[M4F] Two dork characters in a long-term romance plot that goes from one-sided to two-sided.

She worked at a snack shop tucked into the main corridor of the mall, the kind that sold pretzels, soda, and cheapo sugary confections. The mall was still weirdly alive in this area, thanks to the local college, and not much else to do around town - college kids could be too young or too broke for clubs, but perfectly content to kill hours having their social hour at the mall. It was where people went when they didn't know what else to do.

He probably showed up there more often than he needed to. Sometimes he came alone, sometimes with friends, but he always ended up staying way longer than necessary with his best friend. When he did come to the mall, he'd get the same order every time. There was that same awkward small talk between her and him. He wasn't very impressive, and he knew it - he was a little dorky, a little directionless. She noticed him early on; she knew that... Maybe she wasn't the most attractive, or normal girl ever. She was a bit dorky - and he was, too. He felt familiar in a way that didn't require effort - he liked videogames, and TV, and stupid stuff like that, and it was just easy to relate.

She'd already accepted that she wasn't dating movie-level hot guys - the mall snack shop between classes wasn't exactly located in hollywood. So when she flirted with him, it was casual and unembarrassed, and compliments slipped into conversation. She'd tease him when she handed him his food. Nothing dramatic - just enough to make her interest obvious.

But, of course, he never took the bait. He deflected with jokes, acted like he hadn't heard her, or brushed it off with some half-hearted comment. It wasn't personal, he just didn't want her, or this. Not yet. He still believed he could do better, and he didn't want to lock himself into something that felt small.

He tried for someone else about a week ago - he knew her from around the area. She didn't work over the counter. She was cooler, more confident, exactly the kind of girl he thought he was supposed to want - and for once, he put himself out there - and he was shut down immediately. No mixed signals. No soft landing. Just a clear lack of interest.

After that, things felt different.  His options felt thinner. He was put into a category by the one girl he was attracted to - he was a "dork." And suddenly, the girl at the snack shop - the one who remembered his order, laughed at his dumb comments, had been openly interested all along - stopped feeling like a worse option than nobody and started feeling like the only realistic choice he had left. He wasn't desperate, but he realized that, maybe, it wasn't such a bad thing.

So he asked her out. He wasn't exactly thrilled or excited at first - it wasn't romantic, it wasn't driven by some realization of feelings... It was practical, and reluctant. She liked him. She was available.

It just... made sense.

He told himself that settling wasn't the same as failing - it was just being realistic.

Their first date would start with that energy still hanging between them, and those awkward pauses. Semi-polite conversation. He would be holding back, already framing the night as something temporary. But the longer it would go on, the harder that mindset would be to maintain. He was going to find out that, she was easy to talk to in a way he hadn't expected - that she was funny without trying. And a hell of a lot sharper than he'd given her credit for...

...And she was comfortable with herself in a way he wasn't. Somewhere between wandering aimlessly and sitting together with nothing pressing to do, it will click - he isn’t settling. He's just been wrong.
By the end of the night, the idea that she'd been his backup will make him uneasy. He'd gone into it thinking he was giving her a chance because she was there. He left realizing that maybe she'd been worth choosing all along.

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Hiya! I'm on a Regular Show kick - while it isn't EXACTLY Regular Show, it IS a long term romance based Rigby and Eileen; a couple college-grade, minimum-wage-jobbed dorks who maybe start off a little rocky with a one-sided crush, but slowly come to understand each other.

Please feel free to reach out if you're interested. I'd love to discuss more with you directly, and see what works for both of us! And I'm open NSFW, too! Anything grounded in reality, and that works decently with the plot would be just fine with me. I'm descriptive, I write in 3rd person, and I love romance plots. If you do too, just reach out. Ciao! >uo