n o t e;
It's over guysssss! Just the epilogue left before it's over. Cry with me know!

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"hey...aaron right?" drew said opening the door to reveal the boy he saw his daughter with before. the boy had obviously put work into his look, instead of a flannel and t shirts with jeans, he wore a button down with slacks.

"yes sir." drew smirked smugly enjoying the slight break in his voice as he spoke.

"and you must be his grandmother, so nice to meet you mrs. wasamba." drew put his hand out to the elderly woman with a smile. the woman shook his hand and smiled back,

"oh please just call me diana."

"well come inside i just finished cooking. aaron my daughters upstairs in her room, make sure the door is open."

aaron nodded and went upstairs.

<><><><><><>

ariel looked up to see aaron opening the door. she smiled and got up off her bed, pulling him in the room and shutting the door.

"hey." she said leaning her forehead against his. aaron wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a tentative kiss to her lips.

"you're dad's down stairs we shouldn't." aaron said biting his lip. ariel laughed at his scared tone, they'd been hooking up for two weeks now. they were trying out friends with benefits: friends by day, sex and making out by night. it was pretty good for ariel, she didn't want to loose her best friend due to something as trivial as a relationship.

"aaron, he won't even notice. he's probably trying to woo your grandmum while my mom sets up the table. We have like five minutes." ariel reassured him.

aaron shook his head and kissed her briefly before pulling away. "i'll come back later tonight."

ariel pouted but respected his decision. "fine." she said pulling out of his grip. the curvy brunette plopped down on her bed. "how was band practice?" she asked enthusiastically.

aaron sat next to her tossing one of ariel's basketballs up in the air. "pretty good, the school is talking about hiring us again for another school function."

ariel smiled and nudged his side, causing the ball to go fly out of his hands and hit her desk. "whoops."

"you literally make a mess everywhere you go."

"i know it's a personality trait."

<><><><><>

"so mrs. chi what do you do?" asked diana as she picked at her food on her plate.

"please call me daisy." daisy insisted with a kind smile. she ran a hand through her dark brown hair. "i'm a pediatrician and child surgeon at la follette hospital."

diana clapped her hands excitedly. "oh you're a doctor! that's how i met my late husband charles. during world war ii he was a soldier and i took a nursing job because getting a job as a black woman in the u.s. at the time was so hard. we met when he was injured in battle and i was the only one qualified enough to give him stitches. he was taken by my intelligence on our first day and while we had ups and downs the rest was basically history. so i'm so glad to hear that you have pursued medicine, it's often a very rewarding job."

"tell me about it diana, some of the kids i've helped are so life changing. i absolutely love what i do. especially with my loving husband who has decided to start bringing the kids i help treats from his restaurant." daisy told her holding drew's hand under the table. they were working on fixing their marriage.

aaron was silent throughout the current conversation not wanting to interrupt and make a bad impression. so he was a little caught off guard when daisy asked him what his plans for after highschool were. it took him a second to answer before saying, "well i still have another two years but right now i really think that i'd like to pursue psychology for the mentally ill."

drew was impressed by the answer and it made him like aaron even more than he already did.

ariel was trying to hide how much she wanted to smile as she picked at her dinner. she wanted her parents to like her best friend, aaron was kind of like her rock during the rough couple of months with her parents. she reached over under the table and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

<><><><><>

"psst ariel!" aaron called tapping on her window. "ariel open up!" he continued knocking. After a minute of calling her, she finally noticed him and opened up the window. sliding into her room, he wrapped his arms around her waist again.

ariel smiled in her rainbow eyed, nose scrunching way at the action. aaron loved her smile, he found it so enticing. aaron studied the face he'd seen so often, this was his best friend. they went from strangers hitting on each other to someone he'd die for all because of a cup of coffee.

<><><><><><>

ariel studied his thoughtful face, running her hands up and down his arms "what's on your mind?"

aaron shrugged at her as he placed mindless kisses down her jaw and neck. aaron seemed very distracted by his thoughts, ariel figured. she wondered why he wasn't telling her though. she cupped his face and made him looking at her, stopping the kisses.

"answer me."

aaron but his lip, contemplating something before saying, "you."

"me?" ariel asked surprised

"yeah, as much as i respect your no strings agreement i don't think i want to do that anymore."

"why not?" ariel asked frowning "is there someone else?"

aaron shook his head "that's the problem there is no one else. you've invaded my mind, ariel i think i'm in love with you."

"aaron, i don't want to be my parents."

"we're not your parents." aaron insisted

"but we would be! we'd fall in love young, get married young, and then fall apart."

"but don't you see their love is what brought them back together."

"they were falling apart for years, they fell out of love." ariel fought back. she was scared out of her mind. she didn't want to do to her kids what her mom did to her, she was scared of getting hurt, she was scared she might be in love with him too.

"no they didn't. they were struggling a little bit like every marriage does. lil' red this doesn't matter because we're not your parents."

"but what if-"

"no what if's! just me and you together against the world."

"okay."

"okay."

"now little red," aaron said with a smile

"yes mocha boy?" ariel said smiling at the nickname.

"can i be your boyfriend, i'd never let you go. i can take you places you ain't never been before. baby, take a chance or you'll never ever know. if it helps i got money in my hands that i'd really like to blow. "

"did you just quote justin bieber?"

"maybe."

"oh well then i'm gonna have to say no." ariel said with a laugh

"what?! why!" aaron said pouting

"'cause you know i hate bieber." ariel said shrugging "sorry i don't make the rules."

aaron kissed her head "oh yeah i totally understand. i guess i'll just leave now,"

"well maybe you could stay tonight."

"maybe?"

"if you're good."

"i could be good or i could be very very bad." aaron said with a suggestive eye brow wiggle.

"JUST KISS ALREADY DAMN IT! YOURE MOTHER AND I ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!" drew yelled banging on the wall.

and so they did