Defenseless

I've been in love with my best friend's sister for the last ten years, ever since she tutored me in high school. I'm haunted by the memory of the kiss we shared all those years ago, and I've spent the last decade trying to recreate what I experienced with her.

Hailey has enough on her plate, dealing with her multiple chronic illnesses, without me ruining our friendship by professing my feelings for her. Not to mention her brother, my teammate and best friend, would absolutely kill me.

All I've ever wanted is to protect her. When we get the invitation to our high school reunion, I convince her to come with me, even though she doesn't have warm and fuzzy feelings about high school. I just want to recreate the date we never had; one perfect prom night.

It doesn't matter that I'm a big-time hockey player and in the prime of my career; I still feel like that awkward, insecure guy too chickenshit to ask out the prettiest girl in school.

But the last decade of loving Hailey from a distance has proven to me that my feelings go deeper than simple puppy love. What we have is real... If only she can see it.