Esme Davis never had to worry about being untalented.

She’d been asked before, “Is there anything you can’t do?” and not knowing the right way to respond to such a question, she would just laugh warmly.

Esme did realize that she was very well-rounded, and people could be jealous that things came so easily to her. With skills in sports, theatre, art and music, she definitely stood out, so she was always careful never to flaunt anything.

However, there was this one guy at her school...and no matter how hard she tried to keep it on the down-low, he noticed her anyway. And she had definitely noticed him.

It was a crisp fall afternoon, and the sky was blue with not a cloud to be seen. The leaves, no longer green, descended from the trees onto the ground, and crunched under the feet of the passerby. The sun shone onto the campus, allowing just enough warmth for the students to go outside with sweatshirts and not jackets.

It was lovely weather for an afternoon of love.

Or so it would seem.

If you looked past the main building, all of the students, all of the brick paths, you’d find a tree in the greens where Esme was sitting at, but she wasn’t alone.

“...I’ve liked you for a long time” Eli Garcia was saying to her.

He had just given her a beautiful painting of the two of them together. He looked at Esme deep in the eyes, his green ones sparkling.

She liked him too, she really did. However, she’d never had to pour out her feelings like this. She didn’t know how.

“...So?”

“So?”

“How do you feel about me?”

“Oh, right...” she picked up a leaf and twirled it in her hand.

Eli’s face fell a bit.

Esme took a breath. Why was it so hard to say how she felt? She liked him too, she had for a long time. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘮! 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬! 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘖𝘕 𝘌𝘴𝘮𝘦. 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.

She took in another deep breath.

The thing was, while Esme was thought to be good at everything-no one’s perfect. Esme had rarely encountered something she was bad at...but that day she finally found a flaw in the system. Expressing her emotions.

And she sure hoped it wouldn’t cost her in this moment.