"Alex, they claim they were just having girl talk," Nick laughs, making sure to put quotations that he made with his fingers around the words, 'girl talk'.

Alex is sitting on the floor, looking through some papers. Once he notices we're in the room, he looks up at us, smiling. Even though my gut says Alex's smiling at the both of us, my heart says it's only me he's smiling at. I smile back awkwardly in politeness.

"We were starting to get worried," Alex says happily as he stands up.

"You mean you were. I wasn't that worried," Nick says, chuckling awkwardly.

Wow, there's a lot of awkwardness in the room.

"Yeah, right. You were just as worried as I was," Alex chuckles. Nick glares over at Alex, making Alex avert his eyes.

"There was no need to be worried," I half-smile. Alex looks back at me, smiling.

"I know. I just couldn't help it," he replies, forcing my lips to quirk upwards.

Alex was worried about me. He was actually worried about me, and he didn't even wait until a situation where he should have worried about me appeared. I can't believe Alex did so. No one ever worries about me for any situation, and he did.

"Thanks," I reply, wondering if there's a hint of astonishment in my eyes. Hopefully, there isn't. I hope there is happiness instead of astonishment gleaming there.

"No problem," Alex says, continuing to smile at me.

"So, how about we begin? We might be able to finish this thing before it's due," Nick says, making me realize he's right.

"Yeah, we should begin working now," I state. Marissa glances at me quickly, probably to make sure I'm doing fine so far. I smile, hoping to tell her I'm okay for now. She nods and looks back at Nick with excitement.

I watch Nick grab her hand and bring her to an open space away from Alex where they won't be bothered with our talking. Marissa smiles, looking surprised at first, but quickly getting over it.

As Marissa sits down, she glances over at me one last time. I assume she wants to make sure that her seating arrangement is fine with me. I nod my head approvingly. Marissa nods again and looks back at Nick. They are still in the room, so I am okay for now. I know that whenever I feel nervous or worried, I can look at her and she'll help me through it.

"Shall we begin?" Alex asks, making me realize I've been staring at my best friend and her partner.

"Oh, yes."

"Where would you like to begin?" Alex asks me. I think for a second before coming up with an idea.

"How about we split up into parts? You can do something while I do something different."

"Brilliant! Truly genius!" Alex exclaims. Marissa and Nick quickly glance over at us, shocked at Alex's sudden outburst. I smile, feeling myself blushing.

"Thanks," I say, feeling a little embarrassed.

"I would never have thought of that. I would have had us just work together. Your idea will make us work so much quicker. We might actually be able to finish this project before it's due," Alex says, forcing me to realize I should have never told him my idea.

Surprisingly, I don't want us to finish this quickly. I want our project to take as long as possible because if we finish this, we'll act as if nothing ever happened between us afterwards. I don't know why I feel this way, I just do. I mean, I do have some ideas, but they're probably just examples of me thinking too much about things.

I was thinking it might be because I don't want any more people to swim out of my life. So many people have left me, it's starting to become habit. I don't trust anyone to stay anymore. I expect them to all leave me at some point in my life or another. I guess you could say I suffer a little bit from some abandonment issues. You would too if you had to deal with and experience the things I have had to.

Another thought is that I don't want to forget this experience. I don't want to forget meeting Alex. If I did, I would never have grown as much as I have in these few, short days. Instead of bottling it all inside like I usually do, I have been telling Marissa the truth about what I really think and feel. Consequently, Marissa and I wouldn't have grown as friends like we have. I would still be thinking very poorly of myself if these past few days had never happened.

Surprisingly, my insecurity has diminished in the past few days. I have thought much better about myself and my body. All of the ways I have grown is thanks to my meeting Alex. I don't know why it all circles back to him, but in a way, I'm glad it does.

The last thought that came to mind was that I might actually like Alex. It's crazy for me to think I like him already after only a few days, but you can't put a timer on love. It happens when it wants to happen, which is usually by surprise and when you least expect it. Sometimes it happens when your young, and sometimes it happens when your old. Either way, you have to be grateful, considering not everybody gets the chance to fall in love. However, the only true thing that matters is that you stay with that love of your life if you do in fact meet them because not everyone gets the chance to. Some people even pass up their true loves, not realizing it was that person who they had been searching for all their life.