A/N: Based on true events. Adoration has nothing to do with any of my series; if you've noticed i'm kinda shying away form them as of right now. Enjoy my friends.

Adoration

"It's so obvious when I think of the two of you. It's meant to be, one day you're going to get married. Oh damn, don't tell her I said that!"

"Why would I?"

"Just don't, she would get mad at me," A night of our twentieth year. It had been a long time since I had talked to Brittney. She and Eleanor went to a different school and I hadn't seen them since Winter break. It was summer now, and I still hadn't communicated with them in a while. I had gone to a completely different school. A small liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, I hadn't seen much of Alvin, Simon and Jeanette either. Alvin stayed on the coast, opting to go to UCLA. Simon and Jeanette were still in California too, but they went to Stanford. Me? Earlham, in the Midwest. I just preferred the small environment more.

"I'm confused," I was talking to Brittney over Skype, "Why would she get mad at you?" There was a long pause.

"She just, yeah. Just what had happened a few years ago. She doesn't want you getting any ideas, unlike me. I don't want her to die alone, Theo!" She laughed and so did I. I don't think that was much of a possibility, but four years ago? What happened four years ago that's still relevant in our lives? Oh, I remember now.

"Wow, you have to be kidding me," She nodded her head, "you're not kidding," I got a text. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, and Brittney looked at me, perplexed.

"What's she saying?" Eleanor had sent.

I looked back at Brittney, "are you two talking right now? I thought she was up near me right now, in Indianapolis," I was working on campus this summer with a professor, hence why I haven't seen any of my siblings or closest friends.

"She is, we're talking on Facebook," she said with a laugh.

"For how long now?" I asked.

"Since the prank, and I quote, 'man, fuck you!'" She said, as she fell into a full out laugh

A few minutes before, Eleanor had sent me a text. We had been texting on and off for a while, small updates on each other's lives and things like that.

"Theo, how can I get a guy to stop texting me?" she asked.

"Oh, I have no idea." I responded.

"Well, what would you like to hear? Like what's the best thing to hear in your opinion?"

"I guess the nicest thing would be a lie I'm assuming. Something like, 'hey I don't share your feelings." There was a bit of a pause after that text and I continued to read my book again.

She sent the message to the actual target first. She had been getting texted by some guy she went to school with and she was tired of him bothering her. Brittney text her after that.

"Hey Ellie, how's Indy?"

"It's alright. There's not a lot to do here if you're not twenty one, and especially if you don't know a lot of people," she was there to visit a friend that was in poor health.

"That's shitty," Brittney responded, "Did you finally tell that guy off?"

"Actually yeah. I asked Theo what to do and he had a good response," At this point, I assumed that she was texting the young man who had been bothering her. I started to forget the conversation all together. I continued to read.

"Oh, you know what would be funny?" Brittney said.

"What's that?" Eleanor said.

"If we played a little joke on Theo," Brittney said, "Make him believe he was the guy you were talking about!"

"That's just awful, Brittney," I assumed the conversation went this way. For all I know at this point, she was all for it, "You know he has lingering feelings for me."

"You're delusional. That was so long ago, he's moved on, had different girlfriends. He'll think it was funny; he's also appreciative of a well played prank," she said, she's so bad at reading men. I know Theodore has moved on, Brittney thought, We're all so much older than we were back then. What's still relevant to us that was relevant four years ago?

"Yeah, you're right," Eleanor said, at the very least I hope she's wrong about him. I don't want to hurt him, but I hope she's wrong.

As I sat in my crapped dorm room, reading I got another text. Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear rang in my pocket. It was from Eleanor, about fifteen minutes after the last text.

"Hey Teddy," she never calls me Teddy. I don't let anyone call me Teddy, "I don't share the feelings you have for me, so if you'd stop bothering me that would be nice," My heart sank to the floor. A cold chill swept through my body. I knew she was talking about me. How could she have known I was never completely over her? I felt a pain in my chest. My heart literally broke. I didn't know what to do. How do I respond? Ignorance? Anger? Confession? I opened my phone and started to type, 'If you seriously think that I feel—" Before I could finish, I got another text from her, "Just Kidding!"

I responded, "Man, fuck you!"

"It was my idea, sorry Theo," Brittney said. It was a terrible thing to do, but I had to face something else now.

"It was well executed, no doubt, but she seriously still thinks I have feelings for her?" I said. A lie, indeed, but I had serious damage control to perform here. She obviously thought it was enough of a problem to think that it would affect our friendship. Regardless of how I actually feel, this needed to be taken care of.

"Yeah, I don't know why. We would joke about what happened four years ago, and I think she still believes that you did."

"Yeah so, alright," I didn't really know what to say. I had made so many mistakes that summer that I didn't really want to go back to them, but they were joking about it? That hurt, unbeknownst to them, I don't like to relive my past mistakes, and every time they talked about it, they relived it. It was an eerie feeling, knowing that people were talking about you, but not knowing the amount or how long it was. I felt a tad violated for whatever reason, "Could you tell her that I simply don't have feelings for her? At this point, I don't think I could get through to her."

Brittney laughed, "Yeah I don't think so either," What exactly did that mean? "sure, I can."

"I just made so many mistakes that summer. You know the emotional state I was in at the time, All the girls had had fooled around with, I, and I can admit this, I never had feelings for any of them. I just didn't feel much of anything. I was numbed. You don't need to tell her all of this by the way."

"Duly noted, and I can understand," She said.

"I simply cannot stress enough that there's nothing between us," I was laying it on thick, and I could see Brittney's demeanor change.

"I understand," she said.

"And if you guys could not talk about what happened all that time ago, that would be nice," I was making too many demands, it was time to diffuse the situation, "There doesn't need to be this in violence! We need to make peace," She laughed and I laughed.

"Totally, there will be peace in our generation," I got a text for Eleanor after that. Brittney saw me look down at my phone, "Oh God, what did she say? I kinda let it slip that I thought you two were going to get married."

"Why did you do that?"

"She wanted to know what we were talking about! Sorry if it's unpleasant!" Brittney signed out. I sighed and looked at my texts.

"I don't know what she's talking about," Eleanor said, To get Married to Theodore? It never crossed my mind, but I always have had feelings for him. When he's been with other Women, it's just crushed me slowly.

"Why are you mad at her?" I asked.

"I don't know, I just feel uncomfortable talking about marriage," Eleanor responded, Pretty solid lie there!

That doesn't really make any sense at all. Who feels uncomfortable talking about marriage? Brittney was right, she is uncomfortable with me, "Look, if you think that I have any lingering feelings for you, please perish the thought," That's a lie, "I was going through a very self destructive time after having my heart broken a few times in a half of a year. I was with a lot of girls that summer, and, like you, I didn't feel anything for them," No, I did feel for you, "I was trying to hurt myself, and I accomplished that. Now, I've moved on," Not true, "It was four years ago, can we please just move on then? Can we be friends with no strings attached?"

Eleanor dropped her cup of coffee in the middle of the street she was crossing as she read the text. She looked back at the crosswalk, which she had been standing in for far too long, re reading the text. A car honked at her and she jumped, and ran off of the street. Someone yelled something at her and she looked down. She was on the verge of tears, Is it true? Are all the things he said true?

I got a text back from her, "Yeah, I'm sorry that came up," I didn't really know what to do here. I guess she really didn't have any feelings for me. I felt a tad detached from the world. It wasn't anything new though, I could deal with rejection like a pro at this point. Win a few, lose a lot. The ones you win are hopefully worth it.

"It's fine, It just messed up our friendship for a while," I can't blame her for thinking I'm a creep.

I can't blame him for hating me, She thought, "It doesn't matter now."

I'm just sad that she doesn't return my feelings.

I wish he would have felt the same way about me as I do him.

I went to work the next day. I couldn't really think of my work. I broke a beaker and messed up a trial. Needless to say, my professor wasn't terribly excited. I went out to get dinner in town with a fellow co-worker. Richmond, Indiana isn't exactly the most exciting place. There were a few restaurants, so we went to a local dinner instead. We were the only people there; it was about 9 p.m.

Alison was a sweet girl and I liked to have her around. She had become one of my closest friends this semester. She worked with another professor, and, considering we were a part of a small group of people that were still on campus this summer, we got to see each other an awful lot. It was nice to have a friend here right now. It was far too sleepy of a town for my liking; at least she kept things interesting.

"What's wrong Theo? You seem distracted. Are you alright?" She asked as we were first sitting down for dinner.

"Oh it's nothing," I responded listlessly.

"Please, you know you can't hide anything from me," The server brought out water and gave us the whole schpeal about the diner. We had been there so many times he knew us by name, and he, like most of Richmond, assumed we were together. He left and she put her hand on mine, "What's up?"

"Really, it's nothing. I'm just a bit tired; I was up late last night talking to people," I said.

"Were you talking to Ellie?" She asked.

"Yeah," she moved her hand away from mine and grabbed her water. There was a delay between her actions; it was obvious the water wasn't the reason why she moved. I was always on the fence about her; I never really knew what she was thinking about. I took a drink and said, "What's wrong with you now?"

"Theo, every time you talk to her, you always seem to be in a bad mood the next day? What's the relationship between the two of you?" She asked.

"We're friends," Yeah, we were friends, destined to be best friends forever. The waiter came out and we gave him our orders and he chatted with us for a while. Once he left we lingered in silence and she remembered that she had been probing previously.

"Are you really just friends? Did you two date before or something?" She asked. Why was she so interested?

"No we never have. Why are you so interested in my past?"

"It's just that you act similarly to how I act when one of my exes bothers me. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have probed."

"No don't worry about it," I felt my pants vibrating. I got a text. I touched my phone and it was from Eleanor. I decided to not respond until the end of the dinner.

"I'm sorry Eleanor, I didn't think he would be so adamant," Brittney and Eleanor were talking over the internet, "I could have swore he still liked you, but I guess that wasn't the case."

"Why didn't I take that opportunity when we were younger? Brittney, I liked him then, and he like me, why didn't I do anything?"

"Don't beat yourself up about it. You understood what was going on. He has just been broken up with and he was in no reasonable condition to have a relationship. Waiting was the best option."

"That was the risk I guess. You know this is all your fault," Eleanor said.

"Wait, why?"

"If you hadn't made up some bullshit about me thinking that he still liked me he wouldn't have been so willing to discredit everything he had ever done."

"You don't think that could have been why, do you?" Brittney asked.

"I don't follow."

"He could have been covering things up. He might have been worried about how you felt, then flew off the handle covering things up. Maybe he still does have feelings for you." Brittney said.

"You're crazy. That's not how he is."

"We haven't seen him for a year," Brittney said, "maybe things have changed.

"What if this is true?"

"Then you would have to take the first step."

"Why me?" Eleanor shouted.

"If you want him to open up he would have to know at this point that you feel for him."

"I guess you're right," she got out her phone, "I'll ask him if he wants to talk and I'll update you later."

We finished our dinner; I paid, much to her chagrin. We walked out into the warm summer night and started back to campus.

"Theodore, do you want to hang out some more?" She asked me.

"Sure, what do you want to do?"

"I'm not sure. Want to go back to my apartment for a bit and figure out what to do?"

"Sounds good," I looked at my phone. I still hadn't responded to the text Eleanor had sent me. I looked at it.

"Want to talk tonight?" She had said. I looked at Alison, then back at my phone. We got to her apartment and I responded as she unlocked the door.

"I'm busy tonight. Some other time?" We walked to the couch and sat down. She put on some Justice. It was a bit upbeat for my liking that night but I could get down.

"Theo, you know I worry about you," she got closer, "are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I looked away from her.

"You know you can tell me anything-," I wouldn't let her finish. I leaned in and we started to kiss. I felt another vibration in my pocket. We went on for a bit longer until she felt it too.

"You want to check that really quickly?"

"Yeah, I should," it was from Eleanor. I didn't open the phone and I put it back in my pocket.

"Who was it from?" She asked.

"Oh, nobody… It can wait," I leaned back in and we continued from where we had left off.