Aurora was the prettiest girl at school. Like, for real. Cute face, long blond hair, really cheeky smile. And a really nice body too. Although, you really had to see her in gym class in shorts, ‘cause normally she would wear these weird-looking baggy clothes. Cool, don’t get me wrong, but yeah, thank god for old Sullivan who made everyone wear shorts to gym. Those legs, man! Anyway. She was, like, really cute, and I had a crush. Well, duh!

But there was a problem. You know that old song by One Direction, That’s what makes you beautiful, or something? How they sing that not knowing she’s beautiful makes a girl beautiful? Yeah? Well, bullshit, that’s what I say. They don’t know what they are talking about, cause trust me, I’ve been there. I had a crush on a girl that didn’t know how freaking good-looking she was, and the only thing that made her, was unavailable.

Just let me tell you about the day I finally worked up my courage and asked her out, and you know what happened?! No, wait. I am getting ahead of myself here. I need to set the stage a bit.

Aurora was not just cute-looking, you know. She was really nice too. Like, kind, I mean. She was nice to everyone, and friendly and super easy to talk to. She could hang out with anyone, joking and laughing, and it looked like she was friends with all. But not once during school did she date anyone.

I know I wasn’t the only guy who liked her. Not like everyone was into her, that’s not what I’m trying to say, right, but she was cute and kind and approachable, and… So yeah, a few guys liked her, but nobody, nobody, could get out of friend zone with her.

I was hoping I would. We would hang out with a group of friends all the time and I was really trying to show her I liked her. I tried to impress her by being funny and making her laugh, dropping compliments, texting her, talking about movies and video games we liked, walking her home all the time. And you know what? I could almost see it on her face that she. Did. Not. Get. It. At all. She kept being friendly and oblivious and I couldn’t even be mad at her for friend-zoning me, because she didn’t know she did it!

So, I decided to not be a chicken and just plain asked her out. I worked myself up, hardly slept the night before! There was a new superhero movie in the cinema and I thought that would be the golden opportunity. I was so nervous, man! I leaned in a bit – not threateningly, mind you, I practiced it beforehand, but don’t tell that to anyone – and popped the question as casually as possible, but trying to make it clear I was inviting her on, you know, a date.

Do you think it worked? Hell no! You would think she had to be as dense as a brick, but I swear, the girl is actually pretty smart otherwise. But this flew over her head like a Frisbee taken by the wind. She started asking about when we were going and to remember that Katie had a dentist on Wednesday, or Josh needed to get a perm that day, or something equally stupid and irrelevant. I really wanted to shake her at that point. I just asked her for a date, damn it, and she thought it was a group trip! I didn’t shake her, because duh, that’s not what you do.

I know I should have told her it was a date. But I couldn’t get myself to do it. I had this feeling like she was sleepwalking. Like her dream land didn’t quite overlap with reality. And you aren’t supposed to wake sleepwalkers, right?

Anyway. We went to see the movie with a bunch of friends, and I sort of gave up after that. I figured maybe she was ace or aro, or maybe she just didn’t like anyone at school that way, or whatever. I’m not the creepy kind of guy who doesn’t know when to stop.

We hung out in our friend group for the rest of that year – our last year of high school. I still walked her home sometimes. We still had fun. Honestly, I still had a crush, but I accepted the situation. Trying to get her to notice me in that way was like trying to crawl through some thorny bushes, like my grandma’s rose bushes that I kept losing my football in as a kid. They were pretty, prickly, and impenetrable. So I gave up.

But this story has a happy ending! Or at least a happy continuation, so bear with me.

Once upon a time, or rather, about a year later, I met her again. It was a random meeting in a coffee shop downtown. She walked in and straight into my line of vision, as I was working on some uni assignment on my laptop.

I almost didn’t recognize her, although she didn’t really look that different. Her clothes were still a bit funky, but her skirt was shorter than I have ever seen her in and there was just something about her. She looked so much more alive. Awake, almost. I can’t describe it.

I stared like stupid while she got her coffee and when she turned to leave, she noticed me and smiled a huge smile and my brain stopped for a moment, because. Wow. The crush was still there. She sat down at my table and we talked about how we were doing and all that crap you talk about with old friends you haven’t seen in ages.

Then she complimented my hair. And I went blank for a second. It’s not like she never gave me compliments before, ‘cause she did, she complimented people all the time. But this. This was different. She was looking at me, smiling and I got goosebumps. I opened my mouth, I’m not sure what I was going to say. Something smart, I am sure. But she spoke first. She asked me out to dinner! Holy cow! How the turn tables! There was something in her voice that made it clear to me that she meant a date. Like a real date. Not a friend date or something. I managed to nod. She said she had to go but would write to me later. And that was it. I mean, that was the beginning.

And we’ve been together since.

After a few months of dating, I told her about that time I tried to ask her out for a date to the movies and she totally misunderstood my intention. She was mortified. She said she really didn’t see it. Turned out she didn’t see the interest from the other guys either. She just thought we were all good friends. She thought nobody could possibly like her like that. I thought that was a bit sad, wondered what I could have done to make her see it back then. I asked her what had to change.

“I did,” she said. “I needed to wake up.”

(The image is Sleeping Beauty by Edward Frederick Brewtnall, with small modifications :) )