"I've liked you ever since the day we met!" The boy's voice shook as he extended a bouquet of flowers toward the girl standing in front of him. Fingers trembling around the stems, and head lowered to his waist. "Please... consider my confession."

As he said those words, he squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the worst.

The silence must've felt like ages to him, but soon a soft giggle broke through. He opened one of his eyes, just in time to see the girl lifting a hand to cover her mouth. 

The boy jerked up so fast his glasses nearly slid off his nose. "Is... is it no good?"

The girl's expression softened as she quickly stifled her laughter. "No, no, it's not that," she reassured him. Reaching into her purse, she grabbed and pulled out a small pink envelope, it's edges crumpled as if it was held onto for a long, long time. "I was actually planning to confess too."

For a moment all the boy could do was stare, unblinking.

"T-that's amazing.. I-I can't believe it." He stumbled over his own words, his mind barely able to comprehend what was happening.

She stepped closer, gently taking the bouquet from his hands before slipping her own letter into the breast pocket of his shirt. "Hey, it's okay," she murmured, brushing his glasses back into place with her gentle fingers. "I accept your confession."

The moment those words registered in his mind, a rush of relief and immense joy flooded through him. Without a moment's notice, he pulled the taller girl into a tight embrace, wrapping his arms around her.

Well that's cute as hell

My name is Bill Tolwart. A high school senior with decent enough grades, bit of a loner. However, at this moment, I am crouched in the dirt behind a bush, spying on two freshmen in my school's courtyard, all while holding a ridiculously long scarf.

"Get down, Bill!" hissed the girl crouched beside me—the rightful owner of the scarf—as she forcefully yanked me down by the sleeve.

I followed her gaze and noticed that the couple was turning to our direction. Following that, we ducked even lower and in the process, the scarf entrusted to me brushed the ground below.

"The scarf!" She whispered and somehow yelled at the same time, her eyes momentarily darting to the pink fabric pooling onto the floor.

I exhaled deeply. "It already drags on the floor when you walk normally," I pointed out the fact, while gesturing toward the comical length of the damn thing.

"Only the part I want to drag," she fired back, not even sparing me a glance as she remained laser-focused on the couple. Studying their every move and analyzing each romantic gesture as if it was a science experiment.

"Alright, alright." I sighed, reluctantly accepting my fate of being a glorified hanger and began to wrap the scarf around myself like a spool of yarn.

How did I even get to this point.

We observed the couple in silence for a while, watching as they exchanged sweet words and shy glances. It was straight out of a romance novel, but eventually, I broke the silence. "So, is there any reason you had us meet, like right now.. at this time."

I was met with dead air.

"Because, you know, I have classes in-"

"Quiet."

Her hand shot up to my face, almost touching my lips in a shushing gesture. I rolled my eyes but decided to follow along, returning my attention back to the scene playing out in front of us.

"After class huh... Alright i'll see you later!" The girl said cheerfully, brushing the boy's cheek with her palm as she walked off.

The second she was gone from the area, the boy figuratively exploded with excitement and joy, jumping, fist-pumping, and clicking his heels in the air in pure ecstasy.

And that's when my companion in the bush abruptly whispered, "We may have to run."

Before her words could even register in my mind, she bolted from the bush in a sprint. The scarf wrapped around me unraveling so fast that it nearly spun me onto the ground.

"Wait what, Why?!" I scrambled to my feet as quick as I could, chasing after her. I was met with no response except for the sight of her giant scarf trailing behind her like a jet trail as we ran from the scene.

She was surprisingly fast, especially for someone who I would assume spent more time scheming than exercising. Meanwhile, I was a completely unathletic guy in a hoodie, struggling to even keep up. We rounded a few corners before finally stopping in a secluded area behind the school building.

I bent down, hands on my knees as I caught my breath. My fellow runner however, stood there completely unbothered, either she wasn't tired or just really good at hiding it.

"You gonna tell me why we had to run?" I said in between breaths.

She payed no attention to whatever came out of my mouth. And instead pulled out the ancient relic she called a phone from the deep pockets of her trenchcoat. "The first thing most people do when someone does something for them is saying thank you," she stated as if it was a matter-of-fact.

*ring ring*

She flipped her phone open and answered the call, putting her phone on speaker.

What blasted through the receiver was a familiar and ecstatic voice. "Eli! S-she r-really did like m-me back!"

Ah, so she took me to one of her cases.

I leaned against the wall as I listened to Eli replying smoothly, "As I anticipated she would."

The boy on the other end sounded almost breathless talking with her, as he was still filled with unfiltered excitement. 

"B-but how did you know tho?"

Eli smirked as if she had answered this question multiple times before. "Call it intuition. Now, is there anything else?"

There was a slight pause of silence before the boy spoke once again, a bit calmer this time. "No... just, thank you so much."

I swear I could feel him tearing up.

I smiled a little at his happiness, but curiosity still nagged at my mind. As Eli hung up the call, I turned to her to ask. "Okay, but seriously.. how did you know?"

Eli glanced at me, her face full of amusement. "All will be revealed in a second, Bill." She said as she kept the phone outstretched in her hand.

*ring ring*

Ah, of course.

Eli answered and on the other side was a girl, the very same one who the boy just thanked her for helping him with.

"Hey, Eli, I'm calling to say thank you," the girl began. "For-"

"Yes, yes, I know," Eli interrupted, already impatiently waving her off. "Enjoy your romance enough for the both of us." Her voice was light, but there was a tinge of half heartedness underneath.

The call ended soon after, and I seeked to quell my curiosity. "So both of them asked for your help?"

"An astute observation."

I ignored the veiled insult and continued on with my question. "Then why didn't you just tell them that they liked each other?"

Eli adjusted her heart-patterned scarf. "The two knowing they both went behind each other's back for my help would've made things much more complicated," she said, tugging at her scarf until both ends hung evenly at her feet. "Far simpler for them to think that I was solely responsible."

Finally satisfied at her scarf's length, she flicked her hand toward her temple, "We Humans tend to think that way." 

"Uh huh." 

Is this girl insane or what?

"Hm... that's one down." Eli scratched her head as if she was checking something off a list.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a gold pocket watch, wrenching it open with a flick of the wrist. Her gaze intensified for a short second before snapping it shut and stuffing the watch, along with her hands, back into her pockets.

Then, without so much as a glance at me, she turned her body toward the school building and started walking. "Walk with me Bill."

I blinked." No wait... stop. Hold on."

Eli stopped in her tracks, spinning around with a curious tilt of the head.

"First off, I have classes," I said, holding up my index finger. "Second, you still haven't answered my question from earlier."

"Remind me."

I sighed and stepped closer to her, a teeny tiny hint of frustration creeping into my voice. "I guess I just wanna understand why Eli Hartley— the school's famous Love Doctor, the person everyone asks for relationship advice and help with their crushes—."

I pointed to myself. "Is dragging me, the new kid of all people into her work?"

She looked unbothered as always. "You scheduled a meeting with me."

I threw my hands up. "After classes!"

Eli no-sold my overreaction, keeping the same nonchalant expression on her face

I exhaled deeply, rubbing my eyes. "I just don't get why you took me along for this."

Eli hummed thoughtfully before pulling her hands out of her pockets and making gestures like she was a professor lecturing a class. "Bill, are you familiar with the phrase: Without witness, without reward?"

I decided to play along, itching to see where she was going with the maybe unintentional Doctor Who reference. "I understand it."

Eli's semi-smile dissipated from her face, becoming more unreadable. "Well.. the without witness part gets boring after a few dozen times."

I stared at her, trying to understand the thought process behind her words. "So you just want someone to follow you around... and what? Be impressed by you?"

Eli turned away from me, her scarf accentuating the movement, "Not entirely. It's naught but a small part of what I want from you."

She took a step forward. "If you want to hear it... and have our scheduled meeting later." Another step. "Walk with me."

She made it sound like it was a choice, but it wasn't. It was something I couldn't refuse.

The things you do for love...

Every cell in my body moved to follow her, but I hesitated, my mind reminding me of my actual responsibilities. "Again, I have classes—."

"As I understand, it would be a first offense for you," she interrupted smoothly, already knowing what I was going to say.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, fiddling with the drawstrings of my hoodie. With my mind made up, I ran up to follow her.

I hate to admit it, but she's getting me interested.