Work Text:
clumsy 'cause i'm falling in love
first time
that i saw your eyes
boy you looked right through me
played it cool
but i knew you knew
that cupid hit me
— fergie, clumsy
I'm going to be late I'm going to be late I'm going to be so so so late -
"Oops, sorry!" Emily winces as she rushes past a group of skateboarders, arms full of poster papers and supplies. "Sorry, sorry - oh my god, are you okay?"
The boy she's knocked over frowns up at her, blinking against the sunlight. "Uh... what just happened?"
"Oh, gosh," Emily sighs, hastily putting down all her supplies to help him up. "I'm so sorry, I'm just in a huge rush, and I have to - "
"Hey," he says once he's in a sitting position, laying a hand over hers where she's gripping his arm to help him, a smile brightening his face. "Relax, I'm fine. You should hurry though."
"Um," Emily says, a little thrown off guard by how sweet and handsome he looks when he's smiling. "Right. Right, thank you. I should - yeah - I'm Emily, by the way!" Why did you introduce yourself? You need to RUN.
"Emily," he repeats, rolling the word out. "Pretty name. I'm Mike."
"Nice to meet you, Mike," she says, unable to help returning his smile. Mike grins at her and for a moment, she just kneels on the sidewalk next to him, forgetting about her club meeting and how Mia is absolutely going to kill her if she's late again and -
"Don't you need to go?" Mike asks, raising an eyebrow. Emily jumps and rushes to gather up her stuff again, cheeks burning. He gets the last of her creative supplies and sets them carefully in her arms.
"Thank you," she says, apologetic that she knocked him over and now he has to help her. "I'll - bye!"
"Bye," he calls, his arm lifting in a wave before she runs off to the meeting, only chancing one last glance at him over her shoulder just to catch another glimpse of his smile.
-:-
"Hey, Mia," Emily says as they walk through campus after the meeting, watching as the classroom lights dim and the streetlamps start to burn brighter, "do you know a Mike in our year?"
Mia sends her a curious look. "I know about ten Mikes in our year. Which one are you talking about? And why?"
Emily shrugs, wrapping her yellow cardigan tighter around herself. "I ran into him earlier on my way to the meeting - literally. It's why I was late, I stopped to help him. I just..."
"Wanted to talk to him again?" Mia teases, whipping out her phone before Emily can even blink. "What does he look like, I'll Facebook stalk him."
"Oh, my god, Mia," Emily hisses, but Mia waves the phone at her and she sighs. "He's tall, he has brown hair, really pretty hazel eyes..."
"Sure, I'll just search for 'brown-haired, hazel-eyed boys' who go to our school," Mia says sarcastically, and Emily elbows her, laughing. "Come on, you didn't get a phone number or a last name or anything?"
"I was a little distracted!" Emily protests, leaning over Mia's shoulder anyway as she types in 'Mike' and waits for Facebook to fetch her suggestions. "No, no, he's way hotter than those guys."
"Oh, my god, Em," Mia chuckles. "Why don't you just try hanging around the skateboarders' area and see if he shows up again?"
Emily makes a face at her. "I don't wanna look desperate. What if he doesn't even remember me?"
"Well, then, he's an idiot, and not worth your time," Mia says with a shrug, linking her arm in Emily's. "Come on, let's go get sushi and you can tell me alllll about his pretty hazel eyes."
-:-
A week later, she's in the library to get a book for her Brit Lit class when there's a tap on her shoulder that startles her so much she nearly knocks over a cart of books behind her. At least, she would have, if someone's arms hadn't caught her before she managed.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," says a very familiar voice, and Emily turns around to see Mike standing there, an earnest smile on his face. His hands are soft on her waist, pulling her gently to her feet as she steadies herself.
"Oh, no, you - it's fine, I just - it's you!" Emily squeaks, immediately blushing. "I mean, um... hi?"
Mike chuckles, dropping his hands from her body. Now that they're both standing, she realizes he has a definite height advantage over her; in only sneakers, she has to look up to see his face properly.
"Hi," he echoes, grinning. "I thought I recognized those curls. How are you?"
"Great!" Emily says, voice far too high pitched for the library. She winces as one of the nearby librarians glowers at her. "I mean, great," she repeats in a lower voice. "How - how are you? I didn't think... I'd see you again."
"It's a big school," Mike agrees, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I tried looking you up on Facebook, but I never got your last name. There are a lot of Emilys in this school, believe it or not."
She almost laughs out loud, but stops herself in time. "No way, me too! What, uh... what is your last name?"
"Parry," he says, offering her his hand. "Mike Parry."
She accepts it, hoping her palm isn't too sweaty. His hand is big and warm around hers, and he doesn't let go immediately. "I'm Ava. I mean - I'm Emily. Emily Ava. That's - that's my name."
Mike grins at her. "Nice to meet you, Emily Ava. What are you looking for way in the back here?"
Emily huffs a sigh, turning her attention back to the bookshelf she'd been perusing. "Romance - I mean - " She chances a glance at him, but he just looks amused. "Romantic poetry, that's what I'm looking for. We're studying Blake and Wordsworth in English class."
"Fancy," Mike comments, absently picking up a copy of Frankenstein and flipping through it. "Are you an English major?"
"Communications," she clarifies. "But I take a lot of humanities classes. What about you, do you major in skateboarding?"
"I wish," Mike laughs. "That'd be awesome. Nah, I'm undeclared. Haven't figured it out, y'know?"
"Oh, I get that," Emily agrees, finding a collection of Blake's poetry and pulling it out triumphantly. "My parents wanted me to stay and work on the farm, but I wanted to go to college, and then I had to come up with a major that would convince them I was serious about it."
"You're a farm girl?" Mike says, looking impressed. "Like, cows and horses and stuff?"
"Cows, horses, pigs, chickens," Emily confirms, nodding. "If you like all that stuff, you should definitely come check out my farm next break - " She cuts herself off, horrified at what that sounds like, but Mike only chuckles.
"Are you asking me on a date?" he asks, smirking at her.
"I would never take you on a first date to my farm house," she says, affronted, although her cheeks are pink. "That's, like, fifth date material at best."
"Wow, so we have to go on four whole dates first?" Mike whistles. "That's a tough bargain, Emily Ava."
She giggles. "How'd you find me here, anyway? Dumb luck? Fate?"
"That sounds way cooler than what it actually was," Mike laughs, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, you know Kevin? Barron? He's one of my best friends, he says you're in his swim class, apparently."
"Oh, yeah, he teaches that class! He's a really good swim instructor," Emily says, putting the book in her bag.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Mike snorts. "I doubt that's why there are so many girls in that class, though."
Emily grins. "If it makes you feel better, I really did want to learn how to swim."
"I can buy that," Mike says wryly, grinning at her. "Well, I kinda mentioned I ran into you the other day and he was like, oh, that must be Emily, she's always running into people and over people and through people," he says, pitching his voice lower to mimic Kevin's usual grumpy tones.
Emily bursts out laughing, quickly covering her mouth so the librarians won't kick her out. "That does sound like him," she agrees. "And me, unfortunately."
"Hey, I certainly don't mind your clumsiness," Mike says, winking at her. "He told me I could find you here on Fridays, I guess he was right."
Emily hides a smile in another book that she doesn't really need for her English class. "Well, you found me."
"Yeah," Mike says, his voice going soft as he smiles at her. "Would you say yes if I asked you on the first of four dates?"
She bites her lip, closing the book and looking back up at him. "You really want to see a bunch of cows eating grass that badly?"
"I would love to see a bunch of cows eating grass," Mike says earnestly, making her giggle again. "How do you feel about sushi?"
"Mmm," Emily says, scrunching her face at him. "Just had it the other day, sorry."
"Pizza?" he tries.
"I could go for pizza," she admits, biting her lip. "Right now?"
"Whenever you want," he promises.
Emily tilts her head, considering. "Do you ask out every girl who runs into you on the streets?"
Mike grins. "Only the pretty ones."
-:-
coda
"Is she okay?" Lauren asks in concern as Emily buries her face in her pillow to muffle a squeal. Mia trades a look with her girlfriend - Emily knows, without even seeing it herself - and carefully moves from her bed to Emily's, patting her head gently as she sits down.
"How'd the date go, Em?" she asks gingerly, smoothing her curls down.
Emily breathes out, flips around so she's lying on her back, and says slowly, "It was... amazing."
"Oh, thank god," Lauren mutters. "I was afraid we were going to have to go beat him up."
Emily clutches her pillow to her chest and ignores. "He was so nice... and funny. And cute, wow, Mia, you didn't tell me college would be like this."
Mia chuckles. "Only you could literally find a boyfriend by barreling into him on the streets."
"How'd you meet Lauren?" Emily asks out of curiousity.
Lauren and Mia trade grins, and then Mia says, "I kicked her little brother's ass at karate practice, that's how."
"Mia," Emily chides. "Jayden's such a sweetheart, though!"
"He is, but he also gets easily distracted by cute boys," Mia says with a smirk. "Well, one in particular. Just like you."
"I'm not distracted," Emily protests. "I'm just... floating on cloud nine."
"Okay, see if you can do your homework now that you're home from the ball, Cinderella," Mia teases. "Are you sure we don't have to go beat him up? You know Lauren absolutely will."
Lauren smiles brightly at her. Emily giggles as she gets out of her bed, but shakes her head. "No, he's very sweet. He asked me out again for coffee next week, too."
"Wow, two dates in your first semester in the city?" Lauren laughs, nudging Emily as she walks past her and over to her desk. "They grow up so fast."
Mia grins fondly at the two of them. "Don't I know it," she agrees.
Emily sticks her tongue out at them, but her phone beeps as she's sitting down at her desk, Mike's face smiling up at her from the screen, and she thinks maybe college in the big city isn't the biggest mistake of her life after all. Teasing roommates and perpetual clumsiness aside, she thinks she rather likes Panorama City.