It was that time of the night when everyone was tired but didn't want to go to their dorm rooms because curfew allowed them to talk for a while. Knox was back from the Danburry's with a new obnoxious crush on a girl he'd only known for a couple hours, and Sigrid laughed when he mentioned she was practically engaged to Chet Danburry.

Neil and Todd weren't talking to each other as Charlie, Knox, Sigrid, and Gerard went into depth about what happened at the Danburry's. Sigrid felt bad for him, it wasn't everyday you thought you met the love of your life but they were already spoken for. At least when she got uncalled for crushes on people they were single.

She lounged on the couch as he practically cried about his problems, the boys found it humorous at first but as time went by and Knox still rambled, they realized he was being serious.

Sigrid asked Charlie for a piece of gum, he took the pack out of his pocket absentmindedly as he continued to look at Knox, a little glimmer of fascination behind his eyes as Knox unknowingly described Chris like she was a goddess.

"And so...we were having dinner as she was just on the other side of the table passing the food around and giggling at Mr. Danburry's jokes. God, she was just there and I was just on the other side hoping, begging for her to pay attention," he licked his lips before looking in Charlie's direction. Sigrid was taking the pack out of her hands and popping a gum stick in her mouth, she gave it back, he dumbly put it back in his pocket.

"She looked at me...and I remember smiling like some lunatic because I didn't know what to do. I probably looked like some madman, Sigr, what do I do? I'll see her again at some point and I have to be prepared."

Sigrid straightened herself on the couch, caught off guard by Knox's plea for help. She cleared her throat awkwardly before looking down at her now twiddling fingers, "Well, Knox," she looked up quickly, "As a girl I could tell you that a lot of times we don't understand why a boy likes us."

Charlie turned to her in curiosity, Gerard pulled his seat closer, she laughed nervously as one of her eyebrows twitched upward in thought. "You guys might think you're being painfully obvious but sometimes it's really hard to understand what's going on in someone else's head. It's like...when you like us we don't notice and when we like you you don't even bat an eye. Do you really want to get into this?"

"Sigr, I really want to know. What am I doing wrong?" his eyebrows furrowed before he reached out to grab her hand, she tensed up slightly before looking up.

Richard and Steven were now listening to the conversation as well, she felt all eyes on her and even millisecond passing made it feel like the room was caving in. She almost hyperventilated but she laughed it off, "Well, for starters you messed up on the part where you didn't take into account that she was spoken for."

Charlie and Gerard laughed through their noses before Knox slapped their arms for them to shut up. "And," she licked her lips and started cursing in her head. She wanted to stop talking, "the second thing you did wrong was look at her the entire night instead of talking to her. I know you were only there for dinner and Chet was there...I get that maybe in the moment you weren't compelled by your persistence to talk to her. I get it, it's scary. But maybe something other than a hello could've got her to start thinking about you a little more."

He was silent, she looked back worriedly.

"But what if I said something dumb?"

"It'll be more memorable, maybe it's a good thing. She thinks of you and she smiles. You can't lose."

"But what if he ended up saying something mean?" Charlie butted in.

"Dalton, you sure know a lot about that," Gerard coughed out, causing the boys behind him to laugh, Charlie shot him a glare.

He craned his neck to look at her, she shrugged, "Then I guess she would have thought of all the things she could say the next time she sees him."

"But I don't want her to be mad at me or think of all the nasty things she could say to my face when she finally gets me in person. I want her to look at me, thinking of me, like I do of her. I want her to like me back, is that too much to ask for?"

"You're asking the wrong person."

"Sigr, you're a girl, you should know about these sorts of things."

"Maybe I should, but I don't Overstreet so just let it be!"

on, just look at me," Todd called out as Neil angrily headed back to their dorm room. His shoes lightly clinked on the ground as his jacket swung side-to-side with fiery anger. Neil struggled to open the door but Todd quickly shut it, looking at his dorm mate desperately before putting his arms over his chest. "Will you just look at me, Perry? I don't get why you're so mad!"

"Why am I so mad? Are you crazy? Are you just going to ignore how we tried studying for two hours and you didn't talk to me once, Charlie knocked on our door so we could go play cards or something and you're pretending like I'm not next to you. Anderson, that's messed up! Why am I mad? Why are you ignoring me!"

He turned around, Neil and Todd looked at each other intensely, chested rising up and down at the same pace. Todd's eyes shot throughout the room, Neil quickly grew impatient. "I know you saw me crying, and probably didn't listen to what I had to say but don't make me feel like an alien. I just want things to be normal, can't we go back to how things were this morning?"

"Neil, what do you mean?" Todd said in a slightly higher tone, his neck was turning crimson red. "I'm acting perfectly fine, you're the one acting like some...mannequin! The study session went fine, besides I can't talk much when I'm studying because it distracts me. I thought you already knew that."

"And I do, Todd, I do," he sighed in defeat as he put a hand over his hair. He sat down on his bed, causing Todd to look at him worriedly as he did the same, "But there's a difference between being quiet because you need to focus and being quiet because you don't want me to be in the room. And I felt it, Todd. It hurts, I think you should know that."

"I didn't want to hurt you," he looked down at his lap, suddenly overthinking everything that he had done in the past twenty-four hours.

Neil laughed through his nose, "I know."

you see what you did, Overstreet!" Charlie hit him upside the head angrily as Sigrid turned the corner, crying and running in the direction of her dorm room.

"What I did? What you did asking questions for yourself! It's not my fault, she's just sensitive. She'll be over it in the morning."

"Oh yeah, you're real smart," he said sarcastically before standing up and jogging after Sigrid.

"He's kinda right, Knox," Gerard pointed out only to get a glare from the other boy.

"Yeah, she looked uncomfortable and you kept asking. Maybe she doesn't like talking about relationships, that or she's never been in one," Meeks took her spot on the couch.

"Like you're more experienced," his guilt took over, in a few seconds of contemplation he decided to go check on her as well. By the time he got to his dorm, Charlie and Sigrid were already sitting down and talking. He watched them, his hands over his chest with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

He noticed she was crying, Charlie moved closer to her and put his arm over his shoulder. Knox's eyes widened as Sigrid's got closer and she leaned on his shoulder.

"Charlie?"

He hummed in response, looking straight at the poster Knox had of Elvis Presley. "Just so you know I'm not usually like this, I don't run away when things become scary in my head. I just...I don't like talking about it and I felt like answering because Knox is my friend."

"I'm sorry I started asking asked as well. You know, I think you're pretty smart, so you'd have intelligent answer to all the dumb shit I have to say," he whispered, trailing his hand down to comfortably rub her back. "I stopped once I realized you were uncomfortable, I would have told him something but you beat me to it," she could hear him smile with every word. "Always so feisty huh? You're almost as mean as me and that's really saying something taking into account that I've made Nolan cry before."

"Really?" she stopped her quiet sobbing to let out a laugh then looked up at him, he looked down for a second and was met by her bloodshot eyes and rosy cheeks. He wiped the tear rolling down with a small smirk, "Why do you think he hates me so much?"

She looked down at his lips because of the proximity then looked back was a look that showed she was impressed, "I always thought he was just in a soiled mood."

He fully looked at her this time, Knox decided to leave once he noticed how intense the eye contact was getting, a little smile overtook his face as he walked back to the lounging room.

Charlie looked down at her lips and subconsciously moved closer, Sigrid sniffled before biting down on her own lip. His voice surfaced on a whisper, "That man wouldn't know happiness if it was standing right in front of him, consider me his hatred."

"Are you my hatred, Charlie?" she moved closer, biting a little harsher on her bottom lip. She didn't know what she was saying, falling for every soft touch he put upon her.

He moved his hand to rest on the bed, a short sigh left his mouth, "I only wish to be the reason you find beauty in everything."