Gilded

Chapter 1.

"You know what Sabrina? I really love you," Aaron said, giving me a kiss. I was thrilled and swooned internally. This was the first time that he had told me that.

"Oh Aaron, I love you too," I breathed. I'd said the words a few days ago, and was abashed when all he said was thank you. Maybe he was waiting to say them and save it for today.

Aaron produced a small wrapped box. "Happy four month anniversary."

I eagerly opened the box. It was a new phone, complete in a sparkly purple case, my favourite colour. "Aaron, I can't accept this, it's too much," I protested. "My phone is still fine."

"Yours is getting old, and the battery isn't holding a charge very well any more, so I thought I'd get you a new one," Aaron said. "Josh got a deal for me. I'll help you set it up and switch out the SIM card later." He opened my gift, and exclaimed over the new digital watch that I knew he'd been eyeing. Aaron thanked me and gave me a big kiss.

We walked around the lake holding hands and admiring the sunset. It had been four months since Aaron had asked me out, and sometimes I still couldn't believe it, it still seemed like a dream.

~~~

He was my first serious boyfriend, and I felt so lucky that he was mine. Back in January, my clumsiness proved useful. While I was at the university bookstore looking for my textbooks, I bumped into him and dropped my stack of books.

"Ow," he said when my heavy art history book fell on his foot.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you," I said, blushing, not bothering to look at my victim and scurried down to pick up my books. I looked up and turned even redder. I probably just broke the toes of this guy, and he was cute. Really cute. I was mortified.

He knelt down beside, picked up the offending book, and handed it over to me. "Hey, this is actually the next book I was going to grab, I'm taking this course on Tuesday/Thursday. Are we in the same class?"

"I guess we are," I stammered. Wow, way to charm him with my witty personality.

Thankfully he didn't notice. "I'm Aaron," he said, standing up and handing me back the book.

"Sabrina, " I replied, readjusting my pile of books.

Aaron leaned over, grabbed the art history book from the book stack on the pallet and placed it with his other books. "Are you an art and design major?"

"No, this course is for my fine arts option," I said. "I'm terrible at drawing, so this is a good compromise."

Aaron laughed. "Me too. Hey, do you want to go grab a coffee? These are all the books that I need. Are you done shopping?"

Oh my God. Did he just ask me for coffee? Oh my God. I couldn't breathe. Answer him! "Uh, yeah, I got everything." And even if I didn't, I would come back later. "I would love to get a coffee with you."

We went to pay for our books and headed upstairs in the Students' Union Building towards the food court area.

"Hey, let's grab that table first," Aaron said as a couple were packing up to leave. I gratefully put my heavy books down on the table and shrugged out of my parka, and Aaron did the same.

"I'll go grab us some coffee if you don't mind staying," he said and without waiting for a response, he headed to the coffee line. I sat down, still in disbelief of what just happened.

Any of my friends would tell you that I was a quiet person, and to be honest, pretty awkward around guys, especially the ones I didn't really know. Some girls had a crazy amount of boyfriends and flirting action, but I was not one of them. I was embarrassed to admit that except for a brief dalliance in grade twelve, which was so brief I'm not even going to bore you with the details (in fact, so brief, some people might not even count it, but I was desperate, so I do count it), I haven't even had a real boyfriend. I know, pretty sad right? Now I'm in second year at university, but maybe, maybe this late bloomer was finally blooming.

I always daydreamed about something like this happening, and for this to actually have happened...I felt like I should pinch myself. Instead I watched Aaron pay for our coffees and head back to our table. He caught my eye and smiled. I gave him a small smile back.