Leon knew that you weren't available to him, that you weren't in his league. You are his ideal, the embodiment of what he wanted to see next to him every day, the one he has been dreaming about for several months now. And he wasn't alone in this.
But Leon also knew that he was a huge coward. All he could do was stare at your back in class, or in the hallway between classes, or in the cafeteria on campus during lunch. How stupid of him to dream about you and not try to do something about it. But what else could he do? Every time he finally found the courage to approach you, you were already in the company of another guy who was clearly more confident than Kennedy. But what surprised him the most was that you were somehow still alone, despite the increased attention from the opposite sex. On the one hand, he was happy about it – he still had a chance one day to come closer to you than five meters and talk to you. On the other hand, this fact scared the hell out of the young man. He didn't consider himself special or better than other guys, and the chance that you would send him away like the others was much higher than the chance of success–at least, he was sure of it.
What he didn't know was the real reason you hadn't dated anyone until now. And the reason for this was none other than Leon himself. It might have been hard for him to believe that you genuinely found him attractive, but it was true. The way he looked at you when he thought no one was watching, the way he looked away shyly when he caught your gaze on him, the way he stood timidly nearby, still hesitating to approach – all this strangely caught on. And, of course, he didn't know that you were waiting for exactly this – the first step from him.
But one day Leon mustered the last of his courage and finally came up to you. And what was his surprise when you agreed to his awkward offer to have lunch together almost immediately. "She's just being polite to me," Kennedy thought, unable to imagine that a girl like you would agree to go with him not out of pity.
And you were just glad that he made the first move.
Calling it a first date would be too loud, but it went pretty well. Conversations over coffee, stories about interests and plans for the future... But not a single hint from him. Maybe it was naive of you to think that he would take your hand or hug you goodbye, because this was your first "time together." But the first was followed by the second, and then the third, and nothing. You had a good time together, but he never did anything that could be interpreted by you as a hint of sympathy. You tried to hint, and you thought that you were doing it quite obviously – you deliberately brushed his hand, then you put gloss on your lips in front of the mirror while he was watching next to you, and in the evenings you dressed lightly on purpose so that at some point you could say that you were cold - any guy would take that as a hint, but not Leon. He was blind.
More and more often, the thought popped up in your head that he was just making friends with you – maybe there really wasn't any sympathy on his part? Maybe he really saw you as just a friend.
Unfortunately for you, he thought the same way. He was so nervous every time he met you that his brain just couldn't work at full capacity to see your hints.
And you, like two idiots, were waiting for each other to make the first move.
He invited you to the park today. And it was today that you finally decided to find out what was going on between you. Having done your makeup and chosen the right look, you confidently went out to meet him, determined to set the record straight this time. You met at the entrance to the park, where you exchanged the usual greetings, and then both fell silent, as if he also sensed that something important was coming, something that could change the relationship between you. The tension between you was almost physical as you walked side by side, but neither of you said a word.