wasn’t much but he hoped they would like it. Apparently, they did because he was quickly bombarded with hugs. Alex loved hugs more than anyone. They were a nice bit of comfort for him and they made him really happy. It was nice to see that something Alex had done had brought joy. The ones who were the most notably happy were Julie and Willie. Julie squeezed him super hard before pressing a kiss onto his cheek.
“Thank you Lex, I love it! Your drawings are so cute!” Julie praised.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that-” Alex started but was cut off by Reggie. “Can you seriously own your awesomeness for once?”
Alex looked around the table as everyone murmured in agreement. “Ok, ok. My drawings are pretty good.” Alex said, hoping his friends were satisfied with that. Based on their reaction, they were.
“A dog on a skateboard?” Willie asked, one of his eyebrows raised.
“Oh, well...you know, it’s like our joke and like I couldn’t really think of anything else and-” Alex started to ramble but stopped when he once again felt Willie’s hand upon his shoulder. Alex felt his heart speed up at the contact.
“I love it Alex.” Willie sounded sincere, which made Alex feel like he was floating. The two stared into each other’s eyes. A very gentle smile grew onto Willie’s face that made Alex’s insides melt. He didn’t know how long they had been staring at each other but it didn’t matter. Alex felt as if they were in their own little world and he couldn’t ask for anything else.
“Do you guys mind? I’m trying to eat!” Flynn exclaimed, snapping Alex out of his trance. Julie slapped Flynn on the arm before giggling.
“Leave them alone Flynn.” Julie said sternly before looking up at Alex. She gave him a small smile before turning back to Flynn. She whispered something into the girl’s ear. Whatever it was made Flynn laugh. Alex had a feeling he didn’t want to know what she had said. Julie then took the time to pass out her valentines, which were different than they had previously been. The drawings she used did were replaced with beautiful poems that related to each of them in some way. The girl really went above and beyond this year. As Alex read his poem, he noticed a difference between his and everyone else’s. While everyone else had red, pink and white hearts in the corner of their poems, Alex’s had a rainbow heart on his. Alex had come out to his parents a few weeks ago and they were not happy. Everyone knew how hurt Alex was by it but they never brought it up. While the heart was a small gesture, Alex really appreciated it. He looked up at Julie and she flashed him a smile.
Lunch flew by which made Alex upset until he realized that lunch ending was one step closer to finding out his secret admirer. He was still sort of upset at Kayla for the fact that she didn’t just give him the letter at lunch but he knew she was just following directions. Would the person even know that she had given him the letter early? Probably not but Kayla was one to listen to what she was told and he didn’t blame her for that. He was really starting to hope his secret admirer was someone special because this was his chance to get over Willie. The whole situation with him at lunch made him realize how hard he had fallen for the skater and he was desperate to find a way to escape. Not that liking Willie was a bad thing. He was sweet and caring and super passionate about the things he liked. Alex just wished he had some sort of chance. He never really seemed to take any romantic interest in Alex, which sucked. No matter how many times his friends claimed that he did, Alex refused to believe it.
When the bell for sixth period dismissal had rang, Alex realized quickly that he didn’t actually remember where Kayla’s locker was. He had a general idea of where it was, or at least he thought he did but now he realized he had no actual real idea. He just went to where he assumed it was. Luckily, he had chosen the right place because standing a few feet in front of him was the girl in question.
“Kayla, hey.” Alex said as he approached her.
“You know, you’re lucky you're my friend. I wasn’t supposed to come to school today but I did because I wanted to help you out.” She told him as she handed over the card. Even though her words sounded like she was mad, the look on her face said otherwise. Kayla had always been a pretty nice girl. Sure she could be sarcastic at times but so could Alex. Kayla kinda just went with the flow and didn’t seem to worry about much at all, sort of like Willie. Alex shook his head. He really needed to stop thinking about Willie and focus on this new person. He read the card that was in the envelope.
~I know I don’t say this enough to you but I really appreciate having you in my life. I’d do anything for you. No matter what it is, you ask and I’d do it without hesitation. You mean a lot to me. I know that since you don’t know who this is, I might sound a little crazy but it will all make sense in the end. You’re almost at the end of this all, just one more letter. You’ll get it from Carrie after 7th period. She’ll be waiting by the 1st floor bathrooms.
~Your secret admirer.
“I only have one more letter?” Alex asked, looking up at Kayla.
“Uh, yeah. I think so? I don’t know. I never got a chance to read the letter.”
“None of you read the letters?” Alex assumed that at least someone read the letters but everyone seemed completely clueless of what was in them. To be fair, the most likely one to read one of the letters is Carrie. She was pretty nosy when she wanted to be.
“Nope. They were given to us sealed.” Well there goes the whole Carrie reading them theory.
“So...about this person….”
“No.” Kayla said sternly.
Alex knew he was pushing his luck asking Kayla. If it was anyone else, he would’ve pushed it but it was Kayla and he wasn’t close enough to do that with her. He took the no and decided to just look at the clue he was sorta given within this letter. Kayla seemed shocked that he didn’t push it, almost as if she had expected him to push the issue. She wished him a quick goodbye before making her way to class. Alex’s mind was completely absorbed with the whole secret admirer thing. Apparently Alex meant a lot to whoever this person was which was really weird considering he didn’t talk to too many people outside his friend group. At this point, he was more confused than ever. Everytime his mind would think of someone, something just didn’t add up. Either they weren’t associated with art or he didn’t think they’d be a good match with him. Then, there was one person who came to his mind.
There was a pretty good chance it could’ve been Seth from his art class. He fit the few clues he had. He not only was in his art class but loved art. Plus, the two had gotten somewhat close because they had multiple classes together. They have been partnered up more times than he could count. He was a nice guy and Alex wouldn’t mind if it was him. He also knew that Nick knew Seth since they were both on the lacrosse team. All the signs were pointing to Seth and although he was still pretty disappointed that it wasn’t Willie, he was still decently satisfied with who it could be.
With how slow time seemed to be moving, he thought class would never end. If someone asked him to tell them a single thing Alex learned from any of his classes today, he wouldn’t be able to say a single thing. He would probably regret not paying attention later but now, it didn’t really matter. He was far too excited at this point.
When the bell rang after 7th period, Alex raced over to the 1st floor bathrooms. He found it sort of ironic that Carrie was meeting him here since she had this whole thing about not using public bathrooms. At first, Alex thought it was really weird but then when he heard her explanation of why, he quickly understood her reasoning. Alex anxiously waited for Carrie outside the bathrooms. She was sure taking her sweet time. He knew that her locker was a pretty great distance from the bathrooms so he wasn’t surprised it was taking a while but he was also tired of waiting. This was the last note and the last note meant that he was super close to the end of this whole mystery. He thought he might’ve cracked it, but he still couldn’t be 100% certain.
“Calm down, I’m here.” He heard a familiar voice say from behind him. He turned around and he was face to face with the exact person he wanted to see at this moment. He breathed out a sigh of relief which Carrie rolled her eyes to. She barely had held out the letter to him before he took it and started reading.
~Everything I have said from his point has been nothing but complete honesty. I know that it’s hard for you to believe it all but it’s true. I hope that I am able to one day make you see how truly amazing you are, if you’ll have me that is. I’m sorry this note is so short but I’ll be able to tell you everything I haven’t said yet another time. To end this whole thing, go back to where you found your first letter at the end of the day.
~Your secret admirer.
“If you’ll have me?” Alex questioned, quoting what the note had said.
“He means if you’ll go out with him. Men are idiots.” Carrie said with an eye roll. Carrie was notoriously known for insulting men which should’ve offended Alex but it didn’t. She clarified that she wasn’t including Alex most of the things she said. But she was always quick to throw a jab at Alex for not using his brain completely, especially around Willie but that was only when the occasion called for it.
“So it’s for sure a guy?” Alex couldn’t believe he still needed this confirmation but he still had never gotten one.
Carrie gave Alex a look. “You are just now asking this?” Alex shrugged, causing Carrie to sigh. “Yeah Alex, it’s for sure a guy.”
Well that was good. Alex really didn’t feel like making anyone upset today. If it somehow had been a girl, he would’ve had to let her down gently which Alex was not the best at. He was told that he was very bad at it, being a more realist person which conflicted his overly emotional side. No one understood how Alex was both but they just went with it. If they asked, they’d just end up with more questions.
Just as Alex was about to leave, he heard Carrie clear her throat. He turned to look back at her. Her whole attitude was colder than it had been a few seconds ago. How the girl can go from bubbly to terrifying in two seconds was one of the scariest things about Carrie.
“You better not mess this up. You know I love you and all but if you hurt him, I will not hesitate to make things a living nightmare for you.” Carrie warned.
And like that, Carrie walked away. As Alex made his way to class, he started to question his Seth theory. The guy probably knew Carrie to some degree but he didn’t think Carrie knew much about him. Definitely not enough to threaten Alex like this over him. Unless they knew each other more than he thought. He didn’t think that was pretty likely but at this point, he was grasping onto anything in order to try to make some sense of all this. Who knew Carrie would be the downfall of his critical thinking? She was usually the one to help his critical thinking, other than Julie. His other friends were either far too chaotic, not close enough to him or made his brain turn into goo.
Carrie, while she could be mean, slapped some sense into him. Julie and Carrie had sort of a good cop bad cop dynamic. There was Flynn who was similar to Carrie and could also be the bad cop. But Flynn wasn’t very helpful when it came to helping Alex think properly. She was super helpful when you needed an idea so crazy it just might work but when it came to more lowkey things, going to her wasn’t very helpful. Same with Luke and Reggie. Alex assumed Kayla and Nick would be good with critical thinking but he never really tested out his theory with the two of them. And thinking properly around Willie was basically a done deal. His brain basically shut down to a mode Reggie referred to as his “pretty boy mode.” Alex hated the name but Reggie had his friends sign an “official” petition in order to make the name a thing. Unsurprisingly enough, they all had signed it. Even Willie couldn’t help himself. He should’ve been mad but he secretly liked it when his friends did stuff like that. He would never tell them this but whenever they did small things to mess with him, it made it feel like their friendship was that much stronger.
With how fast he had left all his other classes, you’d think Alex would’ve left his last one at breakneck speed. He was basically so close to finding out who this person was and he should’ve been just as excited as he had previously been but now he was really starting to think about this whole situation. What if this were to all end super badly? Then he would feel bad that this person had gone through all this work in order to impress Alex. They seemed to know what Alex would like and they knew all the right words to say but what if Alex wasn’t enough for all that? Whoever this person was seemed to be sure Alex was this amazing person but what if they realized Alex wasn’t good enough for them? Alex’s mind then gravitated to Willie, as it commonly does. Alex was still head over heels for him and he didn’t want to hurt this other person because of it. He knew his crush was stupid and that he needed to get over it but that was the problem, he still needed to get over it. At first Alex thought this was his chance but now he wasn’t so sure. If only Alex had Julie right now, she would help him get out of his spiral. She always did without fail. A part of Alex also wished he had Willie. Even though part of his problem was Willie, he alway comforted Alex when he needed it.
For the first time that day, the bell ringing brought Alex a sense of heaviness. He really couldn’t escape this whole thing now. He’d have to go to his locker eventually. Alex was the last to leave the classroom and he slowly made his way through the crowded hallway. It didn’t take long for Alex to reach his locker. He was expecting someone to be there when he arrived but to his surprise, no one was there. Alex took the time to retrieve his belongings from within his locker. He then expected that when he closed his locker door, the person would be standing behind it. So Alex took a deep breath before closing the door. He turned over and no one was there. Well, that was anticlimactic. Just as he thought that, he felt a tap on his shoulder. This was it. He was finally going to figure out who this mystery person had been this whole time. With all the inner turmoil he had faced because of this, there was no avoiding the inevitable.
Alex slowly turned around and just like he had been expecting someone was standing behind him. What he wasn’t expecting was for it to be Luke. Alex felt his heart stop. Luke? Why did it have to be Luke of all people? At this point, he would’ve preferred the girl. He even would’ve preferred Brandon. Luke, his best friend since kindergarten, was standing there in front of him. Right where he was supposed to meet his secret admirer. Luke had a huge smile on his face and Alex had no clue what he was going to say.
“You’re my secret admirer?” Alex hoped he didn’t sound rude when he asked.
Luke’s smile morphed from a smile, to confusion and back to a smile. Alex couldn't tell if that was a bad sign or not. He was internally praying that it wasn’t. He really didn’t feel like hurting his best friend today.
“You do remember that I’m dating Julie, right?” Ok so maybe Alex had forgotten that small fact while he was spiraling. He really could’ve used some of those critical thinking skills right about now.
“”Right, no I knew that. Just, they are supposed to meet me here and-” Alex didn’t really know where he was going with this so he was grateful Luke decided to cut him off. “I’m actually here to take you to them.”
Alex furrowed his eyebrows. “Wait, you’re in on this? But you acted surprised this morning.”
“Did I? Did I really?” Luke asked in response. Thinking back, Luke didn’t act surprised whatsoever.
“Ok, that’s fair. Are you gonna take me to them or?” Alex questioned. Just as he was going to take a step, he was stopped by Luke.
“First, I gotta put this on.” Alex was going to ask what he had meant but before he could, Luke took a piece of fabric out of his pocket. Without saying anything, he went to go put it around Alex’s eyes, causing Alex to jump back in shock. “Whoa, what is that?” Alex asked as he pointed to the fabric.
“It’s a blindfold.” Luke said casually as if it wasn’t weird to have a blindfold in your pocket.
“Yeah and why exactly do you need one?”
“Look man, I’m just trying to do as I was told.” Luke explained as he reached up and once again tried to put the blindfold on Alex. This time, Alex didn’t try to fight it. “My secret admirer told you to put a blindfold on me?”
“No, but this is a lot more fun.”
“Fun for who exactly?” Alex scoffed.
“Me, now let's go!” Luke exclaimed as he pulled the blindfold extra tight, causing Alex to flinch. It slightly hurt but it wasn’t too bad. Alex didn’t trust Luke whatsoever in this moment. His anxiety was rising with each and every new step he took. Luke kept reassuring him that it would be fine and this would all be worth it but Alex wasn’t so sure. He wanted to trust Luke’s judgement but that was sorta hard when the guy blindfolded him and was walking him to some unknown place. He didn’t know how far they had walked up soon enough, Alex felt a force press down onto his shoulders. He immediately stopped in place.
“Ok, we’re here now.” Luke informed him.
“Great, now can I take off the blindfold or?”
“Hold on a second. Stop being impatient.” Alex was going to complain that he wasn't really being impatient but arguing at this point wasn’t worth it to him. He heard some shuffling going on in front of him which he could only assume was his secret admirer.
“You can take it off now.” A new voice spoke, although the voice didn’t seem entirely new. He’s heard this voice before. It was a voice that was so familiar to him but he couldn’t pinpoint why that was exactly. Their voice gave Alex a weird sense of comfort. He took a deep breath before reaching up and removing the blindfold. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust from the darkness to the light. He blinked a few times before looking up at the person in front of him. He felt his heart stop. “Willie?”
“Surprise?” Willie was nervous, which was definitely new. Alex couldn’t remember a single time the skater had ever been nervous. If he had been, he never showed it. So many thoughts were running through his head and along with those thoughts came several questions. Everytime Alex tried to talk, he felt as if he couldn’t. Willie’s nervousness became more and more clear as Alex didn’t say anything. He realized that he needed to say something quickly.
“You broke into my locker?” Was what his brain supplied him with.
Willie shifted. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
Alex bounded on the balls of his feet. Well this was awkward. What would Luke or Reggir do in this situation? They’d probably have something super cool to say but Alex’s brain was giving him nothing to work with.
“Are you disappointed it was me?” Willie asked, breaking the silence.
“No!” Alex exclaimed loudly. It was definitely more loudly than he would’ve liked but it didn’t really matter in this moment. Willie looked shocked at Alex’s outburst. “No, trust me, I’m not disappointed at all.”
“Really?”
Alex was wondering if he should say what he wanted to say. It was a little embarrassing but he couldn’t really think of anything else to say. “Yeah. I was disappointed because I thought that it wasn’t you.” Alex confessed. When Willie stared at Alex, he got nervous and blurted out “I mean you’re usually an awful writer!”
He immediately regretted saying that. After all the nice things Willie had said to him in the letters, all Alex did was insult him. Just as he was about to apologize, Willie started to giggle. It was the cutest sound in the world and Alex was pretty sure it was going to kill him.
“Yeah, I can’t argue with that. That’s why I had Luke help me write. Well, I told him what I wanted to say and he put them into words that made sense. Then I had my uncle Caleb, you remember Caleb right? Anyway, I had him do the actual writing writing because I assumed you knew my handwriting.” Willie explained.
Of course Alex knew Willie’s handwriting. Not in like a creepy way or anything. Alex copied Willie’s notes sometimes because Willie knew about Alex’s problem focusing. When Willie offered to pay attention for him, he was confused on how that was gonna work out because Willie also had a hard time focusing but it worked out.
“Wow….so you like me? Like actually like me?”
Willie’s smile grew. “Uh yeah. I thought it was pretty obvious.” He chuckled.
“Well me too. I mean, I like you too.”
“Well, I was wondering if….” Willie started as he pulled his arm from behind his back. Had his arm been behind his back this whole time? Alex’s mind stopped thinking about it the moment he noticed what was in Willie’s hand. A beautiful red rose was being held out in front of him. “You wanted to go out tonight. I know it’s short notice but...I know you like Denny’s. And I was thinking that if you don’t hate me by the end of the night, maybe we could be more than friends?’
Alex didn’t say anything, he just pulled Willie into a tight hug. It took a second for Willie to reciprocate it but when he did, Alex felt a sense of warmth go through his body. That incredibly happy feeling he had previously was back and it was about ten times as strong. When he pulled back, he gave Willie a small smile. “I’m not sure if that was clear or not but, yeah, I’d really like that.” Alex said as he took the rose from Willie’s hand.
“He said yes!” He heard a random voice call out. He then heard a smack followed by a muffed ow from the same voice. He looked in the direction the noise had come from and noticed that there were people hiding behind the bushes.
“Thanks for blowing our cover Reggie.” Another familiar voice huffed. He could tell it was Carrie based on the tone. It was confirmed when Carrie popped up from behind the bush. The rest of his friends followed suit. Julie, Nick and Kayla all looked slightly embarrassed, Carrie and Flynn looked annoyed and Luke and Reggie looked ecstatic. They were so happy, it was like they had just been the ones to be asked out.
“You guys lasted a lot longer than I thought.” Willie commented as if it were normal for a bunch of teenagers to just pop out from behind a bush.
“You knew they were there?” Alex asked, turning his attention back onto Willie.
“Yeah, they told me they’d only help me if I let them watch.”
“Hey! I said I would help you regardless!” Julie called out.
Willie chuckled. “My bad. Yeah, everyone but Julie.” He corrected. Willie looked over at his friends before clearing his throat. “I should also mention that Carrie was the one who helped pick the spot.”
“What’s so special about-” Alex started to ask but stopped once he looked around the area. It all just clicked when he took a good look at their surroundings. They were currently standing right where Willie had first crashed into Alex. “Wow, you guys really thought of everything.”
“I wanted to make this special for you.” Willie said softly. Alex slowly reached his hand out, silently asking Willie to take it. Luckily, Willie got the memo and grabbed Alex’s hand.
“Well, mission accomplished.”