10

We were currently sat at Aaron's dinner table. Aaron and I on one side whilst his mom sat on the other side, an empty chair beside her mostly likely for her husband yet he hadn't turned up.

"So..." Sam started.

I fidgeted nervously. I know I wasn't really going out with Aaron, but I still felt the pressure of having to impress her. If I didn't then I wasn't helping. I gulped down the nerves and spared a gaze to Aaron.

I looked towards him to see him wildly attacking his plate, his attention focused only on the pasta. I watched in impressed shock as one of his hands held onto the fork, stabbing viciously at his food. His other hand was occupied- holding my hand.

I felt awkward with my hand in his, like it wasn't meant to be there. His hand was rough but smooth and significantly larger than mine. I couldn't help but appreciate the warmth it gave and I now know why people enjoyed hand-holding so much.

"So how did you guys meet?" Sam said, breaking the silence. She looked at me intently.

Aaron immediately stopped eating, turning towards me to send me a panicked look.

"Er, Lexi tells this story better." And I could have glared at how he put me under the spotlight. However, instead of panicking, I smiled. Many a day, I had spent my afternoons living in books, reading novel after novel. I've picked up my fair share of romantic tales along the way, so safe to say, I had already thought of this.

I bit my lip in thought, as if I was remembering our first meeting.

"Well.." I started, smiling to give the impression of absolute happiness.

"I came into school one day and was at my locker when I heard someone talking loudly. I knew it had to be Aaron.." I turned towards him with a small forced smile. In return, he smiled widely, playing along before giving his pasta plate a more affectionate look.

I nearly rolled my eyes, but composed myself and continued.

"He was shouting about how he was going to fail the English test in the afternoon. I felt sorry for him. It was obvious he cared about his grades. So I thought about offering to help him and now I'm glad I did.." I smiled at him bashfully and, in response, he put a warm arm around my shoulder, not even bothering to swallow his food before he grunted in confirmation. I tensed at his touch before continuing.

"Then?" Sam said, her voice curious and bubbly. She was obviously a fellow romance lover like myself. I smiled at her vigor and then spoke.

"During free period, just before the English test, I helped him understand the material. It was quite fun really. I would say something serious and he would make a joke of it and we would end up laughing about it.. I would be angry at first, but I caved instantly when he smiled at me.." I said, sparing him a bland look, one his mother couldn't see. I felt the bile rise to my throat at my own words, but Aaron ignored this. He smiled in my direction to demonstrate and I hated to admit how good he looked.

"He has the most beautiful smile" I murmured, adding flavour the story and I hated that my words had truth. Aaron raised an eyebrow at my words and I knew, when we were alone, that he would tease me for my words. I nudged him roughly with my elbow, smiling when he winced before letting out a small noise when he nudged be back in my side. He was going to pay for that, the ungrateful little-

"Aww!" Sam cooed, her eyes twinkling with immense happiness.

"You guys are just too cute. Carry on!"

I sent a smile to her before speaking.

"Well, after that meeting, we said goodbye. Aaron went in to do the exam and I went home. I hadn't talked to him after that. We just went our separate ways, until results day. I was sitting down on a bench looking at my grades when I saw a shadow. I looked up to see Aaron towering over me. I was about to ask him what he was doing there, but he pulled me into a hug. Afterwards, I asked him what he was so happy about and he told me he passed English. I was so happy for him..." I smiled to Aaron, knowing he actually had passed English. Heck, everyone knew! He was shouting it down the fricking hallways. I guess, English wasn't his best subject.

Aaron then chose to spoke.

"She helped me through a rough point even though we didn't know each other. I'm lucky I have her, even if she is a little uptight."

He slid in, smirking and I clenched my teeth, feigning a smile. He was doing this to mess with me, I knew, but I still fell in for his tricks.

His mother chuckled at this and I pinched Aaron's leg hard to which he let out a whispered 'ow'. I smiled in triumph.

"Oh, Aaron, I'm only uptight when I'm faced with stupid situations. And, with you, well let's just say I have enough stupid I could bathe in it." I acted like I was joking but gave a little smirk in Aaron's direction.

"And hopefully, drown." Aaron muttered and I glared hard at him. He only looked back with a challenging look in his gaze, expecting me to retort again, but I turned away, making sure to stomp on his shoe to which he tensed slightly.

I returned my gaze to Sam who was watching us, a look of amusement on her face.

"He then asked me to be his girlfriend. I was shocked, but happy too. I mean, I had a crush on him since I helped him with his English test. I was a little hurt he didn't speak to me after that, but now I was over the moon. Aaron probably thought I was gonna reject him because he looked beyond worried but I said yes and yeah, that's what happened" I finalised, pretending to be happy before looking pointedly to Aaron.

"I regret saying yes to this day." I joked with him, causing Sam to laugh. Aaron laughed also, his husky voice making my hair stand on end.

I snapped my head away from him before he saw me looking and tried to change the topic.

"So, Sam enough about us! I wanna hear about you. What do you do for a living?"

Sam smiled kindly and opened her mouth to speak.

"Well, I'm currently working as a therapist. Oh, you'll love it really. The cases are always new and entertaining"

I smiled politely.

"Oh, tell me about it!" I urged and she sat up, in excitement, her eyes glimmering.

She started talking about her routine at work, without talking about the actual cases itself, but the way they made her and the clients feel. I nodded, showing her I was listening.

I raised a glass of water to my lips to drink and my breath hitched.

Aaron's hand was on my knee, drawing lazy circles. I looked towards him, glaring daggers, but he didn't seem to know what he was doing. His head was looking down as he carried on eating. He was doing this on purpose. It was for the teasing I had done to him during the dinner.

I tried to ignore it and turned my head to look at Sam and concentrate on what she way saying, but the feeling of foreign contact had me feeling uncomfortable.

So, I retaliated.

I kicked Aaron hard in the shin, smirking as he let out a loud groan.

Serves him right.