But today, she was … heart-stopping.

I never thought that a beautiful girl like her would ever give me cause to feel whatever it was that I was feeling for her. But damn! Aerin! What are you doing to me? And where have you been all this time?

A country music song began playing in the café as Shane, one of Aerin’s friends, returned from the rest room, and took her seat, still wiping her hands off. She flashed me a smile and a knowing wink just as I turned away after smiling quickly at her to look at Aerin again. I heard the sardonic observation, “You’ve got a girl crush.”

“Pardon me?” I asked turning away from looking at Aerin to look at her.

“A girl crush, just like what the song that’s playing is talking about.”

“Uh, huh, and a bad one, too,” another friend, Alice, added as she, too, took her seat at the end of the table.

I shook my head slightly at them to deny, at first, what they’d said, and was sure I was blushing. I gave up trying. “Is it that obvious?” I sighed.

“Yup!” they answered simultaneously.

“But don’t worry,” Shane winked at me again, “Aerin has it worse.”

I smirked, “You’re just being nice to the new girl by saying that, aren’t you?”

“Oh I never lie about crushes, Harley. Na-ah. Crushes are serious things in our world,” she said with mock seriousness.

“Are we talking about her unabashed crush on Aerin?” Helena asked as she put her cell away. She set the tray of cookies and brownies that she’d bought for us down on the tables I’d snagged and put together while waiting for them. “Relax, Harley.   Aerin is the object of desire for many – with good reason, as I’m sure you’d agree. Especially in that killer outfit! I’ve seen other women in maxis today but no one else has pulled the look off the way our Aerin has.”

I smiled and nodded, “I know what you mean.  And that isn’t something you can teach or learn, either. You’ve got it or you don’t, one of those things you’re just born with, I guess. Unfortunately, for some women, they don’t realize that they tend to over-think the look they’re aiming for, and so the look fails with them. They never get it to work …” my voice trailed out as Helena and Shane exchanged a look.