CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
GOODBYES

Aaron was ranting to Kimmy the entire morning of the day they were all supposed to meet at the Byers' household. In fact he had been talking so long that Kimmy made a mental note to put a stop to his rambles when it came to actually going to the house just in case anyone heard him.

They weren't expected at Will's house until three, so that morning Kimmy and Aaron went on a walk out through the woods and the back fields of the town. Kimmy having suggesting this so that he could get out all his opinions on the matter before it actually came to meeting with everyone

He had basically said the same thing Max had the week prior, or at least along the same lines.

Aaron was pissed off more than Kimmy expected him to be, more than the girl could ever recall seeing him, and it wasn't like he was trying to hide it. But he seemed to tell her everything, so Kimmy couldn't really be sure.

"It's bullshit. I've been friends with Will for what, six years? And he doesn't think to tell me he's moving away?" The blond continued in a frustrated tone, completely baffled that no one thought to tell him one of his friends was moving away. "I get that he's closer to Mike than he is to me, but jesus fucking christ, what was he going to do? Just wait until I asked why he wasn't at school? It's fucking ridiculous."

Kimmy understood what he was saying, obviously it was going to bother him. And if she was being completely honest she felt that he had more reason to be annoyed than Max did. Aaron had been friends with Will for a long time, El too. And while he wasn't as close to them as Mike was, he was still their friends. Kimmy knew Aaron would have told everyone if he was the one moving away.

No, the group hadn't done much together after the incident at the mall, however Aaron had been busy. As had El and as had Max. While the two girls were going through losses of close family members, Aaron was busy with Kimmy.

What had happened to the girl about a month ago had quite clearly taken a toll on him. He was much more worried and nervous when it came to the brunette now than he had been prior to the incident - and that was saying a lot. If the party thought he was a nervous wreck before, Kimmy was slightly concerned to what they would think at his current antics.

It was like he was scared if he let her out of his sight for too long that something would go wrong, like she'd get hurt or something.

He was also a little more... almost protective of her feelings now. Like he thought she'd dealt with enough over the past while and was worried she'd be more sensitive to having her feelings hurt. Aaron had never actually spoken to Kimmy about this, but she could see it. Even with Steve Kimmy had noticed it. Steve could say anything that she could possibly take in the wrong context and Aaron would be snapping at him, whether Kimmy was offended or not.

It was definitely weird to the girl to see him like that. Aaron would rarely stand up for himself, so it took Kimmy aback slightly when she would catch notice of the blond not even thinking twice about standing up for her.

However with that said he'd never been so pissed off that it was on level that it was that day. Truthfully, Kimmy couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him so angry. He'd been nothing but the opposite with her the past few weeks.

"I mean after all we've all been through, Lucas and I don't even deserve to be told from Will himself? We have to find out from Dustin? That's fucking crazy." Aaron was now flaying his arms up as he spoke, beyond frustrated with the entire situation. "It literally blows my mind."

"How does Lucas feel about it?" The brunette asked calmly, trying to defuse his rising emotions before he ended up snapping.

"He thinks it's a bunch of shit - which it is." Scoffed Aaron near instantly, shaking his head while speaking.

Kimmy sent him an apologetic smile, nudging him as they began to walk the small road which lead to the field at the end of it.

"I get that it's shit, but maybe don't mention it today." Kimmy tried to convince him in a soft tone, hoping there wouldn't be any sort of disagreements on Will and El's last day. "I know it's bothering you but let's try have a good day, okay? We don't know when we'll see them again."

Aaron bit the inside of his cheek and scrunched his nose in thought, sighing after a moment and reluctantly agreeing.

Kimmy smiled teasingly at his glum expression, grabbing onto his arm and gasping with an exaggerated expression. "Cheer up, Sparky! You've all been friends for years, it'll all be fine. I'm sure Will didn't mean anything bad, he doesn't seem like that type. Me and you can even go get ice cream after if you want?"

Kimmy meant what she said about Will not being the type to hurt others feelings - he wasn't. And she knew that Aaron knew that too, he was just blinded by hurt in that moment.

"No we can't, I'm not allowed back. Remember?" Was the blond's response, the boy dead serious in his answer. A laugh then bubbled past his lips. "And it's you and I, idiot. Not me and you."

"Whatever, it's the same thing." Kimmy retorted as she held back a smile.

"Is it though?" The blond teased mockingly.

"Well it's close enough that you knew what I meant." Laughed Kimmy with a slight roll of her eyes. "And if we can't go to get ice cream we can do something else, whatever you want."

The boy pursed his lips and scrunched his face the slightest bit in thought, raising his brows and tilting his head before speaking. "I don't really know, there's nothing to do here."

Kimmy shrugged simply, he wasn't wrong, there was not much to do in Hawkins. Especially not for fourteen year olds who wanted to do something even semi-romantic.

"Maybe we could... uh... like-" the boy spoke in a hesitant voice, clasping his hands together as he tried to repress his nerves. "Once it gets darker tonight do you want to go rollerblading?"

The brunette raised her brows in surprise at him, silently wondering why he was so nervous over asking such a question.

Kimmy had gotten her cast off literally the day before, so it wasn't like that would be an issue. Aaron and Steve had gone with her, the youngest of the two insisting that he was going in the room with her, knowing that the girl didn't have any sort of parental or family figure looking out for her.

Her arm had felt weird to start with, finally being able to move it but she'd quickly gotten used to it. Glad the physical reminders of that night were almost completely washed clean from her body.

"Sure." Kimmy shrugged while she walked next to the boy, watching closely as the look of slight relief flushed over his features. "Why do we have to wait until it's dark?"

"No, I mean, I don't mean for us to go to the roller-rink, I mean... just out." Aaron struggled to explain himself. "Like, in the street."

The girl felt her brows furrow in a mix of surprise and confusion. "I don't have-"

"You can have Steve's old ones." The boy told her instantly, clearly desperate to go roller blading with her. Most likely due to the fact they hadn't been able to do much due to her injuries. "I would have given you mine, but I don't think they'll fit. And Steve's are from a while ago so they should be fine. If you don't want to we don't have to, I know you just got your cast off, I just thought-"

"No, I'll go with you." Kimmy reassured him before he would truly begin panicking and lose his confidence. "It'll be fun."

Aaron smiled at her, a proper smile - a real one. The type that Kimmy hadn't seen recently with all the stress he'd been under, it was nice to see him so relaxed, even if it was only her to see it in that instance.

Kimmy hadn't been looking ahead of her, she'd been watching the boy walking next to her. Which was why she was taken by such surprise when the boy suddenly grabbed onto her arm and stopped her steps.

The brunette tilted her head at him, as if to silently ask him what he was doing. Although Aaron wasn't watching her, he was looking straight ahead with a look of deep thought.

Abruptly he turned to face her with a sigh, folding his arms over his chest. "Do you still want to walk to through the woods or do you want to turn back?"

"Why would I want to turn back?" Asked Kimmy with a confused stare.

"We don't have to turn back, but if we don't we'll have to walk over all this." The blond motioned towards the small area of water ahead of them with a tilt of his head, numerous rocks poking out that they'd obviously have to walk over to get to the other side.

"We'll be fine." Laughed the brunette, grinning up at his slightly panicked expression.

"Um... no." Aaron scoffed with a completely baffled expression. "I'll be fine, you won't. I know you'll have been on a rock for about two seconds and then you'll be in the water, and I don't want you getting hurt any more than you already are."

Instead of responding, Kimmy simply walked past him, moving to step onto a rock before he could catch her.

The girl simply laughed at the sound of his frustrated groan, mumbling under his breath before the sound of his shoe hitting the first rock could be heard as he followed her.

Luckily Aaron's panicked prediction wasn't the case, neither the two of them falling over into the water. Much to his surprise.

...

Later that day at the Byers household, and Aaron was beginning to lose hold of the tight grip he held on his emotions.

Although, it was an opposite side to him that threatened to show compared to the one he'd portrayed the entire day with Kimmy.

In fact from the second he'd set foot in the empty house and was faced with the saddened expressions of his friends that they had all clearly been trying to hide, all his anger and frustrations washed away and it was as if he could hardly remember being hurt at all.

It was difficult to explain how or why he was so pissed off earlier, the boy was just hurt at the fact he hadn't been informed about what was happening and it came out more aggressive than he'd intended.

Maybe Will or Mike didn't think it was a big deal, but it was to Aaron. It made him feel like he wasn't important, like he didn't matter enough. And maybe he was over sensitive to the matter, but he had a feeling that he'd be like that with anyone.

While others might not be so hung up over being treated inferior or being ignored, and maybe he wasn't even being treated that way, but that's the way his mind twisted it. He'd been dealing with being ignored his entire life, and usually he'd hang out with his friends so much as a way to cope with it so he didn't have to face the constant neglect in his household.

It was simply something he was sensitive to, something alot of people wouldn't know about. He didn't like telling people about his parents, the boy found the blatant dislike his parents held for him to be embarrassing.

It bothered him that the party didn't hang out as much or that they clearly weren't as close anymore as they used to be. And Aaron knew he'd played a part in it and that in the eyes of his friends he'd simply been blanking them so he could hang out with Kimmy but that really wasn't the case.

Yes, technically he had been spending all his time with Kimmy instead of his friends, but he didn't know what else he was supposed to do. She'd been put in the hospital, she'd wrote him a letter telling him that she was going to kill herself and why she was going to do it. Kimmy'd almost died - her dad had quite literally beat her within an inch of her life.

Due to this, Aaron had no regrets to focusing all his attention on the girl, it was like a part of his mind was always thinking about her. Like a tiny part of him was always worrying about her, even when she was right next to him.

He felt he'd only have regrets if he hadn't focused all his attention on her.

As horrible or as bad as it may sound, he hadn't had the time for his friends these past few weeks. The brunette had needed him more than Will, Mike, Dustin and Lucas had all together. The past while he'd had bigger issues than playing D&D with them in Mike's basement.

To put it simply Aaron did not give a shit if they had an issue with him spending all his time with her.

Well, that wasn't technically true. The blond knew he'd be near to furious if Mike ever said anything to him about it. Mike had spent the entire summer prior to the issues that had taken place running around and ditching the party to hang out with Eleven, if he wanted to say something to Aaron for doing the exact same thing then the blond boy feared he'd lose it on him.

Actually, it really wasn't the exact same thing. Aaron had a reason for it, quite an understandable reason in his eyes. And while no one else knew his reason for it, he didn't care. No one else needed to know and they weren't going to. It wasn't his business to share and he didn't plan on sharing it.

But the second he saw his friends that day, and the realisation that it was probably the last time they'd all be together began to sink in, all his anger washed away.

The friend group that he'd been apart of since he was seven or eight years old, the friend's that had stuck together through issues most people their age wouldn't even dream of working through. The friend group that had comforted him about his home issues without even knowing it. The group of friends that had simply been there for each other.

The four boys that Aaron had called his best friends since he was in elementary school, the four boys that he never really thought he'd wake up one day and not be as close to as they'd all been all those years ago.

Unfortunately, every child does eventually grow up. It might take longer for others but we all get there at some point, it had just taken Aaron a little while to realise that.

What they were growing through was simply a part of growing up.

Friends grow apart. They meet new people, and before they know it they've replaced their old friends with new ones. Before you know it all you have left of your friends who you've had the pleasure of growing up with is the memories that are only shared between people who no longer talk.

Deep down Aaron knew that El and Will moving would cause more of a shift in the group dynamics than he was actually willing to admit just yet.

If Aaron did end up making the hockey team - that he actually hadn't told anyone besides Kimmy that he was planning on trying out for, he knew he wouldn't have time for playing board games in the A.V Room at school.

Max wasn't talking to anyone besides Kimmy and Lucas, and even then it was minimal.

Dustin was now closer to Aaron's older brother than he was to Aaron.

And Aaron hadn't actually spoken to Mike in about a month simply because he hadn't. They hadn't fallen out by any means, they just weren't as close anymore. The two boys had simply been too busy in their own issues to make time for the other.

Lucas and Kimmy were really the only ones he still spoke to everyday just like he used to speak with everyone else.

Aaron knew that the most likely outcome would be that the group drifted in highschool. As much as they'd all deny it.

No, he wasn't angry, as much as he'd tried to be. He was simply... sad at the thought of it all.

Aaron was not a confident boy by any means, and he worried what he would do after the inevitable break of the friend group.

He'd never had to make any new friends before. All El, Max and Kimmy had been brought into his life not due to any of his efforts. Of course, he'd reached out to Kimmy to see if she was okay after what had happened to her when they'd first met, but he'd simply done so because of how worried he'd been for her.

And he still had Lucas, but Aaron wasn't stupid. Lucas was a nice boy who would have no trouble making friends, he was much more confident and likeable than - in the blonds opinion, Aaron was. If Lucas had new friends of his own, then he couldn't spend all his free time with Aaron like the blond was used to.

He wished he could turn time back a year prior and everything would stay the same, that time would freeze and he could stay in that time period forever. The party were all still close, and his relationship with his brother wasn't terrible. It was definitely much better and easier for Aaron than having to deal with the reality of losing all his childhood friends.

Aaron as well as all his friends were growing up and nothing would ever go back to how it was before, no matter how much he wanted it to.

That was the thought that was continuously running through his head at the goodbye of his friends.

Aaron was pretty sure that the he was the only person who had come to the daunting realisation that after they started highschool they really wouldn't be all that close anymore. And he wished nothing more than that he could swap and live as obliviously as his friends seemed to be.

Despite his obvious hurt and slight resentment earlier regarding not being told about the fact Will was moving states away, he'd given Will the tightest hug he could ever recall giving to any of his friends. Fully aware that he probably wouldn't see his friend again.

Aaron was glad that he'd been asked to say goodbye to Will, glad that at least the last memory he'd have of him would be a happy one. Glad that the two had ended on good terms.

Even though he hadn't spoken to Will in about a month, he'd always miss him. It was the same with all his other friends when the time came that they'd eventually not see each other either, despite living in the same town and going to the same school.

He supposed there was just something different when it came to childhood friends. Those were the boys he'd grown up with, he'd been closer to them in his childhood than he'd been to his own brother, and they'd never know it.

It was weird knowing that it wouldn't be long before they were just passing faces, that they'd watch each other with a slight tug to their hearts as they laughed with their new friends in the school cafeteria.

Aaron watched the car in which his friend sat in the backseat of leave with a desolated expression, his lips tugged into a frown as he waved goodbye for the last time.

The boy was doing his absolute hardest not to completely crumble in front of his friends, however he must not have been doing as good of a job as he thought because he could feel the way Kimmy subtly took a step closer to him as she gently grabbed ahold of his hand.

Aaron was glad that he had her, she was someone he hadn't known since childhood. Of course he was still a child, but becoming friends with someone at almost thirteen years old and someone at six or seven years old was different in his eyes.

Aaron would be fine, he knew in the long run he would be. He just had a little bit more growing up to do before he made it to that point.

After the cars and moving vans were out of sight, the group went their separate ways. Aaron waiting patiently for Kimmy as she said her goodbyes to Max, the brunette trying not to fall back into the state of hurt she'd been in when she'd said goodbye to Eleven.

Instead of dumping all his worries on her about his fears regarding starting highschool and drifting from his friends, he simply smiled at her and took her hand before swinging it dramatically as they walked. A small part of his built up nerves coming to a calm knowing that he'd have her in school.

Later that night, Kimmy and Aaron did end up going roller blading. Aaron glad he at least had some sort of distraction about what had happened that day.

Just like when they had gone ice skating a while back, he'd had to help her quite a lot. More than she'd probably needed if he was being completely honest, not because she'd asked for it but because he had insisted on it. He was terrified that she'd fall and hurt herself right after she'd just started to get better.

Aaron ended up carrying her home on his back the last part of the walk, not for any reason, the two were just bored and were messing around.

Kimmy had Aaron's rollerblades in one hand and Steve's old ones that she'd been using in the other. Seeing as he didn't really have any extra hands as he had to keep her from falling.

...

Also there is still something wrong with my wattpad account that's why the layout is kind of off because it keeps glitching and won't let me move it lmao.

This chapter made me sad to write lmao. And it might be weird but I thought this was a better way to write the group goodbye rather than just copying what happened in the show idk let me know what you think because I'm kind of second guessing myself lol.

This chapter hasn't been proofread so if there is any mistakes please let me know!!

Anyway I hope everyone is having a great day and is enjoying the story!!

All the support, reads, votes and comments means so much to me!!! <3
- AJ :)