My Neighbor is My Crush!?

Friday, August 19th 7:56 AM at Robert Brewster High School

Lola and Val were watching over Sky as if she had just returned from a war or something. Sky’s best friends were shocked when she had arrived at school early, no makeup, no fixed hairdo, no flashy accessories and looking completely worn out. The poor girl couldn’t sleep properly the previous night and in order to avoid being late she decided not to make her usual preparations.

Sure! Nowadays teenagers like them would have a bad night and run themselves ragged afterwards. But Lola and Val could tell that Sky’s condition wasn’t just the effects of sleeping badly. Ever since she had started coming early a couple of days back, Sky had been acting strangely… her mind seemed to be wandering more often, her eyes shifted to look outside the window with that soft little smile on her lips, and lately she had been mumbling to herself about someone she called “Officer Weirdo”.

Now, as Sky rested her forehead on her desk and looked more flustered than usual, Lola and Val could tell that their good friend Skylar Aoi might just be having a case of “crushing for a boy”!

“So! Sky-chan…” Lola approached Sky and sat beside her while her friend groaned, “You okay there, sweety? You said you didn’t sleep well, but you don’t look like it’s just that…”

“I agree!” Val nodded and sat beside her friend as well. “I mean, look at yourself! Blue Sky, THE Blue Sky is sitting here without an ounce of makeup, your hair’s barely holding on by that ponytail of yours, you’re not carrying your usual gear and… well… it almost looks like you’ve got a lot on your mind. Wanna share?”

Sky managed to turn her head so that one of her blue eyes could glance at Val. She revealed the flustered look on her face, the blush on her cheeks and ears that didn’t seem to disappear ever since she had dinner with John the previous night. Skylar knew she could trust both Val and Lola, but when it comes to… to… matters of… having a cru-... a crus-....!

With her blush intensifying, Sky turned her head again to hide her face… It was too embarrassing to even think about it!

“GEEZ! Get a grip Skylar! This is Lola and Val! Talk to ‘em!” Sky was debating with herself as she spoke to herself. “Yeah! It’s Lola and Val! They’ll make fun and tease the hell outta me! I CAAAAN’T!”

“Guys… let me ask you something… hypothetically speaking…” Sky managed to speak up at last which made both of her friends listen in, “I-If you were to meet a guy…”

“THIS IS ABOUT A GUY!?” Both girls shouted out with wide grins on their faces.

“I NEVER SAID THIS IS ABOUT A GUY!!!” Sky covered her face with her hands as she groaned uncomfortably, “I said this was hypothetical! Come on! Don’t mess with me right now… please…”

Sky finally managed to sit up again with a face full of confusion and conflicting emotions. Lola and Val noticed that Sky was certainly more volatile today than before and in her current state, she’d not take jokes well.

“Alright,” Lola said and sighed softly, “Hypothetically speaking, what’s on your mind?”

Sky’s face turned red again as she looked down and began to fidget with her uniform a bit. The embarrassment she was feeling was still overwhelming her!

“If you were to… you know… meet a guy who… who’s… ummm…” She couldn’t say it! She could just say out loud that she might have a crush! Not only that! But a crush on Officer Weirdo!

“Okay, okay… let’s see if we can figure this out.” Val spoke and tapped her chin for a moment to think. “So you wanna know if we were to meet a guy who… has bad hair? A guy who’s bad in school? A guy who confessed to you?”

Sky’s head steamed up again at the mention of "confessed". She began to imagine how it would look if John had confessed to her!

“Miss Aoi! I have been holding back for too long. I have to tell you. I lov-”

“NO! NOTHING LIKE THAT!” Sky shouted out trying to silence John’s voice saying those words in her head. “Nobody confessed to me! I just… wanna know… if… this guy didn’t know what streaming was! Yes! That’s it! What would you do if this guy didn’t know about streaming?”

Lola and Val looked at each other, and understood silently what Sky's issue was. It was true! She had a major case of the “crushing for a boy”. They would have to maneuver the conversation to avoid pushing Sky back into a defensive posture.

“Oh! I see. That makes much more sense. So this ‘guy that doesn’t know anything about streaming’,” Lola began to speak softly, hoping Val would catch her queues, “why does it bother you so much that he doesn’t know anything about streaming?”

“Seriously! How could a guy like that not know what streaming is! Even a six year old would know! I mean… weird… isn’t it?” Sky was not sure if she was able to avoid the scrutinizing eyes and questions her friends were making. But she had to confide in them! Just… not that openly!

“Ahhh! So this guy doesn’t like streamers, is that it?” Val began her sneak attack to Sky’s weak flank.

“No! I mean… I hope not… it’s not that he doesn’t like streamers! He just… doesn’t know a thing about it! It’s… it’s weird isn’t it?” Sky kept herself steady, but also was wary of their questions.

“Weird? I dunno…” Lola said as she leaned back and thought, “Some people may not be as fashionable or up-to-date with today’s trends on social media and stuff. But that’s not really a bad thing is it?”

Sky looked at Lola puzzled.

“Yeah! This guy may not know what streaming is, but that doesn’t mean he’s like a creeper or anything, right?” Val nodded and turned to look at Sky who also exchanged a puzzled look with her. “I mean, does this hypothetical guy have many bad things besides not knowing about streaming?”

“Don’t even get me started!” Sky huffed loudly! “His wardrobe is a crime against all fashion! His cooking would certainly turn people into zombies! And he’s WAY too honest!”

“Hmmm… so those are the hypothetical guy’s ‘bad things’?” Lola asked.

“Yeah! Y-You could say so… hypothetically speaking…” Sky began to mumble a little as she felt her chest once more washed away by her growing feelings.

“So he can’t dress, he can’t cook and he’s ‘too honest’...” Val turned to look at Sky, “Is that it?”

“Y-Yeah… I guess…”

“I don’t see the problem!” Lola and Val said at the same time.

“W-Wait what!? You don’t see that this is a huge problem? This guy’s like the complete opposite of m-” Sky caught herself before she spoke and shut her mouth with both hands as her blushing became too obvious to hide.

“Sky, having a bad dress code or not being able to cook is like every other guy out there! Most of ‘em don’t care about fashion and most of them can’t cook to save their lives.” Val took out her phone and began to search the web for the definition of ‘honest’.

“B-But, this guy, this HYPOTHETICAL guy,” Sky roared out, “Doesn’t have any filters! He’d just say what’s on his mind regardless of how corny or cheesy or…. Or… endearing… it might be…” Sky remembered how John had spoken to her the night before…

“Guess I’ll have to be the one to teach you how to clean the apartment when it becomes a crime scene again, huh?”

“I don’t want to miss a single flavor of this beautiful meal you’ve cooked for us, Skylar!”

“...Even I wouldn’t dare to put Miss ‘Blue Sky’ in the hospital with my cooking.”

“I respect those whose passion for their job surpasses my own…”

John had said many things that had riled her up in more ways than one… he made her go from angry to embarrassed in no time flat! He was WAY too honest! But… maybe that was one of the reasons she had fallen-.

“NONONONONONONONONO! I DON'T have a crush on John! I’m not fall-... falllll… NO! Not a crush! I don’t have a crush on my neighbor!”

While Sky was having a mental debate with herself again and pulling on her hair, Lola and Val were both amused but also worried. They had never seen Sky THIS flustered before over a guy! In the years they’d known her, she’d had a couple of boyfriends here and there, but she’d never go serious with them. She’d always say something like: “He was ‘kinda’ cute…” and never went back to dating again with them. Seems Sky was having a total meltdown!

“Sky, we need to have an ‘intervention’ with you.” Lola placed her hand over Sky’s shoulder which made her shudder.

“I agree,” Lola spoke as well, “with Lola. We need to talk about this seriously, girl! Or you’ll go crazy in no time! At lunch time, we’ll talk.”

Sky sighed heavily and hid her face again. This was going to be a long morning…

12:00 PM during Lunch Time

Sky felt like she was in an interrogation… and this line of thought brought her to think about Officer Weirdo and his boring job… and made her blush again.

“What is WRONG with me!?”

Lola and Val had persuaded Sky to sit with them in a private corner of the cafeteria where most people only sat when “matters of High School security and privacy” needed to be discussed. Naturally, when they saw the three streaming goddesses sitting by themselves, they knew NOT to interfere nor interrupt. This was the law in Robert Brewster High School.

Now, Sky was under the custody of her two best friends.

“Alright, Sky. Nobody else will bother us here. So spill it!” Lola, outspoken as always, didn’t waste any time and spoke with a smirk on her lips. She already knew… she just wanted Sky to admit it.

“S-Spill it!?” Sky answered almost indignantly.

“Skylar, don’t try to hide it from us…” Val leaned forwards in a comforting way, acting as the ‘good cop’ to Lola’s ‘bad cop’ approach. “You’re OBVIOUSLY crushing over someone.”

Skylar’s face turned pale for a second before exploding with red again, pulling at her hair and trying to hide from the world.

“I… I don’t have a…”

“Yes, you do!” Both friends fired back.

“I… I just… don’t… know… w-what to do with… with… this feeling…” Sky finally let her guard down a bit. “I’ve… never felt like this… it’s so freaking confusing!”

“So come clean!” Lola said firmly as she took Sky’s hands. “Who’s the guy?”

“M-My… neighbor…?”

“The one you call ‘Officer Weirdo’?” Val said in an accusatory tone as if Sky had said a bad thing.

“D-Don’t call him that! That’s how I ca-” Sky caught herself again! Did she just feel jealous that anyone other than her called John ‘Officer Weirdo’? “Grrrr! Yes! It’s the same guy! His name is… John…”

“So, he’s your neighbor, his name is John. He doesn’t cook, he doesn’t have a good fashion sense and is… and I quote: ‘WAY too honest!’. Does that sum up this guy?” Lola continued to prod Sky who felt like every word was a slap on the face!

“T-That’s… not… those are…” Sky remembered how John had interrogated the landlord… Did the landlord feel as cornered as she did? “It’s more complicated than… that…”

“Let’s put the cooking and fashion sense aside for a while, since those CAN be fixed.” Lola cleared her throat and asked bluntly: “Has he hurt you?”

“No! He would never! He’s a Police Officer, and a pretty good one at that!” Sky remembered seeing John’s commendations when she visited his apartment.

“Did he say anything to you that would be considered rude or offensive?” Val kept the train of questions going.

“Never! He’s always spoken… kindly to me… then again, he often blurts out honest comments about my own faults…” She recalled when John thought she was a model student and made her feel furious! But… he immediately realized his mistake and apologized without delay. He wasn’t being rude on purpose… she just felt he had been… She had been the problem. Not him!

“So other than cooking and fashion… you said something about him not knowing anything about streaming?” Lola looked sharply at Sky who nodded.

“He knows nothing about streaming. He even found it baffling! Like there was something wrong with doing it! Wait… did he…?”

“I admit… I have no understanding of what you do with your ‘streaming’. Honestly it baffles me! But, I can see that this is something you’re passionate about… I respect those whose passion for their job surpasses my own.”

Oh God… John had never once ridiculed her work nor did he say something mean or hurtful about her passion! In fact…

“I’ll try to get acquainted with streaming, so I don’t make a complete fool of myself next time we chat.”

John was trying to understand her… could it be he also might…?

“Check it out, Sky,” Val held her cellphone towards her showing her her previous search, “This is the definition of an ‘honest person’ - ‘a person of high moral values who always tells the truth, avoids deceit and fraud, and acts with integrity, fairness and sincerity. They are trustworthy and act ethically, even when it’s difficult or unpopular.’”

That was John alright…

“Sky, you can’t deny it girl. You got a major crush on your neighbor!” Lola shot bluntly which made Sky’s face blush and forced her to cover her face in her hands as if she had just being caught.

“I… I don’t… I just…” She couldn’t deny it anymore… the more she did, the more her head felt like it was about to explode! “I… I have a crush on… my neighbor!?”

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!? A crush… on John? I have a crush on JOHN! MY NEIGHBOR! OFFICER WEIRDO! I HAVE FEELINGS FOR OFFICER JOHN ROADS!”

Despite the enormity of what she had just admitted, the wide grins of her friends as they both high-fived each other saying: “Mission accomplished!” and the fact that she was blushing from head to toes, she felt a strange feeling of liberation… guess the truth does set you free!

“I have feelings for John…” The more she thought of it, the more her confused face turned into a soft smile.

“So… is he ‘kinda cute’?” Val asked. Sky thought for a moment and remembered that the boyfriends she’d had in the past were only ‘kinda’ in every way. John wasn’t like that. He either ‘was’ or ‘wasn’t’. There was no middle ground with him.

“He’s… cute, in his own way. I guess…” Sky said thinking of that simple smile that John always gave her. It made her smile as well. She took a glass of water and drank for a moment, trying to cool herself a bit.

“Well now! When are you going to confess to the guy?” Lola asked plainly which made Sky spit out her water with outrage.

“WWWWHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!? What’re you talkin’ about!? Confess to John!? That’s crazy! I’d NEVER be able to do THAT!” Sky’s head once more exploded with embarrassment. It was one thing to admit your feelings, but confessing to your crush!? Totally different!

“Oh, come ON! Sky! You just admitted you liked the guy! Go for it!” Val patted winked at Sky to try and encourage her.

“I-It’s not that simple! He.. He’s… well… I don’t know… h-how he’d… react! Or… if he’d even accept my feelings! We’re… just too different!” Sky’s mind began to rummage through her mental garbage to try and find any reason why confessing might be a bad idea!

“Yeah, we heard you. But that’s not enough reason to chicken out, Sky!” Lola sighed heavily at Sky’s wishy-washy attitude.

“There’s plenty!” Sky said those words trying to defend herself, but realized soon that these reasons made her feel distressed.

“Sky? Are you alright?” Both girls suddenly held on to Sky who looked like she’d had her heart broken!

“He… He’s a Police Officer… I’m a high school student… He’s coolheaded and knows what he’s doing… I’m… well… all over the place…” The more she thought about it, the more Sky thought that a relationship with John might actually be impossible. 

And then there was the biggest challenge to confront…

John was a man in his mid twenties. He would never pursue a relationship with a minor. As an honest man and a police officer, he knew it would be devastating for the both of them if they ever crossed that line.

It felt hopeless… her feelings, while very real and a source of joy to her, had also become a potential source of pain… she’d already suffered enough… but now she didn’t want to just let it go.

“Sky, I’m not saying that you walk up to the guy and just tell him: ‘Hey! Officer! I got a crush on you! Wanna date?’?” Lola smiled softly at her, “This isn’t some simple ‘girl crush’. This is ‘the Real Deal!’”

Sky opened her eyes wide and held her hands towards her chest. Her heart was beating fast, and thumped hard… Lola was right.

“Lola’s got a point, Sky.” Val nudged her with a grin, “Even we aren’t gonna joke about the big ‘L’. Just make sure you sort your feelings soon! It’s not like you’re gonna be able to ghost the guy! He’s your neighbor!”

Sky nodded slowly. Both her friends were right on the money. She had to make sense of her feelings and make a firm decision about what she would do. John was a part of her life, so she just couldn’t disappear from it to avoid any awkward situations between them.

She would have to talk to John about this soon…

4:51 PM

Skylar was taking the long way back home…

She still had a lot on her mind regarding her not so “teeny-tiny crush” on John.

During her long walk, she thought hard on whether she should openly confess her feelings to John and hope he’d be kind to her so as to bring her down to a soft landing.

When she had broken up with her previous boyfriends, they had taken it pretty badly. One of them cried. The other one had ghosted her afterwards.

But now that she was the one with a confession lingering in her mind, she didn’t know what would happen or what she would feel when she heard John saying: “I’m sorry, Sky. But I can’t be with a kid, like you.”

The thought of him saying those words made her feel angry and sad. And there was no way of denying it either!

She was still, in all senses… just a kid in his eyes. How could she consider the possibility that he might actually say anything different?

It’s alright, Skylar. Nobody’s perfect…

John’s “catchphrase” appeared in her thoughts again… strangely, they felt like they had a new meaning to her that brought some hope to her.

John always acknowledged that neither he nor she were perfect. He had accepted her regardless of her chaotic emotions, her constant berating of him or her criticism of his many flaws. Not even when she had spoken too harshly towards things that were important to John.

He never once lashed out like she had… he had accepted her no matter how imperfect she was.

Maybe she didn’t have to confess yet… if she could just feel like this and still be a part of each other’s lives… it might be enough. Right?

Maybe that was enough…

Maybe things would change when she turned 18…

Maybe…

5:06 PM outside of Officer Roads’ apartment.

Sky had just arrived at the apartment building after she’d cooled her thoughts and got a grip of her feelings. Tonight, she had been invited by John to have some pizza at his place. Hoping she wouldn’t become an emotional tornado while spending time with John, Sky thought it would be best for her (and her heart) if she didn’t mention anything about her feelings to John. She didn’t want to make things weird.

As she was climbing the stairs towards the hallway leading to John’s and her apartment, she noticed that there was someone else waiting outside of John’s place. By the looks of things, it was a man of advanced age in a grey suit, grey hair and a bushy mustache.

There was something oddly familiar in that man which made Sky wonder if she’d ever seen that man before.

That’s when she noticed that this man was also carrying a holstered pistol…

Sky had been on such an emotional rollercoaster all day long that she immediately felt in extreme danger! Hoping the man hadn’t seen her, she quickly turned around and called John…

No Answer!!!

“Of all the times for you not to pick up the phone, Officer Weirdo! There’s a guy with a gun in front of your apartment! Could this be a revenge visit from some criminal organization like those mobster movies!?”

“Excuse me, miss. Do you need a hand?”

Sky could feel the presence of that man behind her. And he spoke to her! She turned to look at the man. Unfortunately for her, the light was falling entirely on his back which made him cast a large shadow over her, making this man look like a monster!

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” Sky’s high pitched scream could be heard from outside the building!

“Whoa, whoa! Take it easy, Missy! I’m not gonna hurt you or anything! I’m just looking for my boy, Johnny!” The man said trying to calm Sky down after she went hysterical.

“Huh!? Your… boy? Johnny?” Sky heard him say those words and made her stare up at the man who was smiling broadly at her and acting in a manner she recognized the night she met John.

“There ya go!” The man laughed heartily and grinned, “You got quite the set of lungs there, Missy! Sorry if I scared you. You okay there? You’re still lookin’ a little jittery!”

Sky recomposed herself and finally looked at this man from a different light. The suit, his manners, the way he had tried to calm her down were very much the same as John’s!

“I-I’m sorry but, who are you mister?” Sky couldn’t help but wonder if she knew this man from somewhere…

“Oh! Where are my manners… sorry! I’m just an ol’ man these days! Heh!” The man moved his hands very slowly so as to not startle Sky and took out a badge - Port Seaview Police Department - “To Protect and to Serve” Number: 10-081.

“My name’s Detective Paul O’Malley, and I’m lookin’ for my boy, Johnny Roads. You know him?”

“Eh?” Sky paused for a moment, “WHAAAAAAAAAAT!?”

Huh… talk about déjà vu… wait… did I just say that?