"Ashley?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of me?"

I snapped my head to him."What?"

"What do you think of me?" Aaron repeated, looking at me.

"I-I..Um you're um,um,pretty cool, I guess," I said, suddenly nervous.

What was it with the two of us having awkward conversations these days?

He laughed."Cool?"

I turned my head away from him so he couldn't see my now red cheeks."Yeah."

"No really though,in all seriousness, what do you think of me?"

I refused to look at him.What would I say?

You're the most gorgeous guy I've ever laid my eyes on, except Harry Styles, maybe.

You're also the most amazing person I've ever met and although you annoy the crap out of me at times I can't go a day without thinking about you. Oh and yeah, lately I've been feeling all jittery and shit because of you.

Because-oh,did I forget to mention I have a teeny tiny crush on you?

I was most definitely going to say that.

"Ashley?"

"What?"

"Are you going to answer my question, or..?"

"Sure," I replied absentmindedly, still wondering what to tell him.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said gently.

"No, it's just that I..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

Do I tell him? Do I tell him I like him?Do I brush it off lightly? What do I say?

"You what, Ashley?" he asked, looking eager to hear what I was going to say.

"I....needtogotothetoilet ," I spoke hurriedly and ran to my room upstairs.

As soon as I'm inside the bathroom, I stare at my reflection in the mirror.

My cheeks were flushed, and I was breathless, like I'd ran a marathon instead of the stairs.

"What the fuck was that?" I whisper yelled to myself as the reality of what I'd done sunk in.

Running away when your ultimate crush asks you how they feel about you? Really?

I felt like slapping myself repeatedly.

What the fuck.

I kept chanting these words to myself as I attempted to calm myself down.

A knock at the door shut me up.

"Coming,"I whispered, then, realising that I was the only one who could hear it, I repeated it loudly.

I splashed my face with water and then dried it off with a towel.

Casting one last look in the mirror, I opened the door.

Nobody was around when I entered the room.

Looking down at the jeans and shirt I was wearing, I decided to change into pajamas.

As soon as I started pulling my shirt off, I heard a voice,"Whoa, whoa , whoa!"

When I saw who it was, I screamed. "What the hell are you doing here?Get out!" I yelled at the idiot sitting on my bed, shielding his eyes with his hands.

I looked around for something to throw at him and grabbed the first thing I could find, a book.

Sadly, because of my poor aim, it landed on the bedside table, hitting a glass which fell down on the floor, breaking into tiny pieces.

"Shit! Look what you made me do! Get out right now Aaron or I swear I -"

"Jeez, stop yelling! I'm going, okay? Now shut up!" he exclaimed, covering his ears as he made his way towards the door.

I finally let out a sigh when he'd left the room.

"Oh, by the way? You're totally hot."

I shrieked and was about to throw another one of my precious books at his pretty face when he slammed the door shut.

I could still hear him laughing after the door was closed.

...

When I went downstairs later that evening, I found Amanda and Welma sat at the dining table, two mugs of tea in front of them,chatting away. Amanda looked very happy,you could tell just by looking at her that her mother meant a lot to her.

Immediately I regretted coming downstairs. I felt like I was invading their privacy.

I figured I'd slip back into my room before they noticed . Unfortunately, just as I thought this, Amanda saw me.

"Come join us, Ashley."

Amanda seemed really happy since her mother had come back. I was really happy for her but

what I was afraid of was that she wouldn't be able to stay happy after Welma left.

What I'd been able to gather ever since I came to live with the Woods was that they were lonely. Sure,the two siblings had each other and Joanna,of course. But the absence of the two most important people in their lives had clearly affected their lives and it was really sad.

"Sure," I said, giving them a smile as I went to join them.

They resumed their conversation, and I was too lost thinking about how weird things with Aaron had been to concentrate on what they were saying, let alone talk to them.

I excused myself after a while, when I realised that it was pointless sitting there if I wasn't going to talk to them.

Leaving the two alone, I went to the kitchen first, hoping to find Joanna to keep me company, only to find a sticky note attached to the fridge which said that she'd be back in an hour.

I let out a disappointed sigh.

I went back to my room. As soon as I opened the door to my room though, I found Aaron sitting on my bed, reading the same book I'd thrown at him earlier.

My eyes widened in horror when I realized what it was.

It was my journal from three years ago. I had accidentally packed it along with my books from my house.

"Aaron!" I exclaimed, sprinting towards him.

He started guffawing loudly when he saw me.

"Josh is so cute, I think I might be falling for him," he read out in a high pitched girly voice.

"Aaron, you asshole!" I yelled as I tried to snatch the journal from him.

That only made him laugh harder.

"Aaron please, give it back!"

"Are you kidding me? No way!" he threw his head back as he continued to laugh.

"Today he asked me for a pen and I-" he started reading in the same annoying girly voice when I put my hands over his eyes so he couldn't see.

"Hey,what the hell!" he exclaimed, trying to get my hands off his eyes.

"Give me my journal back and I'll let go," I offered, smirking at how clever I was.

"Sure?" he asked.

"Yes, absolutely. Now be a good boy and-"

Before I could register what was happening, he wrapped one arm around my waist, the other still holding the journal, and flipped us over.

"What the..." I began when I noticed the distance, or lack thereof, between us.

"You were saying?"

"I...I was...." I stuttered, as every sane thought left my body.

"Yes?"

"I..I.."

"You...?"

Before I could say—well, stutter—anything there was a voice, making the both of us freeze.

"Well,well,well, what do we have here?"

***