She loved him. She loved him because he annoyed her. Nothing would ever come from her love.

He annoyed and teased her constantly. When she asked him why he intentionally went out of his way to get on her nerves, the only reason he ever gave was that it was entertaining to see her reaction.

He constantly made her life a living hell whenever she was forced to work with him; which, considering they were on the same team, was most of the time. He would poke her sides, tease her constantly, and would throw things at her and laugh when she tried (and failed) to dodge them.

She would retaliate by slapping him playfully, or taking off her heeled shoe to throw at him, always knowing it actually caused him no pain. He would only laugh and take the thrown shoe as a gift, putting it in a place where he knew she wouldn't go (i.e. the boy's restroom or too high for her to reach) making her have to beg to get them back.

She put up with all of these crazy antics for several reasons. The first reason has already been stated: he was a major part of her team, so if she wanted a paycheck, she had to deal with him. The second reason was that he was her best friend, and putting up with their craziness is kind of part of the "job description." The third reason was that she loved him and would do anything for him.

She often tried not to let him see how much his actions truly affected her but, despite her vain attempts to keep her feelings hidden, she failed and they showed through very often. She thanked Mavis and her lucky stars that she was such a good actress that she was able to fool him into thinking that it was annoyance instead of her true feelings.

The sad part was that she knew that he knew how she felt. During the Magnolia Parade celebration two years earlier, when he had been hanging out over at her house, his cat, Happy, had told him teasingly, "You know that she's only begging you to hang out with her because she's in love with you." This had resulted in the past two years (and still counting) of his teasing.

They even had it down to specific quotes: he'd tease her, saying, "You know you love me," and she'd reply immediately with "You wish I loved you," while always wishing it was true.

Because the truth was that she DID love him, she just didn't want to fuel his teasing anymore since she knew that there was no way he'd ever return her feelings. He couldn't; that would be impossible.

Occasionally, she'd find herself hoping that he teased her to get close to her. After all: boys did stupid stuff like that, right? But she knew that was impossible. Unfathomable. Ridiculous. He would've tried to show her in another way than his teasing way.

For example, his less-than-enthusiastic participation in being her date to the Grand Ball her father held every year wasn't just because she had begged him to not let her "suffer" through it alone. She would have to be incredibly vain to even consider that to be a possibility.

Another example was his name on the roster for her yoga class. Just because the class was held often enough and he had made sure to ask which time-slot she was in before requesting his own transfer was only because he liked hanging out with her as a friend and nothing more. Right?

Him sitting with her at lunch, not paying attention to what was going on in the guild with her and him going out of his way to help her against other—less likeable—obnoxious friends, (for example, not letting her kill Laxus when he objectified her too much) just meant that he was a reliable friend. Right?

And the way he smiled at her in the way she loved, the way his smile made her heart flutter, the way his teasing made her smile, the way he made her feel safe (as if she was his to annoy, and no one else's'), was all just innocent gestures that she blew way out of proportion in her head. Right?

Coincidence, ridiculous, a close friendship, he's innocent, I'm crazy. These were all of the excuses and reasonings she used, for she was positive she would go crazy if she thought too hard on his improbable hints and flirtations.

All that mattered was that she loved him and he didn't return those feelings. She would just be his friend while secretly harboring her unrequited love for his and she would be fine.

Right?

So I completely based this story on my own life of when I was in high school. I wrote this years ago when I was going through this in the hopes of crushing down that hope it could be more.