CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE
FRUSTRATIONS

Another four weeks had passed since Aaron had tried out for the hockey team, and two weeks had passed since the results had been posted.

Much to Aaron's surprise, he'd actually ended up making it. In fact he was so surprised that he'd had to triple check the sheet in case he'd somehow mistaken his name for someone else's.

The second the realisation set in, he rushed off to find Kimmy, confident in what her response would be. At least he definitely knew she'd be happy for him - that she'd be proud of him.

And of course she was. She'd even reached up and given him a tight hug without even thinking about it, if anything she looked almost more excited about it than Aaron did.

Her reaction almost made Aaron uncomfortable. Not because he didn't appreciate it or because he was embarrassed, because that wasn't the case at all.

He liked when Kimmy would do stuff like that. No one else would treat him like she did and he knew it, he also knew that she didn't treat anyone else the same way she treated him.

But that was exactly it, no one had ever treated him like that before. So when she would do something unexpectedly, he would find himself briefly panicking and trying to think about how he was supposed to react to it.

To put it simply he just wasn't used to that sort of affection. He hadn't really gotten hugs before he and Kimmy started dating, and even after they had started dating he only ever got them from her.

It was weird, because he knew Kimmy was the exact same. That she hadn't been one to receive any sort of loving hugs from her parents either, but they just seemed to have different reactions to it.

Still, Aaron didn't like getting hugs anyway, he didn't like people touching him what so ever. But for some reason he didn't mind when Kimmy did it, he didn't mind when she would give him a hug, or when she'd hold his hand, he didn't even care when she'd kiss him.

Well, it wasn't that he didn't mind or didn't care - he liked when she'd do it.

But it was different when Kimmy did it.

Aaron sometimes puzzled himself with how different he was when he was with her.

He was still the same as he'd always been. He still made her lunch as well as his own because he didn't trust the school food would be up to safety standards, he still cleaned the house until it was spotless, he still couldn't handle germs to any sort of extent. The list went on.

But it was so different when he was with her. The weird thing was that Aaron didn't even realise how much he'd changed over the years he'd known her until he looked back on it.

Aaron wouldn't even touch her hand when they'd first become friends and now he had no issue sleeping next to her in the same bed more nights than he slept in his own.

Sure, Aaron probably didn't need to come down and check on her anymore. But it was a good excuse to go downstairs to see her and Aaron decided he would use that excuse until he didn't need one anymore.

However Aaron could still remember how his almost bashful expression was completely wiped away the second he was with the rest of the party the day he'd made the team. Just like what had happened to Lucas, there were some strained smiles and nods but he could tell they didn't care. If anything they were probably a little annoyed at him the same way everyone had been annoyed at Lucas.

No one had to tell him they weren't all that pleased that he'd made the hockey team instead of joining whatever club Dustin and Mike were in. He could tell. It was obvious just by the fact that only Lucas and Kimmy came to his games.

Sure he'd only actually had two, but both times he'd brought it up he'd been met with excuse after excuse on why they didn't want to come. If they didn't want to go Aaron wouldn't force them, he'd rather they just flat out say they didn't want to go rather than sitting complaining the entire time.

That's what happened with Lucas' basketball games, he'd seen it himself.

To be fair it was mostly Mike that didn't like how Aaron and Lucas had other extracurricular activities, however, Dustin clearly wasn't a fan of the idea of them not joining their club - even if he was less vocal about it.

Aaron tried not to take it personally, but it was difficult not to when in under a year he'd gone from having a friend group of eight to only really talking to two of them.

It had even got to the point that no one sat together at lunch.

Dustin and Mike sat with their new friends, the ones they'd made in their club - the hellfire club, Aaron realised was the name printed on the shirts they all wore.

Aaron couldn't lie to himself and say that seeing Mike and Dustin with a new friend group didn't sting. It was like they'd found replacements or something. And as he watched the group interact from across the cafeteria, he soon realised that the group of boys were exactly like how the party had been before everything. Back how they'd all been in the beginning of middle school.

Aaron didn't know where Max would go at lunch and he got the idea Kimmy didn't either, seeing how stressed out she could sometimes get over it.

There was then Lucas who sat at a table of his own, with his teammates. Aaron had also been offered to sit with his own team, but he'd declined the offer for two reasons.

Reason number one: he liked sitting with Kimmy. It was just the two of them and he liked that, even if he did spend most his time with her, it was by choice and he couldn't imagine himself passing up an opportunity to see her. Especially not when he knew if he wasn't sitting with her then she'd be sitting herself, and Aaron would sooner show up to school while horrendously sick than let that happen.

Reason number two: he seemed to be having some issues with one of the older boys on his team. By issues he meant flat out nastiness.

Usually bullies - or whatever they wanted to be called - worked in groups, but it was different in this case.

Said boy - Charlie Roberts - seemed to find enjoyment in picking at people until they snapped. In fact he was known for it, Aaron just happened to be one of the people he'd decided just had to be picked at.

He didn't really know why. Aaron kept his head down at school, never did anything to remotely offend anyone what so ever, and still he'd been the one to end up with someone set on tormenting him everyday simply due to boredom.

Aaron did his best not to let it bother him, but it had definitely gotten to the point that he dreaded going to practice. The one thing that he'd hoped would distract himself from all the other issues highschool had brought him.

For example, just last week the older boy had started going at Aaron about his brother. Comparing every little detail he could think of the boy stood with him to the most popular boy in school from the year prior. Going on and on about how different the two were, throwing anything he could think of in Aaron's face.

That was probably one of the most tame things the boy had done, yet it had effected Aaron the most.

The entire reason he'd first gotten into hockey all those years ago was because Steve hadn't. He hated being compared to his older brother, it being an insecurity of his as he knew deep down that he'd never live up to Steve. Not in his parents eyes, and now apparently not in the eyes of his peers either.

The one thing he had to himself and yet again Steve had managed to come in and take the attention off of him without even knowing it. Just like what happened with everything else the younger boy did.

Sure enough, Aaron would never say anything back at Charlie's remarks. But the blond would definitely target him on the ice, even if they were on the same team.

One time during practice he'd gotten hit so harshly by the older boy that it caused his nose to pour massive amounts of blood. Aaron was determined not to react in front of everyone else - and he didn't. Not wanting to give anyone any more reason to bother him.

However the second he went to go clean himself up in the bathroom he almost vomited from disgust, hating the look, feeling and smell of such a large amount of blood dripping all the way down past his chin.

Aaron didn't tell anyone about the problems the older boy was causing him, not wanting to cause anyone any unneeded bother.

"Do you have practice tonight?" Kimmy's voice brought Aaron out of his daze, tilting his head to glance at her with a puzzled expression as he struggled to keep up.

"What?" Was his delayed response, unable to stop his brows furrowing despite catching on to what she'd said.

"Do you have practice tonight?" She repeated in a calm voice, dropping her head to rest in her hand as she watched him.

"Uh... yeah. Yeah, at six. Why?" Aaron told her with a curious nod.

"Because we could have done something if you didn't. Rocky IV is showing, and I wondered if you would want to go see it." Kimmy explained with a simple shrug of her shoulders. "But it's okay. We can do it another time-"

"We could go see it after practice? I shouldn't be too late." Aaron rushed to tell her, unsure why he was so desperate to hang out with her when they saw each other everyday. "I can shower quickly once I'm home then we can go."

It was a Friday, so it wasn't like it would matter if the two were out late anyway. And it wasn't like he wouldn't get to see her after his hockey practice, he would - he knew he would. He just wanted an excuse to do something that was a little more like a date rather than just sitting around the house with her.

"Are you sure?" She double checked with a slightly taken aback expression. "Won't you be tired?"

"I'll be fine." He quickly dismissed with a shake of his head.

That was a lie. Aaron was always exhausted after practice. But he didn't tell her that, knowing that she wouldn't want him stretching himself too far just for the sake of her.

He didn't really care about seeing the new Rocky movie, in fact he didn't care at all, he just wanted to go to the movies with her like they did before her accident.

"Okay." The girl nodded unsurely, clearly not very confident in his answer.

"It's a date." Aaron blurted before he could stop himself, wanting the brunette to know exactly what he would be counting it as.

"It's a date." Kimmy nodded as she smiled at him, clearly refraining herself from smiling any wider. He could tell his abruptness had somehow flustered her just by the way her cheeks tinted the slightest bit pink.

The blond sent her a small smile in return before turning back to his lunch, wanting to finish it before lunch's soon end appeared.

...

Just like he'd promised her, Aaron had rushed home after practice, showered and changed so that the two could leave at a decent time.

The weather was much colder now, seeing as they were now into November in contrast to the once summer months. So the two of them had wrapped up respectably for the occasion.

Kimmy smiled slightly at the way the tip of his nose and his cheeks turned the tiniest bit pink due to the cold. He wasn't watching her, but she could still see.

It was snowing, but it was light. Snowing enough that it remained on the ground after it fell but not enough that people couldn't go about their day.

Aaron of course had his hat and gloves on, insisting that he didn't want to catch anything and get sick while out.

Kimmy put her own hat and gloves on without having to be asked just to put the boy at ease.

She ended up being glad she did, it was freezing out. And the snow falling only seemed to be getting heavier.

Suddenly, Kimmy was struck with an idea. An idea she didn't know how Aaron would react to. Taking the chance after double checking the blond wasn't watching, she crouched down and picked up some snow, throwing it at him.

The brunette made sure not to hit his face, knowing he wouldn't have liked that. She simply aimed for his jacket.

His face scrunched up in surprise and he turned to look to her with a stunned expression, as if having expected someone else to have done it.

Kimmy stared back at him with an amused expression, desperately holding back a grin before she cracked and began to laugh hysterically.

Her laughs were cut short when Aaron threw snow back at her. The girl rushing to grab more snow of her own however it appeared Aaron had the same idea, the two looking at the other in silence as they each debated what to do.

It ended in them both throwing their pile of snow at the same time, each desperate to win the abrupt snowball fight Kimmy had sprung upon them.

They never actually made it to the movies that night, the two far too invested in their snowball fight to even bother trying to make it on time.

In the end Kimmy let Aaron win seeing as she had started it.

And because he had won their little made up fight, he practically dragged her behind him to go get food.

They ended up at some place Kimmy wasn't familiar with, but unless she'd been somewhere with Aaron before she tended to be a little clueless about places seeing as she had never been able to do fun things like eat at a restaurant with her parents.

It had been months, and she still hadn't heard from either of them. And she was glad. She hoped she'd never hear from them again.

Although even if they never thought of her, Kimmy was cursed with never being able to forget them or what they'd done to her no matter how hard she tried.

Occasionally she'd even wake up from nightmares staring the two, however this wasn't as much of a reoccurring thing as it used to be. But despite this, Kimmy knew she'd be plagued with the reminded of the two forever.

Aaron wanted to get hot food seeing as it was so cold outside, so that's what they did. Kimmy ended up getting some sort of pasta that she couldn't pronounce the name of correctly and Aaron got a double stacked burger and fries.

It might have been stupid of her, but she couldn't help but be the slightest bit surprised when she noticed that he still had the pictures of the two in his wallet when he payed for their food.

She didn't really know why she was surprised, she knew he'd put them in there, she'd watched him do it. Kimmy supposed she just hadn't expected him to keep them in there. It had been months since she'd actually caught a glimpse of them in his wallet so she just presumed he'd taken them out. Clearly the girl had to start paying more attention to him when he would pay for stuff.

She still had her set of the pictures they'd gotten of themselves at the carnival when they'd gone on their first date, but she kept them in her room at Aaron's house.

They didn't stay long at the restaurant and Kimmy made sure of it. The girl able to tell that the boy was clearly exhausted after his practice, even if he didn't say anything.

And sure enough, the second he was home and given the chance he was fast asleep on the living room couch.

Kimmy was up for a little longer and decided to take his hockey stuff back up to his room seeing as he'd hate the slightest bit of clutter.

She didn't stay in his room for too long, not feeling like she had to. The girl instead headed back down to the living room so she could watch tv and sit with him even if he was sleeping.

Kimmy didn't know where Steve was but he was most likely out. He had a new girlfriend, again. Although Kimmy was unsure if it was the same girl she'd seen him with last time or not.

Since his brake up with Nancy, it seemed like Steve had had more girlfriends in that time period than people Kimmy actually knew. She couldn't keep track of them, and she didn't think Aaron could either.

The older boy was obviously trying to get over her while trying to find a new girlfriend at the same time, however he clearly was not patient enough to see where things would go or he had too high of standards because he had a new girl with him almost every other week.

Kimmy knew exactly why his standards were so high - his standards were Nancy Wheeler, and he couldn't have her.

The brunette debated on staying up even later so that she could talk to Steve when he came home, but decided against it. Trailing back to her room for a rest taking a mental note to ask him how his night was in the morning.

Kimmy and Steve actually got on quite well. The days where Aaron had practice after school Steve would pick her up so she didn't have to walk herself.

They seemed to have formed a close enough friendship type thing where they could be left in the house alone when Aaron wasn't there and it wouldn't be awkward. Of course they weren't as close as Steve and Dustin were, but Kimmy didn't expect nor particularly want them to be.

Aaron and Steve seemed to be getting on better now as well. Kimmy hadn't actually spoken to Aaron about it, but she could tell they were on the right tracks to forming a relationship that the blond had clearly always hoped he'd have with his brother.

Sure, they'd argue, but so do all siblings. They never actually had full-blown fights like they would have before, they never went days without talking anymore.

Kimmy liked staying with the two brothers - she loved it.

But she couldn't help but panic sometimes at the thought of their parents finding out. The girl had never actually met the two since she'd been staying there, and the one time she'd met them priorly she wasn't exactly a fan.

That was putting it lightly, she didn't like them at all. She knew how they could be to Aaron and she knew how much it differed in how they were with Steve.

She'd never brought up the idea of what the three were to do when the next day came when the two adults would show up again, but she assumed one of the two boys would tell her if they were planning on coming home anytime soon.

Because Aaron had fallen asleep on the couch, Kimmy slept in her bed without him next to her for the first time in weeks. And that brought on the realisation that she liked having him fast asleep next to her more than she thought she did.

...

I haven't proofread this yet so if there are any mistakes let me know LMAO.

I love writing the two of them sm it makes me wish I was in a relationship 😭😭

I hope everyone is having a great day and enjoyed the chapter/story so far!! TYSM for all the support!!!!

- AJ :)