"Dad, do we have any poptarts!" I called from the kitchen of his house. It's Thursday evening.
Not usually a day Benji and I would spend with our dad, but Terri is out of town visiting her parents and Lola can't really speak well enough to have a stimulating conversation, so here we are.
"Top shelf in the cupboard Chloe!" he called back. Oh, right in front of my face, duh. I grabbed one from the package, tearing it open and breaking off a piece for Lola, who was seated at the table in her 'special' booster chair.
Special, as in Terri special ordered it from an exspensive magazine because the others at the furniture store weren't decorative enough. I don't know, Terri's weird. I stopped questioning her motives for doing certain things a long time ago.
I poured myself a glass of milk, filling Lola's sippy cup as well before settling down at the table to eat. "Look Coie!" Lola squealed, knocking her cup over. I got up quickly and started mopping up the spilt milk with a handful of napkins.
"Don't do that honey, making messes isn't nice." I scolded her while throwing the soggy napkins away.
I honestly didn't mind taking care of Lola right now. It was a nice distraction from...Other things.
Yeah, other things like having Scott propose to me out of the blue and Aaron finally declaring his love for me. I hadn't told anyone about either events. Not even Alyssa.
It was all just so personal. I'm not the best at dealing with everything. I need some kind of guide on how to cope with these kind of situations. I'd pay money for one.
I nibbled on my poptart, mind wandering back to yesterday. Aaron said he loves me. Actually loves me. Loves me so much in fact that it makes him hate me sometimes. I should probably be upset over that, but I understand what he means.
I thought of how we moved from standing in front of the fish tank back to sit on his bed. How he had swiped the remaining tears from his face and gave me a small smile. I had leaned against his chest letting his arms wind around me and his head lay on top of mine.
"Aaron?" I whispered. "Yeah?" "Do you really like arguing with me?" I felt him smile wider.
"Not so much the arguing, more of, of the fact that we can say what's on our minds honestly, and that we don't usually stay mad." he explained. "I guess I don't mind that either." I said.
His hand started to rub gently up the length of my arm. I surpressed a shiver. "Aaron could I ask you something else?" "Sure." "Who...Who was the other girl you were in love with?"
I knew this was a tough subject, but my curiousity was consuming. His hand stilled for a short moment before continuing it's trail down my arm.
"I met her in 8th grade, her name was Caroline. We got paired together on a reading assignment and I ended up crushing on her. I followed her around like a lost puppy for weeks until I finally got up the courage to ask her out. It took her a long time to say yes, but she eventually did in freshman year. I'm not going to lie, some of the best days of my life were spent with Caroline. It was like she helped pick up the pieces after my grandparents died." He finished thoughtfully.
"Then what happened?" He sighed deeply. "We dated for two years, and one day I went to her house as a surprise and caught her in bed with a friend of mine. She told me it was all my fault for not paying more attention to her, and that she was a different person. She broke up with me and transfered schools the following week so she wouldn't have to deal with me after that. I...Was pretty devastated. I haven't seen her since." He said emotionlessly.
I pulled back to see his face. "Wait, she broke up with you?" I asked, genuinely shocked. "Caroline...She was a very bold person, she did whatever she wanted not really taking account of other people's feelings." He said with a shrug.
"Um wow." He chuckled. I couldn't imagine doing something like that, to Aaron of all people. Well I guess that is a lot like what I've been doing. Two timing.
Aaron seemed to know what I was thinking like usual. "Hey it's not the same Chloe, not at all." "Yeah, right." I muttered.
"I'm serious, what Caro- she did was go behind my back and betray my trust while we were in a committed relationship. You've been up front with your intentions nearly from the start. It's not the same." He said.
"Mh sure." I stared down at my feet. "Hey..." He said quietly and nudged my shoulder to get my attention. I glanced up to see he had moved closer, our noses brushing.
"I, I really love you Chloe and I'm sorry it took me so long to say it. I was being an idiot, afraid of what you would think-" I cupped the side of his face and pressed my lips to his softly.
When I pulled away I stroked his cheek. "I don't care about how long it took, I'm just glad you said at all."
Something mushy hit me square in the forehead, pulling me from my thoughts. Lola had tossed her half eaten poptart and was giggling furiously because my face had taken the blow.
"Eww! Throwing things is not nice either Lola. Do you want to sit in the corner?" I demanded, not really having any genuine anger. At least that made the squealing giggles stop.
I went to the sink to clean myself. Dad came into the kitchen and planted a kiss on Lola's head. "Find the poptarts?" He asked. "Yeah thanks."
"Good. So how's Scott? haven't heard you mention him in awhile." I sighed, which sounded more like a groan. Dad chuckled. "Trouble in paradise?"
"No, well yes kind of...I don't know. He's been talking a lot about the future lately." I admitted. "Future stuff huh? No secret wedding right? If not then I don't mind if he makes plans." He said. I smiled nervously. If dad only knew...
"Really though, Scott's a good guy honey. A good fit for you. And now that I think about, probably make a good son-in-law too. Not that I'm giving you the okay to go get hitched any time soon." He said sternly. "I know dad." I sighed. "I hope you work things out Chloe, I don't want you to be unhappy." He said and gave me the same kiss Lola got. Yeah, I don't want to be unhappy either.
