CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWO
THE BREAKFAST TABLE

Aaron wandered his the way to the kitchen a little slower than Kimmy had, in fact when he got there, the girl was already sat next to her redheaded friend at the kitchen table, the two whispering furiously amongst each other.

The blond was stuck in a daze, and he was unable to snap himself out of it. So much, that he almost didn't notice Nancy and Dustin standing helplessly watching the two girls converse until he came to a halt next to them.

Aaron couldn't exactly hear what was being said around him, but he knew there was some sort of conversation taking place between Dustin, Nancy and the two adults of the Wheeler house. He knew that he'd most likely been mentioned or directly spoken to, but he couldn't find it in himself to focus or care for that matter. The blurred voices of the four may as well have been miles behind the blond.

It were as if his senses were now only of use if they were using all its might to soak in the brunette girl he'd found himself grown more than fond of over the years.

He was constantly on edge, and he worried that maybe if he allowed his eyes a break from her for more than necessary then the worst conspiracies that he had spun up in his head would become a reality. Setting off a timer which could only tick at him mockingly as it counted down the little time the brunette would have left.

He knew it was a possibility that she may spiral down the path her friend was being lead down - and that was the problem.

The blond almost wished the brunette hadn't told him of her potential problems, or even more, that her closest friend hadn't spilled to the group what was looked for in a potential target. At least that way the two could live the short time she may have left obliviously, leaving her timer to tick silently as the inevitable doom was forced upon them abruptly.

Aaron almost thought that would be better, the idea of having no time to prepare.

It wasn't as if it was preparation of the monster and how to defeat it, it was the preparation of loss and death. Admittedly, Aaron wasn't exactly doing a great job on the preparation of the later, but on the other hand, he wasn't exactly hopeful on the first option either.

It wasn't as if the group were exactly fit and qualified to take on the cause of these murderous attacks, no matter how much Aaron tried to believe any sort of scenario which resulted in the end to the fucked up situation.

They were teenagers, children. And it seemed as if everyone else kept forgetting that.

Despite the fact Aaron was shamelessly trying to convince himself as well as Kimmy that she and Max would be fine and that there was nothing to worry about, he wasn't stupid. And it sometimes felt to him as if he was the only one who wasn't.

The group were venturing on plans, yes. But Aaron had had plenty of time over the past few days to think over the current dilemma the group had found themselves in, and it appeared he wasn't as sure as everyone else on the guarantee of everyone's safety.

It sounded selfish and stupid, and the boy would never say it aloud, but he almost wished that the group wouldn't continue with their abrupt decision to investigate the situation. If it were up to him, he'd want to spend the potential last days he would have with Max and Kimmy doing things kids did. Playing on their bikes, going to the arcade, or the beach. He decided he'd even settle on playing games like they used to. He would do anything.

They were kids, and in Aaron's opinion this seemed very much like a grown ups place to step in. And he wished everyone would stop acting as if that's what they were. He wished his friends would stop rushing to grow up, stop rushing their childhood.

You only get one childhood, and once it's over, it's done. No do overs. You don't get to go back and relive, or drag it out by a few years - that's not how it works.

A person gets less than two decades as a child, and you're forced to live the rest of your time breathing as an adult, as a grown up. Sure, adulthood can be fun and full of adventure much like childhood, although Aaron was smart enough to know that adulthood was filled with problems and regret and hurt that could never reside in a child's mind. He only wished his friends could see the same.

But no, here they were trying to solve a problem way out of their level of expertise while wasting the potential last day of their friend.

Childhood can't be extended by any means, but shortened? Well, that's a cruel fate which happily tangles itself into more children's paths than it would ever care to admit.

Max's childhood would be cut short by that of three years, and the potential last days of her childhood would be spent stressing and panicking over a problem that couldn't be solved.

He knew it wasn't his place or his decision, but Aaron didn't want that. He didn't want his lingering memory of his friend to be that depressed look she seemed to have burned into her features over the past year. She was a child, as much as she'd like to pretend she wasn't. And she shouldn't be living her last days just waiting for it to happen.

Max had turned into a sad shell of a girl, and Aaron would rather remember her as anything but.

He'd much rather remember his friend as the smiley twelve year old who had laughed and brought light into any situation, despite not always being made to feel welcome. Hell, he'd rather have his final memory of her as the thirteen year old who pretended to hate him, who'd scrunch her face up whenever he'd interrupt her and Kimmy's conversation. At least there had been some underlining teasing and a speck of humour present in her blue eyes.

But now she was just sad, all the time. And Aaron worried that would be all he could picture when reminded of the redhead.

However it was different when it came to Kimmy, for he cared for her in a much different way to how he cared for Max.

In comparison to Kimmy, it would look as if Aaron hardly cared for the redhead at all. Of course this wasn't true, but it truly showed the extent of what the blond had found himself feeling towards the brunette.

He was seriously worried for Max and her outcome, and he knew had the road she was following down ended up where the group feared it would, he to would be horrified just like everyone else - she was his friend.

But when Aaron thought about how things may end the same for Kimmy all logic went out the window.

See, he had his emotions somewhat in check with Max's situation and while being worried and scared for her he still knew well enough that things weren't looking to great for her. But when it came to the brunette sat next to her, it was as if it were a different scenario completely.

Emotions blurred together and the sense in his head became overcast with fog. The only thing which gave him any sort of comfort was the idea that she would be perfectly fine. It was as if nothing else made sense. That the only logical solution to the problem was that Kimmy would walk away unscathed.

Aaron jolted when Mr Wheeler called his name rather harshly, causing the boy to snap his gaze away from the brunette girl who sat just feet before him.

Aaron blinked his dark green eyes several times in poor attempt to clear his head, trying and failing to recall what the older man had said to him.

Furrowing his brows in mix of confusion and concern. "Sorry?"

The older man rolled his eyes dramatically slow and shook his head, murmuring something under his breath before turning back to his newspaper.

Aaron was left rather dumbfounded, unsure how he'd already managed to annoy the man.

"You know you're welcome anytime." Mrs Wheeler stammered out, looking rather flustered with her husband's behaviour, however this only confused the blond further. "Don't you, boys?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Dustin dismissed quickly before Aaron had a chance to second guess himself.

Aaron's brows knitted together in Dustin's direction before offering a small smile to Mrs Wheeler. The older woman simply nodded at him and went back to cooking breakfast.

"You kids want breakfast?" Mrs Wheeler hummed without as much as looking up.

Aaron didn't particularly want anything, but he wasn't about to risk being rude to the woman. Besides, Dustin had already answered for him before he could debate it.

"It's like music to my ears." Dustin beamed at her, making a move past Aaron as he went to sit at the table Kimmy and Max were already sat.

"Girls?" The woman pressed, referring to the two fifteen year olds who had been having a hushed discussion amongst themselves.

"Uh..." Kimmy trailed off, glancing to her friend next to her to see what she was thinking. To be frank, Max had a face so blank it was almost sour, Kimmy flinched. "Yeah, thank you, Mrs Wheeler that would be nice."

The woman smiled at the brunettes blunder but said nothing else on the matter.

When Nancy moved past the blond boy to get to the table Aaron decided to follow suit. Although because he'd been so long to actually move to the kitchen table, he was stuck with the only seat left.

Holly looked up at Aaron with her nose scrunched in almost disapproval as he sat next to her. Aaron did a double take before mirroring her expression and scrunching his face up at her also.

Before he could question his actions of immaturity and silently arguing back to a six year old girl, a plate of waffles and bacon appeared in front of him.

Aaron made sure to thank Mrs Wheeler before looking down at the plate, trying to hide the disgust on his face after he'd noticed her thumb brush against the side of the waffle.

He knew it sounded rude, and he knew it was immature, but he couldn't help it. Using all his strength, he refrained from pulling a face which so desperately wanted to break through.

Shifting his sleeves so they rested on top of his hands, he picked up the knife and fork and wasted no time in cutting off a larger peice of waffle off than necessary.

Aaron really tried not to show how bothered that made him, if the woman wasn't stood feet away from him he'd have been gagging in disgust. Not wanting to make himself show any more of his germs issues than he already had, he refused to look at the cutlery, knowing that he couldn't put it in his mouth if he did.

Dustin seemed to notice what internal debate his blond seemed to be having next to him, Aaron clearly hadn't been hiding his face as well as he thought.

"Oh, come on, Aaron. You won't put a clean fork in your mouth but you'll have her tongue down your throat." The curly haired boy joked with a roll of his eyes, motioning to Kimmy as he spoke.

"Language." Mr Wheeler mumbled with an eye roll.

Kimmy scoffed at Dustin and pulled an offended face. "I'm clean."

"Would you fuck off?" Aaron protested as he slapped the back of Dustin's head harshly.

He probably would have been more embarrassed if he hadn't been taken by such surprise. That and the fact that it was technically true.

"Language!" Mr Wheeler repeated once more, only with much more force.

Aaron bit the inside of his cheek but said nothing more, scrunching his nose and turning to the little girl sat beside him who appeared to be watching him closely. "My sincerest apologies, Holly."

The little girl's expression remained still and unmoving for a moment before quickly shifting into a look of confusion.

"What's puck?" Holly asked Aaron innocently, tilting her head to one side. "I've never been there before."

Aaron stifled an amused grin at the small girls response. "No, no, no. Not puck, Holly, it's fuck-"

"Aaron." Kimmy kicked the boy under the table rather harshly to shut him up.

At the sight of Mr Wheeler's face, Aaron's grin slipped and he lowered his head slightly as he pretended to be interested in the pancakes on his plate before opening his mouth to let out a half hearted grumble. "Sorry."

For a moment the man said nothing, but when he finally let up and let out a scoff and a murmur under his breath Aaron knew the man was back to reading his newspaper.

Aaron glanced up at Kimmy from across the table and shrugged helplessly at her, as if he had no idea why anyone would react with disapproval to what he had said.

Kimmy pursed her lips and raised her brows at him, as if to call bullshit.

The blond didn't have any sort of retaliation for that, or anything to say back for that matter, so he simply stuck his tongue out at her. Kimmy quickly did the same back.

Aaron's nose twitched as he thought of what to do back, settling on subtly lifting his middle finger in her direction.

He watched in amusement as she held back a grin, blowing a rather exaggerated sarcastic kiss while snickering to herself.

"Very mature." Nancy remarked under her breath, seemingly having been the only person watching the two's silent and childish interaction. "You two are fifteen-"

"Oh, shut up." Aaron mumbled half heartedly with a shake of his head. "Like you don't have two boyfriends. I've seen the way you've been ogling Steve-"

"Aaron!" Kimmy snapped, shaking her head at him.

Aaron felt a little bad momentarily, however he had only been joking and he had said it without thinking. He hadn't expected to strike a nerve.

Nancy's jaw dropped and her brows rose in surprise. Although it didn't take the older girl long to regain her composure.

"And what might you be implying?" Nancy asked calmly, however Aaron could see the brief look of panic which flashed across her features.

For a split second, Aaron wondered if he had it wrong, maybe Nancy and Johnathan had broken up.

Aaron allowed his confusion to show on his face, his brows knitting together as his head tilted slightly. "Aren't you still going out with Johnathan?"

"Dating." Nancy corrected with an eyeroll.

"Same thing." Dustin retorted with an eyeroll of his own.

"No it's not." Max disagreed with a sour face, speaking up for the first time all morning.

"Yes it is." Dustin argued.

"No."

"Yes, it is-"

"No, it is not-"

"Are you going out with him or not?" Aaron asked the older girl rather abruptly, cutting off Dustin and Max's brewing argument.

Nancy shifted in her seat at Aaron, Dustin, Kimmy and Max's eyes on her, her younger sister minding her own business as she tuned out the older chat, more interested in her breakfast.

"Yes..." Nancy dragged out her answer. "We are still together."

Aaron shrugged his shoulders at her calmly. "Well then I think you know exactly what I'm implying."

Aaron had seen the way that Steve and Nancy had been behaving over the past few days. From stolen glances to quiet whispers, the two had been acting as if they liked each other in a way more than friends. The blond could tell by the way they looked at each other.

In fact, it was such a reoccurring thing, that Aaron had began to think that Nancy and Jonathan had broken up.

Whether they had actually done anything which could technically count as cheating or not, Aaron thought it was weird. It was obviously in a way which was more than friends, and Aaron thought it was very strange to act that way when in a relationship.

Aaron would never do that to Kimmy, and he thought it was disrespectful on both Nancy and Steve's part. The both of them knew about Jonathan, and the younger boy had a lingering feeling that the reason they hadn't already kissed, was so that they could cling to the comforting idea that what they were doing wasn't wrong unless it went that one step further.

"Actually, I don't." Nancy retorted while crossing her arms firmly over her chest.

"Liar." Dustin laughed loudly. "You and Steve have practically been all over each other."

Nancy narrowed her eyes at the two younger boys and scoffed loudly. "I don't have to listen to this, you two are children."

"So are you." Aaron pointed out.

With that the conversation slowly fizzled out, and each of the teenagers were sat in silence listening to their own thoughts.

Aaron didn't touch his breakfast, too put off by the sight of the woman accidentally touching it with her hand.

Although he also didn't glance up to look at either Kimmy or Max, as now that the conversation had died down he no longer had a distraction from his worrying thoughts he had been battling earlier.

He knew the second he glanced to Kimmy with nothing to take his mind off of the situation, he'd spiral. So, until conversation would strike up again, he kept his head down. Unmeaningly dreading the day ahead of the group.

...

New chapter😋😋😋

I'm currently in the process of being ghosted by a teenage boy SO that means I obviously have to live out dream romance through making Aaron and Kimmy as lovey dovey as possible😍😍😍

I KNOW I've been away for like two months but it has been so so busy recently I didn't even notice I hadn't uploaded for that long!!

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this chapter even tho it's slightly short!!

- AJ :)