Hello, my fellow nerds! Welcome to The Tiny Moments Matter! This is my one-shot series for all the ideas that I want to make stories for but don't have the time and or dedication. So this is basically just a place for me to get as many of my frantic ideas out of my head as much as possible so I don't end up only thinking of AU's and while in class or trying to write my professor's papers that she wants. This one is based off a more normal modern AU where basically it's "holy fuck you found me on the roof please don't be an RA" kind of thing.

If you guys have any suggestions on any one-shots I should write, hit me up! I'm even up for ones that would have multiple parts! But all in all, I hope you guys enjoy it. :)

When I was a young girl, the silence of the sky had always helped me calm my mind. Just staring up at the night sky or high clouds in the bright blue mass above meant the world to me. It was those moments that I could truly be myself as well as be with my own thoughts. So even to this day as I had started my first semester at Acadia Oaks University, I had made a habit of sneaking out onto the roof of my dorm building and staring up at the stars after the RA's had made their laps around the different floors. Especially when it came to weeks like these where I was stressing myself out over exams that I knew I must have studied the topics more than I had said my own name.

So as I look up at the stars and lose myself within the silence of the dark night, it made all the anxieties of my first year's final semester's exams wash away from my shoulders.

That was until the door flung straight fucking open.

I jumped nearly out of my skin at the sound of the metal door being pushed open. I instantly flicked my head over to see a guy I have never seen on campus before standing there. He was a tall and slim fair-skinned guy who had jet black hair that almost matched the darkness of the sky upon him and a bright blue jacket that was matched to a pair of blue jeans. The thing that caught me though was the bright blue eyes that when they looked over to me seemed to be as panicked as I was by the situation.

"Hi." The guy gave me a lopsided smile as he somehow calmly closed the door. "Um, not to frighten you, but isn't it not allowed to be up here?"

Oh god please don't be an RA in training. I don't need to get another fucking warning and get this placed locked up like that told me they would.

"Um, not technically," I said with worry obvious in my voice. "Please tell me you're not an RA because they've been on my back about being up here and I really don't need them knowing I'm back-"

"Don't worry about it." I stopped in my tracks at the sound of his slight laughter at the end of his sentence. "I was just wondering if I would be the only on breaking the rules here."

Thank God.

"Mind if I join you?" I gestured to the bare spot next to me with a smile.

"There's enough roof for the both of us." He smiled fully at my joke and walked over to take a seat next to me. "I'm Claire by the way."

"James. But I like to be called Jim."

"Jim it is then."

We both sat in silence for a little bit after that as both of us were staring up at the dark night sky as if it was just perfect to have our silence match the world's around us. It was a beautiful little moment. After a second thought, I realized that I really had no clue who this guy was so I took the opportunity to glance over to him to get a better view of his features. I noticed instantly that he was definitely near my age unlike some of my fellow campus dwellers. He had this familiar look to him that screamed that I knew him before. But how could I possibly ever know a guy with eyes like the ocean and forget about him so easily? I stared a little more intently to see that he had a scrape on his chin and what seemed to be a deep purple bruise on his cheek.

Obvious why he came to the roof. He must have been running from someone. A victim to one of the sorority freshman hunts or something? Why am I so intent on this anyway? It's not like I know him at all.

But for some reason, I feel like I do. There was something about him that I couldn't shake from my brain as he sat beside me. But after a few moments, I shook my head lightly and went back to staring up at the stars. \

If he did come here to escape whatever scrap he got into, might as well give him some peace and quiet. He deserves that at least. I doubt I'll see him ever again anyway.

What felt like at least an hour had passed before one of us decided to speak.

"So, why did you come up here?" I was almost frightened by his sudden questions when it seemed like both of us were pretty content with the silence that was built between us.

"When I was a kid, I would move a lot due to my mother being a councilwoman. Whenever she felt like the city wasn't right for her anymore, she would pack up her family and go on to the next one. The last city we moved to she's ironically still apart of the council there." I looked over to my side to see that he was listening intently to my story. He had a small smile on his face and was leaning back onto his elbows. I gave him a soft smile in return before continuing. "But being the councilwoman's daughter meant a lot of expectations were placed upon my shoulders. I had to meet a certain mark in school, do extracurriculars that gelled well with the image she wanted me to keep, as well as do the average good kid routine like taking care of my little brother." I turned back to face forward and tilted my head back to look back up to the sky.

"Whenever it got really difficult though, I would stargaze. It was just something I ended up doing whenever I got really stressed out or felt as if I needed a break from the world. Where I can be myself without all the eyes of the world being placed upon me." I looked over my shoulder once more to see a larger smile placed on my company's face. I smirked though seeing that he was finally feeling comfortable in my presence. "But what about you? What lead you up here?"

I got a soft laugh before he leaned himself back up to meet my eyes. "I got into a fight." He shrugged as he placed his elbows on his knees and played with his hands as if they were the most entertaining things in the world. "I had a hard time with bullies in high school. My best friend and I had always joked that once we hit college that we would be 'cool' in a way due to how guys like us were always told to find where they fit in once their world was expanded a little. But it seems all those stories of finding where you belong in college don't always end very well for people that have always seemed to have bad luck." He looked back up to the sky as if he was staring off into his memories.

"In high school, there was this guy named Steve that would always torment me. Especially when my best friend let it slip that I had a thing for this girl that never noticed my existence. Every day he would find something to mess with me on or find some way to get away with pushing me around. I thought it would end after we graduated, but it seemed like he had the same idea about coming here to stay closer to home for college." I watched him sigh before looking back over to me. "I found him messing around with some guy that was not even half his size and I just felt that if he was going to pick on anyone, it might as well be me. The guys seemed to already be going through hell with how he was shaking in his boots about the situation, so I stepped right up and told him politely to fuck off." I couldn't help but laugh at that as he glanced over and gave me a smile.

"Sorry, continue." He shook his head lightly before getting back to his story.

"It took him a second to realize who I was, but after he did we instantly got in a little tussle after I said he should be in a muffler shop instead of wasting his time in a college he'll probably drop from and well, he basically went straight for dropping me." He shrugged as if that part had meant nothing before waving his hand in a circle. "Etcetera, etcetera, found a staircase while I was running away and took it all the way up here." He gave me a lopsided smile once more, but this time it had this dorky like vibe to the way that he presented himself. It made his rough-looking features from his little fight seem soft under the moonlight which together made me smile in return.

God, please tell me I'm not somewhat falling for a guy I have just met. I thought I was smarter than that.

"You said you were staying close to home for college, so that means you're from Arcadia Oaks, right?" He gave me a nod.

"Born and raised. You're from there too?"

"Yeah. I moved here a couple of years ago and went to Arcadia Oaks High." He gave me wide eyes in reply.

"Seriously? I did too! You said your name was Claire, right? As in Claire Nuñez?"

"Yep. That's me. You said you were Jim. I don't think I remember anyone of that name though." He just gave me a shy smile as shrugging his shoulders.

"I kind of kept to myself a lot. No big deal. I just remember you because my best friend's girlfriend bought up your name a lot. She said you were one of her best friends. Don't know how I didn't connect the dots earlier though, but I blame the idea I had my head a little scrambled by the punch I took." I laughed a little at his joke before nudging him with my shoulder.

"It explains why you looked familiar though. What was her name by the way?"

"Darci Scott." My eyes went wide at the name.

"No way! You're Toby's best friend? How did I never notice? No wonder why you looked so familiar! You got rid of your old blue sweatshirt." He laughed heartily at my response.

"That's what you remember of me? My faded blue sweatshirt?"

"Hey, don't judge me. You almost always wore it."

"Says the one that wore the same purple and black blazer everywhere."

"Hey!" I made sure that I sounded offended before letting my voice soften in my next response. "It was comfy." That got a true laugh from Jim. He placed a hand in his hair as his laugh reduced to a chuckle.

"I needed a good laugh. Thank you for that." I smiled as his blue eyes met mine once more.

No wonder. He's James Lake Junior. The guy that I had the slightest of crushes on in high school. I was always a sucker for the blue eyes that he was blessed with. Darci used to make fun of me stating that he was just as scared to talk to me as I was to speak to him, but I never believed her. Yet at this moment, I could never understand why I was so frightened to say anything to him in high school. Probably because I had a bad history with liking the one guy that didn't have a thing for me back.

But damn, I'm still weak for those damned eyes.

After a moment of being lost in his presence, my phone alarm went off, indicating that it was five minutes to curfew. We both looked at each other knowing that our time was dwindling to an end.

"It's good to see you though. Even though it was obviously due to bad circumstances."

"If you're okay with it, we can continue this again."

"That would be more than okay."