"Pick, Aaron. Avalon or Alexis?"

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

As soon as Danny's words had been processed, in my head, I spontaneously began choking on the air, making me tear up. I glared at Danny through the tears in my eyes, but he seemed either ignorant or oblivious to the drama and awkwardness that he had created.

I tried to hold back the cough, but this only worsened the cough, and a hag-like choking sound escaped my lips. Suddenly, I felt a warm hand, patting me on the back to relieve the cough.

Wait, not hand. Hands.

There were 2 hands on my back and I looked up to see both Aaron and Justin with their hand on my back and a look of concern, in their eyes. They, then, both seemed to realise that the other was also mirroring their actions and moved their hands away quickly as if I was a hot lump of coal that just burnt their fingers.

"Come on, Aaron. What's your answer?" Avalon spoke, a hint of smugness in her tone. She glanced at me from the corner of her eye, smirking slightly and it took everything in me to not use the glass bottle to crack her thick skull open.

Wow, Alexis. You need to stop hanging out with these boys because you're starting to sound like them.

I shook my head at my thoughts. I had always harboured the ideology that one must give love and respect in order to attain love and respect. How could I respect a girl who saw these boys as merely a prize? She didn't deserve my kindness. She didn't Aaron's kindness either, but that wasn't for me to decide.

Aaron shifted, uncomfortably, before looking at the two of us.

"Well, I-." He began but before he could, a voice interrupted him.

"This game is boring." Justin said bluntly, before standing up and glaring at Danny. He walked over to Aaron, pulled him up and they both left the room.

I sighed in relief, glad he didn't answer the question.

Was I relieved?

A part of me felt uneasy and anxious to know what his response would have been. Maybe, a part of me hoped he would have picked me. I shook my head, an action I seemed to be doing too much recently.

It was wrong to gather any hope that Aaron would have picked me over Avalon. We were both his friends, in his eyes, so he probably would have avoided the question. I thought back to when Avalon hadn't been, in our lives

I watched in anxiousness as he regained his voice and spoke again.

"Well, I didn't have an answer then, but now I do." He said, looking down at me. I bit my lip and turned away. I was too mortified to look into his eyes. I considered running away from him, but immediately disregarded the thought when he pulled my face up to look at him.

"My answer is that I-"

I groaned in frustration. What was he going to say that day, before Avalon came? I had thought about that event multiple times after, each with a different scenario, which varied from him declaring his love for me whilst sweeping me off my feet and riding into the sunset on a white stallion or him rejecting me, laughing in my face before riding off with Avalon, on a white stallion.

Yet, all I attained from those thoughts was an overwhelming feeling of confusion and a realisation that my love for white stallions was bordering unhealthy.

At times like this, I wish I had a female friend with whom I could share these troubles and they could help me overcome them. We would gossip about boys and have girly inside secrets that only we would know. This could never have happened for I hadn't ever been close to a girl in such a manner.

Seeing Avalon though, I think I'll pass the female friendship fantasies

I sighed heavily, before getting off the floor and making my way to the kitchen where Danny was stood. I stood closer and put a hand to his arm.

"Hey, where have Justin and Aaron gone?" I asked, looking around. I regretted the question as soon as I asked it as Danny turned to me, a big pout on his face.

"They're playing video games. They always do this." He whined exaggeratedly and I had to hold in a laugh. And, here I was, thinking Aaron was the biggest manchild I met.

I patted his back to comfort him, a slight smile on my face as I did. Before getting to know him, I thought he was the a muscled pig-headed player with no regards for anyone's feelings. Seeing him here, however, shows that a book should not be judged solely by it's cover. Danny was much more than meets the eye. He cared a lot about his friends. I stared up at him in admiration as I spoke.

"Hey, why don't you go join them? I'm sure, they could use a skilled player such as yourself." I encouraged him, hoping he would forget about his sadness when he played along with the boys.

He shrugged his shoulders, before moving closer to me.

"Well, I don't really like the shooting games they play. They scare me." He whispered, a scared look in his eye and I had to resist the urge of cradling him.

I rubbed my chin as I thought, before clicking my finger.

"Well, why don't you compromise? Pick a game that you all like. Tell me, Danny, what game do you like?" I questioned curiously.

Danny scrunched his eyes shut tightly, a look of excruciating pain on his face. I knew him well enough now to know that was his thinking face. This went on for a while longer, until his eyes lit up and he clapped his hands together as if a 'eureka!' moment had just occured, inside his head.

"I guess, I like sport-based games like FIFA. God, I love football." He said with a dreamy sigh as if he was talking about the love of his life.

I raised an eyebrow, nudging him, teasingly, with an elbow.

"I didn't know you played football?" I asked, surprised. There was so much things I still didn't know about the boys. I still had so much to learn about them. I sighed sadly.

I bet Avalon already knows all this stuff. I mean, she was there when it happened.

Danny popped his collar in a cocky manner before flexing his arms subtly.

And, in Danny's case, meaning not subtly at all.

"Yeah, I played American football too. Well, until I was kicked off the team." He said pouting yet again as he folded his arms crossly over his chest, making his pecs look more noticeable.

I raised an eyebrow yet again.

"And, why were you kicked off?" I asked, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge before bringing it to my lips.

Danny scowled before speaking.

"I got handsy with the wrong cheereader. Turns out, she was the coaches' daughter. But, I swear I didn't know that! It's not fair!" He sqeauled, frowning.

Oh wow...

"Hey, forget about it. Let's go to Aaron and Justin." I said in a means to comfort him. I guided him with his arm towards the room in which they were sat in.

I made my way in and sat down on a sofa next to the boys who were, currently, sat on the bed. Avalon was nowhere to be seen. I ignored my thoughts about her and looked at the boys. I watched in admiration as they so effortlessly shot down the 'infected' soldiers, laughing as they did so.

I turned to look at Danny first who was screaming orders to them like 'duck' and 'shoot'. I laughed as he covered his eyes whenever any one of them would shoot. He really wasn't kidding about being scared of these games.

My gaze then fell on Justin. His body remained completely still, his grey eyes fixated on the screen, with the only movement being his hands on the console. Other than that, he was his usual lifeless self. I smiled when both him and Aaron 'cleared' the area and high-fived each other.

Lastly, I turned my gaze on Aaron. He had a dazzling smile on his face. I could tell he was competitive, that much I could make out from the glint in his eyes. I listened as he directed Justin where to move; he chewed gum as he played.

All these boys. They were here as a team, with or without Avalon and I. This made me smile and I prayed to God that no girl would ever create a rift, in this beautiful friendship.

I was just about to get comfortable when I heard my name being called from outside the room.

A female's voice yet again.

I excused myself and left to go to where the voice was coming from to see Avalon stood in the middle of the room, a lollipop in her mouth. She removed the lollipop from her mouth before speaking.

"We seriously need to talk, Alexis."

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