1. Maggie

The first time I saw her, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her—well, at least the rest of recess. Maggie Wells was easily the prettiest girl in Year 6 with her bright, brown eyes and long, dark hair.

"Luke, get your head out of your arse and catch the damn ball," yelled a voice as a rubber ball hit my face.

"Dammit, Ivan, warn me sooner, dickhead," I shouted rubbing my cheek. That was going to leave a mark. Fuck, Maggie was looking. I look like a total knob. Fucking Ivan. My face felt hot, both from my injury and from my embarrassment. Ivan always seems to get me into these sorts of messes.

"Sorry Luke. Thought I did," Ivan said giving me his signature eye crinkles. He knows I can't stay mad at him when he does that. I sigh and smile softly at him before turning my attention back to Maggie. "Do you think she saw?"

"Who saw what?" Ivan asked following my line of sight.

"Maggie of course! Do you think she saw me get hit in the face by your ball?" Ivan smirked.

"No idea, but let's get back to it." It wasn't until halfway through the game that I realized how hard Ivan was playing. We normally play a fun game of dodge ball, but he was taking it to the next level. He was running faster, throwing harder, and sweating more than was necessary for a pickup game during recess.

Then I saw him glance over towards Maggie. That fucker. I picked up the ball and hurled it towards his face where he fell to the ground. I could already see his blue eye start to swell up. There was no way I was going to let him beat me to get to Maggie. "What the fuck do you think you're playing at Luke?" he asked getting in my face.

"Just playing a friendly game of dodge ball, Ivan," I said innocently. He got this look in his eye that sent a shiver down my spine.

"Let's do this then." It was hard to take the time to look over and make sure Maggie was watching, but I hoped that she still was as I was clearly winning. When it came down to just Ivan and I, we stood there each with a ball in our hands, panting ready for the final showdown. The bell rang. No, it won't end like this. Ivan was distracted so I threw the ball and hit him in the stomach. He fell to the ground clutching himself. "You bastard," he said when he got his breath back. That's when I noticed Maggie rushing over to help Ivan. He smiled up at her with his crinkles and I saw red. I ran over and tackled him, careful to avoid getting Maggie in the mix.

"Why the fuck do you always ruin everything?" I asked pinning him to the ground. For a second, Ivan didn't move, he just closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"It's not my fault girls like me better, Luke," he said with a cruel smile. He flipped us over so that he had me pinned. Ivan was quite a bit taller than I am, so I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the upper hand again without cheating. I took my knee and shoved it upwards. "Low blow dickhead." I smirked.

"You - you knew, you KNEW I liked her," I shouted as we rolled around on the ground.

"I'm not a mind reader Luke, how am I meant to know do or do not feel?" he asked as he got the upper hand again. He sat on top of me, holding down my arms, both of our faces red out of anger and exertion. By this point, someone had called over a teacher and they separated us.

"Fuck off, Ivan. I never want to speak to you again."

"Works for me," Ivan said with a smirk. Somehow that hurt more than the bruises I received from the fight.

2. Kristen

Germany is not the first place you think of when you think about beautiful exchange students, but you would be wrong. Case in point—Kristen Zeltz. She took the cake with her curly, brown hair and intelligent, dark eyes.

"Luke, focus," said a seemingly far away voice. Finger snapped in front of my face and turned my attention away from Kristen.

"What the fuck do you want, Dylan?" I asked annoyed.

"I want you to focus so that you pass and we both get to go to London." I mumble something that suggests that I want that too and attempt to get back to studying. Just as I'm about to start, the library door opens and a cold, gust of air rushes in along with a familiar figure entering. I rolled my eyes and settled in to my readings, but my annoyance could not be stopped. "Stop fidgeting you knob," Dylan mumbled, not looking up from his notes.

Ivan, as if he could sense me, turned his attention directly to our table. He still had that goddamn smirk on his face from years ago. I can't even remember the last time I saw him and his stupid eye crinkles. He started over towards us when Kristen laughed, her beautiful, wonderful laugh, and my attention was taken away from him. A mistake on my part as you should never take your eyes off of the enemy. As soon as he saw my weakness, he turned towards her and sat down at her table. I was up like a shot. "Where the fuc-" I heard Dylan say before I was too far away to hear him.

"-and that's when my father-" Ivan was talking but I wasn't going to let him finish.

"Kristen, I know you might not know me but, -" and then Ivan cut me off

"Excuse me, Luke, but we were having a conversation."

"No, you weren't. You were talking at her. She doesn't even look interested," I wasn't sure of that. I hadn't looked at Kristen since I had gotten over to her table. I was more focused on Ivan.

"How would you know what an interested girl looked like?" Ivan said with a smug smirk.

"I've seen it on your mom every time she looks at the pool boy," this comment shut him up quick. "Kristen, I have tickets to see the ballet on Saturday if you would be interested in joining me," turning my attention back to the beautiful German.

"I have tickets to the opera on Sunday, if that seems more for you, my dear," Ivan said daring me to up the ante.

"Next week, I'm headed to the south of France for break, would you care to join me?"

"For the summer, I'm headed to California, you are, of course, welcome." I couldn't help but imagine Ivan in his swimsuit attracting Kristen and the rest of the girls on the beach in California. Not today.

"Next semester I'm –" I looked around and it was just Ivan and I. Fuck. "You scared her off you jackass," I said turning to him in anger. He didn't look that put off but he was never one to back down from a fight.

I wiped that look off his face with a well practiced, well—a somewhat practiced right hook. He seemed surprised, and impressed, for a moment before he started back on me. We were only able to get another punch in before security kicked us out.

Sitting outside of the library on the kerb, I couldn't help but think that enough was enough. "We can't keep fighting over people, Ivan. It's not worth our futures," I sighed. He nodded, reached his hand out and I shook it. It was the first time in years I saw him genuinely smile.

"Maybe, I'll see you around," he said as I watched him walk away.

3. Caroline

"Your final drafts are due next Monday. Don't forget!" Ms. Smith shouted as the class got up to leave. I was distracted from collecting my supplies by the way her blonde hair fell over her eyes. She quickly pushed it behind her ear while she gathered her papers and made her way to the exit. Caroline Smith. The prettiest TA any one could possibly imagine was teaching me Medieval Literature, and I was bound to fail due to my inability to focus on anything other than her soft, green eyes.

"Hey, dickhead, are we going out tonight or what?" Dylan said as he ran toward me in the quad.

"Of course, we've got to head over to that new place; I've heard that's where the professors like to hang out."

"Isn't that a good reason to avoid it? Oh wait, this is about her isn't it? I thought you had gotten over your little crush. This is pathetic," he said getting me in a headlock and giving me a nuggie.

By the time we got ready, and I fixed my hair, we were late. "We can't possibly need to show up this early," complained Dylan.

"I don't want to miss her!" Luckily, we hadn't. She was sitting at the bar in a beautiful black dress, just waiting for someone to ask her to dance. Unfortunately, I was not the only one vying for the attention of Ms. Smith.

"Goddammit Ivan," I mutter under my breath as he leads Caroline over to the dance floor. Dylan had been right beside me, but he seems to have buggered off with some girl. Well, this was not how this evening was supposed to go.

I work my way over to where Ivan and Caroline were dancing, and I made eye contact with the two of them. She recognizes me and smiles; Ivan nods his head and smirks. That goddamn smirk. I'm going to wipe it off his face. I begin my dance, making it so the crowd parts and leaves a space so that they can watch what I am doing. Perfect. Ivan frowns and joins me in the middle of the parted crowd. His dance moves have improved since the last time I saw him dance. His body moved flawlessly with the music and captured my attention. I wasn't going to let him win this fight though, so I pulled out my trump card.

Ivan's mouth dropped. He watched the speed of my legs and the statue like quality of my upper half. I didn't think it at the time, but I'm glad that I took up Irish dance—people love Irish dancers. I smiled at him as my dance came to an end, and I tried to catch my breath.

"Luke, that was amazing. I didn't know you could do that," he said. He probably didn't even realize he was doing his signature eye crinkles, but I wasn't about to point it out to him. Those stupid things always made me smile.

"Thanks, Ivan. You weren't so bad yourself." We talked for a bit, catching up as it had been a couple years since we last saw each other, and before I knew it Dylan was on the floor passed out. "Damn, I got to get him back," I said, not wanting to leave yet.

"Until next time," Ivan said as he left. It wasn't until I got Dylan into bed that I realized I'd forgotten about Caroline. Oh well, on to the next one.

4. Brittany

"Oh wonderful Brittany, how can I win your favour?" I asked dramatically, batting my eyelids at the beautiful bartender. Her smile was enough to tell me that I wasn't out of the game; I just had to work a bit harder. I took the pints and set them down at the table in front of Dylan. "I'm going to get her tonight," I said confidently. Dylan just snorted as he drank his pint. I glared at him. We had been frequenting this bar for months, coming in on specific nights when I knew Brittany worked, because she was the woman of my dreams. Her long, blonde hair and striking eyes helped to solidify what I already knew—bartenders are hot and I need one.

I was woken from my fantasy when a familiar face showed up at the bar. "Oh for fuck's sake," I practically shout, causing quite a few patrons to turn and tsk me. I'm not bothered by them; I'm bothered by Ivan and his eye crinkles talking up Brittany, who just laughed with him, fuck. It took weeks for me to get her to laugh. Maybe Ivan could teach me – NO! I just need him to leave.

"I'll be back in a second," I said, not waiting for Dylan's reply, which were muttered words about my stupidity. Nothing I hadn't heard before and nothing that was going to help me with what I needed to do. "Ivan, long time," I said coldly, holding out my hand. He took it with a smirk and glanced back at Brittany.

"Two shots of tequila please," Ivan said with his crinkles. Fuck, he knew. Of all the alcohol he could have picked, he picked that one. Tequila, literally, makes my clothes fall off. I square my shoulders and take the shot as the liquor burns my throat.

"Two shots of vodka please," I said just as I slam the last shot glass down. Ivan glares at me. I remember the time back in sixth form and what happened with the vodka. Ivan's father was not too pleased with the state of his car when he returned from a business trip.

This ridiculous game of shots continued for longer than anyone should have allowed, as I ran out of money and I could no longer feel my fingers. "Ifan, you need to leeesen to meee. Don't *hiccough* try those eye crinkles on me sir, nuh-uh," I said waggling my finger in his face. This is when Dylan decided to save us both from further humiliation.

"Ivan, can you make it back to your place?" Dylan asked hopefully. Ivan smiled crookedly at him and fell to the floor. "I'll take that as a no. Let's go grab a cab."

Somehow we all made it back to Dylan and I's apartment in one piece. "Last time I save either one of you idiots," Dylan muttered tucking us in to my bed. When morning came and I was snuggled into someone's strong chest, I did not question it, as when I woke up fully, I was alone.

5. Elizabeth

"I am hoping to get a full time position soon," Elizabeth said pushing some of her brown hair behind her ears. I knew what she was doing, but damn if it wasn't working. It was obvious since her first day as a temp at Volcano Media that I was interested in her, and she's a smart one to try and use that to her advantage.

"Well, we'll see how the cards play out," I offer with a smile, grabbing a coffee and heading back to my office. Volcano Media hadn't been around long, but it was doing surprisingly well for a startup app development firm. More investors were necessary, but that shouldn't be too difficult considering the revenue we were producing.

Just when I was in the zone of working, I heard a sharp laugh and somehow I knew. Ivan. Shortly before starting the company, I went to him and his father to ask for investment money. Ivan convinced his father, and their family ending up with the rights to fifty percent of Volcano Media. They make quite a lot of decisions for the company but neither of them has ever come into the office. "Ivan, good to see you," I said gripping his hand tightly and pulling him into my office. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't I come and see how my money is being spent?" he asked, not looking at me. His eyes were still fixed on Elizabeth, whom he gave a wave and eye crinkle to. Even at this distance, I can see her heart flutter. Fuck.

"Of course you can, thanks for stopping by," I said hurriedly rushing him towards the door.

"Not so fast," he said turning towards Elizabeth. "Would you join me for lunch?" Hell no.

"We would be happy to," I said and the three of us headed off. Poor Elizabeth. She doesn't know what hit her.

"And that's when Luke lost his pants," Ivan said with a laugh into his napkin. This was the third anecdote where I ended up losing an article of clothing. I was beginning to wonder if this was a common factor in Ivan and I's relationship.

"That's enough, or I'll pull out the Ivan the Terrible classics," I said giving him a look. He looked directly at me with his baby blue eyes, and I lost my train of thought. When I came back to, I looked around and saw a lack of Elizabeth. "Where'd she go?" I asked confused.

Ivan looked just as confused, "I'm not sure. I didn't even notice." He almost looked sad. I felt bad; I didn't mean to chase Elizabeth away. I didn't even like her that much.

"I can get you her number," I said quietly. That statement did not seem to cheer him up, but it was the end of the conversation and lunch. We left quietly. Questions still circling in my head, but I kept them to myself.

+1. Ivan

"Shut up, please. It's been three weeks and you haven't stopped talking about this," Dylan said with an annoyed grunt. "If you want to do something about it, go do something."

"What the fuck am I supposed to do? Elizabeth quit. I'm not going to stalk her," I said flopping down next to him on the couch.

He turned very seriously to me and put both his hands on either side of my face, "Look at me," I look directly into his eyes, "this is not about Elizabeth and you know it." I scoffed at him.

"What the fuck are you on about, Dylan?"

"Look, I don't want to burst in on the two of you having a drink and shout at him about how much you love him, so you better go do it yourself!" My mind blanked and reset. Holy fuck. "Shit, you didn't know. I thought you were too scared to tell me…Luke, you deserve this." I looked back at him and kissed him. "Wait for him for that nonsense," he said wiping his mouth with a laugh.

I ran outside and grabbed a cab. The stupid driver wouldn't go faster no matter how much I kept telling him that this was an emergency. When the car finally pulled up at the house, I threw what I hoped was enough money at the driver and ran to the front door. Knocking hurriedly on the door, I impatiently waited for it to open. When it did, I didn't think, I just acted. I grabbed the face and kissed them.

"Uhmm, I fear that's probably not for me," said an unfamiliar voice. Shit. My face went white. It was Ivan's sister. I gave two people a kiss today and neither of them are the one I was hoping for. "Thanks either way though. Ivan's in the kitchen," she said leaving me on the stoop with the door open. I walked silently in to the kitchen and saw him. He seemed to be baking biscuits, but not only that, he was swaying to the beat of a song I couldn't hear. I'm not sure if that is because the music was in his head or I couldn't hear anything but the blood rushing in my ears.

"Ivan," I all but whispered, but he still heard me. A baking pan crashed to the floor as he turned red. His eyes crinkled. "You need to stop with that."

"Stop with what?" he said with a smirk. I moved closer to him.

"You know what," I said putting a hand on his waist. I looked up at him and pulled his face gently towards mine. "I wish that I could tell you that I've been dreaming about this for years, but it wasn't until Dylan said something to me today that I even realized. You must think I'm daft," I whispered against his lips.

"Yes, but I don't mind a daft bloke as long as he's mine," he said giving me the crinkles again.