10 Ways to Fall in Love

I don’t wanna be in love, but it’s too late now

“And the answer is...” The teacher asked the class, “Milu” he says as he calls on a girl who is a freshman, 5’ 8”, wearing glasses which cover her big brown eyes, with dark red hair people could describe as the color of fire.

“513?” Milu answers.

“Correct.”

Then the bells rings signaling the end of class, Milu starts packing up when she hears her teacher yell, “Zach and Milu please stay after class to see me a moment.”
Zach is a senior with blue eyes that any girl in her right mind would melt in, straight brown hair with a touch of a wave, he is also 5’8”, and he has lips that every girl in the school, including Milu, has dreamed of kissing.

“What’s up, Mr. P?” Zach asks confused.

“Zach if your grade doesn’t start to dramatically increase you will fail this class and won’t be able to graduate because of lack of math class credits. I think that Milu right here would be a perfect tutor for you.”

“A freshman tutoring a senior, how embarrassing it that? Also I have hockey practice I don’t have time to be tutored.” Zach complains to his teacher.

“If your grade doesn’t rise there won’t be any hockey for you, and you know that.”
Zach looks at Milu whose head is bent down looking at her feet with her fiery hair covering her blushing cheeks. “How about someone else?”

At this Milu takes this as the perfect time to walk away, which she desperately wants to do because she is hurt and embarrassed by all of Zach’s rude remarks.

“Milu wait. No one will be able to raise your grade as fast as she can, and no one will be able to explain it to you better than she will be able to do.”

“Fine Mr. P, if you insist.”

“You will do it right Milu?”

The girl looks up for the first time, shakes her head yes, and looks down again at her feet. She seems mild and meek, but she has a fire and passion to her which few people knows she has, and without knowing it Zach sets off her fire.

“How about we say you teach me, and you don’t.” He suggests to her as they walk out of the room.

She has no idea why but this set off a fuse in her, “No, he will know. He isn’t stupid ya know! When you continue to fail he will know I didn’t help you, or he will think I was a terrible teacher. Either way it is a lose/lose situation for me because either I didn’t keep my word, or I am a terrible teacher sorry superior senior I am teaching you whether you like it or not. After hockey practice meet me in the public library.”

The boy was shocked by this blatant outburst, but also pleased because he thought she was a person with no emotion and people like that irk him. He is happy that he got who she really is to come out in that moment.

“Six, see you then, bye Milu.” He tells her with a smirk playing on his face for a reason he doesn’t know, but what he does know is that he suddenly wants to do Math.
At six o’clock sharp Zach walks into the library, and spots Milu sitting reading a book of some sort. As he gets closer he sees the book is called Love on Cue. When he sees this he realizes he has falsely judged Milu, and he wants to get to know her.

He knew she was addicted to music due to the fact that outside of class she is never seen without at least one ear bud in. He knew that she was smart because she is a freshman in three senior classes, and she kicks butt in all of the classes. But other than that he knew nothing about her. Now he knows that she likes to read, and that she is a romantic, which he would have never pegged her as.

Weeks pass and she continues to tutor him. Her crush on him grows which she mentally hits herself in the head for. He starts to fall for her, the more he knows the more he falls for her. His math grades also dramatically increase as well.

One day after Math Zach decides to talk to her in school which they have never done because it isn’t too good if the captain of the hockey team is being tutored by a freshman, let alone is friends with her, but he decides to forget that and talk to her, “Hey Milu! Wait up!”

The shocked freshman stops dead in her tracks not believing what she is hearing.

“Hi Milu! So what class do you have now?”

After getting out of her shocked phase she simply replies, “Lunch. What about you?”

“Same. How come I never see you in the lunch room when I don’t go out with my friends for lunch?”

“Um I only had one friend, and he doesn’t go to this school.” She says with a hurt expression on her face which kills Zach inside.

“had… oh… well his loss. And I’m your friend now.”

“You sure you want to do that? I mean I am a measly freshman.”

“I’m sure. Come hang with my friends and I at lunch?”

“Ok” she says as huge smile takes up her face. She thinks to herself, I have a friend again, and he is one of the popular people, he knows me for me, and he still wants to be my friend.

More weeks pass, and Milu sits with Zach and his friends Nathan and Cameron, and they all end up becoming close friends and fast. One day they ask her to come to something they consider sacred. They ask her to come to band practice and listen to them. That is something that unless you are in the band you don’t come to, and you aren’t invited, only one exception to the rule. Their drummer Michael’s girlfriend insists on coming, and the guys are bothered by her, but let her come to have Michael in the band. They are simply happy that they don’t have to deal with his girlfriend in school because Michael and his girl go to a different school. Milu excitedly accepts the invite to practice knowing how big of a deal it is for the guys to ask her to tag along.

Zach drives Milu to his house, and they are talking and laughing up a storm. She can’t remember the last time she had this much fun, but she knows the reason she is having so much fun is because of Zach, and she loves him for it. So she is hanging out will all the guys, messing around and having a great time when their drummer Michael walks in.
Zach has gotten to know Milu very well during the past few months that they have been friends, and he always takes a detailed look at her face because he loves her face, and because he wants to know how she feels, and since she is an emotional person: her expression is always clear on her face if you look for it.

Michael walks in, and Milu’s radiant smile disappears in an instant; Zach notices this, and the fact that it looks like she is holding in tears.

“I…I should go. I’m not welcome here anymore.” Milu says which tears apart Zach’s heart.
Zach looks at Michael’s girlfriend Daisy and sees a smug expression and a glare in her eyes. Michael who surprisingly isn’t wearing sunglasses looks sad, and a tad hurt, and Zach is slowly piecing together everything in his mind with all of the expressions in the room.
Milu starts to leave quickly. Zach runs after her and mumbles bitch into Michael’s girlfriend’s ear as he leaves forgetting the bro code and common courtesy all because of Milu who he loves.

“Milu! Wait up!” He calls after her.

She stops dead in her tracks because she remembers the first time he called her in the hallway, this makes a small smile appear on her face until she remember Daisy and Michael. Tears run down her face as she is turned away from Zach. He turns her around and sees what he expected a broken crying Milu.

“He…he was my….mmmmmy neighbor annnnndddd bbb….bbbb…bbbbesstttt fffrrrr…iiieeennd. Oooonly fffrrrriiieeend. He…hhhe ditched me…for hhhher because she tttold him toooo.” She manages to say through sobs.

Zach grabs her pulls her towards him and lets her cry into his chest, after a few minutes he brings her into his house. Silently pulls her upstairs into his room, without anyone noticing.

When she walks in and sees his blue flower wallpaper she laughs a little, and suddenly Zach loves the wallpaper he has hated all his life because it made her laugh, and that’s all he cares about. Later he even refuses to change his wallpaper after his mom tells him he can due to all his previous begging just because it made Milu smile.

“Wait here I am kicking everyone out. Just some you and me time. Lay on the bed I will be here in two minutes.”

Zach walks down stairs to find Nathan and Cameron yelling at Michael, when the two calm and sweet members yelling at someone it is always a sign that something is up.

“You made our best friend leave! What the hell Michael!” Cameron yells defending his newly close friend.

“You’re best friend! You’re best friend HA she was my best friend first.” Michael yells back.

“Some best friend you were picking your girlfriend over your neighbor who was your best friend. Sorry but you have no right to call her your best friend. Band practice is over everyone out.”

All of the guys starred at Zach with their jaws dropped, out of all of them band practice mattered the most to Zach. He never and I mean never canceled a practice in his life, but today he did and he amazed all of them by doing so, even Daisy.

“Mikey when you have the more mellow people of the group yelling at you and Zach canceling practice you know you fucked up to be bluntly honest. I hate to say this but if you want to stay in this band Daisy is no longer welcome to practice anymore.” Nathan calmly and bluntly tells him.

“Since when was she ever welcome?” Zach shoots at him trying to make him feel some pain after all the pain he has caused Milu, the look in her eyes killed him inside, and every time he looks at Michael he sees that look on her face replaying in his mind.

A look of pain and hurt crosses Michael’s face, and Zach feels guilty until he sees the look of Milu’s eyes in his mind again.

“No practice today, practice tomorrow like usual and Michael don’t bother coming if that means bringing It with you. If you don’t come tomorrow you’re out of the band, we can find a different drummer.” Zach coldly replies and Cameron and Nathan nod their heads agreeing.
How the guys are reacting may seem a tad extreme, but they are close good friends with Milu, they defend their friends like crazy, and they all saw the look of hurt in Milu’s eyes, just Zach understood the amount of hurt that was their because he learned to read her better than he can read a book.

All of the guys leave, and Zach walks back to his room to find Milu lying on her back on his bed looking at his ceiling listening to music while tapping her foot.

Zach finds room next to her on his twin sized bed and lies next to her. For a few songs nothing is said, there is a just a comfortable silence that fills the room.

“Feeling better?”

“Much. Thanks Zach what you guys did means the world to me, more than I think you know. I heard you guys.” She tells him while hugging him.

He hugs her back, and then she looks up into his eyes, and he has the fire running through his veins like he always does when she is near him, and he gains the courage to ask her a question. “What if you fell in love with your best friend? What should you do? Risk the friendship?” She takes this as the moment to keep her arms around him, but to put her head on his chest, he responds by playing with her fiery hair.

“By loving her and not telling her you are putting your friendship more at risk than you are by telling her.”

“What if the age difference is not too small, I mean it isn’t more than seven years, but it isn’t two years either?”

“What are you worried about what others will think?”

“No I don’t care about what others think, just what she thinks.”

“Take the risk she may not care about the age difference… love conquers all.”

“I’m taking that risk then.”

He pulls Milu’s face off his chest, holds her head, and looks her dead in the eye and tells her with all of the honesty in his 5 foot 8 inch body, “Milu I love you, I’m in love with you. I never meant for this to happen. I was supposed to hate you for being the know-it-all freshman who was tutoring me, but you came and stole my heart when I wasn’t looking and you won’t give it back. Before I was dying to take it back from you, and I kept trying. Then I realized something: it is my heart but it belongs to you, not me. You have my heart, and you always will.”

“Zachary David Porter! Thank goodness! You had my heart from the start and I was afraid that you were going to take it and kill it, but I just realized something you have taken it, loved it, cherished it, and kept it alive when I thought it was going to die. I love you Zachary David Porter, and I always will.”

He gives her a wait a minute sign, gets up, goes to his desk, opens a drawer, pulls out a small box that is usually used for holding jewelry. He walks back to her and hands her the bag shyly. She has a confused look on her face, but she takes the bag and opens it. Inside there is necklace with angel wings, and a cresset moon. There is an engraving in each. On the wings it says you are my angel, though I don’t deserve you, and on the moon it says you are my dream Milu, Love Zach.

She looks up at him with happy tears in her eyes, and tells Zach, “This must have cost a fortune I can’t accept this.”

“Took lots of savings, but the best thing I have ever bought.”

“Mr. I-Don’t-Wanna-Spend-My-Money-Ever just bought this necklace which costs over two hundred dollars without the engraving say what?”

“I insist you take the necklace, it is perfect for you, and it is part of the way I want to ask you a question.”

“Ask away Zach.”

“Be mine? Be my girlfriend, my best friend, my one true love, my one and only.”

“Only if you’ll be mine.”

“So you are mine and no one else’s remember that.”

“I could never forget, nor would I want to forget because I’m in love with my best friend who loves me back.”

“Me too.”

Then he gets close to her and kisses her intending it to be a small kiss, but as he pulls away Milu stops him with her arms that she moved around his neck and mumbles against his lips, “Don’t think you are stopping there Porter I have been wait to kiss you for too long, if you think you can give me a small kiss and then simply pull away you are insane, and then I’m in love with an insane person which can get complicated.”

He laughs and kisses her again not daring or wanting to pull away.