CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CUT OFF

"Oh, my god." Kimmy gasped in shock from Aaron's side.

The pair were looking at Steve who was staring unimpressed back at the two as while he served customers.

Aaron had insisted on taking her to the new ice cream parlour in the mall where Steve had recently got a job at, purely to embarrass his older brother because of the uniform he had to wear.

A blue, white and red sailor suit and hat.

Aaron and Kimmy were sat in one of the larger circle booths of the ice cream parlour, the booths that were actually meant for a large group of people - not two.

Kimmy insisted that they shouldn't sit in a booth, that they should have sat at one of the tables with two seats so they didn't take away from others.

Aaron's answer was simple - he didn't care. The boy told Kimmy that this was the best spot to laugh teasingly at his brother, the spot where they would get the best view.

Aaron really didn't care if they took away seats from others as long as he and Kimmy got to sit together.

Truthfully, the two were sat far closer than they needed to be, their legs practically touching from how close they were. Aaron lied to the girl and told her that it was probably best that they sat that close so they could see Steve clearly as they ate their ice cream.

Aaron didn't feel to bad about lying to the girl, seeing as she didn't seem to be bothered by it. Nodding her head and moving to sit where he told her to the second he was done speaking.

"Do they actually force him to wear that?" Kimmy asked Aaron as she ate her chocolate ice cream, the girl looking to Steve with furrowed brows.

"Yeah," Aaron laughed. "He didn't wear his hat for his first shift because he was scared it would mess up his hair and he almost got fired. It was so funny, he was so mad."

Kimmy snickered in response, nodding as she turned to face the boy next to her with a toothy smile.

"Why does he even have a job?" Kimmy asked curiously, pushing away some of the hair that had fallen in front of her face. Since she had gone ice skating with Aaron some months ago, it seemed she liked having her hair in two loose braids, she often had her hair like that - whenever Aaron saw her anyway. "I thought you guys were rich... no offence or anything."

"Dad cut him off." Aaron shrugged calmly, going back to eating his strawberry ice cream before elaborating. "Apparently after school, we'll both get cut off. Well, I mean, Steve is cut off. But because he isn't going to college, he's cut off is high school. I'll get cut off after I graduate college too."

Aaron didn't sound bothered by this, and it was because he wasn't, he still had four years until he graduated highschool, he had time to save. Unlike Aaron planned to, Steve hadn't used his time wisely, most likely pressuring his dad wasn't serious, especially when it came to the eldest brother.

"But dad did say he'd pay for whatever college he wanted to go to, but Steve's not going to college." Aaron continued talking to the girl. Often, Aaron found that when it came to talking to the girl he could not stop his mouth from moving, he'd ramble non stop if he could. "I don't know if he didn't want to go or if he just didn't get in, but he's not going anyway."

A few weeks ago, Dustin had gone away to summer camp. Only it wasn't like a fun summer camp, it was a science camp. Aaron did good in his classes and he was smart but he could not imagine going away for weeks - during summer vacation - to do more school work.

Actually, Dustin was getting home the next day. The party were going around to his house to surprise him.

Steve had asked Aaron about three times if he could come and Aaron had told him no every time he asked, the younger boy insisting it was weird that Steve would be sitting hanging around a bunch of fourteen and thirteen year olds in an empty house. Whether he was Dustin's best friend or not.

"Do you think Steve would give you free ice cream if you asked for it?" Kimmy asked randomly, her question taking Aaron by slight surprise.

"Um... no." Aaron replied instantly in a fully confident tone. "I think if he didn't need the job he would give us free ice cream, but I don't think he wants to get in trouble again."

Kimmy scrunched her nose softly in response, shrugging her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess."

After a few moments, Kimmy nudged his leg harshly under the table with her own, Aaron looking to her confused for a moment before he realised she had done so to get his attention. The girl was motioning ahead of the two, Aaron following her line of vision.

Aaron sighed, placing his head in his palm as he realised his brother was approaching the two with an annoyed look on his face.

Aaron also had an annoyed expression on his face as he watched the older boy approach the two, knowing that his older brother would say something out of line to try 'help' Aaron with his current situation with the girl he was sat next to.

"Hello." Aaron spoke in a teasingly nice voice as he tormented his brother. "I can't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure when you're working you're supposed to serve the customers waiting for their ice cream, Steven-"

"Shut up, I'm on my break." The older boy mumbled.

Taking a plastic spoon he had grabbed from behind the counter before walking over and sticking it in Aaron's bowl of ice cream and eating it. Aaron sighed, dropping his spoon and pushing his bowl over to the boy who was going in for his third spoonful.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked his younger brother with a confused expression. "I don't want the entire thing, I just wanted a little bit-"

"Well, I don't want it anymore after you have double dipped your spoon into my ice cream." Aaron rolled his eyes as he spoke.

Steve went to protest, but there was a voice calling him before he could.

"You can't just take your break whenever you want, Harrington!" A voice yelled, Kimmy and Aaron leaning forward to see who had Steve scoffing and rolling his eyes. "We have assigned times for a reason!"

Steve scoffed once more, smoothing his hair before gently placing his hat on top, standing from his seat abruptly.

"Who's that?" Kimmy teased the older boy, Steve scrunching his face up in a mocking way as if to tell her to shut up. "Not like you to get bossed around, Harrington."

Aaron laughed as he watched his brother shake his head and flip the two fourteen year olds off with a very irritated expression.

"He's just being sensitive." Aaron muttered to the girl sat with him as his brother walked away, watching as his brother began to argue with the girl behind the counter who had called on him. "Probably embarrassed, god knows what."

Kimmy grinned at him nodding her head as Aaron sent a small grin back at her. "Probably." She agreed, looking away from him and eating her ice cream once more.

"What time do we have to meet everyone else?" Kimmy asked him after a moment , leaning the side of her head in her hand as she looked to him.

"Uh... eight." Aaron replied after he'd thought about it for a moment. The blond then looked to the black digital watch on his wrist to check the time. "It's four now, do you want to go to the bigger candy stores around the mall so we can get our own food this time?"

The last time the group had gone to the movies, it was not a pleasant experience for Kimmy and Aaron to say the least. They didn't know that everyone else would have candy with them, so they were the only ones left without.

Lucas had brought for himself and Max who were now back dating again - and refused to share with anyone other than the redhead. Whereas Mike had brought for himself and Will, insisting that he didn't have enough for four people to make it through the entire movie.

"Yeah," Kimmy nodded in response. "And this time we're not sharing with anyone else, they didn't want to share with us."

Aaron nodded seriously in response. "Deal."

...

By eight o'clock Kimmy, Aaron, Max, Lucas and Will were stood impatiently at the front entrance of the mall waiting for Mike to arrive.

Kimmy had a tight hold on the bag full of candy that she and Aaron had bought that day, the girl glad they had done so seeing as everyone else had their own bags of candy, just as the two had suspected.

So far, the summer had been good. Kimmy had spent most of her time with Max and Aaron. Kimmy loved summer, she definitely preferred the heat to the cold.

The only thing she didn't like was what she had to wear. She didn't like wearing the shorts or wearing the short skirts. She did not like it one bit. Although it wasn't due to insecurities.

During the summer months, Kimmy had to avoid her parents like they were the plague - more specifically her father. If she even looked at him wrong or caught him in a bad mood she would be punished. The young girl couldn't afford to be punished, not when she had to have her legs on display all the time due to the summer heat.

If she pissed her parents off in summer, she had no way to hide the bruises or marks. So, since the summer months had begun, she had been avoiding the two, of course she still saw them around the house. But she was out the house whenever she could be and never looked at either of them when she was home so they couldn't find something to hold against her.

"Okay," Lucas sighed from next to Aaron, an annoyed expression on his face as he looked to his watch. "He's twenty minutes late. We should just leave without him-"

"You know why he's late." Kimmy reminded with a tired sigh. "He's with Eleven-"

"No surprise." Lucas scoffed, his arms folded over his chest as he went to say something else, however the sight of Mike approaching on his bike stopped caused him to hesitate. "You're late. Again."

"Sorry!" Mike apologised halfheartedly.

"We're going to miss the opening." Will reminded in an annoyed voice, moving to stand next to Lucas as he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, if you guys keep whining about it." Mike scoffed, walking right past the group and into the mall, leaving the party to follow him. "Let's go!"

"If you guys keep whining about it." Lucas mocked under his breath, the boy nudging Aaron on the shoulder as the blond let out a laugh at his response.

"Just please stop talking, dude." Mike spoke in an embarrassed voice, trying to ignore his friends teasing.

"Let me guess." Lucas continued to mock, pouting his lips together as he made kissing noises. "You were busy-"

"Oh, yeah, real mature, Lucas." Mike replied swiftly, trying not to give Lucas' teasing anymore attention than he already had so the boy would drop it.

"Oh, El," Lucas sighed as he put on a higher voice as he tried to act like he was Mike. "I wish we could make out forever, and never hang out with any of our friends."

"First of all, I do not think that." Mike replied with a sigh, already incredibly tired of his friends antics. "And second of all, I do not sound like that-"

"You so do, you liar." Aaron joined in on the teasing, nudging Mike's shoulder as he spoke. "Just admit it, Mike."

"Well excuse me for wanting to spend romantic time with my girlfriend." Mike gave in, his arms rising and falling as he spoke.

"Hey!" Lucas protested, slowing his steps so he could walk next to Max who was walking with Kimmy, the boy wrapping an arm around Max's shoulders. "I'm spending romantic time with my girlfriend!"

Kimmy moved out of their way, feeling like she was ruining their moment as Max leaned into his shoulder, choosing to walk behind the two so she wouldn't bother them.

Will had moved and was walking next to Mike, the two talking frantically about something. Kimmy couldn't have even guessed what the topic may be, knowing the two got passionate about any conversation they were having.

Kimmy jolted in surprise as Aaron moved to stand next to her, the boy tugging the bag of candy out of her hands as he went to look through it.

"Excuse you, Aaron." Kimmy scoffed, looking to him with a taken aback expression. "Care to explain what you're doing."

"Shit," the boy sighed, closing the bag and handing it back to her. "We didn't get any m&m's."

Kimmy felt her brows knit together as she grabbed ahold of the bag, trying to keep up with the group all while talking to Aaron.

"Why does that matter?" Kimmy asked in a small voice, scared she was missing something.

Aaron turned to look at her then, not responding for a few moments, his brows furrowed as be seemed to be thinking something over, only causing Kimmy to grow more nervous.

"I thought they were your favourite candy?" Aaron asked in a puzzled voice, looking mildly panicked as he looked at her. "Or are they not anymore?"

Kimmy was confused on why her favourite candy was such a big deal for the boy. She was reluctant to open her mouth, her tone full of hesitance as she spoke. "No they are."

Aaron sighed, dropping his shoulders as he motioned towards the bag she was holding. "Okay, and we don't have any. That's the issue." Aaron stressed at her,  biting the inside of his cheek as he thought over his next words. "I can get you some when we pass the store if you want?"

"No, it's fine, Aaron." Kimmy shook her head, trying to talk to the boy all while avoiding the people walking in the opposite direction of them seeing as the mall was so crowded. "It doesn't matter, it's not a big deal."

The blond next to her was quiet for a brief moment, eventually he sighed and shrugged. "Alright."

The group then went to run down a crowded escalator, Kimmy going to follow Max before she heard Aaron mutter to himself.

"For fucks sake." The boy mumbled to himself, tilting his head up as he looked to Kimmy with a frustrated expression. "We can't push through all these people, that's so embarrassing-"

Kimmy grabbed his hand and dragged him behind her before he could even finish his sentence, the boy gasping and trying to pull his hand out of her hold so she wouldn't drag him down the crowded escalator where they'd have to push past everyone.

"Don't be such a baby." Kimmy laughed as she began dragging the boy down behind her, her laughs halting when she accidentally bumped into someone harder then she meant to. "I'm so sorry!"

The group kept moving down, muttering their apologies as they pushed past the strangers.

"That was ridiculous," Aaron mumbled to Kimmy when they got off the escalator. "Maybe if Mike had been on time, then we wouldn't have had to-"

"But he wasn't on time and he never will be." Kimmy laughed, tugging Aaron's hand a little harsher than needed as she urged him to follow her.

Even after the group had gotten off the escalator, Kimmy and Aaron never let go of each others hands, despite knowing well that they didn't need to be holding each others hands anymore.

"Watch it!" A girl yelled angrily after Mike when he bumped into her rather harshly.

Mike didn't look back behind himself, still walking at a rapidly fast pace so the group wouldn't be late for the start of the movie. "Sorry-"

"Yeah!" A small voice yelled at the group, Kimmy shifting her attention to where Lucas' little sister Eric sat eating her ice cream with her friends. "Watch it, nerds!"

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Lucas snapped at his sister as he walked past her.

"Isn't it time you died?" Erica retorted, her group of friends bursting out in laughter at her words.

"Psycho!" Lucas yelled at her as he got further away.

"Butthead!" Erica yelled at her brother, both of them wanting the last words. Lucas snapping around angrily to yell back at her as he walked.

"Mall rat!"

"Fart face!"

Lucas must have ran out of insults because he had resorted to blowing a raspberry at her with an expression of complete annoyance carving into his features as he did so.

"Oh, now that was mature." Max scolded her boyfriend as she grabbed ahold of his hand and dragged him away.

The group then turned into the ice cream parlour where Steve worked - Scoops Ahoy.

Mike practically ran up to the till where the girl Aaron and Kimmy had seen arguing with Steve earlier.

Mike began ringing the bell on the counter repeatedly in the girls face, the girl was looking back at him with an unimpressed expression. Not even flinching at neither Mike's glare or the bell he was ringing in her face.

"Hey, dingus," the girl yelled, turning her head behind her slightly. "Your children are here!"

The girl was met with no response, shrugging her shoulders at the group halfheartedly.

Aaron scoffed, dropping Kimmy's hand as he pushed Mike out of the way and began yelling for his brother himself.

"Steve!" Aaron yelled, sighing as he watched the boy move in a blur from behind the textured window he was behind. "Steve, we know you're there-"

The blond was cut off when the boy opened the sliding windows he was hiding behind, an annoyed expression pulling on his lips as he scowled.

"What?" The boy scoffed tiredly.

"Can you sneak us into the movies?" Aaron asked calmly, the girl at the counter snorting loudly.

"Um... no!" Steve replied, sounding appalled at what Aaron was asking.

"Please?" Aaron gasped, trying his hardest to look and sound upset. "Just one time?"

"No!" Steve yelled at his younger brother, Aaron's look of faux sadness falling into a look of annoyance.

"Please, Steve!" Aaron asked again, not trying to hide his growing irritation. "We'll miss the opening-"

Steve sent his brother a fake smile, shrugging his shoulders dramatically. "Not my problem-"

"Steve, seriously?" Mike scoffed from next to Aaron, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just let us-"

"Fine, fine!" Steve gave in, rolling his eyes as he motioned for the group to follow him. "I don't have time for this."

Aaron grinned up at his older brother as he past him, the older boy opening the door leading to the back hallway of the mall for the group.

"Thanks," Aaron yelled at his brother as he walked backwards. "I owe you!"

"Yeah, you do!" Steve yelled back after Aaron. "I swear if anyone hears about this-"

"We're dead!" The group chorused at once as they walked away from the older boy.

Soon, the group arrived at the door which lead into the movie theatre, Mike ushering for the group to follow him once he'd checked no one could see them.

Since the group had snuck into the movies without actually paying, people were already sat in their assigned seats. However it was a later viewing, the theatre wasn't really that full. A couple rows didn't have anyone sitting in them.

Mike picked what row the group would occupy, seeing as he was in front.

Kimmy was sat next to Aaron and Aaron was nat next to Lucas, no one was sat to Kimmy's left.

This was because Kimmy and Max were no longer allowed to sit next to each other when the group went to the movies, the two girls had spoke through the entire movie last time, leaving the boys they were sat with to have missed half of it because they heard Max and Kimmy talking about whatever they pleased instead.

"See, Lucas," Mike whispered over Will and Max. "We made it."

"We still missed the previews." Lucas whispered back in a halfhearted attempt at annoyance.

"We still made it." Max teased from her spot next to Lucas. "Fart face."

Lucas pulled a face at Max that had the redhead laughing quietly.

"Here, pass me the bag," Aaron whispered to Kimmy, motioning for the girl to pass him the bag filled with food they had bought that day.

Aaron pulled out a can of Pepsi for himself and a big bag of salt and vinegar chips. The boy then turned to face the brunette watching him expectantly, waiting for her turn to look through the bag and pick what she wanted.

"What do you want?" Aaron asked her quietly, opening the bag in his hands as he waited to hear what she wanted so he could get it for her.

Kimmy scoffed, grabbing the bag from his hands and looking through it herself. "Well, I can't see through things, Aaron. I do need to look in the bag to see what there is."

"We just bought this shit a few hours ago." Aaron retorted, rolling his eyes as an amused half smile tugged on his lips. "How can't you remember what we bought?"

"I just don't." Kimmy replied quietly as she rummaged through the bag. Taking out a can of Coca Cola for herself and a big chocolate bar. "I don't have a photographic memory, sue me."

Aaron rolled his eyes as he watched her tuck the bag filled with food under her seat, the girl turning to tease him before she stopped herself, the big screen cutting out to blackness.

Aaron shrugged to himself, leaning back in his seat unbothered as he opened his Pepsi, not really caring if the group couldn't watch the movie, he hadn't wanted to watch the movie anyway, he'd just came for something to do.

Kimmy opened her mouth to ask the group what they think might have happened, but before the words had left her throat the movie flickered back on.

Kimmy shifted, sitting contently in her seat as she took a bite of her chocolate bar.

...

Season three has began!!! My FAVOURITE SEASON!

Hope everyone is having a good day!!!

- AJ :)