For The Love Of The Game

AARON'S POV

Aaron woke up the next morning to the sun shining through his open window. As he stretched he looked at his alarm clock. It was only 9:30 on a Sunday. After debating whether or not to go back to sleep, he sat up. It was a new day. He could spend it with Lacey. Just thinking about her made him smile. He couldn't get last night out of his head. Their passionate kiss, he told her he loved her, and best of all she said it back. Remembering her say 'I love you' still made his heart jump. Deciding to start the day early he went and jumped in the shower. The warm water helped to clear his head. Even though he was still on an emotional high from last night he still remembered what had happened before. The fight with his dad. He was going to have to deal with it at some point. It wasn't like he could hide from his dad for forever. Aaron walked out of the bathroom and changed clothes. On his way downstairs Aaron passed by his dad's study. The door was still closed. He knew his dad was still in there, probably still fumming about last night.

Walking into the kitchen he found his mom. He did feel bad about last night. His mom had wanted last night to go smooth and that definietly didn't happen. Walking up behind her Aaron planted a kiss on her cheek. "Morning mom."

"Oh! Good morning dear. You seem to be a bit happier than I would have expected." she said eyeing him.

"Well Lacey and me had a good talk last night." Aaron said grabbing an orange out of the bowl of fruit in the kitchen.

"Really? Well that's good. I feel so terrible about what happened last night. She probably thinks that we're awful people, Jon and me. I can't believe that your father said those things."

"Don't worry mom. Lacey isn't mad. She's not mad at dad and she definitely isn't mad at you," Aaron said while peeling his orange.

"She isn't mad?"

"Nope. She even wanted me to tell you that your dinner was amazing."

"She's such a sweet girl. I don't know where you found her at Aaron but you need to keep her."

"Oh don't worry mom. I plan to."

With that Aaron walked back upstairs to his room. He grabbed his phone off his dresser along with his car keys and jacket. He decided to go see Lacey. Hopefully she would be awake, and if not he could always give her a wake up call. As he was walking past his dad's study the door opened. His dad walked out.

"Aaron."

Aaron froze. 'Not now.' he thought. "Yeah?"

"Can we talk for a minute?"

Aaron turned to look at his dad. It was clear that he had been up all night. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was a mess. He was still wearing the clothes from dinner last night. In that moment, looking at his dad, Aaron had never seen him look so...old. It seemed that in the span of one night his dad had aged 15 years. As much as he didn't want to, Aaron knew that he was going to have to finish his discussion with his dad. It was just harder because now Lacey wasn't there to give him that reassurance.

"Fine." Aaron turned and walked into his dad's study. He sat on the small tan couch in front of the window. His dad walked in behind him closing the door. Hearing the door click closed Aaron felt totally alone. His dad sat down in his black leather chair in front of his desk, looking completely intimidating. Aaron watched as he put his head in his hands, letting out a sigh.

"First of all," his dad said breaking the silence, "I want to say that I am sorry for the way I acted last night. I wish that Lacey was here so that I could personally apologize to her as well. I over reacted."

Aaron knew that his eyes were wide. His dad NEVER apologized for anything. It didn't matter if he was clearly wrong or not, saying sorry was just something that his dad never did. "Ok."