“Guys.” Ryan mumbled into his microphone as he and his friends waited for the queue to find them another match of their hero shooter. It shouldn’t take too long, since they weren’t all that high in rank, but Ryan still wanted to use that opportunity for some desperate advice.

“How can I make someone hate me less?” Ryan sighed, staring at his phone, and the unread, unanswered messages he had sent. Every few days, he sent a message, all of them in vain. 

Heyyy, Elias. How did your exam turn out? Did you do well?

Elias! Let me know if you need any more help tutoring! 

Can I invite you for some coffee, Elias?

How is your painting coming along, Elias? 

Mel scoffed right into his ear. “Is this still about Elias?”

“Elias?” Paul wondered aloud, Mel’s long-distance boyfriend. He went to another university, but they all had been friends for a while, now. 

“It’s this guy in arts. He’s a total jerk.” 

“And he totally hates Ryan’s guts?” Paul wished to know, and Mel laughed all the more, her grin peeking right through her voice.

“Absolutely!” she said, and finally, Ryan’s screen flashed. Match found. As they loaded in and picked their characters, Mel continued on with the story. “Ryan was being, you know, Ryan. Offering help, and all that, but Elias isn’t someone that wants help, honestly. And now, Ryan won’t shut up about him. It’s always like, oh, he’s so talented. Oh, I wish he’d answer my messages. Should I go and visit him? What should I do?”

“Mel, you’re rude,” Ryan grumbled, and his friend laughed right into his ears. 

“Wait, wait,” Paul then said. “It’s just like back then, with … what was her name?”

“Toxic Lilly?”

“No, but … well, her, too.” 

“Oh!” Mel lit up. “Hana!” 

“Yes, Hana! She was a total freak.” 

“No, she wasn’t!” Ryan was quick to defend himself. Hana was … an ex-girlfriend, if he could even go as far as to call her that. They’d met in the very game Ryan and his friends played at the moment, had started playing with each other lots and lots, had had endless night-time calls, and dated, briefly, in a long-distance relationship halfway across the globe. 

Just before Ryan had saved up enough money to visit her, she’d broken up with him. 

“Oh, yeah, she was. She’d get jealous whenever I joined the squad,” Mel grumbled. “You’d never play with us anymore, and I bet she freaked knowing we go to the same uni. To even think she thought I’d be interested. Ew.” 

“Hey… She wasn’t all that bad.”

“Ryan,” Paul grumbled. “She was super controlling.” 

“And Lilly, too. You were obsessed with her in 10th grade, but all she’d do was yell and push you around, and make you do all these things for her. And then, she cheated on you with some college frat boy.” 

“You never shut up about either of them. It’s always like … Oh, I’m so curious. Oh my God, she’s so cool. Oh my God, look how talented she is, just because Hana sang a little bit in our voice calls.” 

“Ryan gets so obsessed so fast,” Paul scoffed. “Wasn’t there also this exchange student?”

“Oh, yeah! Emilio!” Mel laughed just thinking about it. “Ryan was obsessed with his accent, and kept talking about how he wanted to learn Italian, and before he realized what was going on, Emilio already left.” 

“What are you trying to say?” Ryan grumbled, face already heating up.

“You won’t shut up about Elias, and you’re being pushy, and annoying, just like you always do when you’re crushing hard.” 

“And somehow, he always goes for the reddest of flags,” Paul added. “Either they are unstable or unattainable. Or both.” 

“H-Hey, seriously! That’s crazy!” Ryan blushed all over, now. “Sure, I’ve got a terrible track record, but, but what you’re saying is ridiculous! Elias?! I’m just—“

“Curious, yeah, yeah.”

“He’s a very talented artist!” 

“Sure, that’s why you gawked the way you did when you saw him for the first time.”

“M-Mel! I’m not—What? You’re just making stuff up! I barely know Elias!” 

“You’ve got really weird tastes, man,” Paul laughed into his ear, and Ryan was ready to go and die of shame.

“Are—Are you insinuating that I have a crush? On—On Elias?!” 

In unison, Mel and Paul responded without hesitation, just a split second after he’d asked: “You totally do.” 

All that left Ryan’s mouth were intelligible stutters of how ridiculous that idea was, of how impossible it was, how he barely knew Elias and was simply curious, just wanted to get to know him better, all for no real reason, and that he simply liked to help.

Endless, endless excuses, but in reality, Ryan slumped deeper into his chair with a hammering heart, and could barely focus on the game before him, dying over and over again.

“You always make up this image in your head, Ryan,” Mel mumbled. “When you meet someone, and you like them. And nothing they do changes that. You should honestly be a saint or something at this point, with all that patience you got. The stuff you let Hana and Lilly do to you, seriously, I would have lost my shit.”

Ryan grumbled, sulking all the same.

“And with Elias now, too. Why do you tolerate him calling you names, and being rude to you, just because you’re curious? He ignores all your messages, and he clearly wants nothing to do with you. Maybe just … let it go.” 

“I-I’m not crushing on him! I just—I thought—Maybe we could be friends.”

“Sure, Ryan, sure. You’re too pure for this world.” 

Once more, Ryan died in the video game, and his hands rushed up to his hair in desperation, heart beating out of his chest with images of Elias flashing inside his mind. Elias and the way he focused with beautiful, dark eyes, and the way he pondered at an empty canvas. 

The tiny tattoo hidden behind his ear, and the soft voice, with words that were never soft at all. Ryan remembered his own fingers reaching for it before he could react. 

Keeping the sketchbook, just so he could see Elias one more time. 

Sending him endless messages, hoping for a single response.

And he gulped.

“C-Crap, seriously—“ 

“Oh, he realized,” Paul chuckled. “Now, focus on the game! You’re throwing our match!”

“I totally have a crush on Elias!” Ryan yelled right into the microphone, making both his friends hiss and screech right back at him to be quiet, and that it was the most obvious thing ever. 

“But why won’t he text me back?!” Ryan continued to be way too loud, forcing his friends to tone down the volume on their end. 

“Ryan, you know, sometimes, you can be a bit pushy. You always want to know everything, and Elias doesn’t seem the type to talk much.” 

“But—But, but, but—“ 

They both chuckled at Ryan’s despair. “But he totally thinks I’m handsome!”

“Huh? He’s delusional,” Paul sighed. “Mel, we’ve lost him.”

“No, no, no! He drew me, he drew my face, even though he said it’s ugly! He drew me, and then he shredded it to pieces!” 

“Ryan,” Mel sighed. “That means nothing. He’s an artist, he probably draws people all the time for practice.”

“But—but, he drew me on a separate, empty page, and all the other sketches were cramped together! But—Why won’t he talk to me, then?! I’m just curious, I just want to—“

“Pipe down, Ryan, my God. You’ll scare anyone off like that.” 

“I’ll just go to see him, then!”

“You really shouldn’t,” Mel mumbled. “Unless you want him to hate you for real.” 

“But—But—“ 

“Ryan…” 

His friends did his best trying to warn him, telling him to calm down and back off, but Ryan was a little too strong-willed when it came to it, and didn’t think clearly most of the time.

With both Ryan and Elias as stubborn as mules, they were sure to butt heads eventually.