Aris Jones X Reader One Shots

Looking Out For You (Part 4)

I tried not to think about it. That only went so far though. So I had Harriet check on Aris as I strategically avoided him. I know. Some great problem solver I am.

His questions though, were ringing through my head.

‘Do you love me?’

‘That means yes, doesn't it?’

‘But if I kissed you, would you pull away?’

Maybe it makes me a bad person, but no. I don't think that I would. I don't think that I would physically be capable of not kissing back.

“Did you hear what happened?”Chelsia asked. While I wasn't normally one for gossip, it would be a great distraction. Plus, she's at most twelve. How problematic could it be?

“No. What happened?”I asked, brushing the cows.

“Aris broke up with Y/E/N,”She said, clapping her hands a little at the way she knew.

“He did what?”

“Yeah. She said something about there obviously being another girl when he did, and he just said it didn't matter anymore. So that means yes. There's another girl. There's another girl. Who do you think it is?”She ranted, setting the pail of chicken food down and walking closer to me.

“I don't know,”I lied, staring at the ground.

“If you had to guess though, who?”She urged.

“It doesn't matter,”I insisted.

“Do you know who I think that girl is?”

“It doesn't-”
“You,”She correctly guessed, pointing a finger at me.

“Pfft, no. That's just, uh, no,”I denied.

“It’s a three-way tie,”She informed me.

“I really don't-”
“It's either you, Sonya, or Rachel. I think you're winning by five points.”

“Points? You are all keeping points on this?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn't we?”She shrugged.

“This isn't a board game. This is real people’s lives with real feelings. Feelings can always end up hurt from such innocent sounding things,”I pointed out.

“I see why nobody gossips with you now.”

“Well, I highly doubt people are usually talking to the person that they're talking about.”

“It's still you.”

“This really isn't-”
“Y/N,”the exact person we were conversing about interrupted. Sort of gawking at him, the brush dropped from my hand as I tried to form a coherent thought.

“Hi,”I kind of whispered.

“Can I talk to you? It's important.”

“Yeah. I think that-”
“Told you. I knew being team Y/N was right! I knew it,”She celebrated, pumping her fist in the air.

“Alone. Talk to you alone,”He restated.

“Yeah,”I agreed again, leaving the cows tied up and walking out the gate.

“I’ll bring her back soon,”Aris promised, waving at Chelsie.

“Take your time. You two kids have fun,”She said like a proud parent. Ignoring that innuendo, we walked in complete silence to the Deadheads, stepping past bushes and trees.

“Hi,”I whispered when we were alone, not knowing what else to say.

“I have something to tell you. I mean you knew that, but it's important. Hopefully,”He trailed off, pulling his hoodie strings back and forth. Looking at him, I patiently waited for what he would say. “I should have listened to you from the start. You have never done me wrong, and I should have recognized that. What I also should have recognized though, was the girl right in front of me.”

“What are you saying?”I dared to ask.

“I know you said I was just confused, but I wasn't. I had just been blind to the actual person that lights up my world. You have always pulled me in, and even though it's my fault, being away from you killed some part of me. Because you're my other half. Not Sonya or Rachel or Annie or even Y/E/N. You. You're the only one that I need, that I pretended not to constantly look at, that makes me feel so at peace. Because that's love. Butterflies and getting nervous and all that, that's fine, but it's not what I feel for you. For you, I just need you. I don't feel right when you aren't beside me. I only feel complete when I know I’ll see you again. I think about our time together, and all I seem to do is smile. In a way, I knew this. I just looked for someone to make those feelings go away, and she was supposedly there. I also wasn't that scared of losing her. You though, losing you was a kind of pain I didn't know anyone was capable of having. That's why I don't care if we never get out. I just want you. No matter how little I have, I would let it go without even needing to think about it if it meant just one more day with you.”

“Aris, I don't even know what to say,”I whispered.

“I mean do you love me too?”

“That was more special than any I love you. That was just, you're absolutely miraculous, absolutely incredible, absolutely any kind of compliment, any kind of synonym for perfectly imperfect,”I whispered, taking his hands in mine. “You mean the world to me,”I promised.

“Would you consider being my girl then?”

Standing on the tips of my toes, I kissed his cheek before pulling back and looking at him.

“Yes. I would love to be your girl.”