Alex caught herself shuffling back and forth slightly as she wound up the long, meandering, barely coherent and deeply embarrassing speech she was giving to the girl sitting in front of her, staring at her somewhat incredulously. "So... will you go out with me?" Forcing the words out took the last of Alex's courage, and she dropped her gaze to the floor as she tried to keep her breath under control.
"I... wow." Winter replied. Just from her tone of voice, Alex could tell she was probably raising an eyebrow. As well she might. I'll just ask her, was what Alex had decided, but she'd felt the need to give a little prefix about how she knew a girl like Winter probably wouldn't be into a girl like her, and somehow it had turned into a large prefix about herself and half her life story. Alex grimaced. She'd ruined it, hadn't she? Not that she'd had much of a chance to begin with. Alex considered herself quite pretty, in the right light, but she was shy, socially awkward, unbelievably nerdy, and way, way too plain.
She'd always thought the perfect way to describe herself was: she looked like an extra in a movie. An extra. Never a main character. She wore glasses and never bothered with much makeup, and always wore her mousy brown hair in a ponytail. She never wore anything that showed her shoulders or her legs above the knee. She was curvy, kind of, but her mother had always commented that she could afford to hit the gym more often, to burn off that puppy fat that clung insistently to her belly. 'Plain' really was the most suitable word.
Whereas Winter was... Winter. In Alex's eyes, she was the coolest girl at her whole university. She wasn't conventionally popular, but Alex knew she had a few admirers. She stood out everywhere she went. As if her almost 6 feet of height wasn't enough already, she wore heeled boots that put her a head above even a lot of the men around her. And then, of course, there was her style. Winter was a goth, through and through. Black hair, black lipstick, black clothes, black everything, set off magnificently by porcelain-pale skin, arching cheekbones and a slender, elegant physique. You could write a poem about her dark beauty! And Alex had, almost, before stopping herself. She'd been crushing on Winter pretty much forever. They shared a common haunt in the university library, where Alex spent most of her days between lectures, studying up.
Winter seemed to like it there too, although she was as often reading novels or scrawling in her notebook as studying. Alex had taken to sitting near her - not too near, of course, just near enough to be able to see her when she looked up from her books. More than once, she'd caught herself staring. Winter was just so beautiful. She was the kind of girl Alex had always been attracted to. She wished she had the courage to pull off a style the way Winter could. And the fact that she spent her time in the library made it perfect. Maybe they could bond over books! Maybe Winter was just as much of a nerd as she was! That would be so cute! Alex had all kinds of fantasies about the pair of them as girlfriends.
But today, she'd decided her fantasies weren't just going to be fantasies any longer. She was going to ask Winter out, get rejected, and then spend the night bawling over a pint of ice cream. And then maybe she could move on and stop crushing so hard. Maybe. But if there was even the slightest chance Winter might say yes...
"No," Winter finally said, dashing the small hopes Alex had been harboring. "I'm sorry, just, no. I'm not really interested in you that way."
Alex gripped the fabric of her skirt tightly. She could feel tears coming on already. She should leave it there, she knew. She should scurry back over to her desk, pack up her things, and run home. But a strange feeling seized her, and she asked: "Why not?"
Winter seemed surprised by the question. "You're just not my type, I guess."
"Not your type?" Alex repeated. "But... why? What's your type?"
"It's a little hard to explain." Winter was looking at her strangely now.
"But, but," Alex knew she should stop, but she couldn't. This was her one chance, even if it wasn't really a chance at all. "Won't you even give me a chance? Get to know me a bit? Maybe I'm your type after all."
Winter's expression softened. Maybe she could see Alex was on the verge of tears. "I don't think so, I'm sorry."
"But, just," Alex was struggling for a words like a fish on land gasping for oxygen. "Please! I know this is silly, I know, but I have such a crush on you, and... I really want to be your type. I'll do anything! I... I don't mind changing a little bit, if that's what it takes. Just, please, give me a chance to be with you!"
Alex had gotten quite worked up, she realized, and was breathing hard. Daring to look up, she found Winter wearing a strange expression. A very strange expression indeed. Slowly, a curious, crafty smile spread across the goth girl's face.
"Well... OK, maybe. I said maybe!" she added quickly, seeing Alex become suddenly delighted. "Sure, we can get to know each other better. Sure." Winter looked around. "Hey, let's go somewhere we can talk better. Somewhere a little more private. Follow me, we can use one of the study rooms."
Winter swept to her feet and started leading off, long black skirt trailing behind her. Alex trotted after her, after taking a moment to drink in her astonishingly sudden reversal of fortune. Nothing had really happened, she told herself, it was only a maybe, she told herself, but nonetheless, her blood was pounding in her ears with excitement. Winter led her down the steps out of the library and into an adjacent corridor with a number of doors leading into small rooms. They quickly found one that was empty, and went inside. The rooms were for small study groups, and had little more in them than a table and a few chairs. Winter settled into one of them gracefully, and beckoned for Alex to sit opposite her.
"I've noticed you, you know?" Winter said. Alex blushed. "You're always up there, peering over textbooks. Do you have any hobbies? Ever go to parties?"
"Umm, not really..." Watching movies and playing video games didn't count as hobbies, Alex decided. "I just care a lot about my grades, I guess. I know that's super nerdy."
"It is," Winter replied, in a good-natured, teasing way. "To be honest, I don't think you're my type. At least not right now. But maybe we can find a way to help you cut loose a bit, what do you think?"
