Every time I draw a star, I think of him

A nostalgic confession post that's been living rent-free in someone's head since elementary school.

The writer couldn't draw stars properly as a kid — they'd always do the fold-the-paper triangle method. During a summer poster contest, they kept erasing and redrawing a bad star when their desk partner (tall, pale, coolest kid in class, never played with boys at recess — basically untouchable) suddenly woke up from a nap, noticed, and casually asked: 'You don't know how to draw a star?' Then, without any attitude, he slowly drew a perfect star on his own sketchbook and showed them the proper order to draw the points. He kept patiently practicing it over and over on his paper until the writer got it — no frustration, just teaching.

By the end, his sketchbook was covered in stars. The teacher scolded him: 'Why are you just drawing stars? Draw a proper picture!' His response? Completely deadpan: '...I just like stars.' The writer says they were genuinely shook as a child — heart pounding out of nowhere — and from that day on had a quiet one-sided crush on him. Now every single time they draw a star, they think of that boy.