CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
PHONE CALLS

It was two weeks until Kimmy and Aaron began high school, and Kimmy was much more nervous than she let on. It had been around a month since Kimmy had been put in the hospital, and she'd been staying in the Harrington household since.

Luckily for Kimmy she was due to get her cast off a few days before she and Aaron were actually supposed to start high school.

Neither Kimmy or Aaron had heard from Mike or Will in weeks. Kimmy still saw Dustin, the two had grown closer than they had been last year and Aaron only really saw Dustin when he was with Steve, although Kimmy got the feeling Aaron wasn't as bothered about this as he would have been a few months ago. But that wasn't because he didn't care, it was because he had so much to worry about that he didn't really have the time to care. Kimmy wasn't an idiot, she knew he had practically used up all his time and worry on her.

He'd been extremely worried about her, even though most of her bruises had cleared up, besides the really deep ones that were tainted a dark purple color. However most of those were on her stomach, with the remaining few on her legs and arms.

In all the free time Kimmy had seeing as she'd not really been able to do much in regard to her injuries, she'd found herself overthinking one particular event in the past. Overthinking it to the point she always found herself drifting back to it when she didn't have anything to distract her.

That particular thought being her letter. The letter she'd written to Aaron before she'd ended up in the hospital.

Funnily enough, the one thing she couldn't get out of her head wasn't anything about her telling him her troubles, or the fact that she was embarrassed about anything. She wasn't embarrassed at all. She'd meant every word she'd written.

What was slowly picking away at her was the fact that she'd told him she loved him and was yet to hear any sort of response. Just like Kimmy had expressed to him in her letter - she wasn't expecting him to say it back. Both she and Aaron were still young and she didn't want him to say it if he didn't mean it, Kimmy convinced herself that it was fine if he didn't love her back and that it wouldn't effect her in anyway.

Pretend like it wouldn't bother her at all if all he felt for her was just some sort of crush that would soon pass. They were only fourteen, it wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. It would have been more particular for people of that age to actually love someone rather than have a little crush.

However, the letter hadn't been mentioned between the two since that night in the hospital. The two teenagers had spoken about Kimmy's parents and what not, but they'd not once addressed the fact she'd blatantly told him she loved him as well as all her favourite things about him.

Aaron was most likely nervous, or maybe he didn't think it had to be addressed. There was probably a million explanations for it. Although Kimmy found herself stuck on just one; he simply did not feel the same way back.

Of course he liked her in a romantic sense. Kimmy wasn't that stupid. And while she was appreciative that he did feel that way about her, like wasn't the same as love. Especially when Kimmy knew he knew how she really felt about him.

A strong part of her truly did believe that he loved her back, but she'd been too scared to bring it up. Seeing as another part of her thought she'd be stupid to think he could ever love her back in the same way she felt for him.

Kimmy wanted to know how he felt about her - how he really felt about her.

The brunette abruptly gasped loudly, clasping a hand to her mouth and rushing off to find the blond boy. By the time she found him she was smiling widely and unable to hide her excitement. Jumping up and bombarding him in a tight hug.

Aaron flinched in surprise, looking to her curiously as Kimmy unwrapped her arm from him due to the other still being in its cast and taking a step back, grinning up at him widely. 

"Guess what." She gushed in a higher tone than Aaron was used to hear fall past her lips, holding back an excited laugh.

"What?" Aaron questioned curiously, tilting his head slightly as he furrowed his brows, not knowing what to expect.

"Max just called me!" Kimmy practically yelled at him, her face displaying nothing but happiness and surprise as she quite literally refrained herself from jumping up. "She called me! I haven't heard from her in ages!"

"Max called you?" Aaron gasped slightly, as if that was the last thing he'd been expecting her to say.

"I know!" The girl practically giggled, overwhelmed by the fact that she'd finally heard from her best friend.

Aaron's lips quirked up into the smallest of smiles at her reaction, happy that she'd finally got in touch with Max. Aaron knew that not hearing from her red headed friend was bothering her to a great extent, even before she'd been put into the hospital.

"I'm going to see her tomorrow, she asked me if I wanted to hang out." Kimmy rushed to explain, unable to wipe the smile from her face. "Isn't that good?"

"Yeah, it is." He nodded in response, glad Kimmy finally had someone other than himself that she felt secure sharing stuff with. Knowing there was probably lots of stuff she just wanted to talk to Max about, just like there was certain things she only told him.

"Is she feeling any... better?" Aaron awkwardly asked, cringing at his wording, not knowing what else he was supposed to say.

"I think so. I mean, obviously she's still not great, but I think she's better than she was." Kimmy did her best to explain, careful with her choice of words.

Aaron bit the inside of his cheek and yet still found himself nodding, the boy completely understanding where she was coming from.

Obviously the girl wasn't going to just be fine, she wasn't going to just get over her brother's death. But at least she wasn't taking it as hard and she was beginning to heal from it.

"Where are you guys going tomorrow?" The blond asked the girl curiously, watching as she subconsciously scrunched her nose up the slightest bit and tilted her head in thought.

"I'm not really sure." Kimmy blurted eventually, her voice filled with a sense of perplexity. "We'll probably just walk around and talk, unless she wants to do something, I guess."

Aaron simply nodded, about to ask the girl something else when a thought suddenly entered his head.

"Oh, I forgot, Dustin was wondering if you want to see some movie with him that's coming out soon." Aaron told her calmly, trailing off as he did his best to remember what it was called. "I can't remember what it's called... Day's Off-"

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Kimmy exclaimed enthusiastically, her lips pulling up into a toothy smile. "It's coming out in February."

Kimmy and Dustin's friendship had grown more than the girl had expected it to over the past few weeks. Still, they were no where near as good of friends as Dustin was with Steve or how Kimmy was with Max, but with that said they were a lot closer than Kimmy was with some of the others in the group.

"Yeah, that one." Aaron nodded as he took a bite of the sandwich he'd made before Kimmy jumped on him, pausing before he started speaking again. "I was speaking to him when he was waiting for Steve and you were on the phone."

"I spoke to him... two days ago?" Kimmy estimated with a thoughtful look on her face, tilting her head slightly in puzzlement as she answered. "And I was telling him how I'd seen it advertised and I thought it looked cool but I never thought he'd want to come see it with me. It doesn't really look like the type of movie Dustin would like, it's more something you would enjoy. You should come with us-"

"No, you and Dustin should go." Aaron shut down instantly with a firm shake of his head. Wanting Kimmy to keep up the friendship she was beginning to form with the boy. He knew she often felt like the party was more Aaron's friends than hers, even if she never said anything about it.

And he wanted her to have someone besides Max and Lucas who would actually make an effort with her and speak to her outside of the party.

"Okay." Kimmy shrugged after a brief silence, her lips lifting up into a smug grin as she went to open her mouth once more. "But will you come see it with me after Dustin and I have seen it?"

"I don't know." Aaron sighed sarcastically, scrunching his face up in faux thought. "It depends if you're nice to me or not. I'll have to see-"

"Shut up." Kimmy laughed at him, pushing his shoulder back softly. "I'm always nice to you."

"Yeah, clearly." The blond retorted while motioning to his shoulder which she'd just pushed.

Kimmy sent him an over exaggerated smile while he tried to force a scowl in her direction. Although his fake look of annoyance soon faltered as he found it difficult to keep an amused grin from tugging on his lips.

"Do you want me to make you a sandwich?" Aaron asked her calmly after a moment, unnecessarily holding up his own sandwich for emphasis.

With her new cast, Aaron usually made her food for her seeing as she couldn't do it herself. Well, she could do it herself, however it would take much longer and she probably wouldn't be able to do it properly.

Aaron had done most things for her since she'd been living in his house, it was like he didn't even have to think about it before rushing to do something for her whether she'd asked him to or not.

Most nights the blond haired boy found himself sneaking down to her room. It wasn't even necessarily to check on her anymore, he didn't have an excuse for it. He just liked knowing that she was right next to him, his previous worries seemingly only growing stronger and having a harsher impact after she'd been in the hospital.

They never did anything when he would sneak down to see her anyway. It wasn't like he was leaving his warm bed every night to walk down to her room because they'd do anything inappropriate. Even in general they'd never done anything beyond kissing, so it wasn't like there'd be any sort of consequences for their actions if they ever decided that they did want to kiss.

It didn't really matter whether they kissed or not when he was in her room, Aaron simply liked knowing she was okay, he just liked being with her. Truthfully he'd grown quite accustomed to sharing a room with her.

Aaron liked the odd day when he'd wake up and the two of them would have gotten so close in their sleep that he'd open his eyes to find her head on his shoulder, sometimes he'd surprise himself and he'd wake up to find his arm flung lazily over her waist. He also liked when they'd stay up late talking for hours. It didn't have to be any particular topic, the two would just talk about whatever would come to mind.

He liked being next to her and he liked sharing a room with her, to the point he began to feel almost lonely in a way on the rare occasion he'd sleep in his own bed.

"No, thanks." Kimmy told him in response after some thought, moving to follow him when he picked up his plate and moved to sit at the kitchen table. "Do you want to go do something tomorrow before I see Max? We're meeting at 2ish so we could-"

"I can't." Aaron responded with a small shrug, readjusting his position on his seat while he spoke. "I'm going to the arcade with Lucas tomorrow-"

Kimmy cut him off with such a loud laugh it was almost obnoxious, the girl placing a hand to her mouth to try control herself.

"What?" The blond scoffed, his face pulled down into a look of offence.

"You're going to the arcade? You; Aaron Harrington are going to the arcade?" Kimmy retorted in an obvious tone. "You don't even play any of the games, you just watch when the others do."

Kimmy found it difficult to remember sometimes that he was still his germ-fearing, anxious self around others. Just because he was now different with her didn't mean he was with everyone else.

Sometimes she was almost taken aback when he'd do something to members of the party like he would have done to her when they first became friends. He was still the same with his friends, not liking when they touched his hands or bare arms - he wouldn't even shake their hands unless it was absolutely necessary.

It was the same with the arcade. Aaron never played the games at the arcade, insisting that all kinds of people could have touched the controllers and that he strongly believed the place hadn't been cleaned since the place had been opened.

"Yeah, I'm actually aware of that, Kimmy." The boy retorted with an eye roll, turning to face her fully. "And Lucas is aware of that and so is everyone else on the planet. So if he thinks that I'll be helping him win any sort of game he's in for a reality check."

Kimmy rolled her eyes at his seriousness, knowing he was not exaggerating what so ever.

"Why don't you just play the stupid arcade games?" Kimmy asked him only half joking, holding back her amused grin and the appalled look he sent her.

"And risk me catching some sort of infection? Yeah, that's a great idea." The blond scoffed as he shook his head, sending her such a sincere expression that it looked seriously exaggerated and fake. "I don't know what sort of issues the people in this town have and I just know that there are people - especially the people that hang out in that arcade - that do not even wash their hands. Or wash at all in fact."

"Okay..." the brunette trailed off in a tired voice, not surprised at his words at all. "So why don't you just go somewhere else?"

Aaron sighed loudly and sent her a look as if he was dumbfounded as to why she couldn't understand what he was saying. "Because Lucas wants to go to the arcade, I just said that. And, what else are we going to do? There is nothing fun to do in this town anyway, there's literally nothing to do."

Kimmy raised her brows in agreement, leaning her head on her knees after she'd pulled them up. Aaron simply shrugged at her, picking up his plate as he took it to the sink and began to scrub it.

Kimmy noticed that the entire house was spotless. Everything was cleaned and the house looked perfect at all times. The girl quickly noticed that it was all due to Aaron, he could not handle the slightest bit of clutter or mess.

Even in the morning he'd usually make Kimmy's bed before the girl had a chance to do it herself. Usually whenever Kimmy came back from having breakfast she'd find her bed was made and her room was cleaned perfectly, almost as if the boy feared she'd forget to do it and he felt the need to do it. Like he couldn't go about his day without taking care of it.

Unlike most people, Kimmy didn't mind it - it didn't bother her at all. She knew it was something he literally felt he had to do, he'd always had an issue with germs and all his friends knew it. Kimmy couldn't understand why sometimes the party tried to make him feel bad or downplay how he felt in regard to it.

It was obvious that some of them clearly did not get it. No, giving people of even your friends a hug wasn't a big deal to any of Aaron's friends or anyone Kimmy knew for that matter - but it mattered to him. It always had and it probably always would, Kimmy knew it wasn't something he could control and so did everyone else who'd ever gotten close enough to him to notice.

Just because they knew about it didn't mean they understood it. It didn't mean they understood how he felt.

"Want to watch a movie?" Aaron asked her in a calm voice, Kimmy turning her head to find him stood leaning against the kitchen island. "I'm not sure what you'd want to watch but you can pick whatever you want, I don't care, I'll watch whatever."

"I guess." Kimmy sighed while standing, reaching over and grabbing his hand as she swung their conjoined hands dramatically while practically dragging him into the living room. "Even though I know you're going to complain about whatever movie I pick the entire time it's on-"

"No I won't!" Aaron cut her off with a taken aback voice, Kimmy didn't have to look at him to know he had his face scrunched up in offence.

"If you say so." The girl commented with a sarcastic tone, trying to stop the smirk that was threatening to spill over her face.

However as soon as she heard the boy mumble under his breath she was laughing. And no matter how hard he tried to hide it she could see the small smile tugging on his lips.

...

Hello!!!! I'm pretty sure my account is still hacked but I can't be one hundred percent sure so if there is anything deleted or if anything is posted that might seem a little off then it probably wasn't me!!

Thank you so much to everyone who let me know about the issues it really helped out a lot!!

ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 14K READS!!!!! IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME!!! <3

I hope everyone had a great day and liked the chapter even though it was kind of boring lmao!!

- AJ :)