A.N. Heyoo! I do love Eric every so very much. Don't you? Mm, maybe not because there aren't very many stories for him...but now there's one more! I'm apologize that it might be kind of confusing, but I want it to be like that so...yes, please enjoy! I love Eric! I love you!

Disclaimer: Silly, oh so silly, you think I own Night World...

Never Knew

He never knew how much he wanted to kiss a girl until he met her.

He never understood the urgency in the song Kiss the Girl until he met her.

He never wanted to kiss a girl as much as he wanted to kiss her.

Eric was always busy. He wouldn't have minded having a girlfriend (if he could muster up enough courage to talk to one), but with his sports and classes and work, he never had the desire to go out and hunt for one, and he never resented himself for it.

He was fine with waiting. He never understood why he was fine with waiting; he just was.

And then she was there, and he didn't have to wait anymore.

Well, that's what he wanted to happen, anyways.

When they were alone, after she may or may not have healed his leg, and they were staring at each other...god, he had never seen anyone more beautiful.

And even though it was something as simple as contact, of hands touching hands, of skin on skin, Eric wanted it. He was so close, so close...

She pulled away from him. Mind, body, soul, and Eric thought maybe he was going too far, doing things not socially acceptable, but as he watched her walk stiffly away from him, his heart was almost breaking and he knew that everything he did was fine, just fine, and it was her leaving that wasn't.

Thea. Her name is Thea. TheaTheaThea...He couldn't stop. He wasn't sure why, but he couldn't stop thinking about her name.

Then her cousin was talking to him, telling him that Thea had a temper, that she hated Eric, didn't want to see him. And there was that pain again, he was so confused because he always thought that more time had to go by before you were hurt this much to be hated by someone you cared about, but he just learned her name not twenty minutes ago and his chest was hurting like it was smashed with a hammer and all he wanted was to stare at her face and say her name and and and...

He couldn't stop looking at her. He tried to stop. Some of his friends started to notice, so Eric thought maybe she noticed too, so he tried to cut back. Maybe that would take away some of her hatred towards him. If he didn't look like a total stalker in her eyes.

But his chest still throbbed with every heartbeat, and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her forever.

But then...

Just when he thought she was going to call him out on the staring, hate him even worse, hurt him even more, she shocked him by asking him to the dance.

And his chest didn't hurt anymore. His heart was gone from his body, flying and floating in circles around Thea, the new girl, the beautiful girl, the girl who just asked him to the dance and he said yes too.

If it had been any other girl, he may have said no. (He probably wouldn't have said anything intelligible, but it would have been interpreted as a no)

If it had been any other girl.

It was when he went to pick her up to take her to the dance that he first wanted to kiss her. He was still in a daze about the fact that she didn't hate him, didn't hate him, that he couldn't think about anything else the week before the dance.

But now he was. All he could think, breathe, live, was the thought of kissing Thea Harmon. Kissing Thea Harmon, kissing kissing kissing...

But he didn't want her to pull away again. He always thought it, in her soft movements and hidden eyes. She wasn't going to stay. She was going to leave. He didn't know why.

She was just going to leave.

The pain never really went away.

But there they were, after the dance, and she was touching his hand, and he felt it even more intensely now. That she was going to leave.

That this was a goodbye.

And so Eric told her. How he felt.

And he wasn't exactly sure how it happened, but Thea was in his arms and the pain was gone and if he could just kiss her...

But her cousin came in, and Thea was out of his arms, out of his store, out of his night, and he didn't want to think that she'd never come back.

And he wasn't sure what was with all that drama with Blaise, but he didn't mind. Thea seemed to finally be okay around him, and he'd never been more sure that Thea wasn't going to leave. She was going to stay. Stay.

She was going to his house. She was at his house. She was on his bed. On his bed.

It was in the air. Kiss her, kiss her, kiss the girl, kiss the girl, you gotta kiss the girl.

And he was so close, so close—

And she chose his sister. And he his chest didn't spike at that, but he really wanted to kiss her then. He went outside to clear his head, but when he went back inside, the air was broken, the song was over, Thea was leaving, leaving—

Theawasleaving.

She was gone. Thea was gone.

His mom and sister came, and he didn't have time to make them stop. He thought he was out of time to get her back, but then he did and even though he wasn't entirely convinced of her words, at least she said goodbye this time.

He went to bed early that night, but he couldn't sleep. He was still thinking about Thea—when suddenly he wasn't.

Pilar.

Pilar?

What?

Eric felt strange. He felt himself wanting to think about Pilar now, like he wanted to transfer all his feelings of Thea over to her, but at the same time he was fighting hard to keep Thea where she should be. Pilar's head on Thea's body. Pilar's face on Thea's soul. It's not right. Eric knew who he loved. Why was he trying to tell himself to love someone else? Why was he fighting so hard?

It was weird to think about Pilar like this. What was he doing? It was making his head hurt. His stomach hurt. His chest.

His heart.

It was tearing him apart, whatever was happening. Because as much as he wanted (?) Pilar, he wanted Thea more. More, more, more...

It had to stop. This was it. No more leaving. No more fighting. No more pain.

So he told her. He didn't want to be mean to her, but he was done.

And, thankfully, she saw that. And she told him, told him all of it, and he was just glad, so glad, so happy, that she had pulled away from him against her will, that she cared about him too, that she loved him...

And he was holding her now, and he wanted to touch her hand and kiss her lips and all of it, all of it—

He didn't have to wait anymore. He knew now. He understood.

Kiss the girl.

And then he did.