He didn't answer. I raised my eyebrows at him, waiting patiently. I wasn't generally a very patient person, but surprisingly I was willing to wait for him to give me an answer. He began fidgeting nervously, and I was trying to shut off my thoughts. 

Was she my replacement? It sounded pretty mean, even to me. But I just couldn't help but feel like smothering her to death in her sleep. I sipped on my milkshake, schooling my expression into a blank one. It was a hard task considering that I just wanted to shake the answer out of Aomine-kun. I held myself in check by repeating the word 'friend' to myself. 

"That girl..." He began. "Akako." I urged. He nodded, "Akako. She's... A friend." He said, haltingly. My eyes narrowed as I stared him down. Somehow in the few months that I had known him, I had become a portable lie-detector. It was very easy to filter the lies in case of Aomine-kun. He couldn't look me in the eyes whenever he lied. 

Before this entire fiasco, we had gone out to a different school's inter-collegiate fest. Many of his old friends had come... A tall green-haired guy who looked like a carrot in his basketball clothes, a purple-haired giant who wouldn't stop eating, the red-haired short dude who exuded arrogance, another short bluenette who vanished after I got introduced to him, another red-haired tall guy who kept eyeing the cute little Alaskan Malamute with fearful eyes and of course, Kise-kun. Aomine-kun had tried to drag me away to a food stall, but Kise-kun was adamant about me meeting his old teammates. "Name-cchi! You have to meet them!" It seemed as though Kise-kun would drag me by my legs if needed. It had happened before, and so I willingly went with the over-excited blonde. After the introduction, another guy came up to the group. A tall, dark haired guy they called Shogo. "Hey." He said, with his eyes solely trained on me. It pissed Aomine-kun off. Majorly. "Okay. We have to go." Aomine-kun said, trying to yank me away from the guy. He seemed to think that being five feet away, with Aomine-kun himself standing in front of me like a bodyguard wasn't enough. Shogo-kun ignored Aomine-kun, "I haven't seen you around here." I shook my head, "I'm not from around here." "Huh. Coffee?" I blinked, wasn't that too quick? "A friendly one. Don't tell me you're the clingy sort." That was uncalled for, and I was NOT clingy. "Sure." I said, gritting my teeth. Coffee with this guy would be fun, but his seemingly extreme arrogance was ticking me off. "What? No." Aomine-kun said firmly, giving what was possibly a murderous look at Shogo-kun. He dragged me off before I could say anything. "Was Aomine-kun jealous?" I asked teasingly. "No. Baka." Came the prompt reply. His eyes were elsewhere. I didn't realize it then because he covered it up by acting like the pervert he was. "Hey, [Name]. Look at those boobs."

It took me some time, but eventually I realized that whenever I had doubts about what he said, he had the same reaction. Sometimes he paused or stuttered slightly. 

I blew out a breath, "Friend?" I asked, tired of waiting for him to clarify. "I had to get ove... Okay, a little more than a friend." I didn't say anything. It was a free world. We were both our own person, and we could sure as hell do whatever we want. "Okay." I said, half-minded about whether I wanted to hear more. I wasn't even supposed to be curious. My mind chalked it up to gossip. Girls are just inclined toward gossip. Yes, that was my explanation. 

It sounded weak, even to myself. At that moment, I wondered, again, how it would be... My hand in the crook of Aomine-kun's elbow... Or would I call him Daiki? I had to stifle the grin that threatened to emerge on my face. I shook my head and picked up my burger. 

Do I give it a chance?