Chapter 3: Confidence

When Friday swung around, I was pacing around my room, wondering how in the world I was going to get out of the house. Despite the fact that I'd been planning all week and figuring out how I'd escape without being caught, I had never even considered having to climb out of the window. I had thought this through multiple times. I'd slip out of the backdoor, run around the side of the house, and walk the half hour to Aaron's house. My plan would've gone perfectly had it not been for the obstacle sitting in my living room.

The only flaw in my plan was that Phoenix was relaxing on the sofa without a care. My brother was sleeping in his room but Phoenix decided to watch a movie in the living room. I managed to get ready in thirty minutes, with little to no interruption from the boy downstairs. Pacing around my room, I ran my hand through my hair repeatedly.

I looked out my window and sighed. The familiar winding tree is barely two feet from my window but it's a long fall if I don't make it. I bit my lip before reaching out and gripping the thickest branch available. I managed to make it down without a scratch but as I was hanging from a branch, mentally preparing for a two foot fall, I heard a voice and I let out a shriek.

"You almost got away with it," Phoenix noted as he leaned against the side of the house in the shadows. I dropped and collapsed on the floor, swearing as my ankles throbbed in pain. I stood up, slowly rolling them as I tried to relieve them of their ache. I'll get over it. "But I saw your flailing legs in the window."

I glanced at the large window and noticed that the curtains and blinds were drawn, revealing the exact spot where Phoenix was sitting earlier. "So what? You caught me? What are you going to do?" I asked as I wiped off my jeans.

"Well, I doubt I'll be able to stop you from going," he started.

"You're right. You won't, because you have no control over what I do," I retorted.

"But...I can go with you to make sure that you don't get taken advantage of," Phoenix responded.

"You're not going to chaperone me, Phoenix," I countered. "I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can. But it's my job to make sure Aaron doesn't try anything. Or anyone for the matter," Phoenix noted.

I glared at him. "You're not going, Phoenix," I snapped.

"Yeah, I am," he told me. "If you're going, I'm going."

"You don't need to go," I said through gritted teeth.

"You're right, but if I don't go, and your brother finds out that I knowingly let you go to a party all alone, I'm going to be in trouble," Phoenix replied.

"I don't need a guard, Phoenix," I informed him.

"That's too bad. Now, let's get going," Phoenix told me as he turned on his heel and began walking towards his car. When he didn't hear my footsteps, he turned to look at me. "Am I going to have to carry you to my car? Unless, of course, you don't want to go anymore..."

I glared at him. The idea of walking a half an hour didn't seem very desirable, and neither did spending 10 minutes in a car with Phoenix, but when I weighed the two, I decided that I'd rather be in a safe car with my brother's best friend than walking down scary city streets in the dark.

+ + +

"Is it just me or is he following us around?" Aaron asked curiously as he nodded over my shoulder.

"Who?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows as I glanced behind me. Phoenix was now leaning against the living room wall with his phone in his hands, trying to look inconspicuous. We went from the crowded den, to the even more crowded kitchen, to the packed living room yet he's always managed to stay within ten feet of us. "Oh."

"Oh?" Aaron asked with furrowed eyebrows. "Does he always do this? You know, follow you around?"

I chuckled dryly, rubbing the area between my eyebrows. "He thinks it's his job to make sure I don't get hurt."

"Get hurt?" he asked. "This isn't some fight club."

"Yeah, I know, tell him that," I muttered.

"Does he like you or something?" Aaron asked with furrowed eyebrows. I scoffed, shaking my head.

"No, he and I don't get along whatsoever," I replied with a swift shake of my head. "Just ignore him. That's what I do."

He simply nodded and we continued conversing. To my surprise, we still had a lot in common. We still liked the same music and the same movies. I knew that my cheeks were bright red because every time he smiled, I found my face heating up. Plus, Phoenix, who had positioned himself so that I could see him, would pretend to be vomiting or gagging. I'd try and discreetly flip him off, but I never would have a chance to because I'd be too busy talking.

About two hours had passed and I was still talking to Aaron. Despite the fact that I was completely exhausted and I was barely awake, I still wanted to chat with him. I could talk to him for hours just because he was that interesting. I admired the way his eyes lit up when he talked about sports and how excited he seemed at the idea of college.

However, I noticed Phoenix growing fidgety not too far away. He had put his phone in his pocket, most likely meaning that it had died. He was shifting from foot to foot, running his hands down his face and through his hair. A girl would occasionally come up and make an attempt talk to him but he'd dismiss her and go back to his state of boredom. I knew that it was his fault for deciding to accompany me but I couldn't help but feel bad. He was still sticking around despite the fact that he had no friends here. He was obviously bored.

"I think I'm going to head out now," I told Aaron with a quiet sigh.

"Wait," he spoke. "Do you need a ride home?"

I shook my head with a smile. "No, I'm fine. I have a ride."

 "Okay," he smiled. "I'll walk you out."

I looked towards Phoenix to see him kicking off the wall, preparing to follow us. Aaron managed to part the crowd and I stood behind him, not too keen on getting elbowed in the face by dancing people. We reached the front door and I took out my phone when it vibrated.

Are we leaving? By the familiar contact name, 'Idiot', I knew this was Phoenix. I quickly responded before putting my phone away. I led the way to Phoenix's car as he trailed behind us tiredly, occasionally rubbing his eyes. He'd get too close and I'd motion for him to back up, but he'd just mock me.

"Who'd you come here with?" Aaron asked curiously as he glanced behind us. The only person in the vicinity was Phoenix.

"Phoenix," I responded.

"Just him?" he asked and I nodded. "Not your sister? Or your brother?" I shook my head and he slowly nodded, sighing. "I have to ask you something," Aaron started as we slowly approached Phoenix's car, growing closer and closer.

"Go ahead," I nodded.

"I was going to ask you earlier but I didn't—," he started but Phoenix walked around us and unlocked the car.

I glared at Phoenix. "What are you doing?" I asked him, glaring.

"Getting in the car," he told me. "You should, too."

"I'll ask you some other time," Aaron spoke and I nodded, watching as he smiled. "I'll see you on Monday."

"See you," I said before walking to the passenger's side of the car, swearing at Phoenix as I went.

"What was he going to ask you?" Phoenix asked.

I glared at him. "I don't know! You had to ruin it!"

"What? I'm tired! It's not my fault that I didn't want to wait four hours for you guys to walk across the lawn!" he responded. "Seriously! Who takes ten minutes to walk 30 feet?"

"People who are trying to make more time, that's who! I decided to leave because you were basically falling asleep over there!" I retorted.

"It's pretty boring watching you two flirt," he responded.

"Then you shouldn't have come!" I responded. He let out a huff as he continued driving down the street.

+ + +

"You should ask him out!" Camryn insisted from across the table after I'd explained our few encounters to my two friends. "It's about time you get a boyfriend!"

"What do you think Alice?" I asked, ignoring the latter part of Cam's statement.

I knew that she didn't like Aaron but I wanted to know her thoughts now that she's heard a few nice things that Aaron has done. "I don't really like him," she admitted. "He's a player. What if he hurts you?"

I stared at my sandwich and Camryn sighed. "Really, Alice? The girl has liked him for three years—," she cut off when I corrected her, "two and a quarter years and she's finally talking to him. You're really going to tell her to stop?"

"I'm not telling her to stop, Cam. I'm just telling her to be wary of him," Alice responded. Cam rolled her eyes at Alice before turning to me.

"Well, Grace, I think you should just go for it," Cam responded as we threw out our lunches, preparing to head to class early. "You really like Aaron, and he's—," she suddenly stopped talking and I looked up from the ground to see Aaron's best friend, Thomas, standing on the other side of the trash can. We stood there for a moment, making awkward eye contact before he finally returned to his table. I immediately looked at Cam, whose eyes were just as wide as mine. Alice was staring at me with large eyes, too, which were made to look even larger by her thick glasses.

"Do you think he heard?" Cam asked once we exited the cafeteria.

"What do you think, Cam?" Alice snapped, crossing her arms.

"He could've been thinking about something else?" Cam suggested quietly.

"You're so loud, Cam!" Alice grunted.

"He's probably telling Aaron right now," I frowned as I looked at the two of them.

"Or maybe he didn't hear!" Cam insisted and I stared at her. Her face fell and she began apologizing. "I'm sorry, Grace. I didn't mean for anyone to hear. I was just trying to give you advice."

I shrugged as I stared at my feet. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, right?"

I sighed. At least it wasn't Phoenix.

+ + +

To my genuine surprise, Aaron didn't behave weirdly, and I knew for a fact that he knew, because his friends shoved him towards me the moment he walked into our shared class. He laughed it off and sat down in the seat beside me, like he'd been doing for the past two weeks. "Hey," he greeted as he took out his notebook.

"Hey," I stiffly responded. I was unsure about whether or not I wanted him to say something about my crush.

"Did you understand the homework?" he asked curiously.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, why?"

"I didn't understand question number seven," he told me as he began digging around in his backpack.

"I can help you if you'd like," I told him, earning a nod in response.

Things went on this way for a while. In fact, by the time the day was over, we spent two classes together and I seemed to be the only one who was uncomfortable. Every time I'd calm down, I'd think about the possible reactions he'd expressed when he found out that I like him. Maybe he was happy, or maybe he was annoyed. Maybe he just shrugged it off. Maybe he laughed with his friends. Thoughts like those are the ones that made things ten times worse.

"What's wrong?" Avery asked once she caught up with me. I was making my way to the car in the parking lot with a frown on my face.

"He knows I like him," I muttered in response.

"Who? Aaron?" she asked curiously, earning a nod in response. "What? How?"

"Cam's big mouth," I sighed. "She was talking about it in the cafeteria and one of his friend's overheard.

"Did you see him after?" she inquired.

"Yeah, we had two classes together," I grunted.

"Well, did he sit next to you?" she asked. I had already told her about how he had sat next to me for the past few weeks, and about how we talked occasionally. I told her because I wanted to know if I had a chance and the only person I could think to go to was my older sister. She was always good with these types of things; she never teased me about it or blackmailed me.

"Yeah," I told her.

"Did he bring it up?" she asked, earning a quick shake of my head, expressing the negative response. "Did you?"

"No, why would I do that?" I exclaimed.

"Why wouldn't you?" she asked.

"Because I don't know if he likes me, and if he didn't say anything about it, then he probably doesn't!" I told her with a sigh. She looked at me and shook her head.

"You don't know that," she explained.

I rolled my eyes. "He doesn't have to say it for me to know."

"Until he says it himself that he doesn't like you, then have hope," she told me. "You won't get him by doubting yourself. Confidence is key, Grace."

I sighed as I looked at her. "I hope you're right, Ave. I really do."