25 to life // euphoria one shots

27 - foreign letters pt 1

i hurriedly organized my things, taking out things from my bag to put in my locker and vise versa. once i had everything for my classes in my bag, i closed it, putting it around my shoulder and hugging it close to the side of my body. i closed my locker, making sure its locked before heading off to my class.

nate's pov

while walking into school, the warm summer air and the sun's yellowish glow of the morning immediately faded away, being replaced by the coolness of the air conditioning and the white, blinding squares of lights in the ceiling throughout each hallway.

i did what i routinely did: went to my locker, got my things for class, and headed off. usually, i'd head to class afterwards right? well, every once in a while when i felt like it, i went down a different hallway, taking a bit of a longer route to my class. i looked up at the upper corners of lockers, watching for the right hallway number. when i found the hallway, i felt like speeding my pace, but i didn't wanna rush.

this hallway was where y/n's locker is. sometimes i would walk down the hallway to check up on them. their back was always turned to me whenever i passed by, but i got a good glimpse of their side profile and i at least got to see them. i know they never notice me but today, i hoped to get their attention.

i've had a crush on y/n for a while now. i can't remember how long ago its been since i felt butterflies whenever i looked at them or felt genuinely concerned whenever they looked hurt. however, i knew, and i fully admit that i like them a lot. i mean, what is there to not like about them? the way their hair flowed, their smile, the little faces they'd make, their kindness and generosity, their warm and welcoming aura. would i admit that aloud to anyone? no. do i have the courage to start talking to them outside of class? absolutely not. did i get nervous whenever they simply glanced at me, do a simple gesture, or start walking my way right past me? yep. definitely. i fell down the rabbit hole.

we've only interacted a few times and we only share one class together, but i've come up with a cheesy strategy to try and get their attention: love letters. i know i know i feel like it's something out of the 90s. but it's not just regular old-fashioned, handwritten letters. those letters were written in y/o/l. when i found out through a friend that y/n is bilingual, i found it so amazing. it was a revelation.

usually, i thought completely knowing another language, being fluent and thoroughly comfortable with it, changing between that language and another with precision, was a great talent. a talent that i thought i never had. that's why i found the new language electives boring. but when i saw that y/o/l was an available option, i decided to give it a try, and found out that it's a beautiful language with a mesmerizing linguistic history. i couldn't believe y/n, out of all people, could speak this language fluently.

i hoped that my letters would get their attention and the energy to write back in y/o/l in order to practice my translating skills, and hopefully to get a chance at hearing their voice speak y/o/l one day. i bet they pronounce each word beautifully like they do in english.

my heart raced as i turned the corner into their hallway to see them at their locker, already staring down at my envelope with a confused but somewhat admiring expression, their eyebrows slightly furrowed as they contemplated what the foreign envelope in their hand could be and where it came from.

i couldn't help but slowly let a sheepish smile adorn my face as i passed right by them, seeing them examining the envelope subconsciously. they looked so cute while they tried to think up a storm. even though i felt like my heart was racing like crazy and i wanted to cheer out my excitement like a 12-year-old, i headed to class like normal, getting ready for an exhausting school day ahead.

y/n's pov

during lunch time, my free time to head up to the roof and have some private time to myself while i ate, i sat at my usual bench, the spots always empty. i rested my legs on the bench, grateful for its emptiness as my legs got to take up all the room it wanted without being bothered. i began to eat my lunch and do some work like usual until i took a short break. that's when my mind pondered onto the envelope from earlier. i brought it with me for a reason.

i put my work and lunch to the side and dug back into my bag, taking out the envelope from before and seeing that neat penmanship on the front once again, the words in y/o/l.

for: y/n
please read this whenever you can :)

i opened the envelope and discovered a letter. unfolding the paper, i quickly scanned over the words, admiring the handwriting once more before actually reading it to myself.

dearest y/n,

hey! i hope you're doing well. i'm guessing you're probably confused about who's writing this but don't worry about it.

look, i'm just gonna get right to the point. i've liked you for a while and i don't know how to say it aloud to you because i'm not good with this "liking someone" thing. so i thought i'd reach out to you in a different way. i feel like handwritten letters aren't really used anymore unless it's for something important, and i think that's what this is right now.

well, as they say, it's good to keep things short and sweet. in conclusion, i don't wanna come off as a creep but i've been admiring you from afar and of course i go to school with you. i just wanted to say you're really pretty and i hope we could get to know each other.

- anonymous

while reading this letter sent by an anonymous person, i was intrigued. i was immediately traced to the fact that this whole letter was written in y/o/l. there were some minor grammatical mistakes here and there but otherwise, i understood the context of what this person was trying to say. it seemed like the person used a translator in order to write this. nevertheless, it was pretty well-written y/o/l.

i thought about this situation, averting my eyes to look at the ground instead of the paper to think to myself, the letter still in my hands. i have a secret admirer now. wow. i know they said not to worry about who they were but i was. who is it? who wrote this? those questions made my mind wander and my heart slightly race. i recalled the few sentences written in the letter. i just wanted to say you're really pretty and i hope we could get to know each other.

i had the instinct to reply, and i decided to do so the same exact way they did in order to reciprocate the important gesture. i immediately scrambled for notebook paper and pen, putting the pen's tip against the paper, ready to write. however, i hesitated for a while, trying to formulate what i would say, how i'd respond, what words i would use. after some moments in thought, i decided to write my response later. once i got home, getting situated at my desk, that's exactly what i did. my hand started moving in alphabetic strokes throughout the paper, writing the words i wanted to write down earlier that would make up my responding letter.

a/n: pt 2 and 3 coming soon!
image credits: https://pin.it/4IM7mV2
[word count]: 1906