Larissa's POV
I quietly hummed to myself as a cleaned off the last of another countless room. I didn't think anything of it when I moved onto another apartment: 2J. I walked in and started dusting off a glass table. The apartment, which was seemingly and supposed to be empty, wasn't. Without warning, a familiar face strolled groggily out of another room. It was Logan. He hadn't changed at all in the since he crashed into me a few days before. In fact, it was the best I'd ever seen him. Why, you ask?
He was in nothing but his boxers.
"HOLY SHIT!" we screamed simultaneously. Logan because a girl he barely knew was randomly in his apartment, me because of how incredibly hot he looked.
He ducked behind the couch so I could only see his head.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" he asked.
"I'm a maid, I clean stuff. That's how it works!" I said.
"Well, God, shouldn't you know that its creepy and stalkerish to walk in on people when they're in their UNDERWEAR!?"
I'd make a habit of it if I was cleaning this apartment every morning, but I knew that wasn't the answer he was looking for.
"Well, I normally don't! I didn't know you were in here, Logan!"
"Yeah…well maybe next time you should-OH MY GOD!"
He froze, panicked.
"How do you know my name? Have you been stalking me or something?"
How could he not know who I was? I started to think it was a joke.
"I'm Larissa. You crashed into me last week, remember?"
"Wow…"
I was really, really confused by then.
"What?"
"It's just that you look a lot different without all the makeup and hair extensions and stuff."
I calmed down. I knew what he meant. I did look a lot different than usual.
"You look…hot." Logan said.
The air got a million times heavier. I did not see that coming!
"Thanks," I said, struggling to hold in my excitement. No guy had ever called me hot before!
"You know, Larissa. I've been thinking, and uh…"
He was going to ask me out! I was sure of it!
"Um, well…What's a vampaneze?" he asked, referring to the shirt I wore when we met.
My heart sank. What a wimp…
"They're a purple skinned, red eyed branch of former vampire brethren who kill when they feed and worship their sex god of a lord, Steve Leonard."
"Oh…" he said. Hey, it wasn't my fault! He wanted to know!
"They're from Cirque Du Freak." I said, trying to keep the conversation going.
"Yeah, I've heard of it. I'm more of a Harry Potter person."
I smiled. It was something we had in common.
"No way! Me too! I freaking cried when Cedric Diggory died!"
"Awesome!" he said, getting up from behind the couch.
I was too excited to stop rambling.
"I have his wand at my apartment! I've seen all six movies at least five times each. I have an entire board of flair dedicated to the Potter Puppet Pals on Facebook, and I think Draco Malfoy is underrated and misunderstood. He's number two on my list for hottest fake criers, and Josh Hutcherson's number one."
I decided to stop. We both had our opportunity to look like an idiot.
"That's really cool." Logan said. "Maybe I could come over one time and see that wand."
"Totally."
I checked the time, and I was off-schedule.
"I gotta go, you know, rooms to clean, places to go."
I walked out, and silently screamed to myself. I still couldn't believe Logan thought I was hot!
-----
Logan's POV
NO! What the hell was wrong with me! It was the perfect moment, and I let it slip through my fingers! Right now, I could have a date with a hot girl who loved Harry Potter! She was perfect for me! Instead, I just looked like a geek by freaking out on her, and she probably thought I was a wimp for not asking her out.
"Hey, has anyone seen my phone?" Kendall asked, breaking my train of thought. "I haven't seen it since rehearsal."
"I think I saw it in the sound booth," James recalled.
"Oh, shit. I forgot I left it there. So, who wants to go get it with me?"
Carlos and James didn't volunteer. We were there almost 24/7, so any chance to get away was valued.
"I'll go." I said. I needed something to get my mind off how much of an idiot I was.
"I mean did you see that gross shade of purple he turned?" Kendall said as we passed the wax museum. "Putting a rabid squirrel in Gustavo's office was the best prank yet!
"Mhm, sure…" I muttered. I got the feeling he was regretting taking me along. "Look, Logan, you've been kinda distant for the past few days. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind…"
"Oh, God, is this about that goth girl you met last week?"
"No," I lied. "In fact, I never even thought about her until you brought her up two seconds ago!"
I hoped he was stupid enough to believe my terrible lie.
"Good, that girl was weird."
There was no way Kendall could be right. Larissa was totally worth it. I just wished I knew more about her.
Almost as if the universe heard my wish, I started to hear a guitar. A girl was playing to intro to a song. The girl looked familiar. It was Larissa.
-----
I told Kendall to go on without me. He wasn't all that happy about it. I didn't care. I just got lost in the sound of Larissa's voice. I recognized the song; I heard it one time on the radio. It was "The Only Exception" by Paramore.
When I was younger
I saw my daddy cry
And curse at the wind
He broke his own heart
And I watched
As he tried to reassemble it
And my momma swore that
She would never let herself forget
And that was the day that I promised
I'd never sing of love
If it does not exist
But darling
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
Maybe I know, somewhere
Deep in my soul
That love never lasts
And we've got to find other ways
To make it alone
Or keep a straight face
And I've always lived like this
Keeping a comfortable, distance
And up until now
I had sworn to myself that I'm content
With loneliness
Because none of it was ever worth the risk
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
I've got a tight grip on reality, but I can't
Let go of what's in front of me here
I know you're leaving in the morning, when you wake up
Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
And I'm on my way to believing
Oh, and I'm on my way to believing
She finished the song, and as soon as she noticed I was watching her, she blushed and looked away.
"Hey, you're a really great singer." I said.
She thanked me.
"I'm trying to be a pro songwriter, but I can't get a job, so…" She quickly started putting her guitar back in its case.
"A songwriter," I repeated. "That's really cool."
"Yeah, I've written a lot. Mostly love songs."
I smiled at that. It was something we had in common. I liked to write, too. It was mostly just stuff for school and the occasional FanFiction. What can I say? I'm a geek.
"Awesome…do you just write songs?"
"I wrote a play once, too. It was like a modern day Romeo and Juliet. Two opposite people met and fell in love. It was real…sappy." She said it like it was a bad thing. "Nothing you'd be interested in. Too…romantic."
I completely disagreed with her.
"No, I'd like to read it. I love Shakespeare. We could exchange stuff. You can read this Pokemon FanFic I wrote when I was five."
I secretly cursed myself. Way to screw things up. Pokemon FanFiction? Very attractive…
"That would be nice." Larissa said. "I was quite the Pokemon geek, too."
My face lit up. It was something else we had in common.
I was starting to really like Larissa. Her eyes were a window to her soul. She was innocent, yet troubled. I sensed something telling me that she was…different. I couldn't tell how, it was like this…longing for something. When I looked into her eyes, it was like nothing else in the world mattered. I was just drawn to her somehow. Like we were opposite poles and a magnet was pulling us together. I realized that this was another perfect moment. It was now or never.
"Hey, Larissa?"
Come on, Logan, don't chicken out!
"Maybe we could...hang out sometime...uh, yeah..."
DAMN IT! What the hell is wrong with me?
"Yeah, I'd like that." she said.
She sounded a little disappointed. I really blew it.
She turned around and hurried down the street.
I went the opposite direction and finally caught up with Kendall.
"Who was that?"
"Nobody," I lied again. "Just some random girl…"
I knew he didn't believe me, but he just went along with it.
"Whatever…" he said, and just let it go.