I didn't mean to run in to him. And I certainly did not mean to spill a perfectly good smoothie all over him. I was just distracted by my phone, and not paying attention. Of course my first reaction was to blush a bright red and let out a series of 'sorry' and 'o gods are you okay' before I'd even looked up. When I did, I found myself speechless mid-sentence.

He was gorgeous. Utterly gorgeous. Black hair that sat in an unruly fringe on his head. Dark chocolate brown eyes that sparkled gold with amusement. His skin was olive toned, but slightly dulled, like a fading tan.

"I'm fine, don't worry. I've had far worse on my clothes. Do you know how hard it is to clean bloodstains from your clothes?"

"O just rinse them with cold water and shampoo. The shampoo will react with the proteins in tour blood and.... Wait why who you have bloodstains on your clothes in the first place?!"

"I work at the local hospital. Occasionally a patient coughs up blood and it gets on my clothes or I'm working an emergency case so can't really avoid the blood. I didn't realise that it sounded weird, I'm too awkward."

He smiled at me, only looking down slightly. I was small, standing at a mere 1.60M (5'2), but he wasn't that much taller, so for him it must've been a change to look down at someone for once.

I quickly realised I was staring again and looked away.

"I'm probably a ten on the awkward factor, so don't worry. We'll just be that awkward couple. O shit did I say couple, I meant friends. See, prime example of my crippling awkwardness. I'll just stop talking."

He giggled. He actually giggled. It fell from his lips so naturally, so soothing. I am so screwed.

-Three months later-

"Nico Di Angelo, get your lazy ass up and open this door right this instant. I'm freezing out here. And I brought coffee." This was now almost a normal occurrence. When I'd first met Nico I'd just moved from Europe to New York for a yearlong internship at the New York Times, so he helped me settle by just being a proper friend.

By now I'd met some of his other friends, which I was soon to call my own. I took a particular liking in Piper, a girl who was a natural beauty, but tried to hide it as much as possible. She also happened to have a great radar when it came to love. One day we'd been out with the entire group, and I'd been staring at Nico a little too long. Piper chimed in: "You know, I get why you fell for him, he's not the worst. But I got to break the spell. You're barking up the wrong tree. He's about as straight as a rainbow. Don't worry, I think he'll understand if you told him." Of course this had taken me aback, but I made a quick recovery, even managing to crack a little joke. "Why are all the good ones gay or taken?" Piper laughed, clearly relieved I wasn't too upset about it.

Back in the present, the dark blue door I was stood in front of opened, and I opened my mouth. "Finally Mr. Italian has arisen. I've got....." only then I looked up and was met with a tanned chest, and most certainly not Nico.

This person was tall. My guess: 1.89M (6'2). The shirtless tanned and toned torso was covered in freckles. My eyes trailed up, up and up, until finally I was looking up at an amused face. Cheeks littered with freckles, and blue eyes smiling along with a flawless toothy smile.

"Oh... I'm sorry. I'll...I'll go. Bye." Before my thoughts could take over, I turned away and started towards the nearest underground entrance. My heels were keeping me from running. Even though I normally walked on the 10CM heels(3.9 inches) like they were flats, now all I could do to keep myself from falling over was clutching the closest wall. Why now/ why did my brain decide that right now, in the middle of a New York street, a mental break down was needed.

'You should've checked who opened the door before you started talking you idiot'

'See Nico doesn't even like you. He didn't feel the need to tell you that he was moving.'

'You saw he was acting distant this week. You should have stopped trying even before you started.'

"Elise? Elise! Calm down. Oh gods, I forgot to tell you. I'm sorry. I was so excited I forgot. You're fine, I'm not here to judge you. You're one of my closest friends. I do like. Don't listen to your head, please." Now I was glad I'd told Nico I struggled with social anxiety, and in particular told him what went through my head when I had a break down about it. He knew what to do. My breathing slowed down and the tears stopped flowing from my eyes.

--

"Elise, this is Will. Will, this is Elise. I met her a few months ago when she decided smoothie looked good with my leather jacket so spilled it down the front. We hit off instantly.'' I studied Will's face, looking for any sings of judgement, disapproval. I didn't meet his eyes, I rarely did with anyone.

"Nice to meet you. I thought Nico had complained about 'a perfectly good leather jacket being slightly ruined and smelling like artificial banana'. Not my words, his." Again he smiled, and looked at Nico, who hit him in mock offence.

"And I met Will at the hospital where I work about three years ago, when I was an intern whilst studying. He was one too, but I mistook him for an actual doctor. Let's just say, meeting him almost competes with meeting you on the awkward scale. He's been in Africa for the past... three months. He left the day you ran into me. He was chosen as one of the doctors to go to the Ebola affected countries. He came back late last night, but I guess I forgot to mention it to you." I giggled despite myself and my self-consciousness.

"Wait, then you're probably Will Solace. I'm supposed to interview you for the Ebola project." Getting a little more comfortable with the new presence.

"Well, nice to meet you. I'm William Solace, please call me Will. Nico's boyfriend of almost two years and Doctor at Mount Sinai West Hospital."

"Boyfriend. Nico Di Angelo! Did you fail to inform me in the past three months that you have a boyfriend? How the hell does one fail to mention that kind of crucial information!? Je bent echt de grootste idioot die ik ooit heb ontmoet. Je vergeet echt alles. Afspraken, adressen, telefoonnummers, namen."*

"Elsie neither of us speak Dutch so stop lecturing me in the language. And I didn't find the right moment to mention to you that I was gay and had a long term boyfriend."

"It's not the fact that it's a guy that surprises me. It's just the fact that in these past three months, you've never mentioned Will once. If I were him, I'd be offended."

Nico and Will were now both smiling. As if on cue we burst out laughing. The situation wasn't that hilarious, but somehow we still laughed.

"Hey Nico, I know something we have in common. You know what. WE LIKE BOYS!"

*= you are the biggest idiot I've ever met. You forget literally everything. Appointments, addresses, phone numbers, names.

____________________________________