Just becuase I was thinking about him- my lovely Aaron (Logan Lerman) on the side:D

Chapter 14

“I missed you Friday night,” Aaron told me the next morning.

It was almost ten when I woke up, and Aaron had been awake already.

“You’re not mad anymore?” I asked him.

I was lying flat on my back, while Aaron lay beside me on his side.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he apologized, sounding guilty.

“It’s fine.”

I let Aaron take a shower first before going downstairs. He had to work on some stuff online, so I wanted to give him more time to do that while I showered.

“Hey hun,” My mom said once Aaron and I walked downstairs.

My dad wasn’t around but my mom was already making breakfast.

“Aaron, did you sleep well?” She turned up from mixing the batter for the pancakes and offered him a smile.

“Really well, thank you,” Aaron replied.

“You can take a seat. Do you want some coffee or milk? We also have juice. Anna, give Aaron a plate,” my mom told me, as she placed the pancakes that were finished on the round table in the kitchen.

Aaron looked amused, while I shook my head at my mom.

My dad walked into the kitchen just then. He offered us a smile, before heading towards the coffee pot.

“You didn’t tell us you were dating anyone,” my mom told me, a sly smile on her lips. We were all sitting around the table, while my mom moved things around to make room for the food.

“I’m dating Aaron.” More or less, that was true. We hadn’t officially become a couple, but we were dating.

“Do you two have classes together?” My dad asked.

I chuckled, and turned to face Aaron who was raising an eyebrow at me.

“Aaron’s a sophomore and his classes are a little more advanced than mine,” I admitted.

“What are you studying?” My mom asked curiously.

“Computer Science,” Aaron replied.

Both of them lit up after his answer.

The rest of the hour was basically spent interrogating Aaron and me about college- although they were more interested in Aaron.

He easily answered all of their questions, laughing at some embarrassing things my mom was saying about me.

My dad was the one who asked Aaron about our trip to the beach, which had been moved to tomorrow in the afternoon. Aaron wanted to give me more time with my parents, and they seemed happy to have him around.

My parents had been worried about letting me go. One talk with Aaron and they were both excited about the idea.

My mom just kept grinning at Aaron, giving him approving looks.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Matt?” Aaron asked me once we were upstairs, alone in my room.

My dad had taken my mom out grocery shopping. Since it was the last night we were staying, they wanted to make a thing out of it.

“I wasn’t ready.”

“When did it happen?”

His question really did something to me- I felt a cold shiver run up my spine. Aaron was leaning against the side wall, but he was watching me cautiously.

“It happened last summer, the day after graduation,” I replied.

“That’s why you didn’t start school in the fall?”

I nodded, taking a seat on the bed. I wasn’t sure I could manage to answer any more of his questions while I was standing up.

I could talk about Matt with Silvia, with Jeremy, even with my parents sometimes. With Aaron- it felt strange.

“Are you okay?” Aaron closed the distance between us, and came to kneel right in front of me.

“I am now. I’m a lot better than I was a few months back.”

Right after I said that, I regretted it. I wanted to take back my words. One thing was to answer Aaron’s questions. I didn’t want him to see how much it had affected me.

“What about Jeremy?” Aaron’s tone changed when he asked that.

“What about him?”

“Do you see him a lot?”

I shook my head, thinking back to the last time I had seen Jeremy.

“I hadn’t talked to him since last summer, a little after the funeral. I mean, I saw him around sometimes, but we never really talked.”

Aaron exhaled loudly, sounding relieved. I hadn’t even realized he’d been holding his breath.

“So you two never…”

“Jeremy was Matt’s best friend. I would never do that to Matt.”

The idea of Jeremy and me hadn’t really occurred to me until Aaron got jealous of him last night.

“What if he wasn’t Matt’s best friend?” Aaron asked. I couldn’t help but frown at him.

“There’s nothing between Jeremy and me, Aaron. He doesn’t look at me like that, and I definitely don’t look at him that way.”

There was a harsh tone in my voice, and I hadn’t realized I was talking louder than usual until after I’d finished speaking

“I think he likes you,” Aaron told me.

“He doesn’t,” I flatly stated. “Jeremy and I have Matt in common. I had been mad at Jeremy up until yesterday. If anything, Jeremy is just happy things are good between us now.”

“Why were you mad at him?” Aaron’s question made me go quiet.

“That’s not something I’m ready to share with you.”

I saw it in his eyes. He wanted to say something else about it, but he didn’t.

“Can I officially tell everybody that you’re my girlfriend?” It was a nice change of subject, and one that was welcome.

“You haven’t asked me,” I told him.

“I think I have, plenty of times,” Aaron said, shaking his head but still grinning at me.

“Well if you want me to say ‘yes’ right now, you’ll have to ask me again.”

I ran my hand through his hair, which he actually took the time to somewhat fix around, instead of having it messily styled like he usually did.

“Annabel,” Aaron said.

“Hmm…” I murmured, because I noticed that he was leaning closer to me.

Since he was still kneeling in front of me, his hands were holding on to my waist. I rested my arms on his shoulders, looking at him as he slowly brought his lips onto mine.

Our lips had just brushed against each other, when he pulled away from me about an inch or two.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He whispered.

I smiled at him, but I wasn’t sure he noticed. His hazel eyes were staring deeply into mine.

“Yes,” I replied, before pressing my lips over his once again.

“Even after last night?” Aaron asked a few minutes later.

“I should’ve explained some of that before, I just didn’t think you’d come early.”

“Are you mad about that?”

“I’m really glad you’re here. I think my parents love you, my mom especially.”

“I still don’t like that guy,” Aaron told me.

He was now fully sitting on the ground with his knees propped up.

“I don’t think Jeremy likes you either,” I said.

“He doesn’t have a reason to-” the sound of someone knocking downstairs interrupted Aaron.

I was truly surprised when I opened the door and found Jeremy standing there, with his hands in his pockets.

“Jeremy.”

“Hey Annie,” Jeremy waved at me.

He looked shy, which definitely didn’t suit him. It wasn’t the Jeremy I was used to seeing.

“I didn’t think you’d come. After last night,” I said, letting the sentence hang.

“Who was that guy?” Just as Jeremy asked that, Aaron came to stand behind me.

“I’m Aaron, Annabel’s boyfriend. I think you heard about that last night,” Aaron told Jeremy, as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pressed me closer to his side.

“So you weren’t kidding?”

“Why would I be kidding?”

“I didn’t think you’d go out with someone so soon,” Jeremy said, looking very serious.

“It’s been over nine months.” Aaron spoke out before I could.

“You were with Matt for over a year.” Even though Jeremy was saying that to me, he kept shooting daggers at Aaron.

“I’m not going to talk about my relationship with Aaron.” I left out the part where it’d just become official this morning.

“Fine, I just came to talk anyways,” Jeremy said.

This time he focused his attention on me.

“Come in,” I said, opening the door wider for him to walk through.

Aaron reluctantly moved out of the way when I put my hand on his chest to move him back.

“Actually, I was thinking we could go talk alone. I wanna show you something,” Jeremy said, only looking at me this time.

“I’m coming,” Aaron quickly answered before I could get a word out.

“This is important. It’s about Sam,” Jeremy said, giving me a pointed look.

“Oh,” I mumbled.             

When I turned to face Aaron, he was giving me a questioning look. I could see disapproval written all over his face.

“Who is Sam?” Aaron asked. “Another one of Matt’s friends?”

While Jeremy was frowning at Aaron, I chuckled at his words. It wasn’t funny, but I couldn’t help myself.

“They were more than friends. That was the problem,” I said, more to myself than anything.

Since both Jeremy and Aaron were standing close by, they were able to hear my words.

“Matt was gay?” Aaron asked.

“Sam’s not a guy. She’s a girl,” Jeremy snapped, his brows furrowing even more as he glared at Aaron.

“I’m confused,” Aaron said.

Even though they weren’t getting along, it was still amusing to watch the scene unfolding in front of me. Aaron was acting his usual self, while Jeremy was a little cranky.

“I haven’t explained this to you yet,” I told Aaron.

“Explain it to me on the way to wherever we’re going. I am coming, just so you know,” Aaron stated, looking between Jeremy and me.

“I wanted to visit Matt’s grave afterwards. If you’re leaving later in the day, you should come to. Do you think it’s appropriate to take him to visit Matt?” Jeremy’s question left me speechless for a moment.

“What’s wrong with that?” Aaron asked, scowling in Jeremy’s direction.

“Annabel and Matt’s relationship was serious, it wasn’t a fling. You’re just the rebound guy,” Jeremy shrugged.

He was trying to sound cool about it, but his words came out strained.

“Where are we going?” I asked Jeremy, before anything else could be said about his comment.

“I thought we could go and see Liza, if you want to meet her,” Jeremy quietly said.

I could feel his eyes focused on me, on how I would react to that.

I turned to look at Aaron. He seemed confused, and I realized he would stay like that until he knew the entire story.

“Who’s Liza again?” Aaron asked.

“I want to go and see Matt, but that’s it. I don’t want to be involved with Sam, or- or with Liza.” I had to pause for a moment.

I had known about this for a while. It wasn’t until I heard the whole story from Jeremy- that it all felt real.

Matt had really hidden a baby girl from me.

How he had been able to do that- I didn’t know.

We spent so much time together. When we weren’t together, he was at practice or with Jeremy and the guys. But I was usually with him. I didn’t know when he found the time or the energy to keep something so important from me.

“Alright,” Jeremy said after a while.

“Aaron can come,” I added.

“Whatever,” Jeremy mumbled.

It wasn’t like Aaron was happy tagging along, but he still wanted to come. There was also the fact that I wasn’t going to leave him alone. It was rude and it didn’t seem fair to him.

He’d come all this way for me, not for me to ditch him.

I could see curiosity swirling in Aaron’s eyes. He had asked me about Sam and Liza, but I’d just dismissed his questions every time he asked.

I got in the passenger seat of Jeremy’s car, while Aaron took the back. He wasn’t too excited about that, but he kept any comments to himself.

As it was, Jeremy was unhappy about Aaron coming with us.

I understood why he was mad, which was why I’d told Aaron no more bickering between them two. I was hoping there would be peace- at least to, during, and from our visit to Matt.

“I will call you later,” Jeremy told me after he dropped us off at my house. My parents were home, but Jeremy didn’t want to come inside.

Aaron was awkwardly standing in the back. Ever since we left the cemetery, he’d been really quiet.

“I’ll be waiting,” I told Jeremy.

He gave me a hug, squeezing me tightly. As soon as Jeremy stepped away from me, Aaron came to my side.

“Where did you two go?” My mom asked when we stepped into the kitchen.

She was cooking something and it smelled delicious.

“I went to see Matt.”

My mom froze for a second when I said that. Then she proceeded to give me that sad smile of hers, before her eyes shifted to Aaron.

“You went too?” She asked him.

Aaron nodded at her, but he made no comment otherwise.

“If you two want to grab a snack, you can. Lunch won’t be ready yet,” she told me, turning back to her cooking.

I actually appreciated she hadn’t started with any comments about Matt. I was betting it was because Aaron was there.

“It was serious between you two,” Aaron said, practically repeating what Jeremy had said earlier.

“It was, at least for me.”

Aaron seemed like he was about to say something, but he stopped himself. When he opened his mouth again, he just laughed humorlessly.

“If he was still here, I wouldn’t have a shot with you.”

I shook my head at him. He didn’t let me get a word out before he continued talking.

“You know, before I met you, my life was black and white. I had a routine, a schedule for most of my crap. Not just in school, but with everything. Then you came along…” he said.

He ran a hand through his hair, messing it as he did.

“You still keep routines,” I offered.

He smiled at me, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. There was something in them, which was unsettling me.

“Are you- breaking up with me?” I asked.

My voice sounded insecure, but I was trying to sound playful. Aaron saw right through it.

“No,” he sharply replied.

He closed the distance between us and placed his hands on either side of my face.

“Things are complicated, aren’t they?” Aaron asked.

“I don’t know.”

My heart was pounding against my chest and I felt like he could hear it.

Aaron hadn’t said anything, but the way he was looking at me made me nervous.

“I love you Annabel,” he said, leaning in to kiss me.

His lips felt soft against mine. It started as an innocent kiss. When he started trailing his hands slowly down my body until he’d wrapped his arms around my waist- I felt the true intensity of our embrace. His lips moved against mine with more force, waking up parts of my body that made me desperately want him.

When we broke apart from the kiss, Aaron rested his forehead against mine.

“I’m scared,” he said.

Out of all the things he could have said, that was the last thing I expected to hear.

“Why are you scared?”

“You were always so private with your things. I wish you’d told me all of this before,” he said, shaking his head and completely pulling away from me.

Instead of interrupting him, I just let his sentence hang in the air.

“Is Matt really dead?” He asked me.

I frowned at his words, and took a step away from him to create more distance between us.

“Of course Matt’s dead. I don’t lie to you, and especially not about something so serious,” I snapped at him.

It wasn’t my intention, but his bizarre question had gotten to me.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean- is Matt really dead to you, because it doesn’t seem like it,” he solemnly said.

“What do you mean? I know Matt is dead.”

“The way you talk about him- you make it sound like he’s alive, judging you or something,” he said.

“It’s not that,” I whispered, as I took a seat on the edge of my bed.

“Then what is it?”

I kept opening and closing my mouth, not knowing what to tell him. It was so easy to tell him the truth. But I couldn’t, for some reason the words wouldn’t come out.

“It’s complicated. But I know that Matt is gone. I just, I…” I couldn’t finish that sentence because I didn’t really know what to say. I didn’t think anything I said was what Aaron wanted to hear.

“You loved him?” Aaron asked, attempting to finish for me.

“I did. But that wasn’t what I was going to say,” I admitted.

“This trip was a bad idea, huh?” We both smiled at his comment.

“You didn’t like meeting my parents?” I joked to try and lighten the mood.

“You’re parents are pretty cool.”

“You never talk about your parents.”

Aaron only ever talked about his brother. But his parents- I didn’t even know their names.

“My parents are nothing like yours,” Aaron shrugged.

“Are you seeing Jeremy again?” He asked me before I could say anything else about his parents.

Strange, it was the first time Aaron changed the subject. I made a note to ask him about his parents later- when things didn’t feel as tense between us.

“No. We’re leaving tomorrow and I want to spend the rest of the trip with my parents.”

Aaron nodded, and sighed. I had to smile at how relieved he looked by my answer.

“Don’t look so happy,” I told him.

“It’s not that. Well, it is. I never really thought I could dislike a place so much. I don’t like your hometown,” Aaron said, which made me burst out laughing.

He was scrunching up his nose like a little kid, and the face he was making looked too cute. I walked closer to him and pinched his cheek.

He looked surprised when I did that, but he didn’t push me away.

“Don’t blame my town,” I playfully scolded him.

“Your town sucks,” he openly said, with a grin on his face.

“Yeah well, yours isn’t all that great either,” I said, but it only made him laugh.

“Yeah right,” he told me, as he wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders.

My face was pressed against his chest. When I tried to speak, my words were muffled by his shirt.

“What’s that? I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Aaron said, pressing me against his chest harder.

“Meh ah ey!” I yelled, slapping his chest.

Not even I understood what I had said. Aaron just started laughing and somehow managed to tighten his grip. It didn’t hurt, but I could feel the warmth from his body with how close we were.

“What did you say? I can’t understand you for some reason,” he said, smirking at me.

Finally after a few more slaps from me, he let me go.

“I’m surprised I didn’t choke to death,” I told him once I’d taken a deep breath. I slapped his chest one more time, which only made him grin at me.

“I wasn’t holding you that hard,” he said, but he really was.

“You don’t play fair. I’m all wimpy,” I told him.

When I said that, he picked up the sleeves of his shirt. I could see his shoulders, which had hand prints on them. My hand prints from where I’d been slapping him.

“Did I do that?” I asked, giggling.  

Aaron looked just as surprised, as he stared at the red marks I’d left on his shoulders. I was sure there would be similar ones on his chest.

“Wow, you have a good hand,” he said, a teasing grin on his lips.

Even though I laughed, I felt a blush creep onto my face with the suggestive look he was giving me.

“Pervert,” I told him, and he just chuckled.

“I’m just saying,” Aaron said, raising his hands innocently.

We kept messing around until my mom called us down for lunch. Neither of us brought up Matt again. I was hoping it would stay like that- at least while we were there.

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