My Fake Boyfriend

Just Give Me A Reason

My promise to hear Aaron out is how we ended up here. 

Me, on the floor of my bedroom, and Aaron lying down on my bed, his phone hovering over his face. 

I had hoped to avoid allowing him entrance to the confines and comfort of my own home, but of course, Aaron had other plans. After promising to tell me everything, he used all his charm to persuade me to let him come over to talk through the plan.

And, Lord knows, he had a lot of charm.

Fortunately, Mum was out visiting one of her friends and I thanked the Lord that at least something was going right today. For the last half hour, he'd been here, I had tried to bring the topic of his reasoning about his plan, but he had changed the subject swiftly, proving it was still a sore subject. It was either the avoidance or just blatantly ignoring me as he perused through his phone.

He spent the last 5 minutes texting his friends, not even bothering to offer me a coherent response and merely looked at his phone, making my teeth grit in anger as I waited arms folded for his attention again. Yet Aaron paid no heed, so I chose then to voice my irritation again.

"Aaron, I’ve literally been trying to talk to you for 5 minutes" I repeated, frustrated beyond belief from his lack of response. I made sure I said it louder this time as I eyed him. 

In the hallways of school, I had seen some semblance of humanity to him when he spoke of his sadness but- here- his actions only reinforced what I had thought of him all along- he was an unthinking and unfeeling male who thought of only his own entertainment. Life seemed like a game to him, and I envied that I wasn’t half as ignorant or as gullible as him.

"Yeah," he muttered, not even taking his eyes off the phone and this made my anger rise.

"My house isn't a bed and breakfast, so you either spit it out or leave," I flatly stated, and he raised his eyes slightly, glancing at me with distracted eyes.

"Oh sorry, it's- give me a second." he mumbled to himself, looking at his phone again and not even giving me a satisfying answer.

My anger had reached its limit way before this, but now, it was at an all-time high. I leaped off the floor and stomped my way to the bed. Yet, he still wasn't looking up at me. I grabbed the phone off him and scowled at his lack of concentration.

"Okay, I seriously am trying to help you, but I can't if you're going to get distracted so easily! Understand?" I broke off, my eyes flitting pointedly at the phone in my hand but immediately regretted it. I let out a squeal, tossing the phone away from my face and to the floor. 

This made Aaron break out into laughter, which was probably the first real response I had gotten from him this entire time.

I should've seen that coming. I mean, he is the player of Redwood High. I couldn’t imagine him having the most decent of conversations with anyone, but to do that in such casualness as I spoke to him? I couldn't help the bile that rose to my throat as I looked to him, and he stopped laughing when he saw me glaring.

"Sorry," he breathed, the laughter still apparent in his tone, not even sounding the slightest bit sincere. 

I rolled my eyes, knowing he was just saying sorry to appease me. Typical. 

He seemed to realise my shift in mood and stood off the bed, our bodies close as he did so. He looked into my eyes with the same intense look he gave me earlier, but this time it was filled with something more- sincerity.

"I really am sorry," he repeated slowly. I shouldn't accept his apology. He was a person I knew was too chaotic to get entwined with and I knew I would only suffer if I got involved with him. I should have kicked him out of my bedroom and house just then. But some nagging feeling inside me pushed that thought away, arguing that he probably needed it just as much as I did.