It Started with a Kiss

Chapter 3

I sat in the canteen with Sarah and the other girls, my eyes scanning the crowd around me for one last time. Why did Saturday night have to end? Seriously, perfect didn't even come close to describing it. It was a night that would probably haunt my dreams for the next decade or so. Not that I'd tell anyone that. I'd rather die. There he was, in his usual spot, right in my line of sight, but I tried to ignore that fact, although ignoring anything to do with Aaron was certainly something I wasn't used to.

"Hello, earth the Tara!" Sarah cried, waving a hand in front of me. I just smiled back turning my full attention to her. I had to move the hell on, it was one time. One mind blowing, amazing time, but still, I needed to get over myself.

"I can't believe it's the last week before Christmas!" she said, tucking into the sandwich that she just bought from the school canteen.

"I can, the student council have been going crazy for the last month or so, trying to get all the events set up," I grumbled, stabbing the pasta dish in front of me with my plastic fork.

"Well, my point still stands. I haven't even gotten half my presents for people yet!"

"What are late opening hours for? We'll go to the mall on Friday and finish your Christmas shopping." I told her, trying to calm my easily excitable friend down a bit. "We haven't actually had a girl's day out in a while now, what with you and lover boy," I teased, a smirk on my face as she blushed and looked down, suddenly concentrating on her hands.

"I'm sorry, it's just... it's difficult trying to balance everything, ya know?" she explained, knotting her fingers together, like she did anytime she felt guilty.

"It's perfectly fine, I'm really happy for you. Anyone with eyes can see you two are perfect for one another," I told her honestly.

"It's still not right to be abandoning you."

"It's fine, I'm a big girl, you know..." I trailed off, suddenly finding myself looking at the last person I should've been and how he had started to look this way. How did that even happen? I needed to take control of myself, I was no longer that lovesick puppy that swooned the minute he looked at me. Well, I shouldn't have been anyway. I needed to focus on Sarah, yes Sarah, my best friend whose hair colour was just a shade or two lighter than his... And I needed to stop making bloody comparisons already!  He and I were one night, one night only. It was finished, never gonna happen again. Why couldn't I get that through my thick skull?

"I'm sorry Sarah, I just seem to keep zoning out," I said as soon as I turned to her. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I had got to get my act together.

"You do tend to do that a lot these days," she commented, while I looked away, ashamed that my pathetic tendencies were easy to spot.

"Would you swap seats with me?" I asked, suddenly finding an answer to at least one of my problems. It'd be more difficult to look at him if he was behind me, right? Sarah looked at me shocked, actually the whole table did. You know one of those moments where there is complete silence because everyone is trying to take their jaws up off the floor? Well it was just like that. But possibly a little more awkward.