"Geometry! The last class of the day!" Ashley thought. The 16-year-old girl had big plans that day. After class, she was going to the Nature Preserve to bird watch, although she was hoping she would find something a little more mechanical than a sparrow.

A few weeks ago, Optimus Prime and his team of Autobots emerged from the depths of Lake Erie to defeat a giant cockroach monster that was terrorizing a small industrial town outside of Detroit. This won them the hearts of (most of) the human populace, and they were all revered as superheroes since that day.

Ashley wasn't there that day, but she was watching the whole incident from her t.v. at home. She counted four robots there that day (although there's one more that remained in Lake Erie for a little longer), a red and blue one who seemed to be the leader, a huge green one probably the strongest on the team, a small, fast yellow one, but the one who caught her eye most out of them all was the black and gold robot who transformed into a motorcycle. She kept a close eye on him throughout the fight, intrigued by his combat style. When she saw that he was gravely injured, she was upset, which led her to be glued to the t.v. for the rest of the night, hoping to find news of his recovery. Sure enough, the team emerged from the Lake once again, and the black and gold mech looked good as new.

Since then, the Autobots have been a sensation around Detroit. Ashley overheard people around her high school talking about their experiences seeing the Autobots in person. She found out the black and gold one's name was Prowl, and he could usually be found in places with lots of nature, if he was even to be found at all.

In a nutshell, Ashley wanted to go to the Nature Preserve specifically because she wanted to catch a closer look at Prowl. She had no way of knowing if he'd actually be there, but if she never tried to find him, she probably never would, considering how elusive he is.

After a geometry class spent entirely doodling pictures of motorcycles and hearts, the final bell of the day rang, leading Ashley to leave the classroom and begin on her walk to the Nature Preserve.

When she arrived, she climbed a tree and picked a place to hide, hoping that it would have a good view of Prowl if he shows up.

Two hours passed. Ashley had slapped away probably 50 mosquitoes, and her phone battery was draining fast. "Maybe it's time to leave," she thought.

As if on cue, something huge strolled into the clearing. Something black and gold.

Ashley held her breath. "It's him. It's him it's him it's him oh man," she thought.

He sat down cross-legged and began to meditate.

Trying to get a closer view of him (for science, duh), she inched further and further outwards from the tree. "Much better," she thought.

But unfortunately…

"SNAP!"

The tree branch broke and Ashley screamed. Before she even fell that far down, Prowl caught her.

Ashley opened her eyes and looked into his visor. She then began to hyperventilate. "Oh no… not this again."

Something I didn't mention previously is that Ashley has terrible anxiety, especially social anxiety, and so whenever she's with someone new and the attention is on her, she panics.

"I must say, that was some excellent stealth," Prowl told her. "I didn't even realize you were there. Until, you fell, that is."

Ashley started sweating. Although, Prowl clearly wasn't angry or mad at her, she couldn't help but feel anxious.

Noticing Ashley's discomfort, he put her down on the ground and was about to resume meditation when…

"Wait!" Ashley choked out.

Prowl looked back at her.

"My name is Ashley and… I– I– I think you're really cool."

Prowl smirked at her. "Thank you, Ashley."

Ashley took this as a good sign, that maybe she could be less apprehensive around him. As he began to meditate, she tiptoed next to him and mimicked his position and began to do the same.

Within minutes, she was already starting to feel better. As she got done meditating, she looked up at Prowl, and felt butterflies. She liked this one.