Ch. 14 - Friends Who Occasionally Go On Dates

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Aiden has been coming over to the apartment a lot recently, since he said the guys don't really want me around the house right now. I guess the whole incident of me sleeping over that one night really got Aiden into trouble. There's rules about the secrecy of their fraternity, and he technically broke one by having me stay the night.

And little do they even know, I saw the whole thing.

When we're not at my apartment, we're hanging out at the West Wing. We'll go and talk for hours, just about the silliest things. I share my embarrassing first kiss story, the time I threw up while giving a speech in high school, when I got my braces stuck on my crush's shirt in sixth grade. He shares his hookup disasters, his dorky middle school pictures (yes, he wasn't always this attractive), the time he wiped out on a surf board in front of Jessica Alba in Hawaii.

He'll share about his dad, his mom, and the love that they had for each other. Those conversations are more serious. I can tell how much he admired his parents and their relationship. It's what he wants, and why he waited so long to go on a date.

He always makes me feel so special, when I know I'm nothing worthy of that title.

"What's your family like, Brooklyn?" he asks.

It's a chilly Wednesday, and I'm bundled in his jacket that he wrapped around my shoulders.

"Oh, hm," I laugh uncomfortably. "There's not much to say there. I feel like I have the most average family in the world."

"Tell me about them." His genuine curiosity about my life is so attractive.

"Okay, well, there's me, my mom, my dad, my older sister, Olivia, who is married and moved out of the house, and my younger brothers, Greg and Tommy, who are still in high school and think I'm totally uncool." I smile. "See, literally the most basic family, ever."

"Can I see a picture?"

"Sure," I say and pull out my phone to find one of our awkward family-photos. "Here." I point out who is who in the photo. "Don't be fooled. We may be smiling here but we actually wanted to kill each other on our road trip."

"What are your siblings like?"

"So, my sister is the perfect child, went to med-school, met a nurse who is now her husband. They have a new born baby." I try to find a picture of their baby, Bentley, on my phone. I share my screen with Aiden.

"And your brothers?"

"They're too cool for me," I say. "They're twins, seniors in high school. Tommy is a basketball star and Greg plays baseball."

"Ah, I also played baseball," he says. "I'll have to talk to him about it."

I get distracted imagining Aiden in a baseball uniform.

He clears his throat and runs a hand through his hair. "So, uh, I kind of slipped up a few days ago."

"Yeah?" I raise my eyebrows. "What'd ya do?"

"I was talking to my mom on the phone and accidentally mentioned you," he says and a soft smile falls on his face. "It was a really big mistake because now she won't stop pestering me about you."

"Oh no," I say, holding back a laugh.

"She doesn't really get the whole casual dating scene these days."

"Fair enough," I agree. "I don't think I'd tell my parents we met on Tinder."

"Hm, that's understandable. We should come up with a story of how we met." He bumps me with his shoulder. "Luckily, we've got a writer here."

I place my hand under my chin. "Let me think. It's got to be believable." There's no way my family would believe Aiden is friends with Joe or Sophie in any capacity.

"We met at a bar? I came up to you because you were not like most girls and were reading a book in the corner of the bar?"

I let out a dorky laugh. "Right, that's totally believable!"

He smiles. "I wouldn't put that past you, Brook."

"We can say we met at a bar," I decide. "But I was not reading a book. You were impressed by my dancing skills."

"Can you even dance?"

I scoff. "Can I even dance? I am amazing. You saw some of my moves at your formal."

"Okay then. I came up to you because you were a great dancer, so I invited you to my formal to embarrass everyone else on the dance floor," he says.

"Amazing! What a love story!"

He laughs and scratches his jawline where some light stubble is growing in. "So," he pauses, "my mom is really mad that I haven't asked you to be my girlfriend yet."

"Is she?"

He nods. "Yeah. I guess I was kind of gushing over you a little bit," he admits sheepishly. "You're just one of the coolest people I've ever met."

"Really? I feel like I'm not cool at all."

"Nah, you are dope," he says. "You're like super chill and a little dorky and also just so naturally beautiful. You're so..." He tries to find the right wording as he makes deep eye contact with me, "intoxicating."

That was, like everything Aiden does, hot.

He continues to amaze me. This guy just can't be real, and I think that's what scares me the most. How does he know what to say? And how to say it so perfectly? It just is always too good to be true.

"So, why haven't you asked me then?"

"I don't know," he says thoughtfully. "I just like what we are now, and I don't want anything to ruin that."

I nod. "I like what we are too."

Would dating ruin things? I don't see much of a difference between what we are now and being official. I guess maybe Aiden isn't exclusive, and I'm too scared to ask if he's seeing other girls.

Plus, if I start dating him, there's no way I would ever write that article. I just don't know how to make that decision yet.

"So," he pauses, "friends who occasionally go on dates?"

"Hm. A nicer way of saying friends with benefits," I muse.

"No, no," he laughs, "that's not what I'm trying to say."

"I know." I smile and stick out my hand for him to shake on it. "Friends who occasionally go on dates it is."

~~

AN:

Hi friends! Let me know how you are enjoying this story so far! It's super helpful for me when you leave comments/suggestions about the story, especially to keep me motivated in writing it :)

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