At this point of the story, we've exchanged words even more than we've had before. He's different now. He now knows my favorite chocolate is Hershey's and he has given me three bars in the time of two weeks. We talk sometimes via text message, about classes and normal stuff and we share the same for love for romantic comedy movies.

''I know it may sound weird, but romantic comedies are hella cool.''

I remember he said that to me and I laughed so loud, he glanced at me like I was some sort of weird asshole, but it was a good kind of 'you are weird' look. I remembered two days ago, we spent three hours talking about movies and how much we enjoyed writing and listening to good music. Something about him, really caught me off guard. He confessed he had the worst luck with girls and I didn't get why, because he is probably what every girl wishes to have. He is sweet, caring, gentle and he believed in chivalry more than I thought he did. We also talked about our families and how we love cats. He actually owns one and in pictures, he looked like the prettiest cat around town. He confessed he has been cheated on, multiple times and it made me realized I had better luck than he had when it came down to love. At least I've never been cheated on.

''Matt Galdieri huh?'' Felix said, he looked surprised. His eyes were wide open and he licked his lips more than once. He let out a nervous chuckle and shook his head. ''Does he know?'' He looked at me.

''I don't think he does, to be honest.''

''Just be careful.'' He warned, a flat tone in his voice.

''Why?''

''You never get to know people,'' His lips were pressed together. ''Seriously, watch your back. He is in the eye of everyone, girls and boys. Girls who like him, girls who will envy you and boys who like you and boys who will envy him.''

I snorted, letting out a giggle on the way. ''Why would someone be jealous of him?''

''You'd be surprised to know there are guys who like you, Lily.'' The expression on his face was none, and he wasn't looking at me either.

''Let's drop it,'' I was feeling the mood a bit intense and awkward. He nodded. ''Are you okay?''

''I am.''

''Good,'' He was different with me after I dropped the news. I didn't quite understand why, because everything was fine until this situation. ''I have to go, see you after class?'' I asked, trying to keep the mood between us friendly.

''I won't be hanging around here late, I have to run some errands.'' He was still not looking at me.

''Uh,'' I paused. ''Okay.'' I stood up from the bench we were sitting on. And didn't look back, I was confused about his reaction and the way he was acting. Boys...so hard to understand. I walked through the parking lot, making my way through the parked cars. I was heading to class, Algebra, if I may recall. But I wasn't expecting to bump into Zach.

''Hey there stranger.'' We were facing each other as we greeted, kiss on the cheek.

''Hi.'' I wasn't in the mood for him, actually, I was never in the mood for him.

''Are you free for lunch today?''

''Uh, sure.'' Wait what?! I shook my head, not realizing what I just said. Damn it, Lily.

''Great, I'll see you outside your class.'' He gave me a smile before walking away from me. I let a sigh escaped my lips. I just did the worst mistake of my life.

● ● ●

There were bake sales all around the campus, as I walked side by side with my girls, people were spazzing out over Valentine's day tomorrow. Since it was a Saturday, people wanted to give their lovers pink and red stuff today, Friday. Just for the thrill of showing off they had someone to spend money on. Valentine's Day sucks, it's a lame excuse for boys to treat their girls right, while they should be doing that every day of the relationship. But who am I to judge Valentine's day if I've spent every one of those alone? As I said previously, I have the worst luck with boys and romance and relationships and love itself. I am a strong believer in all that hopeless romantic stuff, yet I've never experienced such thing on a full level. When it came to days like these, I despised every couple placing foot on Earth.

''Hey today's Matt's birthday.'' Alex spoke as she examined a bag of heart shaped cookies.

I nodded. ''True.'' I gave one of the girls on the stand, two dollars for the bag of cookies I chose.

''Aren't you going to say something to him?''

''If I find him, I will.'' I smiled and she shrugged away my comment. Bella and Zoey were on the other stand, looking at some teddy bears, I walked toward them, leaving Alex by her own.

As I was closer from them I noticed Bella's eyes were concentrated on the stuffed animal. ''I really want a teddy bear.'' She spoke, pouting her lips like a little girl.

''Buy one.'' I suggested, joking.

''I need a boyfriend to buy me one.''

''You want a boyfriend.'' I said, putting a lot of force on the want word. Alex interrupted our teddy bear inspection and we walked away from the stands. On our way to the cafeteria I found Zach, again. He was everywhere I went to.

''Lily!'' He screamed over, loud enough for almost everyone to hear. I kept walking, I didn't want to talk to him, I wasn't going to, even if money was falling from the sky or if my life depended on that tiny, yet very important (to him) action.

''You ignored him.'' Zoey stated, looking back at me.

''I just don't feel like talking to him, but...'' I had an innocent look on my face. ''I agreed on lunch with him, today.''

''Oh my God.'' Zoey rolled her eyes and kept walking, the rest shrugged. They agreed with her reaction.

''He's a pain in the ass.'' Bella said and we all chuckled, like a chorus of laughter ringing through walls. We laughed so hard, we caught several people's attention. One of them was Matt. He was talking to some blond girl. She was pretty. 'Crap', I thought to myself as his eyes met with mine and suddenly I could feel these elephants in my belly telling me about the nervous feeling running down my spine as his stare was on me, along with a friendly smile on his face.

"You should say something to him." Alex whispered, elbowing me gently. I nodded and walked away from her, reaching Matt's figure.

"Happy birthday Matt." The words felt shy and my stare was away from him, since eye contact made me nervous as hell. Especially when it came down to him.

"Hey you remembered!" His arms wrapped around my frail body, as the smell of his cologne woke up my senses. He didn't smell like cigarettes this time. "Thank you! I'm having a party tomorrow you should go, you know?" He looked behind me. "With your friends." His finger pointed at the three girls looking out for me and this awkward scene. They looked away and pretended they weren't spying on us. I laughed.

"I'd love to go." A wry smile was on my face, hiding the fact I was dying inside.

"Great, I'll send the location later, deal?"

"It's fine by me," Silence. "Thanks for inviting me," I broke the silence and then I remembered about the cookies I just bought. "Hey these are for you." My hand was shaking as he glanced confused at the plastic bag.

"You bought them for me?" His face lit up. Oh my God.

"Well, um, I bought them for myse-" I paused. I thought it through. "For you." I cleared my throat, scratching gently my forehead.

"This is probably the sweetest thing someone has done for me today. And I never expect you to recall my birthday."

"I have a good memory,'' I cleared my throat. ''I remember you told the class a few days ago it was today," I pressed my lips together. "And enjoy the cookies." My voice was shaking. He hugged me once again, nodding and then he waved goodbye to me. I watched him walk away with the bag in his hand and that was probably the best decision I've taken today. He was happy for the cookies and I was happy that he was happy. I walked over to my friends, who were in a semi circle, arguing about what to eat for lunch. They opened the circle, giving me some space to join them.

''He invited us over to his place, tomorrow night.'' I interrupted the conversation and they all looked at me, shocked at the news.

''Are we going?'' Alex asked and then I nodded. Her jaw dropped.

I shrugged. ''Of course!'' I chuckled and they all went nuts about it.

''Someone's getting a boy friend!'' Bella joked.

''Come one, that's not it. Everything's friendly, that is all.'' They all gave weird faces and I chuckled, I didn't want to get my hopes too high, because as I said before, someone like him could never set eye on someone like me. I mean, I'm probably the most confusing person to place foot on Earth and I'm crazy and I fall too hard, and no guy wants a girl falling in love with him. Because falling in love means danger and confusion, and no one has the time for that.

● ● ●

I walked over to Zach, who was waiting for me outside the class, while checking out the information provided by his phone. ''Hi.'' I was grabbing the straps of my book pack as I greeted him.

''Ready?'' I nodded. We walked in silence toward his red car. He opened the door for me, surprisingly. I thought he didn't have that chivalry gene in his body. I was wrong.

''Thank you.'' I mumbled under my breath as I got in. The car's inside smelled clean and it took me by surprise how he didn't have a mess on the back seats. He started the car, making his way out of the parking space the car was located on. He started cruising down the not-so-wide driveway, leading to the campus's exit. My hands could feel the soft leather of the seat, and my eyes and ears could easily notice the song being played right now. 'Happy' by Pharrell.

''What do you want to eat?'' He was controlling the steering wheel as he asked. ''Pizza, beef?''

''Anything you choose is fine by me, I don't have much money in my card.''

''It's on me, Lily.'' I looked at him, surprised.

''You shouldn't.''

''I want to.'' I gulped. My hands were sweaty now. I knew this was such a wrong idea, because he totally was getting the wrong idea. I had no plans of this lunch to become a date. I didn't want that for me, for him, for us, for anybody. I was wishing, deep down, for Matt to be the one driving, not Zach.

We got to the restaurant, I didn't quite get the name, but it seemed a bit fancy. The smell of beef and other good smells coming from the kitchen approached my smelling senses. We walked to a table for two. I had the desire to run away and for him to get amnesia and forget about this whole thing. The menus were handed to us and he didn't hesitate to search for a plate of his taste.

After a few minutes the waitress was here. ''Ready?'' The lady asked, as she took out a small yellow pad out of her apron. She clicked the pen as she waited for us to answer to her demand.

''I want this.'' I pointed at a double cheese hamburger on the menu.

''Cheese hamburger,'' She wrote down on the pad, focused. ''For you sir?''

''I'd love to get the same.'' His hands gave her the menus and she took them with her, as she left the both of us alone at the table.

''Zach, before this goes on, I-''

''Don't speak. I know what you want to say and I feel it too. I like you and I'm sorry for screwing things up before.'' I shut my eyes, regretting ever saying anything. I let a hopeless sigh escaped my lips as I tried to find a way to tell him that I had no intentions to be with him.

''Zach, I just want to say that-'' My phone rang. Damn it. I was getting interrupted every time I wanted to process a coherent sentence. ''Hello?'' It was my mom. I stood up from the table and walked a few steps away, so I could talk with her without having Zach's stare on me. I was facing him and he was facing me. Even at a distance, I knew I was with the wrong guy at the right place.