During a break in the pickup game, I walked over to get a drink when I noticed a dark-haired girl standing between the courts. It wasn't unusual for the girlfriends of some of the guys to come watch these games, so I didn't really give the girl a second thought until she turned to face my direction and I saw a pair of familiar chocolate brown eyes. Eyes that I had seen many times before. Eyes that used to look at me in a schoolgirl crush kind of way. Eyes that now looked worried, like they were searching for something.

Our gazes caught for a quick second before she jolted her head around the other way again. I watched her begin a conversation with a kid on another court before grabbing my ball and heading towards the basket. Aria's face kept running through my mind as I launched a shot in the air. She had always been the only one of Ali's friends that even acknowledged me as anything more that Alison's creepy older brother. She talked to me when Ali wasn't around. She treated me like a normal person. I could tell she had a crush on me, even though she knew Ali would have thrown a fit had she even mentioned she thought I was cute. Aria had always looked at me without the judgment that the rest of the girls did, but I guess things had changed. When she saw me looking at her, she had whipped her head away so quickly I was surprised it hadn't come loose from her head.

The ball hit the rim and bounced off hard, rolling towards where I knew Aria was still standing. A couple of quick steps and I could have stopped the ball, but instead I let it roll, watching it thud right into her feet. She turned around and bent down pick up the ball and saw it was mine as she stood up. She looked a little uncomfortable as she stretched her arms out to hand me the ball.

"Hey," she said softly as I made my way over to her.

"Hey." I took the ball back and noticed that the searching look her eyes had held before had been replaced by one of confusion and distress.

"You haven't seen my brother, have you?" she asked, tucking a small strand of her long hair back into place.

"Uh, no. Sorry," I replied honestly. "What did he give you the slip or something?" I questioned, not wanting the conversation to end.

"Something like that." She wore a half-angry, half-worried look that reminded me in a way of how my parents had always looked at me in high school.

"Yeah, I was always lying about where I was when I was his age," I told her. She looked down like she didn't want to think of her brother being like me. "I don't remember a lot about that time actually," I continued as she looked more and more uncomfortable by the second. "Most of what I do remember I wish I could forget, you know." She nodded her head slightly with a knowing look, but seemed unsure of what to say. Realizing that I wasn't helping her out with all of this, I decided to lighten the mood a little. "You know what I do remember? Your pink hair," I confessed. It was the truth. When I though of Aria, I always thought of her pink streaks and how she was always the one in her group of friends to push the envelope a little.

"Really?" she asked, caught off guard by my statement, a look of disbelief in her eyes.

"I thought it was cool," I answered. This surprised her even more because more disbelief flooded her eyes as she asked again. "Really?" I would have sworn she also looked pleased by my confession, but I probably just imagined it.

"Really," I confirmed as I gave her a half-smile and a nod. She smiled at this and looked down out of embarrassment I think, but when she looked back up at me, there was a hint of the schoolgirl crush look she had given me many times before. "I mean, you…you always did the unexpected as opposed to me," I hesitated slightly and then finished, "which I also thought was cool." We stood there staring at each other for a second before I remembered that I had a game to get back to. I turned slightly and said "Well, uh." I gestured to the court, indicating I had to go. I took a couple steps towards the court before stopping and turning back to her. She looked even more confused now, wearing a what the heck just happened sort of look.

"Hey, I miss that pink hair," I told her honestly with a small smile. This got a big smile out of her, causing my smile to widen as well. With that, I turned and walked back to the court, her smile replaying in my head. Being away for a year had made me forget how pretty she was. But a conversation and a smile was all it took to remind me. To remind me that she had always been my favorite. To remind me how good it felt to be looked at the way she looked at me. To remind me that she wasn't the only one of us who used to have a crush.