Kayla's POV:

I don't know how long I sit on the branch of the tree near Aaron's window but finally, he slides it open and I see his face, a mixture of shock, awe and joy on his face.

"Kayla what are you doing here?", he asks in his stern class captain voice and I have to roll my eyes.

"Well obviously I'm sitting on a branch? Maybe you'll let me in since this dress isn't exactly made for climbing trees."

He steps aside and I slither into the room. I am instantly struck by how neat it is. Everything is arranged, his books neatly placed in a shelf, bed painstakingly made, his pajamas folded neatly at the bottom corner. No posters on the wall or crumpled papers in the waste bin near his study table.

His room is the opposite of mine.

"What do you think?", he asks and I roll my eyes.

"It's too neat"

He glares at me, and I laugh.

"Keep it down", he says, looking around fearfully. My parents are still awake."

Oh right, his parents. The strict ones who obviously don't like me, even though I did so much to change myself.

As if reading my mind, Aaron moves closer to me.

"I told you not to change", he says to me. "You promised you would be yourself."

"Isn't this being myself?", I gesture down to my outfit, something that I had borrowed from Steph. It's something she wears when she attends events with her Dad.

"You know this isn't you", he says to me and I roll my eyes before yanking off the scarf. Gosh that thing was suffocating me.

"Change out of that outfit. I feel like I have to be all prim and proper around you", Aaron says and I roll my eyes.

"If I had anything to change into, I would have taken this off a long time ago"

Aaron looks at me, as if sizing me up. Then in one fluid movement, he takes off the gray t shirt he is wearing and tosses it at me.

"Wear this."

I catch the t shirt, but I'm not looking at it. Instead, my eyes are fixed on his naked torso and strong arms. His abs are well sculpted and defined, probably from all the hours he spends playing football. Gradually my eyes go down, caressing each muscle with my gaze until I reach where his pants hang low on his hips exposing the V- shaped –

My mouth goes dry as I force myself to look up at him. His glasses are shielding his eyes so I can't tell his expression, but it's obvious that I was just admiring his body.

I clear my throat. "Where is the bathroom?"

He points at a door at the far end of his room which I hadn't seen before. He is quiet as I walk into the bathroom, shutting the door gently behind me.

Aaron's bathroom is as clean as the rest of his room. There is a huge mirror on the wall and I turn to face it as I begin to take off the outfit I borrowed from Steph.

Aaron was right when he said that the outfit wasn't me being myself. It was suffocating and while wearing it, I felt like a fraud, like I was out of place and everyone knew it.

At least, Aaron's mom did.

I shudder as I remember the judgmental way she looked at me, from the moment I entered to the moment I left. Instantly, I knew that she was the snobby type, the one who thought delinquents like me would corrupt her good son.

Maybe she's right.

Still, I got a kick out of the expression on her face when I told her I would be studying law at Brown University. However, it wasn't completely a lie. Obviously, the studying law part was a lie, but wanting to go to Brown wasn't. Brown is my dream university, and I've always wanted to go there. I've even applied for early decision. However, the look on the faces of people like Aaron's mom makes me believe that going to Brown is nothing more than a dream.

Eventually, I have the outfit off, and I'm wearing Aaron's t shirt which is big, and reaches well below my thighs. I bring my nose to the soft fabric and inhale deeply. It smells of deodorant and warm chocolate.

I hesitate walking out of the bathroom as I remember Aaron's naked torso. What if he's still out there? What if he's still shirtless?

I take a deep breath and open the door. Aaron is lying down on his bed, dressed in a pair of blue pajamas which I recognize as the ones that were folded on his bed earlier. His glasses are no longer on his face, but he is reading some book on advanced chemistry, and he looks really adorable with his face scrunched up as he tries to understand.

He sits up as soon as he sees me, and instantly, he flushes red.

"You look... wow you look nice."

I laugh. "I didn't look nice all dressed up but now I look nice?"

"Hey you looked nice in the other outfit, just not yourself. But this, this makes you look like... you."

I look into his eyes and see nothing but adoration there. My heart does a little flip inside me, and I find that I am smiling from ear to ear.

Why am I reacting like this?

I sit on his bed and take the book out of his hand.

"Moles, stoichiometry, organic chemistry....", I read out while flipping through the book. Aaron doesn't try to get it back, just watches me as I go through random chapters.

"Kayla, I need to read", he says weakly, but his heart isn't into it.

"No you don't. No boy wants to study while their girlfriend is in their room."

I expect Aaron to point out that we are only fake dating, but instead, he runs his hands through his hair, his face deep in thought.

"We could watch a movie?", he half suggests, half asks.

"Of course. But I get to pick"

"Oh no you don't"

He scrambles for the remote on his desk, but I'm closer and I grab it a fraction of a second before he does. His hand lands on mine, brushing against the finger where I wear my ring, and suddenly his face becomes sober.

"My mom shouldn't have said that about your ring", he says.

I frown. Aaron's mom talking trash about my mom's ring had really pissed me off but I had only managed to keep my temper in check because I didn't want to embarrass Aaron in front of his parents.

"It's ok Aaron", I start to say, but he shakes his head.

"She shouldn't have said that. It was... a really messed up thing to say. Especially since your mom gave it to."

"It was a messed up thing to say, but you don't have to apologize for it."

"No I do", he insists. "I should have said something to her."

He really thinks I wanted him to argue with his mom over me? My heart melts a bit.

"Aaron, you've already helped me so much. You've beat Jason up twice already since we started... dating." I was going to say 'our arrangement', but dating sounds better.

Aaron smiles. "You bring out the reckless side in me. You're like some venomous poison, taking away my calmness anytime I'm near you."

Is this boy a poet? Or does he have a script somewhere titled 'How to Make a Girl's Heart Melt'? Because if so, it's working.

"Speaking of venom", I say, spoiling the mood because I excel at doing that, "I've thought of a movie we should watch."

"Venom", he says, and I smile.

"Yep. Today I introduce you into the world of marvel."

I scroll through movie sites till I finally find one where we can watch Venom for free.

Aaron and I snuggle under his blankets and watch the movie.

I don't say anything about how he isn't wearing his glasses, but he can see all the details quite clearly.

His hand is still in mine, but I don't say anything about that either.