Written in the stars *COMPLETE*

Xander

     It's officially official, I have a crush on Juliet. There is no denying it. Watching her take pictures today and drawing her in the sandwich shop while she talked about her life was surreal. It seemed as if she saw the world differently than others that I knew. We would walk by the most boring wall and she would stop me and make me backtrack to pose and then she would squat like a contortionist in order to get "the right angle". I had laughed at her in the process but when we got to the restaurant and she had shown me some of the results, I was really surprised. The pictures turned out really cool. I couldn't find the words to properly describe them. And drawing her was a completely different experience. She had this far-away look that glazed over her eyes when she recounted stories of her childhood and described adventures that she had embarked on with her siblings and her dog. I think at one point she forgot I was even there. The drawing I was making of her was starting to turn out well. I had a good outline and start but I wanted to go home and add color. I didn't want her to see the drawing until it was finished. The drive home was too fast. Even though we had to go slow because of the icy roads, I could sit in that car and watch her hum along to various guitar songs I had never heard of for much longer than I was able to. She pulled up in front of my house and I gathered my things.

"Hey, Xander?"

"What's up"

"Thanks for today. That was really fun. It feels really amazing to have such a good friend."

"Yeah, anytime. I'm glad you had fun. Text me when you get home, okay?"

"Will do."

     She drove away and I watched her go. Her farewell words rang in my ears and stung at my heart like a trillion tiny bees. Or maybe just four really angry bees. "Such a good friend". I did my best to collect myself before I headed inside. My mom wasn't home and Jenny was at her friend's house so I was greeted with an empty home. I kicked off my shoes and slowly climbed the stairs to my room, heart heavy. I didn't know why I thought she could like me. I felt empty. The elation I had felt all day was drained out of me. Entering my room, I moved to lie on my bed, tossing my backpack on the floor. It made a thud and I paused, suddenly remembering the contents of my bag. Instead of flopping on my bed in a heap of friendzone-sparked disappointment as originally planned, I pulled my sketchbook out of my bag and sat on my floor. I opened the page that contained the sketch of Juliette that I had started not even three hours earlier. Her intense focus on the snow that was falling out the window, the few strands of hair that had fallen out of place, her fingertips tracing the edge of the table, it was all there. The pain of rejection faded away as I started to continue my work on the portrait. I spent extra time on details and made sure I captured every part of that moment in the restaurant. Then I pulled out a pack of colored pencils from my bag and got to work. When the portrait was finished, I hurt a little less.

     It wasn't the last portrait I drew of Juliette. Not by a long shot. We continued to hang out and "work on projects" together. She always took photos and I always drew but the art slowly became a less important part of our get-togethers. I introduced Juliette to my friend group and she started attending Friday dine-outs with us as well. She seemed to bond well with Jessica and Oliver because she had lots of sibling stories to share. My friend group liked her a lot which was good because I did too. Unfortunately, my crush never went away, it just grew stronger. Even Noah noticed it. For being my best friend, he was usually too wrapped up in Chloe's drama to ask about my life but around the beginning of March, when Juliette was an integral part of our group, he pulled me aside. 

"Hey what's going on with you and Jules?" 

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? You bring this girl into our group one day and say you have a class with her and that justifies her being part of our group? Jules is great, so you're lucky, but we haven't added anyone to our group since freshman year. And don't think I don't see you making eyes at her."

"Making eyes at her?"

"It's very obvious."

"So what if I do like her?"

"Then you have to man up and go for her."

"She doesn't like me like that."

"Since when"

"Well in December-"

"DECEMBER? That was more than three months ago man. You gotta tell her how you feel. Otherwise, I'm going to tell her because she's perfect for you and everyone knows that you like her except her."

"Alright maybe"

"I can live with maybe for now. "

Noah was right. I needed to tell Juliette how I felt.