Learning to Love

Crystal’s P.O.V:

I finished doing the dishes after tea and once again headed up to my room. I swear I’d live there if I could. It’s my sanctuary, the walls plastered in posters that hide me well. I don’t exist when I’m here.

I flopped onto my bed, headfirst into my pillow. Once I decided I needed to breathe to live, I rolled onto my back and looked up at the ceiling. I couldn’t help but begin to daydream. And I couldn’t help but to daydream about him...His voice! Shawn can sing!? Well...more like scream...but man, he sure can scream. I wonder what he was singing to...

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All night I had been considering what he said to me. Should I email my crush that poem? Should I send it to Shawn? He’ll probably laugh at me, although, he did say he liked it. He’s so nice.

I got up and sighed, heading to my laptop. “You only live once,” I muttered to myself. What's the worst that can happen? He can reject me, leaving me completely humiliated. I opened up the school email page and typed his name into the search function. Shawn Dodger. Okay now what? I reached into my pocket and unscrunched the piece of paper that was my poem. As I typed it up, I became more confident. My poem wasn’t half bad...Finishing up the last line, the email looked a little bare. I added a simple smiley face and “thanks” below it. That should do it. Now send it. Shit, this is hard. What if he was only joking about liking it? What if he really doesn’t care? But then again, what if he wasn’t? What if he does care..? Fuck it. I clicked send before any more second thoughts could emerge.

Shawn’s P.O.V:

“Fucking knock it off Shawn! Some of us need sleep you ass!” came my sister’s voice from down the hall. I sighed. Well I suppose it was getting late...and I was playing my electric guitar...I stopped playing and decided I’d pointlessly surf the net for a bit. It wasn’t until I checked my school email that my boredom vanished. Chrystal emailed me? Me!? What for? I opened it, immediately recognising the same poem that she’d read out at assembly. Thanks? Why was she thanking me? It truly was a good poem. More so, why was she sending it to me in the first place? I hit reply and asked. I couldn’t help also mentioning that I told her to send it to her crush. Maybe she chickened out. She’s so shy, so it’s possible. I was surprised to get a reply almost instantly. She must’ve just sent it. There on the screen before me were the words I could’ve only dreamt to see...

“But you are my crush.”

I stared at it for a while, my smile growing wider with each passing second. She’s crushing on me!? I hastily thought of a reply. As fast as my fingers would allow, I typed: “Well that’s funny, ‘cos I have a crush on you too.” I wanted to see her smile at that. Another reply...

“Really? Ah, gees. I’m gonna go to bed just in case I'm hallucinating here, so hopefully, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Sweet dreams.”

Naww. I let it be and shut my computer down. Crystal likes me!? She wrote that lovely poem about me?

I couldn’t stop smiling as I got ready for bed, making brushing my teeth a much harder task then it usually was. I got toothpaste everywhere. After spitting and rinsing, I headed back to my room and shut off the lights as I crawled into bed. Still smiling, I fell into a dreamy sleep.

Crystal’s P.O.V:

Holy shit! I was almost bouncing around the house as I got myself ready for bed. Shawn [ilikes me!? I snuggled up in my bed thinking about the past half hour or so. Tomorrow will be fun. I’ll get to talk to him again! Figuring the sooner I sleep the sooner tomorrow will come, I attempted to sleep...but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. What was I to say to him tomorrow? Should I raise the fact that we’re both crushing on one another? Then where would that lead? Would he be my boyfriend? Could he accept me as his girlfriend..? I’m far from perfect...But I'd be the best girlfriend I could to him. I'd support him in everything he does and try my best to make him happy. Maybe he would do the same for me. Maybe we’d get closer and never ever part. Maybe he's the one...

My eyes slowly but surely closed shut, opening my mind to the dreams that too often consume me awake.