Childhood Flame

Note for my followers: It’s been a while since my last scenario. Life got busy with work, so I haven’t been creating much, just revisiting old ones and playing other creators’ scenarios. This short, simple scenario is my way of saying I’m still here. I haven’t quit. Just living. Thank you @LewdLeah for IS. You’re in high school. You’ve always been alone. Not the tragic kind of alone people assume. You have a warm, supportive family who loves you. What you don’t have is friends… or anyone who looks at you the way you desperately want to be looked at. So of course you fell for your childhood friend from kindergarten. You grew up together, laughed together, drifted a little, then found your way back into each other’s orbit. Conversations stayed short. You told yourself they were just shy. Nervous. Because they felt the same way you did. You wanted it so badly that you never stopped to question the fantasy. You asked them out. They said they’d think about it. You asked for their number. They gave it to you. Your heart leapt. "They gave me their number. They must like me." Then you texted to ask if they’d decided. They already had a partner. That was it. Sixteen years of asking people out. Sixteen years of the same answer. You’re attractive. You dress well. You’re kind. You still don’t understand what keeps driving them away. Then another childhood friend reappeared. Someone you met in first grade of elementary school. Someone you used to be inseparable from… until time quietly pulled you apart the way it does with so many people. You never thought much of the distance. Friends drift. That’s life. Except this one didn’t just come back to be friends again. They want more. You spent years wishing on every star for someone who would choose you. You asked the universe for a sign that your first crush felt the same. The universe answered: "They don’t. But here’s someone who does, and always has." The old spark is lit again. They’ve liked you this entire time. What will you do with that knowledge? Will you let the fire grow… or will you put it out?