The gaming night on Friday was already set up to become a huge success, or so Landon told me after school. In a last resort effort to get me there he said there would be free pizza and over fifty people.

I still wouldn't be there to check because Landon had a tendency of making things larger than they were. But when Randall and even Camilla agreed and clearly looked forward to it, there was a little pang in my chest.

Everyone was out there living their lives and having fun, and I was too much of a wuss to show up at the one event at school I'd enjoy... if I were able to play as well as I could, which I didn't do either.

But Rolf hated me exponentially more than all the others at the misfit table.

I was reminded of that fact when I walked to the bike shed and found my front tire slashed. It wasn't rocket science to figure out who did it and why.

Thanks a lot, Landon. He all but planted a big, fat target on my back for Rolf by signing me up for that gaming night.

I kept my head down, ignoring Rolf and some other guys from my class smirking at me from a distance as I crossed the parking lot with my broken bike. At least they didn't come over to harass me today, and I made through to the gate.

Unfortunately, I was not meant to have a peaceful moment in my life. The first raindrop hit my nose a few feet further, followed by three more, five more, and then I lost count as the downpour broke loose full force.

Groaning, I prepared myself for a long, long walk home. But, even that wasn't allowed.

Bright car headlights lit up behind me and I flinched, immediately dropping my bike and whirling around. I expected Rolf behind me, pretending that he was going to run me over. A joke that never seemed to grow old for him.

Instead, the car stopped next to me on the road, and I realised I knew this old Ford.

The window rolled down. Asa glanced at me. "Put your bike in the trunk and get in."

I hesitated, picking my bike up from the ground.

Walking in the rain for at least twenty minutes or getting in the car with Asa. Tough call.

"Gabriel, stop overthinking, put your bike in trunk, and get in."

I jumped at the mentioning of my name and nearly dropped my bike again. I swallowed thickly.

"O-okay."

Asa had definitely been in the military. He had the commanding voice down. My stomach lurched, but I did as he asked. I lifted my bike in the trunk and sat on the passenger seat.

"Sorry, I'm making your entire car wet," I apologised sheepishly, my coat literally dripping water everywhere.

Asa simply started driving, ignoring my remark.

Awkward.

I looked down at my hands, which I'd placed neatly on my lap. "And sorry for accusing you, too." I took a deep breath, and released it through my mouth. "Turns out it was Landon who signed me up."

"It's fine," Asa surprisingly replied. He sounded curt, but at least he spoke.

"Yeah, I already unsubscribed so..." I trailed off, letting the humming of the engine and the squeaking of the windshield wipers fill the silence. "Guess I wasn't fast enough for Rolf, though."

"He slashed your tire," Asa remarked, briefly glancing my way. "You're just gonna let him?"

I raised my shoulders, not wanting to admit out loud that I wasn't going to do anything. Not go to the gaming night, or tell anyone it was Rolf. I'd only make things worse.

"Figures," Asa said. "You let him out you and did nothing, too."

"He didn't out me." I turned my face away from Asa, looking out of the window on my side of the car. I didn't even knew he knew about that. "It was a group effort, including Rolf. Several guys hacking my email."

Guys I'd sort of called friends back then. I'd always been the butt monkey of the group, having to endure all the shitty remarks. I'd always had a feeling they only kept me around to make fun of, but I was part of the group. Until they hacked me as a 'joke.'

"Look, I understand it's hard to understand for you, but I'm not going to do anything. I'm not the type of person to take revenge." I sighed. "Like I could threaten anyone. That's what I pay you for at the lunch table."

"That's true," Asa agreed. "You're not threatening in any way."

"Though, some people seem to think I'm a threat just being in the locker room with them and having eyes."

I snorted at my own joke, then tensed as I realised what I was doing. Crap. Should I be making jokes like these around Asa, even if I was kind of mocking myself?

"I-I mean," I hastily added, "Like I want to look at asses which are so flat they can only be described as a bit of extra leg rather than an ass."

I wish that were true. As much as his personality sucked, Rolf had a nice body. So did Asa, but I wasn't allowing myself to think of him that way. Especially not when he was sitting next to me, and doing that creepy thing where he stayed silent for just a tad too long.

My nervous chuckle breaking said silence was even worse.

Asa rolled his shoulders back. "I take it as a compliment," he finally said.

I blinked. "What?"

"When you stare at mine."

Maybe I was imagining it, but I swore I saw a ghost of a smile playing on Asa's lips. Was he kidding?

Wait, that wasn't the thing to be concerned about here -- he'd caught me looking.

I felt heat rush to my cheeks as I sputtered an apology, but Asa had gone back to almost ignore-modus, at the very least unresponsive modus.

After that we reached my place and our conversation was over. Yet, it kept replaying itself in my mind while I was in bed that night. Maybe Asa didn't completely think I was irrelevant or stupid. He even knew about Rolf and what he did, despite being a year above us.

I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn't think like this, because Asa certainly didn't.

I'd heard Asa had once rejected a girl - a really, really attractive college girl - because she wanted to make out in some auditorium of a university his grade was visiting. He told her to learn what auditorium was actually for.

She was a she. I figured if Asa reacted like that to an attractive girl, he would literally shank me if he knew I sometimes watched him from a distance.

And how that I knew he didn't... A little piece of me still died in embarrassment every time I reminded myself Asa had noticed me checking him out, but something changed. Something fluttery. Oh, shit. I groaned.

"No, bad Gabriel," I scolded myself. I was being played by a ten year old's mind games and some very bad ideas.

Asa scared me to death half of the time. The other half I was either questioning myself or paying him to sit with me. How was any of that a good basis for a crush, even a little one?

"Gabriel, you're a complete and utter dumbass," I told myself, before planted a pillow firmly on top of my face, hoping this feeling would quickly go away.