Hey guys! Thank you all so much for your patience, I know no one likes waiting, but that's life, haha. I have other things to do, or sometimes I find it a bit hard to put into words or develop all the ideas that I have in my head for a chapter…

Anyway, I hope you like this one. Let me know what you think and thank you for reading!

DORMANT LOVE

"I love you, Lea" Shaun admitted to her, digging up the feelings that she had buried deep within her and making her admit that she felt the same.

But what happened? How did they get there? Wasn't Shaun with Carly?

"Nope… Nope… Hmm maybe? Nah… Hello, yes… No… No…" Right swipe, right swipe, right swipe, left swipe, and so on.

Her recent singleness, the stress from working with Glassman and the not so efficient IT team the hospital had, adjusting to the new work environment which was so different for her compared to where she used to work, Carly's constant "I'm okay with you and Lea being friends" to Shaun which then were contradicted by her actions, and Morgan constantly trying to poison Shaun with her bullshit while Lea felt her male best friend more and more distant from her, got her not only stress eating, but also led her to resort back to her old habit of letting off steam in a sexual way.

"It's a match! You and Teddy have liked each other"

—Well hello, Teddy— She thought and smirked to herself, then proceeded to send a message to the guy as she headed down to the cafeteria to get lunch.

"Hey, looking for some fun company for tonight, no strings attached. How about you?"

She got a sandwich with fries on the side, sat at a table on her own, then received a video call from her other friend, Sarah.

"Hey!" She answered the call with a wide grin as she leaned her phone against the napkin dispenser on the table.

"How you doing, girl? How's the new job going?" Sarah asked, grinning too.

"Eh…" Lea rolled her eyes slightly "…It's going, and I think I'm okay" She shrugged and fed herself a fry.

"You think?" Sarah chuckled.

"Well, nobody likes to be told what to do, and when people are too used to something, it's hard to make them realize it's time for a change. I had no idea how hard it would be to work with doctors and nurses and other medical staff, they're like…" Her eyes widened "…tough"

Sarah arched her brow up playfully "I'm a nurse too, you know?" She chuckled and Lea laughed.

"I know, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry! Not everyone is like that, there's a lot of nice people, but some are still reluctant" She shrugged again.

"Yeah, I get it. I suppose their software is outdated?"

"Sort of. I'm trying to make their lives a bit easier, but then, I'm only like an assistant so, I can't really do much. The head of IT says everything's fine…" She sighed.

"You're at the cafeteria?"

"Yep" Lea answered and took a bite of her sandwich.

"Show me around?" Sarah asked. Lea picked her phone and flipped the camera to show her friend the cafeteria, then she placed her phone back against the napkin dispenser. "Looks pretty nice. Maybe I should transfer" She joked.

This time Lea rose her eyebrows, surprised but also knowing her friend was probably joking. "Would you?"

Sarah chuckled "You'd love it!"

"I would!" Lea nodded with enthusiasm "I would have someone to hang out with, you know, since Shaun is busy busy"

Sarah laughed "It would be a nice change, I admit. I think Michael would like it, but I don't know. There's always a possibility" She grinned.

"Now you're just teasing me and it's mean" Lea narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips to which Sarah laughed again.

"How's the rest going?"

"Ugh…" Lea rolled her eyes again. "People will always say things, you know? But I can't be arsed to change their opinions about me, honestly" She said with a shrug.

"Yeah, screw them" They both laughed, then Lea pursed her lips again.

"I miss you!" She whined and Sarah chuckled.

"I miss you too! But you wanted to go back there!" Sarah teased her.

"Touché…" Said Lea, narrowing her eyes playfully at her friend

Sarah grinned victorious and Leah laughed, then they continued talking about their lives at opposite sides of the country until Lea finished her food and had to get back to work.

—

Heading back up to clinic floor, in the elevator, the doors opened on one of the floors and Carly, who was waiting for the elevator, was standing there. They looked at each other for a second then they politely greeted each other.

"Lea."

"Hey Carly" She gave the pathologist one of her infectious smiles as the doctor entered the elevator and pressed a button, then they stood there in awkward silence as the doors closed.

—Do it, ask her— Said a part of herself in her mind —Don't…— Said the other. As if she had a good angel and a bad one talking over her shoulders.

—Just do it…— Said the bad one and Lea sighed subtly pressing her lips together, trying to keep herself from talking but then she gave into the temptation.

She turned to look at Carly "Do you have a problem with me staying friends with Shaun? I mean, I know you've told him you're fine with it but, as women, I know a lot of times we can say one thing and not really mean it, so… are you really okay with it? I just… I know what some people have been saying and I don't agree with them. I genuinely don't want to cause any trouble between you and Shaun. You're good for him and… If I've done ANYTHING to make you or anyone else think that I'm trying to be anything other than Shaun's friend, I'm sorry, but It hasn't been my intention at all. And if I were in your shoes, and my boyfriend had a platonic friendship, I don't know exactly how I would feel, so…"

"I'm fine with it" Carly interrupted her and smiled. "If we were talking about any other guy, I probably wouldn't be. But Shaun, he always tells the truth. He told me that he's not interested in you anymore and I believe him. And I'm not really the typical woman. I like to be as honest as possible with everyone, so when I say something, I mean it"

—Touché… again… What the heck?— Lea thought and nodded.

"Okay…That's great" She replied to Carly with a smile and turned back to face the elevator doors as they opened again on a floor neither of them was getting out on.

The doors closed again and they rode the elevator in silence while Carly's words repeated themselves in Lea's mind "He's not interested in you anymore… He's not interested in you anymore… He's not interested in you anymore…"

She knew it. From the moment Shaun asked Carly out, Lea knew that he had moved on from her, as she had from him before they even lived together. Then why did Carly's words feel like a breeze carrying small shards of glass that cut into her skin?

"Shaun told me you and Jake broke up…" Carly mentioned breaking the silence.

"Yeah, some things don't work after all, but it's okay"

Carly nodded and the elevator's doors opened once again.

"This is me. See you around. Have nice day." Lea said with a fake smile and walked out of the elevator.

Sea felt like she needed "Tequila, STAT" and to her luck, Tinder guy replied to her message.

"Straight to the point, no BS. I like a confident girl that knows what she wants. I'm up for drinks tonight, where shall we meet?"

"I know a nice bar, I'll send you the address in a min"

That night at the bar, a few drinks later and already in the mood to have some fun; Lea and Teddy were at the dance floor enjoying the music and holding each other.

"I haven't hit the bar scene like this in months" Lea mentioned as they danced.

"What do you mean?" Teddy replied while mainly watching Lea with lustful eyes as she moved around.

"Like, I've gone out, just not exactly like this. Just for fun and…"

"No strings attached?" He finished her sentence to what Lea grinned and nodded in response. "Quiet liberating, isn't it?"

"Yes" She replied leaning up to kiss the guy, wrapping her arms around his neck and he placed his hands on her hips, pulling her even closer to him.

Meanwhile, at a table nearby and completely unaware that Lea happened to be at the same place; Carly and Shaun had pretty much just arrived and were enjoying their drinks, celebrating a successful surgery Shaun and his team had performed on a boy.

Lea and her date kept making out on the dance floor and Carly caught sight of the couple but Lea's back was facing in their direction. Carly made a playful comment about the couple's passionate way of kissing as if there was no one else around them and Shaun replied to her joke with another, saying they should get a room, to which Carly laughed.

"You kiss everyone like that?" Teddy teased as Lea pulled back from the kiss and bit her bottom lip, looking up at him with a smirk.

"Maybe… There could be more, if you're lucky enough" She said and let out a giggle.

"Damn" He smirked down at her as she kept her arms around his neck.

Carly kept looking at the couple from afar, then realized the girl was Lea and immediately told Shaun. They commented on it while Lea and Tinder guy were chatting about random, pretty naughty stuff, in a playful way as they swayed around the dance floor. Lea laughed at one of Teddy's comments then she looked around and a couple making out at one of the tables caught her eye. She thought the guy looked familiar.

—Is that…?— She squinted her eyes slightly then raised her brows in surprise and chuckled.

"Oh my God, come with me" She giggled and grabbed her date's hand, pulling him off the dance floor and basically dragging him toward Shaun and Carly's table to playfully interrupt the couple's make-out session.

"Shaunie!" She said with a grin, startling them and making them stop with the kissing. "I can't believe you're here. This is awesome!"

They looked at her and Carly smiled politely with a small nod while Shaun wiped his lips. Lea chuckled at their reactions and moved to sit, with Teddy, on the chairs across from Carly and Shaun.

"I'm sorry we interrupted your… you know" She chuckled again "We were at the dance floor. I saw you and I couldn't help to come say hi"

"Carly and I were conducting at experiment…"

"Shaun" Carly interrupted him looking at him and shaking her head slightly.

"Okay…" He muttered and nodded while Lea pressed her lips together and tried not to laugh at the awkwardness from that.

"So what brings you guys over here tonight, special occasion or just fun?" She asked.

"Both" Carly answered with a nod "Shaun and his team build a kid a larynx out of two ribs and cartilage, and now the boy will be able to speak"

"Oh yeah! I think he mentioned something the other day. That's awesome Shaun! Congrats!" She grinned at him.

"Thanks" Said Shaun with a slight proud smile on his face and Carly nodded, smiling as well.

"Why did you two come?" Carly asked.

"Oh, just for fun" Lea answered and Carly nodded again, then they were left in silence with only the music playing in the background and the voices from the people on the tables nearby.

Lea bobbed her head at the rhythm of the music —What am I doing?— She thought, then Tinder-boy interrupted her thoughts asking if she wanted a drink and she agreed, he left his seat to go get the drinks and left her with Carly and Shaun.

They looked around in silence. Her gaze and Shaun's met from time to time as they sat across from each other, but it was as if as soon as she caught him looking at her, he would immediately glance away or turn his face to look at his girlfriend.

Eventually Teddy got back to the table with two drinks and pushed one toward Lea but she reached for his instead and took a sip, smiling at him and he grinned in response, then Shaun spoke.

"It's karaoke night at the bar tonight" He commented and all faces turned to him.

"Ooh, yeah, you're right!" She said as she recalled what day it was.

Lea had been at that bar before with Jake but never with Shaun, though. The night she was there with her ex boyfriend, was also the her first time at said bar, and it had been karaoke night as well, and when she got back home, the first thing she did was to tell Shaun about the karaoke. They had agreed to visit the bar at some point to have some fun at the karaoke, but, for whatever reason, they never did.

"We definitely have to have a go at it, Shaunie. We have to show the world our talent" She added playfully, which took out a chuckle from Shaun as he nodded.

"Yes" He said "You're going to like it, Carly"

"I've done karaoke before, Shaun, but never with you, I'm sure it will be fun" Carly replied, looking at him in a loving manner.

"He's really good at it" Lea commented smiling.

Minutes later, the dance floor turned into a stage and screens were turned on. In between other groups of people who hopped onto the stage to give karaoke a go, Carly, Shaun, Lea and Teddy would take over the stage from time to time to sing, too. They sang Bohemian Rhapsody, Islands in the Stream, I Want it That Way, Mr. Brightside, Hot 'n' Cold, Whip It, and Super Bass.

Sometimes it was only Lea and Teddy on the stage, others Shaun and Carly, but most songs they sang together as group of 4. Although everyone was having fun, one could say Lea and Shaun were having the time of their lives; even if they were at opposite sides of the stage, they almost always ended up center and front, jumping around, laughing and singing together.

—

Carly and Shaun left the bar first, Carly had made sure that Shaun didn't drink a lot because they both had work the next day. Meanwhile, Lea and Teddy stayed at the bar for longer and got pretty drunk. In the end, they got an Uber and made it to Lea's apartment where they kissed some more, but they were too drunk for something else to happen, so they just fell asleep on Lea's bed.

By the time she woke up the next day, Teddy was already gone and she felt like crap. Her head felt is if her brain were throbbing hard inside her skull, her mouth felt dry as a desert, and the rays of sunshine filtering through the curtains felt as she were looking directly into the sun. She could barely open her eyes but managed to look at the clock on her bedside table.

"Shit!" She exclaimed getting off her bed as quickly as she could, which made her head ache even more.

She was late for work. She got in the bathroom, pulled off all of her clothes and showered with cold water. Gasping for air and shivering, she washed her body as quick as she could, then stepped out of the shower, wrapped herself in a robe, grabbed some clothes and got dressed as fast ask she could. Once dressed, she put on some make up and walked across her small apartment to grab a sports-drink from the fridge; she chugged down half of the drink along with an ibuprofen then grabbed the Striped Tomato's keys, a pair of sunglasses and headed to work.

—Why on earth did I decide to get wasted on a weekday?— She thought as she drove to the Hospital.

When she arrived at the hospital, she walked as quick as she could toward the nearest elevator, carrying her bag and wearing sunglasses. People looked at her and frowned in confusion, but she didn't care, she needed to get to work or God knows how Glassman was going to react to her being late and hungover.

She got to the elevator, pressed the button and waited for it. The elevator's doors opened and Dr. Claire Brown was inside.

"Hey" The doctor said with a bright smile as Lea stepped into the elevator and pressed a button.

"Hey…" Lea replied shyly.

Claire was looking fresh, alert and happy, in very professional clothes and a perfectly ironed white coat, while Lea had only managed to put together an outfit with the first garments her hands grabbed from her closet; some light blue jeans, her usual black boots, a black belt and a white shirt that she had no time to iron.

"Rough night?" Claire teased looking at Lea.

"Ugh… I swear sometimes I don't know why I do the things I do" She sighed and shook her head, but that made it ache and she winced, moaning softly in pain.

Claire chuckled and teased her again "You want an IV?"

Lea arched up a brow "As appealing as that sounds right now, I'm already late for work, and I'm sure you have more important things to do than hook this dumb girl up with an IV to cure my hangover. But thank you.

The doctor giggled "I know what it's like, so let me know if you change your mind. I'll see you around" She stepped out of the elevator when the doors opened. Lea nodded and smiled, then she continued her ride on the elevator to the clinic floor and once there, she basically hid behind her computer for the rest of the day, just working, so no one would bother her or torment her about her late arrival, she even stayed for a few more hours after her shift was over, to compensate for being late that morning.

A few days went by and apart from a small mishap from one of the nurses when he accidentally spilled coffee all over the keyboard of one of the computers at the clinic, everything was running smoothly.

She headed down to the cafeteria for lunch, at the same time Shaun usually eats his lunch, in hopes to find him there and chat about anything, but he wasn't anywhere around. Lea hadn't heard from him since the night at the bar, but since she moved out of their apartment, it wasn't odd for her to not hear from him in days, even if they now worked at the same place.

At the buffet area, while holding a tray, she checked out the food available that day, grabbed a juice, a sandwich and fries, as per usual, paid for her food and headed out to one of the outdoor tables to eat, then, while enjoying her food, the view and the fresh air, basically out of nowhere, Morgan's voice startled her.

"I can't believe you gave up working at a place with private chefs for this" The blonde doctor said approaching Lea's table with her own tray.

"Good afternoon to you too, Morgan" —Bitch…— "The hospital may not have a lot of options like at the tech company where I worked but the food is decent"

"And you can be close to your love interest… You must be happy now…" The blonde doctor said moving a chair to sit at Lea's table.

Lea frowned watching Morgan "Excuse me?"

"I'm talking about Carly broking up with Shaun" The doctor mentioned and reached to grab one of the few fries left on Lea's plate, then added "Now you can eat off his plate all you want without remorse. But wait, I don't think you ever felt remorse, I think that was your plan all along, to break them up so that you could have him all for yourself again. You can't play dumb with me"

—You really are a bitch…But wait, Shaun and Carly what?— Lea thought, staring at her food —Why would they break up?—

"Got nothing to say huh?" Morgan smirked.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Lea replied and ate a fry herself.

"Wait, you didn't know? I thought Shaun told you everything, I guess not anymore… I can't believe he let a girl like Carly go, to get with someone like you. You don't deserve him"

Taking a deep breath, Lea rolled her eyes "What's your problem?" She asked, slightly raising her voice and looking at Morgan again, which made people nearby look in their direction.

The doctor realized people were looking at them and glared at Lea as a warning.

Lea rose a brow defiantly, and added "Seriously, what makes you think you know ANYTHING about me or Shaun and have a right to say what we deserve or not?"

Morgan chuckled sarcastically "You're too easy to read, like an open book. The fact that Shaun overshares with pretty much everyone, doesn't help your case. Then there's your tech stuff, you know, social media and such; you make it too easy with what you share. As for what you two deserve… Shaun's a good guy and deserves someone who doesn't toy with his feelings. Carly was like the perfect girl for him, but you had to ruin it, I guess because you couldn't handle losing him. And you, well, he's just too good for you. I bet I'm not the only one who thinks you're not good for him. You'd break him"

Lea listened to each and every word Morgan said to her, feeling anger building up and running through her veins, but also felt a knot on her throat because she thought that, in some parts, Morgan was right. She wasn't going to let her get away with it, though.

Dr. Park was an ex cop, but she thought he wouldn't stalk someone just to be nosy, he'd do it with a purpose, to help someone if he thought they were in danger or as a favor, but never just for fun, out of boredom, or to blackmail someone. Claire was too good for her own good sometimes, and Glassman barely got along with technology. So, out of Shaun's friends/co-workers, considering the few bits he had told Lea about Morgan, of course she would be the one stalking people with the sole purpose of possibly blackmailing someone in the future, if needed. But Morgan, just like many others before her, had underestimated Lea. She knew a few things about the blonde doctor, too.

Lea wasn't a mean person; she would sometimes stalk people out of boredom or just to learn a bit more about someone, but she would never hold onto something to use it against them at some point, however, maybe Morgan was the exemption.

She looked at the doctor and chuckled "So you think that, based on the few things Shaun has told people about me, the couple times that we've seen each other, and stalking my social media, you magically know all about me to the point of also knowing what I deserve?"

"It's just too easy, I told you"

"I could say the same about you, you know? Maybe I haven't spent a lot of time around you, like Shaun or your other co-workers, to be able to read you but, you know I work in IT, right? I can stalk someone too. I know a thing or two about you, Morgan. Your special family, your very few friends, your trajectory to this day, your…" Having her hands resting on the table, on either side of her tray, she subtly pointed at Morgan's hands.

The blonde's hands condition was something only her rheumatologist and Dr. Glassman knew about, or that's what she thought.

Morgan shifted uncomfortably in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, looking at Lea with a slight frown.

"But I can't claim to know everything about you" Lea added. "I bet that only scratches the surface of who you really are. I'm sure that behind those thick concrete walls you've put up, there's actually a nice person I and others would get along with, but you choose to always act like a tough bitch and you never let anyone in. I get it though. You're like an onion, a big one... No, actually, I think you're more like one those filled hard candy that one has to lick and lick to get to the to the good stuff, but not everyone is willing to do all the licking required, because it can be tiring, so they just walk away or bite down on it... Anyway, just because you know a thing or two about me, doesn't mean you know me at all. And my friendship with Shaun, as well as his relationship with Carly or whoever else he dates, is none of your business, so, unless I, Shaun or Carly ask for your opinion about our lives, you should keep it to yourself"

She grabbed her tray, got up from her chair and walked away, leaving a thoughtful Morgan at the table. She threw away whatever was left from her lunch then walked out of the cafeteria to go back to the clinic. In the elevator, with a shaky hand, she pressed the button, then fiddled with her fingers.

—

The rest of the day, she found it hard to focus on her work, because she couldn't stop thinking about why Carly would break up with Shaun.

—That night at the bar, they seemed fine. We all actually had a good time together, that night… Why would Morgan basically blame me for their breakup? Well, she's Morgan… I did nothing wrong… but I was also drunk, so maybe I did do something I wasn't supposed to? But surely, Shaun would have told me… Unless I really was the one who ruined his relationship and he doesn't want to talk to me, which is maybe why I haven't heard from him in days…—

She remembered the time Shaun ignored her for days, when she got back from Hershey, and how it felt.

—What if he's not ignoring me and just needs space to process the break up? Does he need a friend to support him through this hard moment of his life? After all, it was his first relationship and he had a lot of firsts with Carly. He must need a friend, right?— Hesitantly, she grabbed her phone and wrote Shaun a message.

"Hey, just heard the news about you and Carly. Are you okay? I hope you are. I know it's hard. I'm here if you want to talk about it, you know that, right?"

He read the message but didn't respond, not right away at least, but until later that day.

"Can we meet at our old apartment tonight? 8 p.m. I want to talk about how I feel" Shaun wrote.

"Of course. I'll meet you there" She replied.

Of course she was going to meet up with Shaun, she knew her friend needed support because he was probably going through a hard time and needed to let things out. So, though a bit later than Shaun had requested, at around 8:20, Lea arrived to the apartment they used to share and where he was still living.

"I'm sorry, there was traffic…" She said after using her old key to open the door and walk into the apartment.

All the lights were off, but the kitchen and the dining table were lit up with candles. Shaun was standing in the patio, which was a bit different from the way she saw it the last time she was there.

There were fake and a few real candles at the bottom of the walls, outdoor string lights above, going from one wall to the other, and the climbing plant that came with the apartment now had warm-white fairy lights all over it. The outdoor table was set for two and it was also lit by a single candle in the center.

—This is… This isn't how you tell someone how you feel about breaking up with your significant other…— Lea thought and nervously walked to the patio, deep down she could feel what was coming, but she was nervous and in denial about it.

"What's up Shaunie?" She asked while he was just standing near the table with his fingers intertwined before his abdomen, as per usual. "I'm so sorry about you and Carly…"

—Lea, he didn't ask you to come to talk about himself and Carly, it's obvious!… No…— Thought a part of her while the other was still in denial. She held tight onto the strap of her purse and fiddled with it while looking at him.

"Carly made a HUGE mistake, you know?" She added "'Cause you're a wonderful man, Shaun. Probably the most wonderful man I've ever met"

His silence was making her even more nervous. He was just standing there, briefly making eye contact with her from time to time, then looking away.

"I know breakups are hard, and I know you must be hurting, but you gotta keep your head up and one day you'll find…"

"I love you, Lea" He said interrupting her, looking straight into her eyes.

Her heart raced, her stomach flipped, her body tensed up and shuddered, then she swallowed hard.

—No… No… Yes, cut the crap Lea… I can't…—

"I want to be your boyfriend" Shaun added.

—All this time, he's been nothing but honest with you, the least you can do is to be honest, too…—

"I…" She managed to say as her knees felt weak, her body was shaking slightly and her breathing became a bit heavier. "I love you, too…" She finally let out,

There was no more denying or avoiding her feelings, those she had buried deep within herself for over a year.

She felt like some sort of weight had been removed off her shoulders, and it felt good for a moment, but then it was as if that weight had been replaced with another, as the words from Morgan, Glassman and even Sarah, began to torment her mind.

"…You're gonna hurt him again, you know it, I know it." "…You don't deserve him. You're not good for him, you'd break him." "…Your actions are a bit contradictory, and I know the last thing you want is to hurt him"

Lea loved Shaun to bits, but, was she good for him? Would something between them really work?

A smart guy with a very promising career, someone in control of almost every minute of his life, centered in his goals, with her; someone who likes to live in the moment, has no agenda, forgets things, wants love but avoids commitment, easily gets bored of her job, and doesn't even know what exactly she wants out of life. She didn't think it was fitting. The had managed to cohabit a place in peace, as friends, but a romantic relationship was something else, and based on what she had seen or heard about in the time Shaun dated Carly, she thought that if it had been her, she would've drove him crazy, or didn't know if she would've handled it all as good as Carly did. She thought she probably would end up saying or doing something that would hurt him, and he deserved better.

"But I…" She added with a shaky voice as her eyes began to fill with tears "You… I'm a mess, Shaun. I mean, listen to me right now, I can't even put a complete sentence together… I - I'm a challenge for anyone… I have my needs, you have yours and I - I can't lay all that on you"

"I can handle it" He said with a nod.

—But I don't think I can…— "It's easy to say that, but… I just know it would be too hard for you…We're just… You need things a certain way, you work in a certain way, and I…" —I'm not strong enough for this…—

He analyzed her words for a moment and she looked down at her hands, trying hard to control her emotions.

"So you're saying… You don't want to be my girlfriend… because of my autism?" He looked at her again and she let out a small sob.

"I ..." She let out another sob, looking back up at him as a tear trickled down her cheek, unable to answer his question. She thought that if she said yes, she'd end up as prejudice and he'd hate her; if she said no, he'd expect to hear an explanation, and what was she supposed to say without sounding mean?

Shaun's eyes filled with tears while interpreting her silence and she had hurt him. Exactly what she had avoided for over a year.

—I can't do this…— She thought, turned around and left the apartment, because the pain from seeing him hurt again, because of her, was too great to bear.

She got back to her car and broke down in tears, sobbing and hugging herself, overwhelmed with all that she felt in that moment.

Why couldn't she just say "I love you too, Shaun. I want to be your girlfriend"? Well, things weren't that easy, at least not for her...