I took deep breaths to calm myself down.

It had been an hour since that thing with Aaron.

Had he said...had he really said that?

It had blown my mind. How was it possible? I still couldn't get over the fact that he liked me back. I was, for lack of better words, ecstatic.

After a while, I decided to go downstairs and see what Aaron was upto.

As I neared the stairs, someone called me."Ashy?"

I got startled and very nearly fell down the stairs.However, I managed to balance myself on time.

"Hey easy there, Ashy bear," he grinned."Wow,that rhymed.I'm a freaking poet, man."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but smile at him.

"You almost killed me, you know that?" I glared playfully at him.

" I did?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yes," I replied, trying to look tough.

"You sure?" he asked, taking a step towards me.

I nodded."Yep,"trying to control my breathing.

"Guys! Go and get ready real fast, we're going for dinner," Amanda suddenly appeared and just like thay she disappeared.

Aaron sighed."She always has to interrupt, doesn't she?" he muttered under his breath.

I chuckled. "Let's go get ready."

"See you in a while," he said, flashing me a cute smile that showed his dimples and went to his room.

Still smiling like a fool, I went inside my room.

I decided to wear jeans and a plaid shirt with a white tank top underneath, so I could leave the buttons open.

Just as I was about to put on the plaid shirt on, the door opened. Startled I dropped the shirt from my hands, leaving me only in my tank top.

"Aaron!" I screeched. I knew I wasn't naked, but it felt weird all the same.

"You have clothes on," he pointed out.

"Yeah but I'm not ready yet! You weren't supposed to-What are you doing? Get out!" I squealed as he came towards me.

"You jer-"

He put his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

"Aaron, what are you doing?" I whispered .

"For once, can you shut up?" he said, faking a frown.

"You little-"

But I never got to finish the sentence as he removed one hand from my waist and slammed it over my mouth.

"There, you look so much cuter when you're quiet."

My cheeks reddened when he called me cute.

"Shut up!" I struggled to say but it was muffled by his hand.

I brought one of my hands up to smack his but he caught it in his and intertwined our fingers with the hand that was previously over my mouth, the other still holding me to him.

"Aaron-"

He chuckled and flicked my nose with his finger.

"Hey!" I protested.

He laughed."We should get going," he said but made no effort to let go of my hand.

"Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"I still need to get ready, you know."

He laughed. "Go ahead," he said, freeing my hand.

I waited for him to leave.

"Well?"

"What?"

I pointed towards the door.

He raised an eyebrow."Does it make a difference? "

"Yes, it does," I nodded.

"Not going to go then," he smirked and plopped himself down on my bed.

"Aaron!" I hissed.

He threw his head back, laughing. "You get riled up so easily."

He got up then."See you in a while, Ashy," he winked before leaving and closing the door behind him.

I pulled on the shirt and was just doing my hair when the door opened slightly with Aaron looking at me mischievously.

"Aaron!" I squealed, throwing the first thing I could find at him.

"I'm going!" he laughed and closed the door.

I chuckled and looked into the mirror.

I don't think I'd ever been this happy.

***

Dinner was good. The food was great, most importantly. Aaron had sat opposite to me and we'd been kicking each other's legs under the table, almost knocking the things off the table once.

Amanda's mother had left and although she seemed to be missing her mother, she was doing well.

"Ashley!" A familiar voice called me as I was heading towards my locker.

"Trent!" I smiled when I saw him.

"I've missed you, Ash," he said ruffling my hair as he pulled me into a hug.

"I've missed you too," I answered truthfully, hugging him back realising that we hadn't been spending much time together lately.

"How have you been?" I asked as we pulled away.

"Alright, I guess . I've been studying a lot lately so there's that," he said and it was then that I noticed dark circles under his eyes.

"Trent, are you okay?" I asked, guilt washing over me for not taking care of my best friend.

He nodded but I knew it wasn't the truth.

"Let's go to the cafeteria. I'll pay."

When I said I'd pay, I hadn't meant I'd buy the whole cafeteria.

Trent however, had misinterpreted my words and had bought everything and anything he could find, which was not really something he would do. I guess he was just too hungry.

"Wow, is it my birthday?"someone gasped behind me.

I rolled my eyes."You're such a drama queen," I said, thinking out loud.

"You know you love it," Aaron winked, sitting down next to me.

For some reason, a simple wink had me blushing.

"You okay there?" Aaron asked with a smirk, knowing I was blushing because of him.

"Yeah," I ground out, resisting the urge to kick him.

His lips twitched upwards in a cute boyish smirk making me smile.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Trent asked.

Crap, I'd forgotten to tell him.

"What?" I asked innocently while Aaron stuffed his face with some fries."Hey,those are mine," I said, smacking his hand.

"You guys are weird." Trent stated and I nodded in agreement.

"Anyways? how's your mom,Trent?" I asked after a while.

It'd been quite some time since I'd last seen her and to be honest, I missed her.She was just like a mother to me.

"Oh,she's great . She misses you."

"I miss her too. Can I drop by today?",I asked.

"Yeah, perfect," he replied. "You can come too, Aaron," he added.

"Come where?" Cole asked, appearing with Elena.

Elena had started sitting with us at lunch and honestly it felt like we'd been friends with her since forever.

"To my house. You guys can come too.The only thing is, I'll have to warn my mother about getting the kitchen stripped of food today," he said jokingly.

We all laughed. Elena and Cole sat down. By the time they came, half of the food was finished so they weren't that surprised.

Within the next ten minutes there was nothing left on table.

"Thanks Ash,I really was hungry," Trent gave me a lopsided grin.

I rolled my eyes but returned the smile.There was nothing I wanted more than for him to be happy.

I glanced at my watch then"I've gotta get to class. See you guys later," I said, getting up and leaving the cafeteria.

As I headed towards the classroom, I felt an arm wrap itself around my shoulder.

I smiled."What class do you have now?"

"Uh,Biology.You?" Aaron asked, looking at me with his hazel eyes.

"Me too."

His face lightened up."Yay!" he said with enthusiasm, making me laugh.

"Ashy?" he said as we reached the class.

"Yeah?" I looked up to see him staring at me intently.

"You..." he trailed off softly.

"What?" I asked.

"You ..."

I pulled my eyebrows together. What could he possibly want to say?

"I what , Aaron?"

"Are you sure you wanna hear this?" he asked, making me nervous all of a sudden.

This was the moment when he would say that he was kidding when he said he liked me.I knew it. It was too good to be true. This had to be it.

I nodded slowly.

"You have ketchup on your face," he finished.

I guess some things never change.

***