Secret Crush

There he was, mister tall dark and handsome. All through high school she had a huge crush on him, could it be possible that he got more good looking. She wondered if he remembered her; unlikely since she was very unpopular back then. Now she was the co-owner and boss of an art gallery. She was here at this fancy diner to talk to a new upcoming artist about displaying their art in her gallery. Holly, her business partner, had heard about them so Holly sent her out to make the deal. If she knew it would be him that she was meeting she would of made Holly come instead. Shaking off her thoughts and nerves she approached him ready to get this meeting started.

There she was, miss beautiful smart and curvy. In high school he was a popular kid, she not so much, but he still found her intriguing. She was beautiful back then and he had a crush on her, but now she was absolutely gorgeous. He watched as she approached him wondering if she remembered him. He agreed to this meeting for his client, new up and coming artist Richard who went by the stage name Rhino. Richard didn’t trust easy and didn’t want to show his identity until he knew the art gallery was sincere. So Richard sent him instead, he didn’t know she would be here. He didn’t know it was her gallery. Smiling as she got closer he couldn’t wait for this meeting to start.

“Hello. My name is Rae. Are you Richard?” she asked.

“No. My name is Matt, I am Richard’s manager, he sent me on his behalf”, he said. Okay so she didn’t remember him that was fine, it had been awhile. Just move on with business as usual.  

“Oh ok. Shall we get started then?”

The meeting went well Rae and Matt came to a deal about Richard and his art being displayed. Rae will meet with Richard in the next two days to show him around the gallery and show him where his art will go. Richard would show and sell his artwork at her gallery for the next year. Rae was excited; this is just what she wanted to happen not only would it help keep her gallery in business but it could open it up to other artists. She was getting her stuff together and getting reading to walk out the door when she looked up and saw Matt staring at her. She wondered what he was thinking.

Now that the meeting was done Matt was thinking about asking Rae to dinner. His job was technically done and all he could think of was getting to know this Rae better.

“Now that we got the business taken care of, what would you say to dinner today”, he asked.

“Excuse me? Are you asking me out on a date?” Rae said shocked.

“I believe I am. What do you say?” Matt asked with a smile.

“Sorry but I don’t mix business with pleasure, plus I don’t know you all that well”, she said as she walked toward her car.

Matt stood there and thought wait, what? She doesn’t know me? Huh, I guess she really doesn’t remember me maybe I should change that.

The next day was the meeting with Rae and Richard. Rae was nervous and excited but ready. She had the contract signed and his copy waiting. She made sure the gallery looked nice and Richard’s area was acceptable. She didn’t know who to expect to walk through the door but she did know she didn’t expect him to show up. Grinning through her teeth she greeted her guest.

“Hello Matt nice to see you again”, she said then turned to the other guest, “you must be Richard, it’s a pleasure to meet you my name is Rae. Welcome to the gallery.”

“Nice place you have here it is going be fun working with you. Matt told me about you but he left out how beautiful you were.” Richard said with a smile.

“Oh thank you”, Rae said blushing, “yes my business partner and I are so happy you have agreed to feature your art here. She is a big fan of yours.”

“Oh really, where is she? I would love to meet her.”

“Her name is Holly and she will be down in a moment. While we wait for her let me show you where your art will be displayed”, Rae said as she lead the way to the right wing of the gallery.

“Sorry I’m late I was on a business call”, Holly said, “it is so good to meet you, I’m Holly. Hope my sister was a good host.”

“Well Hello, I’m Richard. So you two are sisters well that explains the resemblance and the beauty, simply outstanding.”

“So Holly do you want to finish giving Richard the tour while I finalize everything with his manager”, Rae asked then turned to Richard and said “Holly is an art major and does some artwork herself. She is probably better to show you around than me.”

While Holly and Richard went off to finish the tour and set up the art work, Rae and Matt went upstairs into the office to get the paperwork handled.

“If you wanted to get me alone you could have accepted my dinner offer.” Matt said with a grin.

“You think you are so cute, don’t you. I didn’t want to be alone with you however the spark between my sister and your client is undeniable so I figured they should be alone.”

“Oh so you think I’m cute”, Matt said with a flirtatious grin.

“Of course that is the only thing you pick up from our conversation”, Rae said rolling her eyes, “how about we just focus on business.”

“What if I don’t want to just focus on business? Do you know why I came with Richard today? He didn’t need me to come but I did anyway and it was because I wanted to see you again.”

“But why you don’t know me or is it an ego thing because I turned down your dinner invite.”

“Thing is I do know you or at least I thought I use too. We went to school together back in the day and although we didn’t hang out I liked you. That is why I asked you figured we could reconnect on the plus side you are very attractive.”

“Why didn’t we hang out back then if you liked me so much?”

“I don’t know to be honest. So what do you say Rae, want to be my dinner date?”

Before Rae could answer Holly and Richard came into the office laughing. “Oh hey we are just going out for lunch. Can you hold the fort down for a little while?” Holly asked.

“Sure can. You two have fun but not too much.”

After they left Matt just sat there figuring out what to do next. So he decided to run to the diner real quick and get something for himself and Rae; if she wouldn’t go out with him he would bring the food to her.

Matt was gone, finally some alone time. Rae couldn’t believe he asked her out, not once but twice. Then he confessed he had a crush on her back in high school, yeah right. She didn’t know what to do. Deep in thought Rae didn’t notice Matt walking back in with lunch and jumped when he spoke.

“Whoa, didn’t mean to scare you. I went out and got you a cheeseburger with fries and a sweet tea.”

“Is this another way to make me go on a date with you?”

“I mean yes, but if you don’t want it then I can leave”, he said pretending to walk towards the door.

“Come on, sit down”, she said as she reached for the bag, “so tell me Matt, how you ended up being the manger for an eccentric artist.”

“I actually manage different people of all talents: writers, artists, singers and others. I got into business after high school and realized I would be a better manager than a business owner. Sometimes I go out and look for new talent, sometimes it ends up at my door. Richard I caught trying to paint on my office wall and I liked his work, so I hired him to paint a mural instead and now here we are. So Rae, tell me how you got into art galleries.”

“My sister did actually she just hired me to help with the books and stuff. She is the artist and knows a lot about it, me not so much. I basically do the scheduling and meet with clients because she is shy but she finds the talent.”

“So let me ask you this, do you really not remember me?”

“Is your ego that big that you can’t believe someone doesn’t remember the most popular guy in high school?”

“What is with you and calling out my ego? I don’t believe I have one and if you don’t remember me how did you know I was popular”, he said with a smirk.

“You just seem like the type to be popular and usually popularity comes with egos.”

“Nah that’s not it, truth is you do remember me but you don’t want to admit it for some reason.”

“How are John and Zach? Still keep in touch with them”, she said lifting her chin up, “truth is yes I remember you and your friends. So let me tell you a story about popular guys, they laugh at you and make fun of you for having certain feelings towards someone. Back in high school I had a huge crush on you, you were nice and I thought you weren’t like the rest of them. I got the courage one day to ask you out but your friends found out and told me to forget it girls like me don’t stand a chance with a guy like you. That I should just save myself the embarrassment and get use to being alone. Then they walked over to you and they turned back at me and all three of you started laughing. So I figured they told you and you thought it was just as funny.”

Matt sat there shocked. He remembered that day it was the same day he decided he was going to ask her out but his so called friends told him she was seeing someone already. Then they laughed about a movie they all seen over the weekend. Matt wasn’t laughing at her; he was looking at her that day because he was upset he missed his chance. Now he knew the truth, and so should Rae.

“Rae listen, I know what day you are talking about. It’s the same day I was going to ask you out. Those friends of mine, who by the way I haven’t seen or talked too since senior year, told me you were taken by that guy you used to hang out with everyday. The laughing wasn’t at you; we were discussing a movie we saw together. I was staring at you because I missed my chance. Believe me if my friends would of came over and told me you had a crush on me I would of asked you out, not laugh.”

“Oh”, all Rae could say. She was shocked, he had a crush on her back then its unbelievable. “So you said had a crush, does that mean not anymore”, Rae said grinning.

“Oh no believe me the crush is still there probably even more so. So what do you say we start over”, Matt said hopefully.

“Maybe, what do you got?” Rae said leaning over the desk with a sweet smile on her face.

Matt got up and went out the door then came right back and said, “Hello my name is Matt and I would like to take you to dinner. What do you say?”

Rae laughed and said, “I would like that very much.”