Mal’s eyes were wide when he explained that he thought Eisen deserved better. Because Lexie was better? No. She frowned and put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it supportively. “What if you are better?” Lexie and Eisen wouldn’t last. They were too different in too many ways. Or maybe too similar. She wasn’t sure which, but it felt like they were incompatible somehow and the fact that Rory didn’t see it the same way bothered her. “What if you’re passing up something that could be beautiful because you think he deserves better? What if the two of you would be better?”
Suddenly, Mal was adjusting her thought process. No. No, this wasn’t a crush. Mal knew crushes. She’d had a few in her time, and crushes didn’t bring that tormented, empty look. She’d never felt it herself, not yet, but she’d seen it before. This… this was an expression of someone who was…
Years. Years of feelings for someone who Rory seemed completely and utterly convinced that he couldn’t have. “Years…” she repeated, only because the simple concept of it baffled her. Crushes didn’t last for years. Crushes faded when you found out that there was someone better out there for you. She looked at her hands, then raised her eyes again to look at Rory. His pained, miserable, lonely expression did little to deter her current thought process.
She turned her eyes toward Lexie and Eisen again. Eisen was playing his guitar now and Lexie was watching him like his every move was a work of art… but then, Rory was, too, though his expression was more pained. This wasn’t a crush. Mal pulled her lip into her mouth and tilted her head sideways. “No,” she said softly. “Crushes don’t hurt like this is hurting you.” She’d crushed on Ed before they’d been together, and yeah, it had hurt when he’d gone on his date with Lexie, but it hadn’t been a soul crushing, gut wrenching hurt like this obviously was. This type of thing only came when your heart was completely stolen by that other person. “This is more than that, isn’t it?”
She wasn’t going to say it. There was a chance that she was wrong, though she was sure that she wasn’t… but it still kept her from voicing it without some kind of indication on his part.