ONE
Laura Harper felt her breath catch when she saw someone sitting in her living room with her brother, casually scrolling through the TV.
Ruben Ivor Erikson.
What the heck was he doing here?
She turned and hurried into her room before he could see her. Her heart was racing a million miles a second as she shut and locked the door behind her, leaning against it, panting heavily. She knew she was being melodramatic but she couldn’t help it.
She hid in her room for the next two hours as she paced back and forth, caught in her inner turmoil.
Her mind scrambled over whether she should say anything to the shifter she’d had a crush on for the past four years. She always got so tongue-twisted whenever she was around him and ended up making a fool of herself in front of him. And given the fact that he was actually in her house, she was guaranteed to embarrass herself.
She met Ruben when they were in grade six and now they were in grade ten. She’d fallen for him the second her eyes laid on him. He was incredibly handsome with his long, curly brown hair and brown eyes that were full of mischief and humor but it was his personality that drew her to him. He was sarcastic brash and outspoken but was also kind, considerate, and looked out for everyone.
At first, she’d liked him for his looks and how easy it was to be around him. One day when she was in grade seven, she and her best friend Larissa were walking down the staircase together when she accidentally tripped and fell down the rest of the steps, spraining her ankle. Ruben had been standing nearby when he saw this and he immediately swept her up in his arms and carried her to the infirmary and stayed by her side as the nurse checked over her. That solidified her feelings for him but she’d always been too terrified to tell him. If he rejected her it would crush her.
To her knowledge, he didn’t have a girlfriend and didn’t know if he’d ever dated. She was relieved he wasn’t seeing someone though she wasn’t sure she could act on it.
No. She had to act on it. Larissa had been telling her for ages to talk to him. Her best friend knew she’d been following Ruben around like a love-struck puppy for years and had told her to speak to him, to ask him out. She’d been telling her to act on this now or someone else would come along and be with him.
She gave herself a mental pep talk. If she wanted to be with him, then hiding out in her room and running any time she was nearby wouldn’t accomplish anything.
This was her chance. If she wanted to speak to him then she had to go out there and say hello and start a conversation.
Alright, she told herself. Let’s do it. She brushed her wild, curly black hair out of her face and behind her ears, checked herself in the mirror and saw she was presentable, and walked out of the room to the living room.
She braced herself to talk to Ruben only to slump in disappointment. He was gone.
Her brother, Derek, sat by himself on the couch and was channel surfing. He looked up as she walked in and sat beside him. “Hey, sis.”
“Hey. What was Ruben doing here?”
“He joined the Star Ball Team and came by to get some old equipment and play some video games.”
Star Ball was the ball game shapeshifters played where they could shift into any form they wanted. The goal was to put a ball that was filled with stars into the hoop to win. Any form was allowed and it was intense. To say the least. In the last game, someone had been thrown through a wall and had several broken bones. They recovered but were out for the next two seasons.
Derek had been playing Star Ball since he was eleven years old and had always tried to get her and their sister Alison to join the team. Alison would grumble and complain to the point he left her alone and Laura didn’t last ten minutes in the warmups. The sport was not for the weak. She got winded whenever she had to walk up and down the stairs of her huge school. Having to go through the intense, Guardian-like warmups, much less the practice, nearly did her in. She wasn’t in shape like her brother.
“That’s cool,” she said and forced nonchalance in her voice to hide her disappointment.
Derek paid her no attention as he continued flipping through the TV.
Ruben kept picturing Laura peeking out at him before hurrying into her room. Derek hadn’t noticed the exchange and Ruben pretended to have not noticed. He stayed at the house for as long as he could before going home, hoping she would come back out so he could say hi to her.
He thought of her as he ate dinner with his uncle, Mark. For some reason, he was infatuated with her.
Truth be told, he’d had a crush on her since grade seven. They’d had several classes together and was always so kind and gentle to everyone. She wasn’t weak and in need of protection, he knew she could handle herself from what he saw in their Self-Defense class, she was fierce but always looked out for everyone else and made the room brighter whenever she stepped in.
He’d realized his feelings that one time in grade seven when Laura had fallen down some stairs and hurt her ankle. Without thinking, he’d shoved the crowd around her out of the way, swept her up in his arms, and carried her to the nurse’s office as fast as he could. He’d refused to leave her side as the nurse checked her even when the elf had tried to tell him to get back to class. Luckily, all she had was a sprained ankle, and able to walk. She was sent back to class and he walked her to her there.
He’d wanted to ask her out for a long time though was hesitant. He liked her so much and was admittedly scared to be rejected. He didn’t know if she felt the same.
And there was the fact he was friends with her brother. He and Derek had been friends for years and this year he’d helped Ruben get on the Star Ball Team. He wasn’t sure if Derek would care if he was with his sister or not. He didn’t want to break his friend’s trust and cause tension on the team.
“What’s on your mind, kiddo?” Mark asked, noticing Ruben’s silence.
“I’m in a dilemma.”
“What kind of dilemma?”
“I like this girl but she’s my friend’s sister and I don’t know if I should act on it.”
“How long have you liked this girl?”
“A few years.”
“If it’s been that long then I would say go for it.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to be disrespectful to my friend. I know he’s protective of his sisters.”
“Then let him know you’ll treat her well and do right by her. Let him know you mean no disrespect and you’ll be good for his sister. That’s how I would want that to go down if I had a sister. You can’t live the rest of your life doing what other sups want. This isn’t a fleeting crush, you’ve liked her for years. Since you’ve liked her for this long, quit stalling and start acting on it.”
He listened closely to his uncle’s words. He knew his uncle was right and made a note to talk to Laura tomorrow.
“I’ll try to do that,” he told his uncle.
“No way,” Larissa Lions said over the phone late that night. Both were up way later than they should’ve been on a school night but Laura couldn’t wait to tell her best friend about Ruben being in her living room. “He was actually in your living room?”
Larissa was Laura’s best friend. They’d met each other when they were seven years old and had been inseparable ever since. They talked to each other about everything and trusted each other more than anything outside their families. She knew how much Laura liked Ruben and how terrified she’d been to tell him her feelings. She’d been encouraging her for ages to speak to him.
“Yes! He joined the Star Ball Team with Derek. I had no idea he joined.”
“Now’s your chance to talk to him. If he’s on the team then he’ll probably hang around more since he invites the other team over. You can talk to him and get to know him better.”
“I . . .I don’t know.”
“Laura, c’mon. You finally have a good window to talk to him so you need to take it. If you keep waiting someone else might come along and he won’t be available anymore.”
That last part filled her with intense jealousy. The thought of him being with another girl made her blood boil even though she had no claim on him but couldn’t shake the fear off. “I’m just worried how it’ll go down.”
“What’s the worst that can happen?”
“He could laugh in my face, say no, tell me he’s with something else, and destroy what little dignity I have.”
“He would never laugh in your face, it’s okay to be rejected, everyone gets rejected at some point, and if he’s with someone else or says no - which would be his loss - then you know you tried and can move on.”
Laura knew Larissa was right. “You’re right.”
“As always,” Larissa said smugly and Laura rolled her eyes and mentally kicked herself. She loved her best friend but she had an over-inflated ego sometimes and this certainly would do nothing to help it. “Tomorrow at school just say hi to him.”
