"So, you've stolen Aaron and Justin from me?"

************

"What?" I questioned because I, myself, wasn't sure I had heard right as I gaped at the blonde girl who stood before me.

She scowled in response, flipping her hair violently over her shoulder and moved closer, until she was in physical reach of me. Her eyes scanned my body up and down, in a scrutinizing manner.

"What does he see in someone like you?" She muttered to herself, but it was loud enough for me to hear and my confusion grew. I opened my mouth to ask what elicited the sudden change in her demeanour, but she cut me off with a scoff; her hands folded across her chest as she spoke.

"Those boys in there, I have history with. I've spent 18 years with one and 12 with the other two, so don't get any fancy ideas, understand?" She spat out her words harshly, waggling her index finger in my face as if I was a child being reprimanded for doing something wrong.

But, I hadn't done anything wrong. Not in the slightest. In fact, if anyone was wrong, it was the women doing the reprimanding.

Breathe, Alexis. Ignore. Just ignore.

Avalon smacked her lips together, before continuing.

"You think you've replaced me, huh? I see what you're doing. You're trying to take both of them away from me. But, it doesn't work that way, honey." Ironically, the way she said 'honey' was anything but sweet. Her words hit me like bricks. She giggled cruelly into her hand before continuing.

"Justin will forgive me. I know him. Much more than you do and I can guarantee he will. Mine and Aaron's current arrangement is temporary. He'll forget about you. A good thing too; if I hear another word about you, I swear I'm gonna hurl." She said venomously, rolling her eyes.

I didn't say anything and she smirked, feeding off the silence. She smirked because she knew she was getting to me. She knew how weak my esteem was and how her words had sent my feeble hopes crashing down to the dark abyss.

Or so she thought

And, after a long stretch of silence, I did the only thing that came to mind.

I laughed.

And, not your regular giggle. No. A loud rumbling laughter left my lips as I held my stomach to hold it in. I could see her glancing at me strangely, a frown replacing the smirk that had been settled there before. I smiled, noticing her back away slightly. But, only slightly. My laughter came to a abrupt halt and I smirked, for now, it was my turn to talk.

I moved towards her, closing the gap that she had meekly attempted to make just seconds ago and folded my arms across my chest, in the same manner that she had done.

"Are you done?" I questioned rhetorically and before she could open her mouth to throw a smart retort, I continued on.

"Avalon, I find it funny. No, hilarious, how you feel threatened by another female presence in their life. I mean, gosh, how weak is your relationship with them?" I giggled at the end, feeling a tad bit more confident when a shocked expression fell across her face. She clearly wasn't expecting that. Well, she was probably not going to expect any of the following because I had more to say. Much more.

I mimicked the hair flip she had done at the beginning of this encounter just to bruise her ego further and continued.

"Besides, the boys aren't property. They belong neither to you or me. I mean, I can't steal something that was never yours, in the first place. And, even if they did belong to you at some point in your life, it was you who chose to hurt them. It was you, not them, that created the distance. And, you have the audacity to blame me for it?" I spoke with an accusatory tone, my voice raising slightly as I finished my rant. I had much more to say, but it wouldn't be worth it. She wouldn't be worth it.

I tutted and, with the snacks, I moved around her, making my way out of the kitchen. But, before I could, Avalon spoke words that stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Wait and watch." She whispered menacingly; a warning in her tone. She had her back to me from where I stood now at the doorway of the kitchen, but I didn't need to see her face to know that she meant it. I could sense that she meant it and I dreaded what was to come.

What was going to happen?

**********

"Bored, are we?" I teased, noticing how Justin's eyes were more on his phone than the TV screen.

He glanced at me quickly from the corner of his eyes, before going back to his phone, his voice deep as he spoke.

"Not fond of the movie." He said bluntly, waving his hand lazily at the TV, without looking up.

We were currently sat on the couch, Justin on my right and Aaron on my left. Avalon was sat on the left of Aaron and Danny was sprawled on the floor near the couch, wrapped in a baby blue blanket. His eyes were glued to the screen and every now and then he would make exaggerated sound effects and remarks about the movie.

Regrettably, I had let Danny pick the movie which had ended with both the other boys looking as though they'd rather gauge out their eyeballs with a teaspoon than be here.

I laughed at Justin's words, before gesturing to the TV.

"You know, Bridget Jones' Diary is actually a remarkable movie. You should give it a chance." I suggested with a shrug, laughing slightly when Mark Darcy landed a clean punch to Daniel Cleaver's face.

Justin turned to me fully, putting his phone away. He raised a dark eyebrow as he spoke

"Alexis, Danny's watched it every year, since he was 10. This is my 9th time watching this movie." He drawled, glaring at the back of Danny's head as if doing so would make it spontaneously combust into flames.

I nudged Justin with my elbow to which he eyed in discomfort. He was still not completely comfortable with physical contact. Nevertheless, he didn't glare at me whenever I opened my mouth, like he used to do, which could potentially be called progress.

"So, you watch it every year too, then?" I teased him yet again, poking his chest to annoy him.

He smiled slightly, his grey eyes glimmering with light. Too engrossed in his eyes, I didn't notice him suddenly grab the finger that was poking his chest, his gaze falling on me. He shook his head gently.

"No, I don't watch it." He said, simply.

I smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"So, what do you do when this annual rom-com fest breaks out, huh?" I questioned jokingly.

He replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"What I'm doing right now," he responded with another simple sentence.

I kept my answer just as simple.

"And, what is it, you're doing right now?" I questioned to which he shrugged yet again, the warmth of his hand still resting on my finger.

"Enduring." He said firmly and, before I could answer, a voice spoke, taking our attention.

"Aaron, I asked you a question!" Avalon spoke exasperatedly, waving a red-nail painted hand in front of Aaron's face. It was then I turned to the male in question to see him looking straight at me. Well, rather at my finger that was nestled in Justin's hand. His eyebrows were furrowed, whether it was in anger or confusion, I wasn't sure. Instinctively, I moved my finger away abruptly. I didn't know why I did. It was out of habit.

I was so habituated to the feel of Aaron and only him that I couldn't tolerate it never being him.

Keyword being was.

He had made his decision loud and clear when he accepted Avalon. Whatever feelings I assumed he had for me were unequivocally wiped out when he smiled the way he did when saying her name. The fluttering in my heart had died down the moment he clenched his eyes in despair when she cried. I was essentially just an obstacle now and I hated it. But, that was reality and I accepted it.

I did still love him, irrefutably, that I could not deny. The blood that coursed through my veins, flowed for him, without a doubt. And, my brain was saturated with thoughts and memories of him. The first meeting; the first kiss; the serious conversations; the first date, even the fights. My entire soul was consumed by his presence, that I could not help.

But, I could learn to heal. To better myself from the mistakes I have made. That, I could do.

And, with that, I turned away from his gaze, only to be met with Danny dancing to the 'Raining Men' scene, with his exaggerated form of the sprinkler.

Probably, the lesser of two evils.

*********

"A little to the left. It's tilted," Aaron said, motioning with his hand to the left.

I moved the large portrait slightly to the left which had just, minutes ago, been knocked over by Danny's sprinkler. It was a large portrait of Sam that hung on a high area of the wall. I chuckled slightly at Danny who sat in the corner of the room, the pout still on his face from being scolded by Aaron and Justin. His arms were folded across his chest and every now and then he would whimper loudly to get the boys attention, but to no avail. They continued their present ministrations of telling Avalon and I if the portrait was straight or not.

Aaron had explained how the very large portrait was here since they moved in and was placed on with the help of 2 men and a ladder. Presently, Avalon and I were stood on a tall drawer that was, previously, on the other side of the room to help put the portrait up. The drawer was ancient wood, so the boys opted us girls to do the job, seeing as we were 'as light as a feather' was how they put it.

Now, however, I could see where they were coming from as the wood creaked from under us. I disregarded this and continued to move the portrait back onto the nails to which it had previously clung to.

"Is here fine?" Avalon asked, looking towards Aaron to which he shook his head.

"It needs to be a little bit to the left." He said yet again and I groaned, the weight of the portrait making my arms ache. Justin stood beside him, glancing every now and then to Danny to give him the 'infamous glare' to which Danny would seemingly sink into the wooden floor.

After an aching 3 more minutes, the boys were happy with the positioning of the portrait and I rubbed my arms in discomfort.

The boys became engrossed in conversation and Avalon turned to me with a vicious smile.

"We would have done it quicker, if you weren't trying to think of other ways to climb the social ladder." And, with that, she moved to get off the drawer, her wedges stomping heavily across the large wooden drawer.

A regrettable action on her part as the wood, suddenly, gave out under her foot and she lost her balance, falling backwards to the wooden ground.

But, not before taking me with her.

Her nails dug into my forearm and I was pulled back to. I expected to feel the ground underneath me. I expected to feel a little pain. My eyes were clenched shut, awaiting the hard impact. What I did not expect, however, was a soft landing into a warm embrace. I did not expect that at all.

Only then did I process that I was in someone's arms and not on the floor. I opened my eyes slowly to come face to face with him.

Aaron.

He held me tightly, concern evident in his sea-blue eyes. Moments passed before he spoke.

"How do you manage to make my heart stop beating every time, Lexi?" He whispered, so that only I could hear and my heart fluttered at his words. I quickly dismissed the feeling and was about to answer but was interrupted by Danny sniggering.

I turned to see Avalon on the ground, rubbing her elbow, which was now slightly red. She turned to look at Aaron and I, a venomous glare in her eyes.

"No, I'm fine, thanks for asking!" she spat, before getting up and running into the bathroom, probably expecting Aaron to follow suit/

And, as soon as she left, Danny's sniggering became full blown laughter. He stood up from the corner he was so diligently sat in and slapped his knee exaggeratedly as he laughed. Too engrossed in his laughter, he didn't notice Justin stalking over to him, until he received a whip-like slap to the side of his head to which he replied with a squeal. Justin's tired eyes stared blankly ahead as he spoke.

"You wanna carry on being a waste of space or help me take the drawer back?"

Danny seemed as though he was about to refuse, but faltered under the scorching heat of Justin's glare. And, with that, they both were occupied with moving the drawer.

Only then did I notice I was still in Aaron's arms. I looked up to see his gaze had never left me. His breath fanned my face and I stared in awe at how gorgeous he was. I loved him, that was for definite. Aaron moved his hand towards my face and caressed my face with his hand.

"Promise you'll only look at me this way."

___________________________________________

.