Life as I Knew It

Disclaimers: Yeah, these aren't fun, but I guess they're necessary. If you're under 18, or if gay love offends you, or if it's illegal to be reading this where you are, you probably shouldn't be reading this. I guess. Or you can, you know, you don't have to listen to me, lol.

This is fiction, so yeah, people and the events that occur are all fake. I may use the names of real places, but other than that, this story is completely made up.

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Note to readers: WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH. I'm sorry ): It's been like 4 months, I know. But yeah, life just got in the way. More specifically the start of another college year. I really just wanted to focus on studies for a while, but I'm starting to find some time to work on the story now that I'm on winter break! So, thanks again for being patient, and yeah, sorry! Lol.

Anyways, comments, thoughts, or questions are welcomed at crazyturtule90@yahoo.com I love hearing from you guys! :)

Life As I Knew It

Chapter 6: Sanguine

"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place." -Zora Neale Hurston

I mixed the cereal into my milk until the soggy Lucky Charms danced in lazy swirls around the ripples of cold milk. In a weird way, it kind of represented my situation perfectly. I was the Lucky Charm, and the milk pushing against me was the uncontrollable tides in my life.

"For the love of-- Riley James Monroe, quit playing with your food." Mom came bustling into the kitchen, her hair very much in need of combing.

"Good morning to you, too."

She moved to the stove, where she started on breakfast. "Did you get a good night's sleep?"

"Fifteen hours of pure bliss," I replied, my mouth still full of droopy cereal.

She sighed. "I wish you'd tell me what was bothering you."

I looked back down at my cereal. "What makes you think something's bothering me?"

She snorted. "I'm your mom. I know. Also, you haven't missed school since you got chicken pox in the third grade. Now, all of a sudden you're saying you're too sick to go to school? Riley, it's been a week. You've gotta go back sometime."

"I know that," I said indignantly. "Just... give me some time."

"I'm giving you today," she said firmly. "Tomorrow, you're going back."

I let out a groan and slumped my head onto the kitchen table, just narrowly missing the bowl of cereal.

"What's his problem?" Carter asked as he walked into the kitchen and plopped onto the counter.

"Don't worry about it," I said tersely, narrowing my eyes menacingly towards him. I got up and abruptly left the kitchen. I could hear the faint sounds of them arguing as I ran back back up to my room. I jumped over a particularly large stack of books and landed on my bed.

I was still mad at Carter for the gay comment he made a week ago, when he called me a fag. Or that I looked like one. I didn't remember what he said exactly, just that it hurt. So, along with not getting to see anyone at school, I didn't really have anyone to talk to at home. I found myself reading and re-reading books upon books during my free time, but even that was starting to become a little boring. I stared up at my ceiling and allowed myself to become lost in my thoughts. And of course, those thoughts led to Aaron.

I wondered how he was taking all of this as well. He hadn't even texted or called me, which kind of painfully stung, even though he wasn't obliged to contact me first at all. Not after what I'd done, of course. Still, I worried about him. When Isabella came into the bathroom and helped guide me to the nurse's office (Yes, she really did go into the boy's bathroom), I briefly saw Aaron and Mason talking in the back of the cafeteria. Aaron had his back facing the bathroom, so he couldn't see me, but I could see him. His shoulders were slumped, and Mason had an expression on his face that I could best describe as pitiful. God, did it hurt knowing that I was the cause of his pain. But in the most ironic way, he was also the cause of mine.

It hurt being with him and not being able to express myself freely. I've read online posts about gay teens who dated each other, yet managed to stay in the closet. I couldn't fathom how that was possible; how it was possible to just lie about your most intense passion until you were behind closed doors, safely shielded away from the public eye's judgment. I knew my own capabilities. I knew that if I had to hide something like that, someone as special as him, I would explode.

Also, it had only been a day since we kind of got together when all of a sudden it was like a chain reaction of people finding out. Left and right people knew about us, and worse, about me. Isabella, Mrs. Woodrift, and Mason all found out within a few hours. Surely, the whole school would've found out by the end of the day. And I just couldn't take that. Like, my brain literally couldn't handle the stress that came attached to it.

But... having to hide this part of myself from my own family had to be the worst part of the whole situation. I had an inkling that my attraction was toward boys ever since I was little, thanks to some of the books I'd managed to stumble upon at a young age. And I knew that if I were to ever find someone, in the most unlikely of chances, that coming out to my family would be the hardest part of all. I thought I would be ready when that time rolled around, too. God, was I wrong. Not only was I unable to handle any of these new emotions, but based on Carter's obvious distaste towards gay people as well, my family probably wasn't even close to being ready either.

I groaned, "This whole thing fucking sucks." It elicited a small smile from myself. In my week of solitude, with my only human interaction with the outside world being slightly-vulgar texts and calls from Isabella, I somehow grew fond of curse words. As opposed to my previous distaste towards them, saying them made me feel happy. Well... no, not happy, exactly. More like... at ease. Like I could relieve even the smallest amount of this pent up tension in some way.

"Fuck," I giggled.

"Shit."

"Damn."

"Asshole!" I said more forcefully.

"Bitch!" I yelled.

"CUNT!" I screamed. That was a personal favorite.

I was laughing hysterically to myself at this point, when suddenly I heard the door creak. I sat up alertly and stared wide-eyed at the entrance. And there was Isabella, leaning against the doorway with an amused expression on her face.

"Well, hello there," she smirked. "If I didn't know any better, I would've thought you were having an orgy up in here."

I crumpled my face in disgust. "That's so nasty."

She grinned. "Not as nasty as yelling 'cunt' where the WHOLE house could hear it."

I froze. "Please, please, please, PLEASE tell me everyone left." She just stared solemnly at me, and my worst fears were confirmed. "Oh, my god. Oh, my GOD. OH MY GOD," I said, panicking.

She burst out laughing. "I'm just fucking with you. Yeah, they all left! They were just driving off when I let myself in." I threw a pillow at her, which she successfully managed to dodge.

"What are you even doing here?" I asked.

She jumped onto my bed and sat down across from me. "Just thought I'd see how my best friend is doing."

I sighed. "Well, as you can see, I'm positively radiant."

She laughed, and then settled down into a more somber manner. "Sarcasm aside, how are you really feeling?" she asked.

I scoffed, "If I knew, you'd be the first person I'd tell."

She gave gave me a side look. "And what about prince charming? Shouldn't he be the first to know?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "So that's why you're here."

"Caught me," she chuckled, putting her hands up in surrender. "But seriously, do you honestly think you can run away from him forever?"

"I'm not running away from anything!" I spat out.

"And that's totally gonna convince me," she said.

I took a deep breath. "I'm not running away from anything," I said in a much more subdued tone.

"God, Riley!" she growled. "Quit doing that!"

I blinked at her, surprised by her outburst. "Doing what?"

"That!" she yelled, pointing straight at my face. "That, right there! It's written all over your face. You think you can lie to me, or even to yourself, but it'll never work. First off, I know you damn too well, so putting on that blank slate isn't fooling anyone. Second, lying to yourself is the stupidest thing you could do. Sure, you can put it off for a little while, but in the end, it's just gonna bite you in the ass. So man up and grow a pair, already!"

I started to become angry. Not really at her, but because I knew that she was right (despite her uncouth way of saying so). Instead, I started to become upset with myself, that I've grown so cowardly recently. I felt like I needed to say something to express to her just what I was feeling. Naturally, being the expert of diction I was, I said the thing that best conveyed the plethora of emotions that her words of wisdom were propelling.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck," I groaned.

She cracked a smile. "I take it that's your new way of saying I'm right?"

I glared at her in response.

"Thought so." She grinned cheekily.

"So... what do you think I should do?" I grumbled.

She rolled her eyes in a very Isabella fashion. "Well, for starters, maybe we can begin by getting your ass to school."

I smiled, surprising even myself, because for the first time this week I felt like I could actually do this. Like I could somehow pull through whatever will be waiting for me at school, or in this case, with Aaron. "Sure thing," I grinned, and then said, "But how are we even getting to school? We can't drive."

And I swore she had that as-seen-in-t.v-like twinkle in her eye when she said, "Leave it to me."

We arrived at school not even half an hour before we were in my room. She was able to get us a ride from a senior who apparently had the hots for her. And of course, Isabella was able to charm her way into getting us picked up from my house. It's too bad she had to promise to go out on a date with him. Though, if I know her like I think I do, she'll find a way to get out of it. If there had to be a motto associated with her, it would definitely be, "I'll find a way!" That, or "Yeah, my hair is fucking white. So what?"

Anyway, we got late slips from the office and then separated into our respective classes. She gave me a tight hug before we split up, which actually eased some of the nervousness I was feeling, and for that I was grateful. Though part of me wanted to peel out for the bathroom, I knew that it just wouldn't be fair to Aaron; so I mustered up all the courage I could and headed to class. Finally, a week of hiding out in my room had led up to this moment, with me standing in front of Mrs. Woodrift's classroom door. God, you don't know how hard it was to turn that doorknob.

When I walked into the room, I'd obviously interrupted something Mrs. Woodrift was saying, because she, along with the rest of the class, turned to look at me.

"Riley!" she grinned. "Welcome back! You're feeling better, I hope?"

I could feel the eyes of the whole class staring at me, which didn't do any good for my nerves. "U-um, I'm great, thanks," I said, my eyes focused on the ground.

She only smiled, so I took that as my cue to take my seat. As I was making my way through the aisle of desks, I glanced up briefly just for a moment, and found myself staring directly into Aaron's eyes. I froze instantly, because I couldn't even process the thoughts running through my head, other than: God, he was just as beautiful as the last time I saw him.

I shook myself out of my trance and hurried to my desk. At first, I stared straight ahead at the board with my fingers locked tightly together. It wasn't until a whole ten minutes of silence between us that I realized neither of us had said anything at all.

I cautiously peeked at him from the corner of my eye to see that he'd been doing just the same. We both instantly reverted our gaze back towards the front of the room. I would've chuckled had the moment not been as deathly awkward as it was. I really didn't want to go the whole period without saying anything at all, so I decided to take the first step in starting the conversation.

"Hey... um, Aaron," I said quietly.

I looked to make sure he'd heard me correctly and saw him blinking at me in surprise. "Hey-- hi," he croaked.

It was silence again for a moment, until I continued, "So.... Uh, how have you been?" God, that sounded so stupid.

"I've been good," he said. He quickly added, "But how about you? I heard you were sick and all. At least that's what Isabella told me. Are you alright? Like, should you be at school at all? I mean, I'm not saying that I don't want you here, but like, just if you're not feeling well, you know?" He'd started rambling, and it wasn't hard to tell that he was just as uncomfortable as I was.

"No, really, I'm fine," I replied, giving him my best reassuring smile.

I saw his eyes widen just a little before he cleared his throat and nodded. "That's good."

I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just smiled again and turned my eyes towards the front. All the while, I was actually thinking how messed up it was that things had gotten so off between us. What's worse was that I knew it was all my fault, and I had no idea what I could say to change that. I tried to find something, anything to say, but the bell rang before I could even find the chance.

I growled at the sound of the bell, annoyed beyond belief that it would choose this moment to interrupt me. I turned to ask Aaron if we could just have a few minutes to talk, but before I could speak, he was already getting up from his seat.

"H-hey, Aaron!" I sputtered.

He paused for just a second. "Yeah?"

"Do you mind if we... like, talk for a second?" I asked.

He looked really nervous. "Um, actually, uh, I think I'm gonna be late to my next class. I'll talk to you later." Right after he said that, he shouldered his backpack and speed-walked out of the room.

I mentally slapped myself a million times for being so stupid as to let the first conversation we had in over a week end in a disaster. I groaned to myself and got up to leave also, when Mrs. Woodrift stepped up to my desk.

"Hey, sport," she said.

I looked up meekly at her. "Um, hi."

She gave me a sad smile. "You feeling okay?"

I gave her a weird look. "Um... yeah? I'm feeling a lot better. You know, it was just the cold weather and the rain picking up and all."

She raised her eyebrows at me, in a way that I could tell meant she didn't believe a word I was saying. "Well, alright then," she said. "I hope things work out for you."

I nodded, gave her a brief smile, and left the room. I knew that I could talk to her about my problems with Aaron, it's just that I didn't feel it was the right time. Especially since I haven't even gotten to talk to Aaron himself.

I ran as fast as I could, considering the hallway was filled with bustling students and hawk-like hall monitors. When I finally got to me and Isabella's locker, I was relieved to find her leaning against it, obviously waiting for me.

"Hey," she beamed. "How was it?"

I gave a piteous groan and bumped my head against our locker repeatedly.

She gave a long sigh. "Damn... I mean, what exactly happened, though? Did you guys get to talk at all?"

"No!" I all but yelled. I lowered my voice to a whisper and continued, "All we said was 'Hey' and 'Hello' and it was my fault because I freaking MADE it awkward when it shouldn't have been! We should have had a civilized conversation but-- Agh! Oh, and at the end of class, when I tried to talk to him, he just up and left...."

She nodded in sympathy. "Riley, I know it must've sucked for you, but can you really blame him for acting that way? From what you've told me, it's been a whole week of no contact between you two, not excluding your little bathroom fiasco."

"Why'd you have you bring that up? Now I feel even worse," I muttered.

The warning bell rang, signaling the end of our conversation.

"Look," Isabella said as she closed our locker, "Believe it or not, you're not the only one hurting. He's been hounding me all week about you, so I can tell you right now he's been worried out of his mind. Just talk it out, you know?"

"You're right," I sighed. "So, I'll see you at lunch?"

She pouted her lips. "Sorry, bud. I've got a debate meeting today."

My eyes shot wide open. "But-- What about-- I mean, I can't do this alone, you know! I need you! Can't you just skip it?"

She started to walk away backwards, shrugging her shoulders. "Nothing I can do. Tell me how it goes during biology."

I tried to protest some more, but she waved me off and started for her next class.

I cursed under my breath and walked to my next class as well. I was too preoccupied worrying about what I would say to Aaron during lunch that I forgot that I shared Japanese with Mason, his best friend. It was too late, however, and I found myself walking into the classroom just as the bell rang. I did my best not to look over at him but my curiosity won over. Before I could help myself, I was staring straight at him, and in no circumstance did he look happy to see me. He looked downright pissed.

I was too afraid to even hold eye contact with him anymore, so I quickly turned my vision to the ground and walked to my seat. As class went on, I could almost feel him glaring holes into the side of my head. It took all the will power I had not to look over at him.

Just as I thought the intense glare-fest would be somehow manageable, I saw him get up from his seat.

"Sensei," he called, "I need to use the bathroom."

"In Japanese!" Ms. Morihara yelled.

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Can I go?"

She sighed and then nodded. I let out a sigh of relief now that I'd get a break from the daggers he was shooting me. It was short-lived, however, because as he walked by my desk he discretely slipped a note onto my desk. I looked up at him but was only met by the back of his head as he left the room.

Part of me told myself to throw it away, but naturally, the inquisitive side of my being took over. I opened the note as secretively as I could and read:

Get out of class. Say you aren't feeling well. Meet me in room 104, nobody will be there. You'd better show up. -Mason

Immediately, I was filled with a sense of dread. What could he possibly want? Would he beat me up? I shuddered at the possibility, though I knew that it was highly unlikely. But still, nothing waiting for me in that classroom had to be any good. So I have no idea why I did what I did next.

"Excuse me, Sensei," I said, raising my hand. "I'm not feeling well. May I go to the nurse's office?"

She groaned in an almost comical way. "Have I taught none of you anything? Say it in Japanese!"

I gave her a questioning look. She sighed once again and then nodded.

I thanked her and quickly headed out the door. I checked the note again and wandered around until I found the room he wrote about. It wasn't too far away, so I had no problem finding it. Worried a hall monitor would spot me, I quickly opened the door and slipped inside. I had a hard time adjusting to the dark room so I reached for the light switch.

"Don't turn the lights on," a voice said sharply, deeply startling me.

I looked to the back of the room and had to squint real hard to even see the dark blob standing there.

"Mason?" I asked.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he said harshly, advancing towards me in just a few steps.

Being in a dark room with a particularly angry boy who was obviously none too pleased to see me me, I was, needless to say, scared shit-less.

"U-um, what?" I asked.

He stepped even closer now. "You know what," he growled. "What you did to Aaron was an asshole move."

I inched backwards until I was up against the door.

I stuttered, "W-well, I was just.... I didn't mean to do--"

"Didn't mean to?" he almost yelled. "Didn't mean to? You broke it off with him for God know's what, probably something stupid, and you don't even have the decency to face him, or even call him or text him or anything. Do you know how fucked up he's been this past week? Or do you even care? What-- were you just using him? Stringing him along? 'Cause if you were, then you did a damn well job in screwing him up. You're the sleaziest person I could think of. Scum. I should kick your ass right here."

I couldn't help it; being in the dark room with Mason (at least I think it was him) screaming at me, and even threatening to beat me up was too much.

"P-please don't h-hurt me or anything. I-I didn't mean to do that to him, I was j-just..." And then the rest was a jumble of whimpers that even I couldn't understand. I shrunk to the floor and started to sob like... well, a baby.

"Jesus, you cry a lot," he sighed. "Look, I wasn't really gonna hurt you. Hell, if I did, you'd probably sick your brother on me. But, I'm just... just pissed at you, a little bit. Just please quit bawling already."

I nodded and tried to speak again, but only ended up sniffling and hiccuping.

"God damn it," Mason groaned. He then knelt down till he was in front of me. I winced when I felt his hand on my arm, but when I looked up at him, he was offering his sleeve to me.

"W-w-what?" I stuttered.

"Hurry, wipe your face," he said, obviously irritated.

"That's r-really unsanitary," I muttered.

I all of a sudden felt his hand smothering me and I began to struggle. It wasn't until I realized that he was only (roughly) wiping my face that I began to calm down. When he was done, he pulled off his sweater and tossed it to the side.

My eyes widened, because I was suddenly able to see more of Mason than I ever had. I could literally feel my cheeks burning as I stared at the bit of stomach I could see as his shirt rode up. I would never in a million years admit this to anyone, but I remember having a small crush on him back in the seventh grade, when my hormones were just beginning to run rampant. He was just so beautiful to me, and I would sometimes find myself admiring him from afar. Even now, I had to admit that he still appealed to me somewhat.

But what I realized was that there was someone even more important to me. Someone who I had only just started to know that had more of a hold on me than anyone ever did. Someone who captivated me beyond sexual desires. And I just screwed it all up because of I was afraid.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked warily, probably wondering why I was staring blankly at him.

"I do get what you're saying," I began. "That I kind of screwed things up with Aaron."

He snorted. "You think?"

I gave him an annoyed look.

"But," I continued, "I really did try to patch things up with him earlier this morning...."

"And how did that go?" he asked.

"Not so well, actually.... I tried to speak to him after class, but he just took off running. I'm starting to think that maybe he's gotten over me," I said wistfully.

Mason stared at me disbelievingly. "You're shitting me, right? He's been hounding me about you all week. This whole time, all he ever talked about was Riley Riley Riley. If anything, he thinks you're the one who got tired of him."

I was filled with such elation at hearing that Aaron cared so deeply about me, as well as an equal amount of regret for being the cause of all that pain. And I knew I had only one way to make it up to him.

"I have to talk to him," I stated firmly.

"Did our little child prodigy come up with that all on his own?"

I dismissed his sarcasm and continued. "He won't talk to me himself, so I'm going to need your help on this one."

He grinned. "Let's hear it."

"What the hell?" I heard Aaron say from across the room, as Mason led him in. The lights were off, and I was hiding in the shadows all the way in the back of the room. Because, let's face it, he probably wouldn't have wanted to talk to me if he'd known I'd be here.

"Just... shut up," Mason said. He closed the door quietly behind him and locked it.

Aaron raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Um... dude, are you thinking about confessing your love to me here? Because I'm pretty sure we cleared it up that you were straight. Plus, this is just tacky."

"You wish you were so lucky," Mason grinned slyly, which he followed with, "Come on out, Butterfingers!"

I silently cursed him as I emerged from the shadows. As I walked towards them, I tripped over the leg of a desk that I swore did not exist seconds before. Naturally, I went sprawling forward and into Aaron.

Mason laughed, while Aaron looked, well... terrified.

"Uh, h-hey there," I sputtered. I tried to look more dignified, but the blow to my ego was definitely dealt. And Mason snickering in the background did nothing to help.

"Riley? What are you-- What's going on?" Aaron asked. He whirled between glaring at Mason and then cautiously looking back at me.

"Just thought it was about time you lovebirds quit your bitching and make up is all," Mason replied. After Aaron glared at him some more, he quickly added, "It was all Riley's idea actually" before stepping aside.

Aaron focused his attention on me, and with a questioning look, asked, "This was really... your idea?"

I nodded, and tried to give as comforting a smile as I could. "Yeah. I just.... I think this conversation is long past due."

I saw Aaron visibly gulp and his expression turned solemn. "I get it."

"You... do?" I asked, more confused than ever.

"Yeah," he sighed, "You want to break up with me."

I think the expression on Mason's face was as startled as mine was. Before I could even explain, I was all of a sudden pinned against the class chalkboard with a baneful Mason glaring menacingly at me.

"You little twerp," he spat, "You told me you were going to make up with him! I should pound the shit--"

Just as I was preparing myself to take a hit from him, Aaron grabbed Mason's arm, whirled him around, and socked him right in the side of the face. Mason was sent reeling backwards with Aaron standing in front of me with his hands balled up.

"You don't touch him ever," Aaron growled.

A part of me was dumbstruck that he actually hit his best friend just to protect me. I didn't know if I was turned on or terrified. Probably some abstract mixture of both.

Mason nursed his cheek and gave Aaron a bewildered look. "He told me he was going to make up with you, not bring you here just to break up with you! He's a manipulating little fuck!"

Aaron took a step towards him. "What the hell did you just say, you--"

I pushed past Aaron to stand between them. "Cut it out! Both of you!" I shouted. "I wasn't manipulating anyone, so would you guys just let me speak?"

They both looked heated up, but thankfully remained silent, which was my chance to continue.

I turned to Aaron and slowly brought my hand up to rest on his arm. "I didn't bring you here to break up with you, honest. I actually... um, I just... I really like you-- love you, in fact. I don't want to break up. But back then, I was just really overwhelmed. Like, in just a day after we started going out, it seemed that everyone I knew was finding out about us. And I just didn't know how to deal with it. Because if my family found out, I'd be so screwed, and I just... panicked, I guess. But with a week to myself, I started to realize all that didn't matter. Well, it did... but it was insignificant in comparison, because no one's ever made me feel the way you do. And I just... it just took me a while to realize that. So... there you go."

I let out a long breath after my lengthy confession, and I warily looked up at him, wondering if he'd possibly forgive me for behaving so stupidly. But all I could make out of his expression was... confusion.

"So... you don't want to break up with me?" he asked, kind of naively.

"No," I said, exasperated. "Did you not hear a word I just said?"

He slowly shook his head. "Not really. You talk too fast. But, wait-- You don't want to break up?"

"Are you serious? I just said-- Ugh, no, I do NOT want to break up with you. I--"

But before I could finish my sentence Aaron was pushing me back into the dusty chalkboard with a passionate kiss. He was, more or less, attacking my mouth with his. He bit, licked, and sucked on my lips, until I finally gave way and parted them. He wasted no time in slipping his tongue inside my mouth. The tingling sensation he caused with the swirling of his tongue was indescribable.

His hand gripped the back of my head tightly, while his other hand lovingly caressed my cheek. He was an insane mixture of gentle and fiery in his actions.

Deciding not to let him do all the work, I brought my hands around him and rested them on his back. I rubbed up and down, (awkwardly) trying to be sensual, while also trying to communicate how totally fine I was with this.

We continued our kissing until we both realized someone was trying to get our attention.

"Ahem," Mason coughed out, "Now if you two are done tongue-fucking, could someone please tell me what the hell is going on? Are you guys together again, or what?"

I blushed deeply at how lewdly Mason described it. "I-I suppose," I said.

I looked at Aaron for confirmation, and he smiled and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

Mason let out a long sigh of relief. "Well, uh, okay then. Now that my work here is done, I'd like to put some fucking ice on this damn cheek."

I gasped as I realized just how big the bruise on Mason's face was. "Oh, my god. You okay? Are you sure you can get there alright? Do you need any help?"

He stared at me for a second before bursting into laughter again. "Jesus," he chuckled, "It's no big deal. Just a quick run to the nurse's office will do just fine."

Aaron looked guilty, and probably felt just as horrible as he appeared. "I'm really sorry, dude. I didn't mean to hit you that hard. I'll make it up to you, I promise. I'll--"

Mason waved him off. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I get even in my own way."

He winked at Aaron, who looked a little worried over what that threat meant, and then slipped through the door with a parting wave.

"God. I wonder what he has in store," Aaron whispered.

"Who knows," I shrugged. "There's about ten minutes left for lunch, though. Want to grab something to eat?"

"Um, just a second," Aaron said, holding onto my shoulder.

I gave him a puzzled look. "What is it?"

"I... uh, I never really asked you properly before, but um... would you... um, shit.... Would you, uh, like to be my... boyfriend?"

He was staring at the ground while nervously picking at the side of his jeans with both hands. He looked absolutely adorable.

I grinned. "I thought that went without saying, but, just because you asked so kindly.... Yes. I would definitely like to be your boyfriend." The word 'boyfriend' made me giddy beyond belief, but I tried to conceal it as best I could. I failed miserably, as I could feel the grin stretching across my face.

He gave me a goofy smile right back. "Well, okay then, booooooyfrieeend."

I laughed and then leaned up to him to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'm starving. You still want to grab lunch?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Sure, I guess."

I cackled deviously, "Best get a move on, 'cause the last one there has to explain to Isabella what just happened." And with that I raced through the door and down the hallway, with a protesting Aaron right behind me.

So........... yeah, there's my chapter that's probably way too overdue, lol.

But yeah, e-mail me some ideas, constructive criticism, or questions if you have some, or just if you want to say hi! They really do make my day!

Oh, and Merry Christmas! :)