A/N: This started when I realized that I had paired Ryan Evans with every other female student in High School Musical. Here it is: the extremely difficult to write, last pairing necessary: Raylor. If that's even what you call it...
Also, as a side note, Chad is sort of a jerk in this. Let it be known that I do like the character of Chad Danforth and I generally use him for good things in my stories. This one is just an exception. Enjoy.
Unconventional
Taylor McKessie had always considered herself an expert on spotting the symptoms of "boy disease," but when she became involved in her relationship with Chad Danforth, all of that seemed to fly out the window and she let her feelings take control.
It appeared that she could call it in other relationships, but not in her own.
As a return favor for the advice Taylor had given her over the summer, Gabriella felt compelled to expose to Taylor the truth of her own situation.
Taylor had called from her front porch swing, sitting calmly amid a flurry of discontent feelings. "He didn't show up. He's an hour and a half late, Gab. He must have forgotten."
Gabriella had sighed and hesitated. Did she really want to be the one to potentially hurt her friend by telling her? "Tay, this is the third time this month. If that's not boy disease, I don't know what is."
Taylor huffed. "Well, you got back together with Troy after he nearly deserted you for Sharpay. And after he forgot several dates. And after he showed up late for every single one he did manage to make. And after—"
"Alright, alright!" Gabriella conceded. "I see your point. But I did break up with him first. That's what shook some realization into him."
"So…what are you saying?" Taylor asked hesitantly.
Gabriella shook her head. For being ranked first in their class, Taylor sure could be oblivious sometimes. "Break it off with him. Show him that he needs you and that, in order to have you, he needs to have some respect for you."
Taylor frowned. "But…I like him. I just get irritated with him when he starts forgetting dates and stuff."
"I know what you mean. But, trust me, this is necessary. He'll realize that he's nothing without you, and he'll come crawling back to you."
After a silent moment of contemplation, Taylor complied, "Alright. I'll tell him at school on Monday that it's over."
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"WHAT?!?"
Chad's reaction to his girlfriend's departure could be heard throughout the school, despite Taylor's best efforts to keep it quiet by telling him in between classes in an empty room.
"I'm done, Chad. You've been rude, late for dates and downright disrespectful to me for the past month. If that's how you treat your girlfriend, then I don't want to be that girl anymore," Taylor said firmly.
"Hey, Taylor, baby, we can talk about this! I can change. You don't have to go breaking up with me just to get me to act nicer to you," Chad said, chuckling nervously. "I'll take you out this Friday to prove it."
Taylor glared at him skeptically. "Like you took me out last Friday?"
Chad looked at her in bewilderment, then his eyes filled with horror. "Oh. Oh, no. I'm sorry, Tay, I totally forgot. The guys wanted to hang out and shoot some hoops, so I…Oh, man, I'm sorry!"
Taylor just nodded sadly. "You are now."
Without giving him another word, Taylor quickly rushed out of the room, leaving Chad dumped and dumbfounded in her wake. She scurried into the bathroom and wiped her eyes to keep the tears from showing. This was necessary. It had to be done. He'd come crawling back to her.
Good Lord, she hoped Gabriella was right.
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The next day at lunch did not help Taylor's uncertainty about the situation in the least.
As she scanned the crowd for Gabriella's table, Taylor's eyes inevitably landed on the most recognizable head of hair at East High. She frowned forlornly at it for a moment before here eyes narrowed, resting on the head seated next to him.
Sharpay Evans.
That player. I just broke up with him yesterday and already he's at it with a new girl? I thought this was supposed to make him miss me, not run after little Miss Ice Queen! That rat bas—
"Taylor?" Gabriella's sweet, innocent voice propelled Taylor out of her angry thoughts.
"What's he doing with her?" Taylor asked immediately.
Gabriella frowned. "Didn't you hear? Chad called up Sharpay last night and now they are, supposedly, a couple. He told Troy last night and Troy told me this morning."
Taylor winced, "No, I didn't hear. My connection to the inner circle of gossip in the school has been broken, remember? Chad won't tell me anymore."
Gabriella nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Tay. He's probably just doing this to make you jealous so you'll get back together with him."
Blood boiling irrationally, Taylor rounded on Gabriella and yelled, "Sorry?!? This is entirely your fault! If I hadn't taken your advice to break up with him, this wouldn't have happened!"
She turned and stomped out of the cafeteria, enraged. She needed some air. Unfortunately, she was so blinded by her rage that she did not see a figure carrying about eight heavy textbooks walking her way. Inevitably, they crashed and the books went flying.
Taylor sat on the ground, dazed, for a moment before realization came to her and she apologized, "I'm so sorry! I should have been watching where I was going. I—"
She stopped in surprise when she saw that the person she had bumped into had been none other than resident drama geek Ryan Evans. The brother of her current most hated rival.
"It's alright," he mumbled, trying to pick up all of the books.
Taylor scrambled to help him. "Why were you carrying so many books?"
"Because," Ryan growled, "my sister is forcing me to carry not only her books, but Chad's books as well. I didn't even know they were together! Wait…weren't you dating Chad?"
Taylor felt the Bunsen burner light inside of her again. "We were. I broke up with him yesterday."
Ryan made a face, "So he decided to go out with my sister the next day?"
"I guess," Taylor said, not containing her emotions too well.
"How rude," Ryan commented to himself, but Taylor could still hear him, so she nodded in agreement. "Well, I guess I'd better go and give them their books. If you'd like, I could always manage to find a way to 'accidentally' spill some milk on Chad in the lunchroom. I've been known to do that without trying, anyway."
This made Taylor laugh. "I don't think so. It wouldn't be the same if I weren't there."
"You could come with me, if you'd like," Ryan offered, smiling mischievously, as he stood up with all eight books piled high.
Taylor grinned back at him, "Nah, that's okay. Sharpay might kill you if you spilled anything on her newest accessory, anyway," she scoffed.
"True," Ryan agreed. "Well, I guess I'll see you later, Taylor."
Taylor nodded, watching his retreating form. She'd never really talked to Ryan Evans before. He seemed surprisingly gentlemanly. Much more so than Chad, anyway. Then, an idea struck her and she called after him.
"Ryan! Wait up!" she yelled, sprinting down the hallway to catch up with him.
Ryan turned around and his eyebrows shot up as he peaked around the stack of books. Taylor hurried over to him and grabbed the top four books off of his stack to help. The two continued their trek to the cafeteria, Ryan looking slightly more comfortable, and Taylor began to talk.
"Okay, first of all, still a nix in the milk thing, but I think I have a better idea," She said enticingly.
Ryan nodded politely, "Go on."
"Well, you hate that your sister is dating Chad right?" Ryan nodded, "and I hate that Chad is dating Sharpay. So…what would happen if you and I started dating?"
Ryan gave her a perplexed look. "So suddenly? We barely know each other."
Taylor rolled her eyes, "That's not what I mean. Look, Chad is probably dating Sharpay because he wants to make me jealous. But if he saw me dating you…"
"…Then he would be the jealous one," Ryan finished for her, nodding in understanding.
"So…what do you say? Is Operation 'Break up Chad and Sharpay by making him jealous' a go?" Taylor asked, batting her eyelashes.
"As long as I don't have to remember its name, then, sure. I'll do it," Ryan agreed. "Just one thing. I'm sort of old-fashioned, I guess, so I think that I should be the one to officially ask you to be my decoy girlfriend."
Taylor was taken aback. "But…we're not even really dating, Ryan. You don't have to."
He shrugged, "I know. But I'll feel better. It's just a weird thing. So…ahem, Taylor McKessie, will you be my pretend girlfriend?"
Taylor laughed at the absurdity, "Why, of course, Ryan Evans! I'd love to be your pretend girlfriend."
They laughed as they kept walking to the lunchroom. Ryan made sure to push open the door first so he could hold it open for Taylor. She nodded in satisfaction and gratitude as they made their way through the crowded cafeteria to the table where Chad and Sharpay sat. Taylor nearly hurled when she saw Chad playfully shove a forkful of food into Sharpay's mouth. Sharpay giggled in response and the two went on eating and chatting happily…until Ryan and Taylor got there.
"Here are your books, guys," Ryan said, handing Chad his pile while Taylor gave hers to Sharpay.
Both Chad and Sharpay looked up at the two in dismay. "What are you doing here?" Sharpay asked haughtily, making a face at Taylor.
"Oh…didn't you hear? Ryan asked me out this morning, didn't you Ry-Ry?" Taylor asked, laying it on thick.
Everyone's eyes fell on Ryan and Sharpay's icy glare caught hold of him. "Ryan? Is this true? Did you ask out Miss Smarty-Pants over here and not tell me?"
Ryan, however, was not fazed. As an avid actor, he could play any role handed to him. "Yeah, sorry, Sis. I figured you'd be so happy with Chad that you wouldn't care about me and my social life."
Sharpay looked at him indignantly, then turned back to her food. "Well, you were right. I don't care about you and your social life. As long as me and Chaddy-Waddy are together, right?" she asked cheerily, smiling all too broadly and peering into Chad's eyes.
Chad, who had been looking up at Taylor the whole while, looked back at Sharpay and gulped. "Huh? Oh, oh yeah. As long as we're together, baby."
Ryan and Taylor both grimaced and exchanged glances as Chad and Sharpay began to smother each other with kisses. But before Taylor could say anything, Ryan's hand began to slowly move across the table toward an open carton of milk. The distracted couple did not notice when he hit it and sent it flying into Chad's lap.
"Owaaaa!" Chad gasped, pulling away from a confused Sharpay and standing up to survey the damage. White, milky liquid was spilling down to the floor from a very inconvenient spot on his pants. The entire lunchroom, whose attention had been called from Chad's loud exclamation, burst out into hysterical laughter. Chad glowered harshly at Ryan. "What was that for?"
Ryan, in between bouts of chuckles, managed, "My hand slipped?"
Sharpay shared in Chad's glaring before standing up and grabbing Chad by the arm. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up. Poor little Chaddy-Waddy," she cooed.
This just produced more guffaws from the cafeteria as the two exited the room. Taylor, giggling, turned to Ryan, "I thought I said to forget the milk thing."
Ryan shrugged, smiling. "Consider it my first official act as your ploy of a boyfriend."
She laughed harder and they just looked at each other for a few seconds before the bell rang. Content with a silent goodbye, the two trailed off to their next class, making sure not to take the books Chad and Sharpay had left behind.
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The next few weeks consisted of mainly the same happenings. Every day at lunch, the quartet would sit together, each respective couple making sure to look more intense and real than the other. Chad would reach down to her seat and pinch Sharpay, causing her to squeak and giggle incessantly. In turn, Taylor would snuggle up closer to Ryan, playing with his hat and cuddling him. Ryan, eager to play along, would kiss her intently. Then Sharpay would roughly grab Chad's face and pull his lips to hers. Lunch was no longer a time for eating food…
Likewise, to try to prove who had more influence over whom, Chad would show up to school, dressed in a snazzy ensemble, and Sharpay would wear his jersey. Similarly, Ryan would suddenly know the answers to yesterday's math homework and be eager to share them in class. As his grades went up, Taylor's acting, singing, and dancing abilities soared. In drama class (which she had opted to take in order to appear more well-rounded for college's sake), Taylor went from the worst performer to third, only behind Ryan and Sharpay.
The real pinnacle of this rivalry occurred one day when the morning announcements came on. The couples sat next to each other, pretending to be buddies, in homeroom, and listened intently.
"Make sure to buy your tickets for the East High Homecoming dance this Saturday at 8 PM…"
They had smiled and narrowed their eyes at each other, each knowing that they would look stronger than ever, as a couple, in their natural habitats: a school dance. Needless to say, at lunchtime that day, Ryan and Chad had fought to get in line first. Chad had won, being the larger and more intimidating of the two, but Ryan held his spot firmly in line and made sure to make it clear that he would be buying Taylor McKessie's ticket as well. Yes, McKessie, Taylor. His girlfriend. Oh, they'd been dating quite awhile. Yes, they were quite eager to go to their first dance together, thank you very much.
The week continued as usual after that, only their kissing contests at lunch seemed to get slightly more involved. But they only got reprimanded for public display of affection once. Most people didn't care. And, quite frankly, neither did they.
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Taylor sat on the porch in her copper-colored, sparkling dress that Saturday night. Ryan had five more minutes before she would call and make sure he knew where her house was. She chuckled hollowly as she recalled that being late and forgetting dates were the reasons she had given Chad for breaking up with him. She was surprised to find, however, that, for her first time thinking about it since it happened, she did not shed a tear. Her eyes didn't even water. Peculiar. She attributed it to Ryan's aggressive kindness to her throughout this entire ordeal. But, so help her, if that boy showed up repulsively late tonight, she would strangle him.
Just as she was having these dangerous thoughts, a rather strange vehicle appeared coasting down her street. She was shocked to see the limo pull into her driveway and Ryan Evans step out of it, looking even more gorgeous than usual. Whoa. She did NOT just think that. She shook her head furiously before carefully stepping down her steps, her mouth agape.
Ryan looked at her slightly uncomfortably and shrugged. "Sorry I'm late. It was hard for my driver to see in the dark and peruse his way down these narrow back roads."
Taylor's mouth still hung open in shock. "Oh my goodness, Ryan! You didn't have to rent a limousine! It's just you and me going to Homecoming."
Ryan grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I, uh…I didn't rent it. This is my limo."
Taylor turned to him, chin now completely on the ground, "Your family has a limo?!?"
Ryan nodded, "Actually, everyone in my family has their own limo. Sharpay and Chad should be going in hers."
Taylor shook her head in amazement. "I don't understand."
Ryan opened her door for her and beckoned her inside. "We're sort of late. Why don't you get in and I can explain on the way."
He took her hand and helped her into the vehicle before he climbed in himself. Once the door was shut, he signaled to the driver and they were on their way.
Ryan looked up at Taylor and saw her inquisitive gaze, so he sighed and started to elaborate. "My family's sort of…well-off, I guess."
"You guess?" Taylor asked, still in shock.
Ryan rolled his eyes, "Okay, I know. My parents own their own company, so we make a lot of profit."
Taylor's eyes grew wide. "That's so cool! It must be awesome to have parents like that, who could just buy you anything you wanted."
Ryan looked away. "Yeah, I guess."
She sensed the apprehension in his voice and cocked her head to one side. "What?"
Ryan turned to her, his eyes sad. "Nothing, really. It's just…they aren't home too often. You know, owning the company involves going to a lot of business meetings and such, so…I almost never see them. They try to buy us stuff like this to make up for their absence, but…it never really works too well. There's still something missing," he whispered.
Taylor felt as though she had just been hit by the limo. She was realizing just how little she knew about her supposed 'boyfriend' and right about now, she was starting to regret not having talked to him too much. "Oh, wow. That's…that's too bad."
Ryan shrugged. "It doesn't matter. We shouldn't be talking about weird stuff like that tonight, anyways. It's Homecoming! Are you ready to dance?"
He began to do a little impromptu shimmy in the back of the limo and Taylor started wailing with laughter.
"Sure, I'm ready to dance. Just not like that!"
Finally, they arrived at their destination. "Thanks, Winston. I'll call you to come pick us up," Ryan said politely to his driver, who merely tipped his hat in acknowledgement.
Ryan hurried to get out first so that he could help his date out of the limo. Chad and Sharpay were nowhere in sight, so Taylor knew he wasn't just doing it to keep up their ruse. He really was quite the gentleman now that she thought about it. Chad would never have helped her out of the car. He always just slammed his own door shut and ran in to get to the food first.
Ryan held out his arm for Taylor to take and she smiled despite herself. She threaded her own arm through his and they walked into the gym like they were king and queen. Ryan presented their tickets and tipped his hat to the collector as a sign of gratitude. Looking around, they saw all of their peers dancing the night away amidst a steaming hot dance floor. They found, however, both of their eyes drawn to a couple prancing around in a corner.
Chad and Sharpay.
They glanced at each other before silently agreeing to waltz right over to the pair and dance it up in their faces.
"Hey, Chad," Taylor drawled upon seeing her ex-boyfriend.
"Oh, hi, Taylor," Chad greeted, equally as sarcastically.
The twins nodded at each other, showing just how quiet it must have been around their home lately. After an awkward period of silence, a pumped hip-hop song came on and the couples mutually fell into the beat. Chad grabbed Sharpay and pulled her body close to him, making sure to hold her tight and not let her slip away. Sharpay, dramatic as she was, rolled her body back, keeping her hips pressed close to his as they moved together. Ryan sneered at his sister's vulgarity, but knew that, in order to keep up the act, he would need to be equally as intense. He eyed Taylor to make sure she was alright with it, but found that she was already extraordinarily close to him. He placed his hands on the small of her back and pulled her close to him as they jolted back and forth.
Chad smirked and glanced over at Taylor to catch her reaction to his newfound dance partner, but frowned upon seeing that she was enjoying swaying with Ryan far too much. He pulled Sharpay out of her reverie and grabbed her by the wrist.
"Chad, what are you doing? Where are we going?" she whined, wanting badly to revert back to their dance.
"I'm going to request a song," he said, dragging her through the crowd in the direction of the DJ.
"What song?" she asked curiously.
"Anything that those two can't dance to," he mumbled irritably.
Sharpay's eyebrows lifted, but Chad pulled too quickly for her to breathe, much less make further commentary.
Meanwhile, Ryan and Taylor were lost in each other. She hadn't even noticed that Chad and Sharpay had left. That her ex-boyfriend who she wanted so badly was not there to watch the show that was intended for him. And Ryan quit worrying about the crudeness of this type of dancing. They were so immersed that almost nothing could take them out of their world…
Until the entire dance floor moaned in unison as a country-fried hillbilly tune began to play. As teenagers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, no one knew how to dance to country. Well…Ryan, of course, had a few moves up his sleeves that he could have lashed out, but he was too embarrassed to admit that. Taylor pulled away from him and their breathing slowed. Each of them blushed upon realizing just how quickly their hearts had been beating and how into the dancing they had been. Taylor tucked one of her thick, black locks behind her ear.
"I'm kind of thirsty, now," she commented.
Ryan nodded. "Me, too. I'll go get us something to drink."
Taylor watched him leave and sat on the sidelines of the dance floor as she waited. She watched various other couples attempt to dance to the country song and still others rush out the doors to do something more…fulfilling. Dismayed, she saw that Sharpay and Chad were stealing the glory as the only couple on the floor even vaguely making any progress with dancing to the awkward beat. No doubt Chad had requested it, knowing her disdain for all country songs. Strangely enough, though, she found that watching Chad dance with Sharpay no longer sent a pang through her heart. Even anger was not present. Something more like…pity…encompassed her.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw Ryan walking toward her out of the corner of her eye. He was shaking his head. "Geez, I didn't think they would sink this low to get us off of each other."
"Yeah," she muttered.
She turned to him and saw that he had brought two bottles of water.
He saw her confused look and said, "Oh, I figured the punch bowl wouldn't be safe…you know. So I went to the vending machine and got us some water."
She nodded. Impressive. Then again, she had no idea why she was so surprised. It was a typical Ryan Evans thing to do. And she was starting to like it more and more.
He took a seat next to her and held her hand for a moment before attempting to open his water bottle. When he had touched her, she had found herself smiling like a goofball. Okay, something fishy was definitely up.
"Hey, Ryan? I'm going to go to the bathroom, okay?" she asked, hoping that some time to think about this whole situation would do her well.
"Alright. Are you sure you don't want company for the way there? I know you girls like to travel to the bathroom in packs," he said playfully.
She smacked him on the shoulder. "Very funny, Ry."
She was surprised to hear his nickname come out of her mouth so easily. She turned and headed to the restroom, ready to splash some cold water on her face and get her feelings all sorted out.
She opened the door and huffed as she walked toward the sink. She turned on the faucet and gathered the ice cold liquid in her hands before throwing on her face. She grabbed a paper towel and wiped it off before turning to look in the mirror. She gasped as she did so, though. Like a ghostly figure in a horror movie, Sharpay appeared to the right of her reflection.
"Hello, Taylor," she said icily.
"Sharpay," she acknowledged.
Sharpay looked at her own reflection and began to fix her hair, but continued to talk. "You know he loves me."
Taylor just nodded. "That's nice."
Unhappy with her response, Sharpay continued, "He told me today, in fact. He said, 'I love you.' He told me he'd never said that to anyone before. Not even you. Is that true?"
Taylor didn't know whether to pity the girl for her naivety in thinking that Chad could fall in love with her after just one week or to be irritated at her for pushing the point. "Yeah, it's true."
Taylor should have been green with envy. She should have been filled with hatred toward Sharpay and Chad. But she wasn't. In fact, she didn't really feel…anything. And it was strange.
Sharpay was obviously annoyed that Taylor would not give her the satisfaction she desired, so she retreated to one of the stalls in a huff. Taylor finished adjusting her hair and exited the restroom, only to be pushed against the wall by Chad Danforth.
"Taylor, you've got to help me," he heaved desperately.
"What? What are you talking about, Chad? Let go of me," she said, struggling to escape Chad's grip.
He held her fast. "Sharpay is absolutely insane! I've got to get away from her."
Meanwhile, having been concerned at how long it was taking Taylor in the bathroom and seeing both Chad and Sharpay retreat from the room, Ryan had made his way toward the restrooms. He paused when he heard his sister's name and he hid behind a wall to eavesdrop.
"What do you want me to do about it? You're the one who asked her out!" Taylor shouted.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Come on, baby. You and I both know that I was just doing it so that you would see what a great guy I really was and come back to me. I'm sorry I hurt you, babe, but…can't we just get over it now and get back together? I know you only started dating Ryan for the same reason. Just come back to me, Tay," he pleaded.
"You're right, Chad. I did start dating Ryan so that you would be jealous and want me back," Taylor stated.
Ryan felt his heart drop in his chest. He didn't know why it suddenly hurt so much. He had known this from the very start. Perhaps…perhaps he had kept alive some fool's hope that maybe a girl had actually liked him for once. That Taylor McKessie would realize through their interactions that it was him she had wanted all along, not Chad Danforth. But, like he said, fool's hope. He began to saunter away, but a renewed start of the conversation kept him rooted in the spot.
"I may have started to date him because I wanted you back, Chad. But…you know what? He is twice the guy you are. He's a real gentleman and he's polite and he's always thinking of me first. He's twice as good-looking as you and I know for a fact," she said, glancing down at a pivotal part of Chad's anatomy, "that he is twice as manly as you are. So, back off, Chad. We're through. Permanently."
She wrenched him off of her, his face in complete and utter shock. As she strutted away however, she heard the door to the bathroom open and she turned around while Ryan peeked his head out from behind the wall.
Sharpay emerged hot, having heard every word. She walked up to Chad and slapped him hard across the face. "How DARE you call me 'absolutely insane!' The nerve! Rest assured, my daddy will hear about this. Oh, and good luck finding a way back home," she said, flipping her hair so that it hit his face hard and stomping away past Taylor and Ryan, who were both attempting to conceal their laughter.
Taylor turned to continue her voyage out the door, content to see Chad slide down the wall in confusion, but came face-to-face with Ryan Evans. He smiled shyly at her and she frowned.
"Ryan…I don't even know what to say. I'm so sorry I made you go through all of this for me. But…I've really come to like you. And…and it's okay if you really don't like me. I mean, after the way I treated you, who would? But, I do, sincerely hope that we can at least still be fr—"
She was cut off by the feel of soft lips on her own. Her eyes went wide for a mere second before she allowed herself to become lost in his kiss. It was the first time they had shared a kiss that was sincere and heartfelt. She opened her mouth and they explored each other like never before. It wasn't like all the harsh, quick ones they had shared in the cafeteria every day. This was real. Ryan's arms wound around her body and held her close as she pulled his face closer with her hands. They felt each other in ways they had never thought possible and only broke off when Ryan was finding it too difficult to breathe in the atmosphere. They both stared at each other longingly.
"I forgive you," he whispered.
She smiled giddily and threw her arms around his neck, allowing him to hold her as they smiled.
"Just one thing," he said.
"What's that?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm sort of old-fashioned. You see, I believe the guy in the relationship should be very formal and always be the one to instigate the bond."
She giggled, "Oh, really?"
"Yes, indeed. So…ahem, Taylor McKessie, will you, please, be my girlfriend?" he asked.
She smiled so wide she wasn't sure she would be able to answer. Finally, she said, "Of course, Ryan Evans. I would love to be your girlfriend."
Review, please? Comments, questions, errors, compliments, anything.
