Kindergarten Crush
A/N: My first fic…Just a one shot girl-talk type conversation that Hermione has with an old friend over coffee. And by the way I don't own anything Harry Potter related.
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Hermione stood outside of the small coffee shop and scuffed at the pavement beneath her feet. It was a hot summer afternoon and as usual her oldest family friend was late for their coffee shop meeting.
She wiped a small bead of sweat off her forehead before turning her head to the right and straining her eyes to see as far as she could down the street. She stared for half a minute before she saw a very familiar blond head turn the corner toward the spot where Hermione stood. The blond head that could only belong to one girl.
"Taylor!" Hermione yelled as she ran towards the girl.
"Hermione!" the other girl responded as Hermione enveloped her in a bear hug. "I've missed you so much, you don't even understand."
The two girls walked together into the Starbucks while making the usual "so how have you been" small talk. They approached the counter and Hermione ordered a blended lemonade while Taylor opted for an iced coffee.
They sat down at a small table near the front of the café before getting down to what was really important; the girl talk.
"So," Hermione began, "how is it going at fashion school?"
"Oh it's amazing. It's definitely a lot of work, but I've learned so much already," Taylor mused. "How's boarding school going? Any boyfriends?" she asked, putting particular emphasis on the last word.
"You never give up on the boyfriend thing do you?" Hermione replied.
"Well you go away to some boarding school for geniuses, miles away from home, for almost the whole year. One can assume that things must happen" Taylor said, sipping innocently at her drink.
Boarding school for geniuses, Hermione thought. If only that were true, then I wouldn't have to deal with Pansy Pugface.
"Nothing monumental is going on Tay" said Hermione as she stirred her drink thoughtlessly. "I'm still best friends with Harry and Ron and that's about it."
"Well from what you've told me about them, they sound like some good catches. Why aren't you getting on that?" Taylor smirked.
"For starters, Harry is off limits because of the fact that my friend Ginny likes him, not to mention the fact that he's pretty much the closest thing to a brother that I have" explained Hermione.
"And you do have to remember the good old rule of: chicks before dicks" Taylor said giggling. "What about that Ron fellow?"
"All I do with Ron is fight and get made fun of. He teases me mercilessly and then expects that I'm just going to forgive him right away. Not to mention that sometimes he's just an absolute nervous wreck" Hermione said.
"So let me work this out. All you do is fight and he makes fun of you constantly. And he's nervous around you" Taylor paused. "Does he pull on your pigtails and eat your paste? Because to me it sounds like he's got a little bit of a kindergarten crush on you," she teased.
"How mature of you Taylor. This isn't kindergarten, he doesn't like me," Hermione scoffed.
Taylor heaved a very audible sigh. "Mione, do you remember that annoying neighbour boy; back when you were four and I was six?" she asked
"How could I forget" Hermione answered. "Every time we went to the park he would put worms in my hair and step on my sand castle."
"And then when he found out he was moving he tried to kiss you" Taylor added.
"Ugh" Hermione shuddered. "I really didn't need a reminder of that."
"But the point is," continued Taylor. "He made fun of you because he liked you. That's what most guys tend to do, make fun of the girls that they like. Sometimes they seem like a completely different species."
"Except that you overlooked that fact that Ron doesn't like me. We just argue because we have opposite views on almost everything," explained Hermione.
"And might I add, that opposites attract," Taylor added under her breath.
"Uh," Hermione sputtered as she shot a glare at Taylor.
"I'm sorry Mione but you know that I only speak the truth when it comes to this one. Not to mention that I've known you for way to long, I think I can tell when you like a boy," she said.
"But I can't like Ron," Hermione whispered, turning a light shade of pink.
"If just the mention of the fact that you like him leaves you, of all people, at a loss for words, then it clearly proves something…"Taylor winked.
Hermione just stared at her half-empty drink attempting to think of something to say in response. She was drawing a complete blank, so she instead chose to play with the chunks of ice at the bottom of her clear plastic cup.
"Well it would seem. My dear Hermione," began Taylor. "That I may have you stumped with that one," she smiled.
"I'm not stumped," grumbled Hermione.
"But you will admit that you like this boy?" pushed Taylor.
Hermione had thought about her feelings for Ron many times before. One minute she would really like him, but the next she would wish that he would never talk to her again. It was like a rollercoaster with twice as many bumps and half the fun. Even talks with Ginny had never really let her decide if she liked Ron, because Hermione always found a way to turn the conversation onto Ginny and Harry's relationship.
"I…I don't know," stuttered Hermione. "We've been friends for so long, I don't know if I could ever think of him that way."
"Well my friend," Taylor said. "The first step to hooking the boy, is deciding how bad you want him. Either you want everything to stay the same, with him going out with other girls, or you want him all to yourself."
"Well…This year Ron began to go out with another girl," began Hermione. "And I guess you could say I was…"she shuddered at the words she was about to say, "jealous that it wasn't me."
"That settles it," concluded Taylor. "You want him all to yourself."
Hermione took the last gulf of her lemonade and put the cup down on the table.
"So how do you think you're going to tell him?" Taylor asked asked.
"Well I'm going to his brother's wedding next week…but I don't want everything to change. What if it doesn't work out? What if he doesn't like me that way? What…"
"Hermione, you're over thinking this way too much," interrupted Taylor. "You'll never know what could have been, if you don't even try. Just promise me that you'll invite me to your wedding" she said with a smile.
A/N: Review please and thanks!