"You are my dearest friend, my deepest love. You are the very best of me."

- The Best of Me, coming to theaters this Friday

Chapter 3

Aidan’s breath caught in his throat as he stared at her.

We dated before.

Dated before?

No way, is this chick on drugs?

He would definitely remember if they dated before, what? What is she talking about?

“You don’t remember?” Charmeine repeated, looking disappointed.

“No,” Aidan stressed out, suddenly feeling as if this woman is a bit insane.

“No, I guess you wouldn’t.” She muttered, rolling her eyes.

She looked around her and was satisfied that all of the tables she’s serving are still occupied with their meals, before turning her attention back to Aidan. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped and closed her mouth again, patting her pocket until she reached for her wallet.

“What are you doing?” Aidan asked in puzzlement.

“Looking for,” She opened up her wallet and pulled out a hidden picture. “This!”

She turned the picture around to reveal a picture of herself.

Only…

This picture doesn’t look like her at all. The girl in this picture looks nearly 200 pounds instead of 120. This girl has that fake blonde hair color going on, and her clothes looked tighter than what her real size should be.

This person was not her.

Except it was.

And holy crap, he does remember this person because he used to date this girl not because he liked her – not at all. In fact, he didn’t even care about her.

But because he dated her by mistake.

.:Freshman Year:.

“I don’t know how I feel about this, man.” Aidan said, as he sits in the passenger staring down at his hands.

Bryan and Bill looked at each other before rolling their eyes. This is probably the third blind date they set up for their friend, and he’s still not used to it. Seriously, this man needs a girl already for goodness sake, it’s embarrassing.

“What if she’s some psycho killer or whatever?” Aidan rambles on, his head shooting up as he stared at them with wide eyes. “Huh? You two set me up with some murderer who –“

“She’s my cousin’s friend!” Bill snapped at him, glaring at Aidan as if he literally lost his brain.

“It’s time, now get out there.” Bryan unbuckled a slow moving Aidan and roughly shoved him out of the car, ignoring his struggles.

“Remember, if I text you ‘help’, you immediately show up and kidnap me.”Aidan reminded them, as he tries his best to straighten his shirt.

“Ew, kidnap you?” Bryan scrunched up his face with fake disgust. “Why would anyone kidnap you, that’s gross.”

“Screw you.” Aidan snapped, before turning around and taking a deep breath.

Okay, here he goes. He’s about to meet this random girl whom he never met, and is friends with Bryan’s sister or cousin or whatever he said.

Okay.

Does he look okay? Does his breath stink? Or what if this girl doesn’t like him because he’s ugly or something?

Oh goodness, what if he doesn’t like her? What if she’s some psychopath or SHUT UP AND FOCUS AIDAN!

Ugh, where is she? Bryan said she would be here at this time and it’s already ten minutes past. There’s no one here except for some other chick he saw like once in school.

Why is she looking at him?

“Hello.” She gave him a shy smile and kept casting her eyes downward to the ground, as if she was afraid he was going to suck her soul or something, he doesn’t know.

“Hey.” Aidan politely smiled back, as he continued to look around him; just in case his blind date shows up.

Unless…

Oh.

Aidan whirled around and actually stared at her. His gaze memorizing every inch of her from top to bottom. She’s… different.

Not at all the kind of girls he would date, so he has no idea why either Bryan or Bill would try to set him up with this girl in front of him.

He’s not too picky but… c’mon now. Chubby – he doesn’t mind that, actually. But ugh, fake blonde hair and keeps staring at him as if she’s scared of him? That’s not cute.

“I’m –“

“My na –“

They stopped before she let out a nervous giggle.

“Sorry.” She blushed, shaking her head.

“It’s fine.” Aidan ushered her, feeling slightly amused now. “I’m Aidan.”

“I’m Charmeine.” Her cheeks redden, when he would smirk at her. “And yeah, I know.”

“Oh?” Aidan raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. “Been stalking me?” He jokingly added.

Charmeine’s eyes widened before her eyebrows scrunched together in wrinkles. “No!”

.

“So how was it?” Bryan asked, the moment Aidan threw himself inside the backseat.

“Well, she’s not my type.” Aidan said, buckling his seatbelt. Saftey first, of course! “But we had this really long conversation about baseball, and she’s really interesting. I think I might see her again!”

“Great!” Bill grinned widely, clapping his hands once. “I can’t wait to ask Sara what she thinks of you –“

“Who?” Aidan asked, frowning at him.

Bill stopped talking and merely stared at him. “Sara? The girl Bryan and I set you up with?”

“What?” Aidan let out a laugh, shaking his head at his friends foolishness. “Her name is Charmeine.”

.

“Why are we leaving him alone with her again?” Emma asked Drake, as she tried to pull a nosy Stacey away.

“Mom!” Stacey snapped in annoyance, “I just want to see how those two nerds are doing –“

“I’m surprised you’re the one who’s hesitant.” Drake lightly smacked his wife on the butt, earning an angry yelp.

“Stop it!” Emma slapped his hand away, throwing Stacey a look to behave. “I’m not hesitant, for your information. I just want to make sure that everything will be okay!”

“You’re always worried.” Stacey scoffed, shaking her head at her mother. “You need to take a chill pill or something, because wow.”

Emma stared at Stacey for a full minute before letting out a heavy sigh. “You really are my husband’s daughter.”

“Duh.” Stacey threw her hands up, before continuing to peek through the corner to spy on her brother and Charmeine.

“No shit.” Drake smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist, ignoring the way she’s fighting him to shove off.

“Watch your mouth, Drake! Honestly,” Emma said, after failing to have Drake off of her. She dropped her shoulders and leaned her head against his chest. “I’m proud of you for not taking out your bitterness with Charmeine… Since her uncle was also in the same gang you were in back then.”

“Don’t remind me.’’ Drake groaned, shaking his head. “After Richard found out, he freakin’ flipped out on her and Aidan to the point where he drove her away, literally.”

“Oh goodness.” Stacey sighed, turning back to face her parents. “I was in the car too! I thought Uncle Rich wanted to take us out to the cinemas, but no! He took us to the freakin’ downtown jail and pretty much forced Charmeine to spill where her gangster uncle was or something – as if she knows!”

Oh… but she did.

And that was what caused her relationship with Aidan to end abruptly last year.