CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
THE FAIR

As usual, Aaron was stressed.

He wasn't supposed to be out with Kimmy for another two hours and he was already panicking.

The blond had almost caused himself a heart attack with all the stress he was putting on himself over the situation.

He was sat on the edge of his bed, trying not to lose his shit as he watched his brother throw his clothes all over his clean bedroom floor.

Aaron didn't know what to wear, what to do with his hair, how he was supposed to act. He didn't know anything.

Steve had told Aaron that he wasn't allowed to pick what he was wearing because he'd embarrass himself. The blond couldn't find it in him to be offended, genuinely worried about every little aspect about the night that was yet to come.

Eventually, Aaron was left with clothes thrown all over his room, only increasing in his stress. Steve had tried to help him out in what he was supposed to wear - insisting it wasn't a big deal.

Although he'd ended up not being able to help at all. The two never agreeing on one thing - only bickering.

Aaron groaned, moving from his bed to the floor as he went to clean up the mess of clothes on his floor. 

He'd ended up asking Steve - or well - shouting from his room to his brothers to ask if a navy polo shirt was appropriate to wear or not.

"Stop, Aaron! You're overthinking it!" Steve yelled back, clearly tired of his younger brothers antics.

"You're overthinking it." The blond mocked under his breath, placing all his clothes back where they were before and heading out of his room.

Aaron was extremely worried about the date he had later that day, much more worried than any other boy his age would be about going on a date with the girl he liked.

He just knew that he'd be a nervous wreck the entire time the two were out.

Heading to the bathroom, he picked up the cans of hair product that Steve used and looked to them curiously, not entirely sure what he was supposed to do with them.

He didn't want his hair to look like Steve's - not that extreme. Steves hair was much longer than Aaron's was, it wouldn't look the same.

Although with that said, he didn't want his hair to look like a mess like his it usually did. He wanted to look nice. The boy had tried to do so when they were supposed to go for their date the first time, however he hadn't done it right and it didn't end up working.

Scrunching his face up in confusion, he opened the hair gel in his hands and looked to it peculiarly.

"What the hell." The boy mumbled hesitantly, sighing before he gave in and tried to fix his hair.

After be had done his hair, he looked at his reflection with a puzzled look. He didn't look bad, but he also didn't look any different, he just looked more... put together.

He soon came to the realisation that he literally looked no different, he now just had his hair feeling unnecessarily sticky.

"Oh, my god." Aaron whispered in disgust as he reached a hand up to touch his hair, flinching back as he instantly reached forward to switch the tap on with his arm so he didn't have to dirty the sink.

The boy then thoroughly washed his hands and then got into the shower, washing his hair two times to make sure he got all the gel out of his hair.

If he wasn't stressed before he certainly was after his shower, now finding that he only had one hour until he had to leave.

One hour to calm himself down, make sure he looked presentable and force Steve to teach him how to act while with her.

The boy took a shaky breath as he entered his room, unsure if he should put on clothes that he wanted to wear with her that night or if he was supposed to wait? He had no idea what to do.

He ended up putting on the first thing he found, not wanting to risk his clothes for later getting dirty.

"Is that what you're wearing tonight?" Steve asked curiously from Aaron's bedroom door.

"No." The blond shook his head slowly, keeping in mind that his hair was still damp from his shower. "I don't want it to get dirty."

"Okay..." the older boy trailed off, raising his brows and shaking his head as he fought back a remark. Clearly puzzled as to why he wouldn't just get dressed seeing as he was leaving in an hour. "So what did you get her?"

Aaron scrunched his face up and looked to his brother suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, like, did you get her... flowers or anything?" Steve shrugged calmly, not really caring in whatever answer was given.

Aaron however, had just had his stress levels reach dangerously high.

"Um... no!" The boy panicked, baffled as to why only now Steve was bringing it up. "When would I- why are you only telling me this now? I didn't know I was supposed to get her flowers!"

"Calm down, you don't need to." Steve rolled his eyes, his voice far too calm for Aaron's liking. "It was just a suggestion-"

"We're going to the movies and then the fair I didn't know I was supposed to." The blond continued to stress, hardly hearing Steve as he went into a spiral. "I mean, I would have got her flowers, but where is she supposed to put them? She can hardly carry them around if-"

"Would you calm down, Aaron? Seriously." The older boy scoffed, scratching the back of his neck as he was unsure how to get his younger brother to calm down. "Stop overreacting. You'll be fine. She's not some stranger off the street, you've known her for years."

Aaron groaned, frustrated at how Steve couldn't understand why he would be nervous.

The older boy was right, it was Kimmy - he knew her. The two of them hung out just the two of them all the time, he didn't know why it was so different.

But then it really wasn't different, he was always flustered with her, she didn't even have to do anything.

He just hoped he could gather control of his nerves so he could act semi-normal around her. He wanted their night to go good.

...

An hour later and the blond's nerves hadn't gotten any better.

He and Kimmy were meeting at the movie theatre at four-thirty, however Aaron had got there about twenty minutes early, not wanting to keep the girl waiting.

Steve had initially told Aaron that he wasn't dropping him off twenty minutes early, however the younger boy had insisted on it.

He was sat on a bench outside of the building, bouncing his knee anxiously as he continuously checked his watch. It was currently four-forty, and he was beginning to worry.

The boy knew that ten minutes shouldn't matter but he couldn't help but worry that maybe she wasn't coming anymore.

Glancing up from his watch his looked around him, suddenly anxious as he tried to look for her. Swiftly he checked his watch once more, biting the inside of his cheek out of habit.

He tried to bring his thoughts to a calm as he forced himself to think over what he needed to do and how he was going to do it.

The boy didn't really know how he was supposed to bring up asking her to be his girlfriend. He wanted to ask her, but he knew he had to do it at the right moment, he just didn't know how he was supposed to know when that moment was.

"Are you alright?"

Aaron flinched at the voice, looking up with wide eyes as he tried to blink away his surprise.

"I'm fine." He nodded frantically, standing abruptly as he clasped his hands together anxiously, not knowing what else to do. 

Kimmy sent him a nervous smile, clearly unsure what to do herself.

"You look nice." Aaron blurted sincerely, watching as her brows raised in surprise.

"Thank you." Her voice was slightly higher than normal, truly indicating to the boy just how surprised she had been by his comment. "You look nice too."

"Um, I was gonna get you flowers," Aaron began nervously, rambling before he could stop himself. "But I didn't want you to have to hold them the entire night. But I don't want you to think that you know, that I didn't want to get you flowers - because I did-"

"Aaron, it's fine." Kimmy shook her head, an airy laugh falling past her lips as she looked to him with a surprised expression. "I wasn't expecting any flowers or anything, thank you for the um... the- for thinking of me though."

Aaron pursed his lips and nodded, forcing a small smile as he tried to stop his cheeks from going pink in embarrassment.

"Um, sorry I'm late." Kimmy rushed to explain, messing around with the sleeves of her shirt nervously. "I had to walk, I didn't realise it would take so long-"

"It's okay, don't worry about it." Aaron instantly reassured her, trying not to stress himself out. "Maybe we should go though, so we're not late."

The girl nodded, sending him a strained smile as she moved to walk next to him. Glancing down at her, Aaron debated on grabbing her hand.

Although just as he gathered the courage to do so, and just as his fingers grazed hers, he had to pull his hand away to get the tickets and pay the man.

"I could have paid for myself, you know." Kimmy told him sincerely as the two made their way to the showing room.

She wasn't lying, she had managed to steal a few dollars from her parents' room when both her mother and father were passed out downstairs due to high levels of alcohol. She'd done so two nights ago.

"As if I'd let you pay when we're out on a date." The boy scoffed seriously, not even glancing to her as he looked for the room the two were supposed to be entering.

Just as the boy found the doors they were supposed to enter he came to a sudden halt, Kimmy furrowing her brows in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Kimmy asked him quietly, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the door and off to the side so that others could get into the theatre.

"I totally forgot about food, come on." The boy answered in a stressed voice, readjusting the loose hold she had on his wrist so that he could grip onto her hand properly. "I didn't even see what they even have, did you?"

"No, I hadn't thought about it." The girl shrugged calmly in response, although she was clearly quite startled at the abrupt gesture from the boy.

Aaron pursed his lips as he did his best not to falter his grip on her hand, suddenly all too aware of what he was doing. He didn't know why he was so awkward around her, she just seemed to heighten his nerves for no reason. It was as if he cared far too much what she thought of him, like he always wanted to impress her.

He hadn't even noticed that he'd grabbed her hand when she dragged him over to the side. Still, he kept a firm hold on her hand until they reached the food stand.

Aaron had got Kimmy and himself a large popcorn each, as well as a large Pepsi for himself and a large cola for her.

By the time they made it into the movie the previews were coming to an end, the opening credits just beginning as they took their seats.

Aaron felt a little awkward when he sat down, not knowing what he was supposed to do. Yes, obviously watch the movie, but since it was a date he wondered if maybe he should be doing what the other couples seemed to do at the movies. Like... holding hands or if he was supposed to put an arm around her? He didn't know.

He did think about it, seriously, he did. So much that his arm twitched as he went to move it, but he stopped himself before he could.

It just wasn't in character for him to do so, he wasn't as confident as the other boys who had girlfriends were.

He didn't even have a girlfriend, which only made him doubt himself a million times more.

The boy found that he had been watching her watch the movie much longer than he had meant to, catching himself and shifting his attention onto the screen ahead of him, hoping that at least he'd enjoy it.

...

Kimmy liked the movie, although clearly not as much as Aaron had. The blond had gushed about it the entire way to the fair, nonstop about how good it was and how he was going to get it on tape when it came out.

The two had been at the fair for about thirty minutes, and they had yet to decide what they were going to do first.

Aaron had been looking around anxiously as the two walked, shuffling slightly closer to her out of panic. Kimmy knew that he was looking around out of fear that people were judging him or watching him because of the marks on him.

The girl suddenly gasped, taking his hand and pulling him along to a photo booth. She desperately wanted a photo with the boy, the only one of her friends who she had a picture with was Max and that was before their school dance the year before.

"What- where are we going?" Aaron asked puzzled, still allowing her to pull him along nonetheless.

"To get our pictures taken." Kimmy answered with a wide smile unable to hide her excitment. The girl only stopping when the two were outside the small booth. "We don't have any together. And look, here they take four at once! How cool is that?"

"I don't know." Aaron answered hesitantly, suddenly a look of nerves flooding his features as he thought it over. Abruptly he looked over his shoulder, paranoid about people watching and judging him for the bruises on him. "Wouldn't you rather get a picture of the two of us when I don't look like... this."

Kimmy frowned to herself, not liking the way he was thinking about himself, she didn't want him to think so low of him for something he couldn't control - certainly not for getting hurt while trying to look out for his brother.

"I think it would be good for us to get a picture of our first date, don't you?" Kimmy tried to lighten the mood, shrugging her shoulders as she tried to look completely calm while she spoke the next words out of full honesty. "And see, I still have my cast, we're both injured. Who cares if you have a couple bruises? I think you still look handsome anyway."

The blond went bright red, turning his head to try recollect himself after hearing her words.

"Okay, fine." The boy sighed after a moment, Kimmy beaming up at him as she watched him try look to her as if he wasn't effected by her words. "But just know that in the future your flattery will get you nowhere."

"If you say so." She shrugged, tugging him into the booth behind her.

The two sat side by side on the bench in the booth, Kimmy trying to figure out how to actually get the machine to actually take their photo.

Eventually Kimmy pushed the correct button and a countdown from five was shown, the girl nudging Aaron excitedly.

"Okay, okay, I don't know what to do!" Kimmy gushed to him excitedly, not sure how she was supposed to pose at all.

She covered her face in embarrassment as she began to laugh at the perplexed expression Aaron sent her way.

"Just smile." Aaron laughed in response, reaching over and taking her hands off her face.

Kimmy nodded through snickers and glanced away from him as she smiled widely, wanting to get a good picture of the two.

"How do we know when it's taken all the pictures?" She asked and turned to Aaron in confusion.

"I don't know." The boy mumbled, tilting his head to the side before shrugging. "I think it's finished. I mean, how long does taking some pictures take?"

Kimmy didn't get the chance to reply because the boy stood from his seat and left the photo booth, leaving the girl alone for a few moments before she followed him.

The blond was stood outside the booth with one of the two prints of pictures, looking down at it with furrowed brows.

Kimmy reached over and grabbed the other print of pictures to look for herself. As it turns out, the picture of the two of them smiling at the camera was actually the last one to be taken. The other three including Kimmy covering her face with her hands while Aaron moved them away as well as the two laughing between themselves.

Kimmy smiled to herself, placing the strip of pictures in the pocket of her jeans. She glanced up at the boy who was still looking at the pictures with an expression that Kimmy couldn't quite decipher. 

"What do you want to do next?" Kimmy asked him with a smile. "I'm sure there's lots to do, I've never been to a fair before."

"Uh- I don't know." The boy trailed off, clearing his throat, glancing up at her briefly before looking back down at his pictures, her voice seemingly snapping him from whatever trance he was in.

Aaron then grabbed his wallet from the back pocket of his shorts and placed the pictures of the two of them in it for safe keeping.

"We can do whatever you want." Aaron shrugged as he and the girl walked side by side.

Kimmy raised her brows, grinning at him as she grabbed his hand hand pulled him over to the first thing she could see.

...

Hours later and the two had done everything that they could possibly do at the fair. They'd tried all the different food stands that they could find, they'd played all the stupid little games, they'd gone on the rides, they'd stayed until there wasn't anything left for them to do.

The only thing that Kimmy thought was a little bit of a let down was the ferris wheel. Both she and Aaron hated it, the boy had complained the entire time that it wasn't safe and that he would never be getting back on it. To be honest, Kimmy didn't think it was safe either, but she didn't want to encourage him.

Embarrassingly, Aaron had also got her one of those huge stuffed teddies that you only got if you won whatever game that it was up for.

The blond had seen three boys winning some sort of prize for the girls they were with and he'd wanted to one-up them, winning the brunette the biggest teddy at the fair - not listening when Kimmy told him she didn't need it. It had taken him two tries but Kimmy was glad that was all it was, knowing that he would have stayed there all night if he had to.

Kimmy was struggling to hold the large teddy because of the cast on her arm. Because of the cast, she didn't have the same grip on the bear as she would have, meaning whenever it slipped she only had one arm to make sure it didn't fall all while trying to readjust her grip.

Aaron had ended up carrying the bear for her, it now completely dark out as the two began walking aimlessly around the small town.

They ended up sat in the same grassy field they had been in when Aaron had kicked the boy in the face with a soccer ball.

Kimmy had sat down first, Aaron placing the large teddy in her lap before he sat next to her.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a long time, however Kimmy's mind was spinning with one question she wanted to ask him. Or more specifically one thing that she wanted to bring up.

The only issue was that she didn't know how to bring it up to the boy.

The issue had been bothering her ever since he had mentioned it after he'd been with the Russians - his parents. She knew it was none of her business what his family life was like, but she wanted to reassure him that he wasn't hated by her or that she didn't think he was irrelevant. She didn't really know, but the boy was obviously strongly under the impression that he wasn't liked by his family and Kimmy hated that.

"Listen, Aaron..." she trailed off, not really sure how to comfort the boy on the matter without actually bringing it up. "I've had a really good time with you and I don't want to make things awkward with you, but-"

"You don't want to go out again?" Aaron stressed, already drawing his own conclusions. " I'm really sorry if you feel like that, but I thought that we could maybe go out again or something but if-"

"I wasn't going to say that I didn't want to go out again." Kimmy told him honestly, her brows furrowing on their own accord.

"You weren't?" Aaron asked hesitantly, some panic clearly still remaining.

"I wasn't." Kimmy confirmed with a nod. "I just wanted to talk to you about... um, something else. Nothing to do with us going out."

"Okay." The boy answered seriously, unsure what was going to be thrown at him.

"I just wanted to... I don't know- okay." The girl spluttered in a stressed voice, messing around with the tag on the teddy bear nervously. "I know you might think this is a little weird of me to say and I know that it's none of my business, but... but I just want you to know that you've done a lot for me and I think that you're a really good person and if... some people can't see that then maybe they don't deserve you at all."

The boy looked to her with a confused expression for a moment before his face morphed into a panicked look of understanding.

"Again, I'm not trying to say I know everything - or that I know anything." The girl continued, looking to him with a serious expression as she did her very best to get it all off her chest without actually addressing the matter. "All I'm trying to say is that I know how bad it is to feel like you don't matter to people who you know you should matter to. But even if you think... some people don't really care about you... um, I care about you. And I know it's not the same thing but... uh- just so you know."

Kimmy bit the inside of her cheek as she waited for him to reply, however he didn't. It was as if he didn't know what to say.

"I know I shouldn't have said that." She rushed, suddenly fearing the boys silence meant he was thinking the worst of her. "I'm really sorry, Aaron, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or make you think I'm trying to stick my nose in your business, I'm sorry."

She could practically feel her eyes well up with tears as she began worrying that she'd ruined her relationship with the boy. She hadn't meant to seem rude, she just wanted him to know he mattered.

"I'm sorry-" Kimmy didn't succeed in rambling unnecessary apologies because the boy with sandy hair across from her cut her off with a shake of his head.

"Kimmy, it's fine you don't have to say sorry." Aaron reassured in a slightly fractured tone, his voice cracking slightly as he spoke. "If it makes you feel any better, I care about you too."

The girl sent him a small smile in return, however her smile soon dropped when she watched him scoff and shake his head once more.

"I hate when you do that." He told her in a blunt tone.

"Do what?" Kimmy asked in a slightly shaky voice, not knowing what exactly she had done to cause such a reaction from him.

"Act like it's the craziest thing in the world that anyone could possibly care about you." He elaborated with a slightly saddened tone to his voice. "I know you had a really difficult time back when we met. Obviously I don't know what happened to you and I don't mean to tell you how to feel. I know I can't speak for anyone else, but when I ever tell you that I care about you - or even anything remotely positive about yourself will you just promise me you'll at least try and believe me? 'Cause as much as you want to think otherwise I wouldn't lie to you, okay?"

Kimmy felt a surge of admiration push through her chest as she listened to him talk, she couldn't help it. Which was why without really thinking it over, she reached forward and grabbed one side of his face carefully with her free hand, and pulled him close in one swift motion before softly kissing him on the mouth.

The kiss was over before it had really began because Kimmy pulled away after a few moments as Aaron just tensed, not making any sort of effort to kiss her back.

Kimmy pulled away with a horrified expression, dropping her hands as she instantly began with the apologies. "I'm so sorry, Aaron. I don't know why I did that, I know you have a thing about germs, I'm so sorry-"

Kimmy didn't get the chance to finish her sentence because Aaron had already leaned forward once more to gently recapture her lips with his own.

The kiss didn't last long, it was short yet sweet. The type which had the two blushing furiously as they looked to each other.

"Uh- I just was wondering if you were still up for that dating thing?" Aaron asked anxiously, his entire plan to ask her out flushing away along with all his composure.

"Hmm, I don't know." Kimmy teased him, though the pink tint in her cheeks gave her away. "Would you be up for it?"

"Yeah." He nodded without even having to think about it.

"What do you mean by the dating thing?" Kimmy asked seriously, wanting to make sure she knew that they were both on the same page. "Like... boyfriend-girlfriend?"

"Yeah." The blond nodded again, looking right at her with a serious face so she knew he was genuine.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to accept your offer." Kimmy sighed in a faux seriousness, grinning teasingly at him as she spoke. "Wouldn't have thought that it would be you bringing up the dating idea, I was beginning to worry that I'd have to do it myself."

"Shut up." Aaron mumbled, pushing her shoulder back lightly with a teasing look on his face.

...

Omg officially dating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for the chapters where they're actually a couple!!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR 11K READS IT MEANS SM!!!!!

Hope everyone had/is having a great day!

- AJ :)