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III

Aaron was an idiot back then and I am sure of it. He is still stupid but in a good way. If that is even a thing? Even if it's not, I will still call him an idiot; he knows it very well.

"Aaron," I say.

"Skylar,"

"You're an idiot." I mock him. I like mocking Aaron, and I don't think I will ever get tired of it.

"You're more." He replies.

"You're the most." I laugh.

I never called Aaron an idiot back then. It was because my younger self was too engrossed by him to ever call him that. Although, I should have called him an idiot when that incident happened. But now that I think about that incident again, I think my reaction was valid because even I was so stupid. I don't think Aaron remembers the incident I am talking about though I hope that after reading about it, he doesn't believe that I made that incident up.

I promise, Aaron. Everything that you're going to read further is real. Maybe we can joke about it later but for now, you will have to keep reading. Though, it will depend on me if I want to discuss and joke about this later or not.

I paced past the kids walking a little bit too slow in front of me. The school had already gotten over but here I was chasing Aaron like a silly person while he continued walking ahead of me with his friends. He always used to do this as if it was a game to him. And it was a game to him so I played along.

Every day after the school would get over, I would continue to follow him and would try to catch him while he would run or hide here and there. Maybe he did it because he wanted to avoid me. What if he seriously thought, "God, why can't this girl go home already? She's following me like a foolish person as if she hasn't gotten the hint already that I am trying to avoid her."

Now that I am thinking about this again, maybe he was trying to avoid me. How stupid I was back then that I am genuinely embarrassed for myself. But if it wasn't for following him that day, that incident would have never happened and I wouldn't have written about it, ever.

Thank you, Aaron, for giving me something to write about.

It was just another day of me trying to catch Aaron. I would have to stop now and then because of the stupid kids who thought it was acceptable to stand in the middle of the way as if they owned the school. Sometimes I wanted to beat them or lash out at them because of their idiotic action but again I couldn't do that. Simple reason - I was too shy to confront someone about their acts or something which would bother me.

For the time being, Aaron was just walking in front of me and I could have easily caught him if those two girls in front of me could have just stepped aside a bit, enough for me to walk ahead but to them, their girl gossip was more necessary, at that moment. Even Aaron was nowhere to be detected now thus I decided to give up. It was the first time I gave up on following him. "You're so stupid, Aaron. You don't even know how much I would give up just to spend more time with you." I thought to myself.

I decided to wait by his bus because he would eventually come there only but the school gates were about to get closed soon so if he didn't hurry by then I would have to go without saying 'bye' to him. Even a simple thing such as saying bye was so important to me. Maybe, it wasn't as important to him but little things do matter. I would never be able to explain it to him.

Still, I wished that he felt the same way.

I wanted to ask him if he felt the same excitement as me whenever he talked to me? If little things like these are as important to him as they are to me? I wonder if I would ask him about this one day but he would probably think of it as too dramatic.

Although I hope he would tell me about this, himself. Until then, I would wait for him. Like I always do...

I repeatedly glanced at my watch while I continued to stand by his bus. Damn, it felt so awkward standing here but the things I do for him. "Skylar," Aaron called. I looked over me only to see him looking down at me through the bus window. When did he even go in there?

He continued to laugh while I just stood there without even having the slightest idea about what I should say to him. I should probably tell him to get down but he wouldn't listen to me. He was too busy enjoying his victory.

"I hate you, Aaron." Biggest. Lie. I. Have. Ever. Told.

"But I still love you," He grinned,

Oh. My. God?

Did he just? He didn't just say that. No, I probably misheard it. "Say it again, Aaron." I wanted to say this to him. I wanted to hear those words from him, again. I knew for a fact that they would probably be my favourite words from now on.

God, Aaron. You are too perfect at knowing your way with words. It was so hard for me to keep it cool in front of him when from the inside, I was screaming. 

It was one of the best days for me and even now, when I think about it, I smile like the craziest person ever. It is not just this incident that makes me beam. The truth is every moment with him, whether it be big or small, will always mean the world to me. 

Aaron will always mean the world to me. And as cheesy or cringe as it sounds, I know it is true. Whenever I say or do something funny, he is always the first to know. I tell every funny incident to him in hopes that he will laugh or at least smile. Knowing he's happy makes me happy too. I try to learn little things about him by observing him and I am even ready to hear about things he loves to do. I feel lucky enough to know that he likes to share things that matter to him, with me. Knowing that he trusts me is the most valuable in itself.

As for me, I know I can always trust him with everything. I can tell anything to him and I know he'll listen to me, patiently. He always does and that's one more thing I like about him. He listens to me even if I speak the most random bullshit ever. Sometimes, I feel as if I annoy him too much with my random talks but at the end of the day, what matters is that I get to talk to him no matter what we talk about.

So thank you, Aaron, for giving me the feeling of the purest, most genuine happiness that anyone could ever have.