The Cousin She Thought Liked Someone Else
A free A1-level English story for language learners, readable online in English, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
Rumi assumes her crush likes someone else after overhearing him on the phone, but he was talking about his cousin.
Rumi has a crush on Talon from her math class. They sit together most days. She likes his easy laugh and his silly jokes.
One afternoon, Rumi overhears Talon on the phone. "She is very funny," he says. "I really like spending time with her."
Rumi feels sad right away. She thinks Talon likes another girl. She stops sitting next to him the next day.
Talon notices the empty seat right away. He sends her a short text. "Where did you go today?"
Rumi does not answer at first. Then she writes back. "I heard you talk about a girl. I did not want to bother you."
Talon reads the message twice. He calls her that evening. "That was my cousin Nova," he says. "She just moved to town."
Rumi feels silly now. She was wrong about it. She laughs at her own mistake.
"I thought you liked someone else," she admits. Talon smiles through the phone. "I like someone else, actually. It's you."
The next day, Rumi sits next to Talon again. He slides a note across the desk. "Movie this weekend?" it says.
Rumi writes back one word: "Yes." She circles it twice.
