Summary/ A/N: Ben gets some advice on his relationship with Devi from an upperclassmen who was in a similar situation at his age. Full angel stripper from Can't Hardly Wait style. Takes place after season 1, things have been weird between them since they kissed. Ben thought it was headed in a positive direction, but Devi kind of freaked out and has been a comitmentphobe about it, and has been letting the idea of Paxton get in her head. There is a serious shortage of fanfiction for this show. Seriously there are only 2 on this site, at the time I'm posting this. So figured I'd write this one where I am literally just inserting myself into the story to have a conversation with Ben. This is fully just supposed to be me, the story I tell him about is just from my actual life. Sorry if it's super long.

"Devi wait!" Ben yelled after her as she ran away down the empty hallway at school. It was a Thursday night, and they had come together to watch a basketball game but Devi had one of her usual freak outs and left half way through. Now he was chasing her down a hallway for what? He couldn't even remember. He watched her walk through the doors to outside and he sat down on the stairs at the end of the hall. He rested his head in his hands that were propped up on his knees, and sighed. Why did everything have to be this hard. He thought things were going good with Devi, why was she having second thoughts? And if she did decide to go out with Paxton over him, which who could blame her, look at the guy, then what would happen to their friendship? He didn't want to loose her, she was basically all he had.

Suddenly Ben felt a presence standing next to him by the stairs, he lifted his head, a smile beginning to replace his frown as he expect to see Davi when he opened his eyes. But instead was greeted with the view of a taller woman, with long ginger hair, she pretty but not smack you over the head pretty, more of a subtle classic beauty.

"Hey kid, what's wrong?" She asked looking down at him, genuine concern on her face. She saw how frustrated he seemed and wanted to know how to help. It was weird for him to see a stranger care.

"Melody Edge? Wha- What are you doing here?"

"Came to support my brother, he's on the team. Now what's bothering you Gross?" She said sitting beside him on stairs.

"You know my name?" He asked even more confused. Of course he knew who she was. Melody Edge was a tall red headed cheerleader, who did plays, and took every opportunity for a solo she could get in high school. Girl had never met a stage she didn't want on. That made her pretty recognizable. She had also graduated last year. She was a senior when he was just a lowly freshman, how had he even crossed her radar?

"Of course I know you're name kid, how could I forget Pirate number 3?" She replied chuckling at old memories.

Suddenly a flashback of him as a 10 year old on a stage with a bandanna tied around his head, and Melody singing as Mabel in front of him in the Pirates of Penzance, his first and only experience in the theater department, came to mind.

"Yeah, that was just for the college resume, they like clubs, thought I'd give drama a try. That did not pan out." He responded, trying to excuse the memory.

"I remember. Only 10 year old I've ever met in my life that talked about his college portfolio." She laughed fondly of the memory of the little boy. He took her tone to be patronizing, but forced a laughed anyway.

"Also, who are you calling kid? You're barely older then me." he recalled her nickname she'd used twice already for him.

"I graduated, I'm an adult now. I get to call you whatever I want. Deal with it." She laughed. "So really what's bothering you? Wheelchair girl getting you down?" She asked pointing to the door where Devi had left not too long ago.

"Oh, it's actually coyote girl now" he replied with his usual confident sarcastic tone. She looked at him confused by the name. "She got mauled by a coyote at a party." he elaborated.

"Oh, obviously. As one does." Melody responded laughing at the absurdity of that story.

"Yeah, as one does." he laughed along side her, it was a ridiculous story now that he'd said it out loud. The laughter faded away and he spoke up again. "Wait, so what are you doing here again?" he asked still confused, now that he was thinking about her and not Devi again.

"Came to see my brother play, I'm in town for an event this weekend, thought I'd drop in." She looked around at the school, "Weird to say, but I've actually missed this place."

"No, I mean like here, talking to me." He said me, with a tone that expressed he didn't think he was worth anyone's attention.

She looked at him in the eyes sincerely, "you seemed upset and like you needed someone to talk to" her voice was soft and gentile, understanding.

He froze and looked at her, that was such an unexpectedly kind sentiment. "oh, well thank you." He looked at his feet, and could feel a slight blush covering his face. He didn't know how to respond to someone actually asking and caring about his feelings, not even really Devi did that.

"No problem, now spill. I know that look, I've seen it in the mirror, what happened with coyote girl? You two finally figure out you're in love with each other?"

His eyes grew wide, "what? how? what?" he jabbered, how did she know? What did she mean finally?

"Please, like I said, how could I forget Pirate number 3, and his constant bickering with Elanor's friend who tagged along to watch her practice."

He blushed, he didn't realize she'd ever paid him that much attention, that anyone had. Ben paused, not knowing how much to share. Sure he technically knew her from school, but she was for all intense and purposes a stranger to him. He thought on it for probably a minute too long, before deciding to just tell her everything. She was offering to listen, to care, and he'd be damned if he let the opportunity to get this off his chest slip away from him.

"Honestly, I have no idea what happened with Devi and I. She had this thing going on with this guy Paxton-"

"Hall-Yoshida," she interrupted. "Damn girl, good for her." she was speaking mostly to herself, but stopped when she looked back at Ben, his eyes bulging from his head. "Not the time, sorry, continue." She corrected herself.

He ignored her slip and preceded to tell her the whole story of him and Devi. How they'd always had a competitive relationship, and he always thought he hated her but once he saw her with Paxton he grew jealous and realized he definitely still had strong feelings for her, they just weren't what he'd originally thought. He didn't want to admit these feelings to himself at first, but once their friendship began to develop he couldn't help himself. He just always wanted to be around her. He even thought he'd ruined things when he tried to kiss her at his birthday, but she had seemed to forget it. So he put it behind him, he let her move in and he agreed to himself that being her friend was better then nothing so he was resolved to be the best friend he could be. After all she was the closest friend he had and he didn't want to loose that. He had even broken up with Shira, not exactly for her, but because his feelings for Devi made him realize he didn't care about Shira like he should. But then after all that, Devi had kissed him. She had kissed him, and he thought they would be good after that. All his feelings had been validated, she had kissed him, he thought that meant she felt the same way about him. But then apparently Paxton had called her that same day, so now she's 'confused' or whatever that meant.

After recounting the whole story he felt a weight lift off him, it was nice to just finally get all that out in the open. He rested his head in his hand once again, rubbing his forehead with this thumb and forefinger. "So I guess it's all over now. Took me 10 years to realize the girl of my dreams was in front of me this whole time, but I realized too late. Now he's a factor, and I mean come on, how am I supposed to compete with Paxton Hall-Yoshida. You said it yourself, dudes a freaking Adonis."

When he was done speaking Melody let them sit in the silence for a moment before responding, partly to make sure she had taken in the full story, and partly to let him sit in everything he'd just said. After all, her asking was as much about getting him to talk about it, as it was about actually having any input or trying to help. She raised her arm and placed it on his back patting it a few times before pulling back.

"I'm sorry kid that's rough."

"Really with the kid again?"

"Sorry, Ben. You know, I actually had a pretty similar situation when I was your age. Except my Devi chose the Paxton. So I know exactly how much this could suck for you." She told him trying to sympathize.

"Your Devi went for a guy?" He retorted sarcastically.

"I wish," she laughed in response. "Trust me, that would have been less of a blow to the self esteem. I actually have a gay friend that was into him, and if he just wasn't into women I think I actually would have been a lot more okay with it. Alas, he is into women, just not me." She could tell this wasn't making Ben feel any better, so she decided to hell with it, he shared all the gory details of his failing 15 year old love life, why wouldn't she. "Do you remember Christopher Flanagan and Rosaline Cohen?"

"Yeah?" he responded looking confused, then it clicked in his head that they were who she was talking about. "Wait, weren't you and Rosie friends though?"

"Best friends," Melody responded. "still are. And if you remember her you remember how beautiful she is, and smart, and athletic, and talented. Yeah, you think Paxton makes you feel bad? At least you can undeniably say you're smarter then he is. Rosie is nicer then I am, arguably smarter then I am, and way better looking then I am. At least according to every guy we've ever met."

"Okay, yeah, you beat me there. Paxton might be on every girls to do list, but you're right I can at least say I'm way smarter then him. That would definitely make me feel worse if he was also an academic rival. Wait, but I remember Christopher Flanagan, didn't everyone like hate him?" He asked confused picturing the awkward looking guy in his head.

"Yes, yes they did. Hell I did. I've known the guy since I was 11 and I've thought he was an insufferable know it all the whole time. Whenever he gave a presentation the whole class would roll their eyes, because guy's never met a subject he couldn't ramble about for a full hour. But, very similar to your sophomore year he had a huge crush on Rosie. And looking back now, from the moment she told me I should've known how I felt about him because it made me so incredibly jealous. But I just chalked it up to being weirded out that he thought he stood a chance with her. As the year progressed I realized that all the new attention I was paying him wasn't because I was curious about his feelings for my friend. It was because I was sad and wished those feelings were for me instead. I grew to love his quirky habits, and find his rambles in class endearing. I loved how passionate he was about school. He made me want to be a better student, and I was already in all AP classes. What I'm saying is I understand how gradually feelings like this can come on and how confusing they can be. That a person who you thought you hated could in such a short time become so important to you. And then to not receive their approval in return can be devastating."

Ben looked at his feet, she was right. That was exactly how he'd felt about Devi. It took her showing interest in another guy for him to realize he wanted her to be interested in him not someone else.

"He moved the next year and I haven't seen him since, but to this day I still regret that I never tried to make it work. My friend told him that Rosie was never going to like him back, but that I did, and he told her that he could tell I liked him and he just 'wasn't interested' in me. Those two words will haunt me forever. He was so caught up in this non existent idea of Rosie, that he never even gave me a chance. She was never going to like him, and he still chose that idea over me, the only, and definitely hottest girl that has ever shown an interest in him. Seriously I am way out of his league and he still wasn't into me. I can not express in words how much that has messed me up, that even unlikable Christopher Flanagan thought he could do better then me."

"Okay, I'm going to stop you there, you know how many guys at this school liked you?" Ben interrupted confused at why such a beautiful girl was complaining that no guy would ever like her.

"Probably a handful, but I never would have let them care about me, because I didn't think I was worth caring about when Christopher said he 'wasn't interested'." She paused, this was some deep shit she was sharing. "Everyone's got their shit Ben."

"Tell me about it." he chucked at his own pain.

"Long story short Ben, don't let her get away. You'll regret it the rest of your life. And I know, you shouldn't have to chase her and prove to her you're the better guy, she should just see it and want to be with you to begin with. But we don't chose who we fall in love with, and sometimes those people we chose, are blind as bats and need everything spelled out for them. Because whether she wants to see it or not you are better than Paxton. Just like I was better for Christopher then Rosaline. Don't get me wrong, I love the girl and I'm not saying I'm better than her, but I am better than her for him. We had more in common, I got him in a way she didn't. He made the wrong choice. Don't let Devi do the same."

Ben looked into her green eyes and smiled. This had been one of the best conversations he'd had in a while. Why hadn't they been friends when they were in school together. She understood him, and made him feel better, made him feel seen, for the first time in a long time. She was right, he wasn't going to let Devi slip away without a fight.

"You're right" He said with a look of determination on his face. He was going to go get his Christopher.

"I know" Melody laughed, they both stood up and she gave him a quick hug. Even though this was the first time they'd ever spoken, a hug felt right after the conversation they'd just had. It was actually helpful to both of them. Melody had been holding all that about Christopher in for a really long time.

"Thank you, this was really nice" Ben said looking up at her now that they were standing, it was evident she was a few inches taller then him.

"Not a problem, now go get that girl Gross. And hey if all else fails call me in 4 years." She said giving him a wink then resting her hand on his shoulder and kissing him on the cheek.

He raised his eyebrows as his eys widened, "whaaa" He was in shock. Had Melody Edge just hit on him?

"You're a catch Ben, and if she doesn't see that it's her loss. But also, you're 16. It would be weird if I hit on you right now, but call me in 4 years, we'll have a different chat." She laughed then turned and went back into the gym.

Ben touched his cheek, had that really just happened? He then ran out to go find Devi, being hit on by older cooler Melody Edge was awesome, but she wasn't who he cared about, Devi was what mattered.