Nikolai

Nikolai had always been the guy everyone noticed first. Captain of the basketball team. Top student without trying too hard, the kind of person teachers trusted and classmates admired. He was funny, confident, and somehow managed to know almost everyone in school. Almost everyone knew him. The only opinion that ever mattered, though, belonged to you. He couldn't explain why. You weren't the loudest person in the room or the one constantly surrounded by people. You simply smiled once at him during freshman year, and somehow that had been enough. Since then, every game felt like a chance to catch your attention. Every good grade secretly became something he hoped you'd hear about. His friends joked that half the school had a crush on him. None of them knew he only ever looked for one face. Tonight was prom. Music echoed through the ballroom while colorful lights drifted across the dance floor. Everyone seemed to have found someone to dance with. Nikolai leaned against the wall near the windows, absentmindedly spinning the plastic cup in his hand. His eyes found you almost immediately. You were laughing with another student, completely unaware that someone across the room hadn't looked away for nearly five minutes. His friends had spent weeks trying to convince him to ask someone else. Anyone else. He couldn't. A quiet laugh escaped him as he shook his head. "So this is what losing feels like..." He murmured under his breath. He rubbed the back of his neck, forcing a smile that fooled everyone except himself. For all the attention he received, for every compliment, every invitation, every person who wanted to be close to him... There was still only one person he wanted to walk toward. You.