The first time she told him he loved her, he just stared blankly in confusion.

Well, his stare wasn't directed at her, but at the piece of paper on his lap.

Julie knew that Ben wouldn't be the first one to admit that he loved her. And she was pretty sure by now that she must have loved him. She couldn't help but find him completely adorable. She even found every quirk he had just cute, well, most of the time at least. But, she was still shy on bringing up the topic.

That day, she decided to tell him.

But, not directly.

Of COURSE not directly.

She had left her motor bike at home to enjoy a nice day out. It was a lovely spring day. She adored the days when there was sun with a nice breeze. It was calming. A little breather is exactly something that should be done.

Walking to his house seemed quicker than how it normally would have been. A lot quicker. She grabbed both straps on her green bag, took another breath, before she knocked on the front door.

He'd opened it rather quickly, smoothie in hand. He'd greeted her with a smile and she returned it. They gave each other a half hug as usual before they were all set up in the family room for a quick study session for math. Well, a time where Julie would tutor Ben for his Algebra 1 test.

There was many ways for her to tell him like this.

Quite a lot.

But she decided she'd give him the simplest thing.

"Okay," She said, her pencil held in her hand, the paper in her lap. "Simplify 2i less than 6u." Her pencil drew the equation before she handed the paper to him. He chewed at the back of his pencil thoughtfully for a few seconds. Before he came up with the answer she clenched the bottom of her white skirt nervously.

"Is this right?" He asked. Julie thought she should have acted disappointed that he didn't get the message. But just smiled and nodded taking the paper back.

"Yeah, that's right!" Julie said. He grinned. She could tell he was grinning for the fact that he got it right and not because he got the message written in his own handwriting. "Now, we're done with practicing, on to factoring and polynomials." He groaned and comically held his face in his palms. She giggled.

She didn't know why, but she unconsciously glanced down at the paper to see his answer again while he worked on the problem she had given him.

i 3u

She smiled softly.

The first time Julie Yamamoto had told Ben Tennyson she loved him. He didn't even notice.