A loud knock wakes me from my sleep, and my eyes snap open. I grumble to myself in annoyance that my sleep had been interrupted, and blink my eyes into focus as the sunlight seeps through the open curtains.

I shoot up in bed as the memories of last night come flooding back to me. It almost feels like a dream.

Mason was in such a hurry to leave after it happened and I found myself staying awake trying to wait for him, but I must have drifted off to sleep. I grip a hold of my comforter as I remember the way he touched me last night.

It was so strange, I've never been so intimate with anyone like that before.

Surprisingly enough I never felt nervous, or self conscious in any way- it almost felt right.

The burning sensation I felt when his lips touched my bare skin, the feeling of need every time his dark green eyes looked into mine, without it I almost felt lost.

I heard another loud knock coming from downstairs and let out a sigh. Who could be at the door this early in the morning?

As I walk through the hallway I can't help but stop in front of Mason's door, I slowly turn the knob to the side and peek through. It was empty, yet again. My mind tries wanders off to all the places he could be right now but I quickly shut it down.

I know I shouldn't be surprised that he isn't home, because he never is. But still I face disappointment when I don't see him in the room.

I close the door to his bedroom and walk downstairs towards the loud and obnoxious noise coming from outside. The soreness between my legs became evident as my feet went down each step, and I can't help but smile at the thought of where that came from.

I hear the doorbell ring throughout the house and find my feet picking up it's pace. I swing the front door wide open and find who I thought would be the last person I would see- well, second to last.

"Aiden," I say as my eyes connect with his. The smile on his face widens as he eyes me up and down, taking in my pajamas.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, folding my arms across my chest.

"Breakfast, remember? Am I too early?"

Oh shit. I completely forgot that the last time I was with him he asked if he could take me to breakfast today. I don't want to cancel our plans, but a part of me feels a bit weird to see him here after what happened with Mason and I last night.

"No, no, um, why don't you just come in? I just have to change-"

"Oh, no, I'll just wait in the car then, take your time." He says, and before I can open my mouth up to speak he's already walking to his car.

I don't find it strange for Aiden to immediately dismiss the possibility for him to see me naked, but I know for a fact that Mason would probably pounce at the idea. I shake my head at the thought.

I need to stop comparing the two, Aiden isn't Mason, and for that I am grateful.

❀

I hummed in satisfaction as I savored the last night of the waffles I had ordered. Over the past forty five minutes Aiden and I have engaged in some small talk while we sat at a table at Ollie's Diner. I was starting to feel guilty about everything that happened between Mason and I.

I know it didn't mean anything to him, or at least I think it didn't. But I don't want to put Aiden in the same situation as last time.

I don't know what we are at the moment, or even if Aiden and I are doing this exclusively. But then again, would that make any difference? What's done is done and there's no going back now.

I just hope what happened doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.

"Oh hey, I forgot to mention, do you remember Dave? From the Shake Shed?" I nodded my head at his question as I reached for my glass of water on the table and took a sip.

"Well he said he'd give me my old job back for the summer until I leave, but I was thinking maybe you could apply. I know there will be a lot of positions available since everyone's leaving for college."

My body stiffens from his words but I quickly move past it. I try to hide the frown trying to show on my lips, and look away from him.

He's right, pretty soon everyone will be gone, and I'll remain here frozen in time.

With everything that's been happening I've stopped counting down the days. It's hard for me to imagine that by this time next summer everything will be different; everyone will have different friends, different lovers- they'll all be moving on.

And I'll be here.

"Yeah, I'll think about it." I said before placing my cup back onto the table.

I really did need a job, so I appreciate him looking out for me, but to be frank I didn't want to talk about the future when all I can think about are all the secrets and lies I'm keeping from him. I open my mouth to speak again but he interrupts.

"Are you okay?" He asks me, grabbing my attention.

I stare at him, confused that maybe I'm not able to mask my emotions as well as I thought.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"Well we've been here for some time now, and you've barely said anything. Do you have something on your mind?"

I start to fiddle with the straw in my cup as I think of the right words to say. Where do I begin?

"I guess I just..." my voice trails out and I take a deep breath. "What are we doing here, Aiden?"

He looks at me as if I just asked an obvious question. I can see on his face that he doesn't know where I'm going with this so I continue.

"What is this between you and I? Am I... like your...girlfriend?" I wait for him to answer and he quickly speaks up.

"No- I mean of course I want you to be. I-I definitely want to go towards that direction at some point. I just uh I don't mind what we're doing now, you know?" He stumbles along his words and I can't help the smile breaking free from my mouth as I watch him suddenly get nervous.

"So we're just hanging out?" I ask, I'm trying to keep my voice calm. I don't mean to sound like the girl who's always trying to put a label on things but I genuinely want to know.

A part of me feels guilty about Mason, but since Aiden and I aren't dating it isn't an issue, right?

"For now." I nod at his answer and he quickly adds on, "But, since I still consider this a date, I'm going to go get the check. I'll be right back."

He stands up from the table and walks off towards our waiter. I feel my nerves start to calm from our talk. That's one of the many things I appreciate about Aiden, he's always easy to talk to. Most guys would hate the 'what are we' talk, but with Aiden things have never been difficult.

I hear the bell above the front door chime as it swings open and when my eyes dart toward the people walking in in front of me, my stomach drops.

I watch as Sofia looks around the diner trying to find a table until her eyes connect with mine. I look behind her and she's followed by Alec and Corey, no surprise there. I'm relieved to see that Mason isn't with them.

I watch as she starts to walk towards me and my eyes try to find Aiden but he's nowhere in sight.

"Looking for someone?" Sofia asks as she halts to a stop right beside me, and the scent of her perfume immediately fills my nose. I try to keep back the urge to gag from the overbearing smell as I answer her question.

"Aiden."

"Oh, we're not interrupting are we?" She asks, and before I can answer they're all grabbing chairs from the tables nearest to us and sit at our table.

"Actually we were just about to leave." I respond, and Sofia nods her head looking unamused by my answer.

"Where the fuck is he?" I hear Alec ask as he picks up a menu off the table behind us.

"Relax, he's finding parking." Sofia replied and Alec huffed in his seat beside me. Who are they talking about?

And just like that, the bell chimes again and I look towards the door to see a familiar boy walking in.

His green eyes connect with mine just as the door closes shut and he quickly looks away. I can see from his face that he's already in a bad mood, and all I wish is that Aiden would hurry up.

He sits in the seat across from me, his eyes never reconnecting with mine as Sofia leans in closer to him. I tear my eyes away as I scan the room once more for Aiden.

This is the first time I've seen him since what happened last night, and of course he acts like he couldn't care less to see me. I didn't expect anything else from him, but still I feel a bit embarrassed by it.

At first I wasn't sure what it meant, but now it's clear to me that it meant nothing.

I find myself starting to fiddle with my fingers as I find ways to look anywhere else but up at him.

"So you going to that party tonight?" Corey breaks the silence and I shake my head no. I hear Mason start to laugh softly in front of me, and I roll my eyes.

"What's so funny?" I ask, finally bringing my head up to look at him.

"Nothing." Is all he answers, his eyes still refusing to meet mine.

"Well it starts at 10, you should come." Corey invites me and I pretend to think over it when I know my answer is really no.

"She's not invited." Mason says, his voice stern. I expect Corey to say something back but instead he shuts his mouth and leans back in his chair.

I expected the first time Mason and I see each other it would be awkward, and very obvious that we had sex. But the only thing that's obvious is how much he dislikes me, I pretend to seem unfazed but I know Sofia is enjoying it.

"Not invited to what?" I hear next to me, and look up to see Aiden.

Thank God.

I was surprised when Aiden sat in the seat to the right of me, I thought that after he paid we would leave. I try to shoot him a look but he ignores me, turning his attention towards Sofia.

"Aiden you should come to this party tonight." She asks him, leaning into the table. My eyes catch the revealed cleavage she's trying so hard to show, and I quickly tear it away, swallowing the bile rising in my throat.

"You'd need to bring a pill to get in." Alec stated and I turned my head to face him.

"A pill?" I asked, feeling Mason's eyes on me.

"Yeah, they put them all in this bowl and you have to take one in order to enter. Most of the time it's just over the counter shit, but sometimes you can get lucky." He explains, I can tell by the expression on his face that he's excited to go. I can't imagine doing anything like that, all it takes is one wrong move.

"You guys should come." Corey speaks up again and I see Mason glare at him, his eyes narrowing with anger. Corey simply just shrugs and ignores his look and I have to keep myself from laughing.

"No thanks," Aiden began, "that's not exactly something we'd like going to."

"And how do you know anything about what she likes?" Mason spoke up, his back leaning into the chair as his eyes remained glued on Aiden.

My eyes go wide at his question, but I quickly recover. Where is he going with this?

Aiden opens his mouth to speak but Mason interrupts.

"Last I checked it was a house party which means it must have a garage." Mason directed his eyes back to me, leaning into the table with his hands folded up in front of him.

"She seems to enjoy those pretty well last I recall."

My mouth gapes open from his words, everyone at the table seems to not be paying attention, or at least they're acting like they aren't. Why does he always do this? Whenever something happens between us he turns around and acts like it's all on me.

I can see that Aiden doesn't really understand where he's going with this, and I find myself thankful that he's so clueless.

"And let's not forget about the tables-" He tries to go on but I interrupt. I know exactly what he's trying to do and I won't let him.

"That's enough Mason." I snap. His eyes linger on Aiden for a few seconds before he directs them towards me. I stare at his angry green orbs for a few seconds before looking away.

He starts to tap his fingers on the table in front of him and it takes everything in me not to tell him to stop. Everything he's doing right now is to get to me and I'm sick of it.

I'm sick and tired of his egotistical mindset and how he speaks to me in front of everyone. If only they knew what happened hours before.

"Mason, what are you ordering?" Corey asks, breaking the silence as his eyes scan the menu in front of him.

"I'm not hungry." Mason huffed, leaning back into his chair.

"What? It was your idea to get some fucking food." Alec said. I feel Aidens arm wrap around me and find myself looking up to see Mason's body tense.

I can feel the awkward tension in the air, and look around to see that it looks like no one wants to be here. Well, except for Alec and Corey who are already talking over what they're about to order.

"We should get going." I say as I look over at Aiden hoping he'd get the message. He nods his head and we both quickly stand up trying to make a run for it.

"Not so fast." Mason says. He stands up so abruptly, moving towards us as we try to walk away that my body nearly collides with his.

"I can take Isabelle home." He says, his eyes hovering over mine.

"What the fuck? Why?" Sofia asks as she raises her voice. I feel everyone's eyes on me and wait for someone else to speak up.

"I got some things to do, I'll meet back up with you guys later." He glares over at Sofia as she rolls her eyes in her seat.

"It's fine, dude, I got it." Aiden butts in, putting his hands on the small of my back as he tries to lead me towards the door, but Mason steps in front of me again.

"I'm going the same way, I mean we are roommates after all." I look over between Mason and Aiden and watch as they stare at each other, Mason's body practically hovering over Aidens.

"Dude, what's your problem? I was already with her-"

"Were you?" Mason asks, his voice sounding angrier by the second.

This can't be happening.

While the two of them continue to size up each other I can't help but notice that Aiden looks half Mason's size. No offense to Aiden but Mason could easily take him, and I'm not trying to cause a scene in here. They both continue to stare at each other for a few seconds before I decide it might be time I interject.

I move closer to Aiden and wrap my arm around his, trying to pull him closer to me.

"Aiden, let's just go." I urge but it seems to not do much. I take a deep breath and speak up again, "he's not worth it." I say, but for a second it makes me wonder who I'm saying this to.

Aiden, or myself?

Mason's eyes flick towards mine, and I watch as his whole demeanor switches in front of me. I feel a slight pang of guilt because of what I said, but I can't hide the fact that there was so much truth behind those words.

I take my eyes off Mason as I hear Sofia sigh dramatically beside us.

"I'm bored now." She whines, "Mason let's just go back to my place. I'm sure I can find something for you to eat there." She flirts, and her words make me feel sick to my stomach.

Mason doesn't respond, he only continues to stand there like a barrier to the exit. His eyes wander off for a bit, as if he's trying to search for something in his mind.

I want to take his hand and take what I said back, but I can't. Mason isn't good for me, he hasn't been since he's gotten back. Aiden is the one good thing I have going for me, and I can't mess that up any more than I already have.

"Let's go, Aiden." I say and take hold of his hand, leading us both out the door.

Once we exit the diner my mind immediately starts racing from what just happened. I let go of Aiden's hand as we both began walking towards his car in the parking lot.

"What just happened back there?" He asked me, and I shrugged.

"No idea."

❀

I let out a sigh as I continued to stare at the white ceiling of my bedroom. It's been fifteen minutes since Aiden dropped me off. Which means for fifteen minutes I've been going over in my head all the things Mason could be doing with Sofia.

I still can't believe the way he acted earlier, he was so quick to try and tell Aiden about what happened between us.

I'm starting to feel like what happened was a mistake. I've been in this situation with him before, and if I've learned anything from it it's that it always gets messy.

My thoughts are interrupted when I hear what seems to sound like the front door slam shut. I jolt up from my bed just as I hear someone storm up the stairs, who could that be?

If Mason has returned I need to talk to him about his behavior today. Something like that can't happen again.

But why would he come home? It's only been fifteen minutes since I've last seen him and that isn't enough time to do all the dirty things I imagined he would be doing to Sofia.

I step off from the bed and walk over towards the door in my room. My hand grabs the knob and I open the door to find an angry set of green eyes standing right outside it.

He speaks before I have time to.

"Take off your clothes."