I yanked Aaron's arm down to bring him closer, so I could talk to him.
"The barbeque? I thought, we were going to plan it together." I questioned, suddenly feeling uneasy.

Aaron laughed slightly before kissing my forehead.
"Well, change of plans. I've already planned it and it's on Thurday, so wear something pretty, doll face." He clarified, a teasing tone to his voice. I resisted the urge to punch him and bit my lip in thought.

Thursday was gonna be one hell of a day, that's for sure.

***************

Breathe, Alexis, Breathe

I inhaled deeply again before letting out yet another laboured breath. The breathing strategy, that I found on WikiHow, was clearly not much help to alleviate my panic, but I tried again in the hope that my speedy heartbeat would slow down.

Today was Thursday: the day that I would reveal the current state of my condition, but I, honestly, still was not ready. Everytime, I thought of what was to come or of what I was to do, a new sheen of sweat would layer my forehead.

I stepped out into Aaron's back garden to see a beautiful green yard, freshly mowed. Right at the far end there was garden tables, lined up by the fence with a variety of snacks and drinks. The garden wasn't all green grass, however, there was a wooden patio-styled flooring to the side and, on there, was a barbeque grill.

"You look beautiful."

I turned to see Aaron smiling at me, his hands in his pocket as he walked towards me.

I laughed at his words, looking down at the red and white floral dress I was wearing. It hugged my waist nicely and then splayed out, stopping just above my knees. The dress was paired up with the red heels I was wearing. I folded my arms.
"Thanks for the compliment, Aaron, but I'm pretty sure the only reason for your kind words is because you just bought me this dress yesterday." I replied curtly, walking further into the garden.

Aaron smiled, shrugging his shoulders and followed behind me.
"Maybe." He teased with a laugh, covering his face when my hand reached out to hit him. He held his hands up in mock-surrender to which I halted in my actions of trying to dent his angelic face.

"I'm joking, I'm joking." He laughed out before moving closer to me. He reached out a hand and placed it on my arm; I revelled in the warmth of his touch. He took in my whole appearance before speaking.

"In all honestly, I could have bought you a potato sack to wear and you'd still make it work." He let out gently, a slight smile on his face. I blushed at his words before quickly recovering and swatting his hand away.

"That's sweet, Aaron, but I'm more concerned of how you knew my size. You know, that's borderline creepy, right?" I retorted teasingly to which Aaron's smile widened. He shook his head slightly before speaking.

"You know, I really want to lie and say that I snuck into your room and read the tags of your clothes just to scare the shit out of you, but no. I remember lending you Avalon's dress to wear and it fit you perfectly. I used to buy her dresses all the time, so I already knew the size." He explained and I nodded my head at his words.

He looked behind me, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Where are your parents? They were supposed to come with you." He questioned to which I nodded yet again.

I put a stray strand of hair behind my ear before speaking.
"Well, Dad should have finished work by now and Mom was just finishing up on having a shower, so Dad will pick her up and they'll both be here in around 10 minutes." I explained, a confused look on my face when Aaron suddenly smirked.

He looked at his watch before raising an eyebrow.
"So, what I'm hearing is, that I have some time alone with you?" He questioned suggestively, a hopeful tone to his voice. He moved closer to me, not too close, but enough that I could smell his familiar scent and, suddenly, my breathing was laboured again.

Recomposing myself, I placed a hand on his firm chest before he could move any further. He smirked at my actions and I frowned in response.
"Well, I think you should get your ears checked because you heard wrong." I retorted, narrowing my eyes at his looming figure.

Aaron's smirk widened at this, he moved back slightly, so my palm was touching the air, and folded his arms.
"You know, you've been mad at me since Tuesday. I think I know why, but then again, I'd rather not take a wrong guess and have my head cut off, so you might as well share." He concluded, gesturing for me to talk.

I rolled my eyes at his words, scoffing slightly.
"Oh no, Aaron. You don't have to spare any time on little old me. Justin's 'oh so attractive' sister will be here in a while. I'll leave all the 'sharing' to her." I snapped back sarcastically, placing a hand to my chest, in mock empathy. 

Aaron processed my words slowly and then his eyes widened slightly. He dragged a hand through his hair before speaking.
"Wow, okay, I guess I really didn't know why you were mad." He muttered more to himself than to me. I tutted at his words before turning to leave, but Aaron's hand on my arm stopped my movements. I looked up to see him smiling at me. No, not his playful smile, but that genuine smile of his that did wondrous things to my already unstable heart.

He moved me closer with the hand that was on my arm.
"Lexi, I was joking. You know, I love seeing you like this." He let out and I rolled my eyes again.

"Like what? Angry? Well, congratulations, you got what you wished for." I snapped, before trying to get out of his hold, despite knowing I wouldn't be successful. He was strong, something I discovered when I looked at the muscled arms that tensed everytime I tried to pull away.

My attempts to escape didn't phase him, in the least and he continued smiling down at me.
"I didn't mean it like that, Lexi. I just love seeing you get jealous. I wasn't serious about anything I said but, damn, the look on your face. It kills me everytime." He said, looking at me as though I was an angel that just descended from heaven. I recovered quickly, from the shock of what he said, and nudged him slightly. He didn't budge, but I carried on with my words.

"Save it for someone who cares." I muttered before cringing internally at my childish retort.

Could you not have thought of anything better than that?

Aaron didn't cringe like I did but, instead,  laughed at my words. He pulled me into a hug and I could feel the vibrations of his laugh against my cheek. I struggled against his hold, but relaxed when I felt him let out a deep sigh.
"God, I love you." He let out quietly to which a sudden silence descended upon the garden. Nothing but the chirping of the birds and the sound of the wind hitting the grass could be heard. And, I broke the silence with the worst word of choice.

"Thanks."

And then another stretch of silence settled, much longer and awkward than the one before it.

Suddenly, the hold that Aaron had on my arm loosened and he moved back. I looked up to see a ghost of a smile on his lips. He motioned towards the garden door.
"Danny's here." He said simply before moving towards him.

I followed behind him, feeling regret at my choice of words. I smiled up at Danny who walked towards us in his usual cocky manner. He came to a halt in front of us and pulled Aaron into his death grip to which Aaron winced.
"Hey, dude, how have you been?" His boomed, ripping through the silence that had settled upon the garden previously. He turned to me afterwards and slapped a hand against my arm affectionately.

"You alright?" He beamed, looking at both. He seemed oblivious to the awkward air between Aaron and I. Before any of us could speak, however, a voice spoke out against the silence.

"Aaron!" A female voice spoke before her arms settled around Aaron's waist.

Aaron laughed, hugging her back.
"Raven, what are you doing here?" He questioned, looking towards Danny.

Raven placed a hand on her hip, before poking a finger at Aaron's chest.
"Yeah, yeah. I knew, you forgot all about me. Thankfully, Danny invited me. Guess I know who's my favourite now." She snapped before linking her arm around Danny's.

Danny grinned at her words before looking towards Aaron, a smug look on his face. Aaron scoffed at this. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when his eyes caught something behind us. I looked to see two males walking towards us. They came up and did their respective 'bro hug' greetings before sending a wave my way. I waved back, a confused look on my face.

Raven seemed to spot this and rolled her eyes. She slapped Aaron's arm before turning to me.
"Hey, Alexis. I know, Aaron must have not introduced us all to you properly, so let me do the honours." She let out, her chin held up high. She pointed towards the blonde haired boy. He was lean, tan and his eyes were green.

"This is Drake." She said and he waved at me, a big grin on his face. Raven scoffed at this.

"Don't let his grin get to you, Alexis. We call him The Appetizer- you know, the food before the actual meal. He's the classic idiot, you know? Always seen with the girls, but his status is always single." She said, putting an arm around me protectively. Drake glared playfully at her words and the male beside him laughed loudly.

At this, Raven's attention turned to him. She gestured towards him with a smile before turning to me.
"And, this fine specimen is Mason, my boyfriend." She let out proudly. I looked at him to see he was fine.

Well, not as fine as Aaron

The boy had brown hair matted down on his forehead and his eyes were light brown. He was also tan, but noticeably, bigger than Drake. He waved at me and I waved back.

The three of them began conversing loudly to each other and Aaron took this chance to turn to Danny.
"Danny, you didn't need to invite them." He said, looking towards the three.

Danny shook his head dramatically, his eyes widening in an exaggerated manner.
"Doth my ears deceive me? Aaron Walker having a barbeque and not inviting his friends? A sad day indeed." He spoke, clutching his heart with a pained look on his face.

Aaron rolled his eyes at words, but chose to ignore them and turned to me.
"Lexi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for them to come. I know, you're probably feeling nervous already and this just makes it worse. I didn't-" he spoke softly, but I cut him off with a hand on his arm.

"Aaron, it's fine. These people are your friends. Sure, I feel nervous. But, I know they're good people and I don't mind them being around for this." I said, meaning every word I said.

Aaron smiled at this and turned to talk to Mason. I smiled when Raven moved towards me and put a arm around my shoulder.
"How's the settled life going? Are you past the honeymoon stage yet or do you not feel the need to barf everytime you look at his lips?" She questioned jokingly and I laughed at her words. I opened my mouth to reply but stopped when a look of shock settled onto her face.

"Holy shit." She squeaked out and I followed her line of sight to see Justin walking in and close by his side, Savannah. They came over and Justin greeted everyone stood there, before smiling over at me. I smiled back at him before waving Savannah to come over to us. She came towards us, a shy smile on her face. Like me, she was wearing a dress; that was where the similarities ended. Her dress was candy-floss pink and was paired with ballet flats of the same colour. Raven, on the other hand, was wearing dark jeans and a nude lace-up top, paired up with heels.

"Hi." She let out, a tinge of pink on her cheeks.

Raven scoffed, pulling Savannah closer.
"Don't 'hi' us. Get straight down the good stuff. Namely, how did you change the 'Emo King into your own personal lover boy, huh?" She said bluntly and I giggled at her choice of words.

Savannah blushed more before shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"Erm, he asked me out?" She said, softly, her words sounding more like she was asking a question rather than announcing it.

I gaped at her words, looking at Raven who was sporting a similar look.
"What, seriously? When?" I questioned, glancing to Justin who was in conversation with Aaron and Mason.

She shrugged slightly, a wistful smile on her face.
"I don't know, around 3 weeks ago. You'd have to ask him though, he remembers the exact date." She gushed, looking over at him. It seemed as though he sensed this as he stopped talking abruptly and turned to look at her, a look of pure affection in his eyes. He smiled slightly and she blushed at this before turning back to us. At this, both Raven's and my jaw was touching the freshly-mowed grass.

Raven shook her head, a confused look on her face.
"What is it with both Aaron and Justin finally settling down with a girl? Next thing you know, Danny's going to get hitched." She joked with a laugh, turning to me.

Her laugh stopped when she saw the serious look on my face and both girls turned to me, a questioning look on their face. I breathed out loudly before speaking.
"Yeah, on the subject of Danny. I need to tell you guys something."

                
                   ***************

"No. Fucking. Way." Was Raven's response.

Savannah was slightly confused at first as she didn't know who Amelia was, but after filling her in, she seemed shocked too. She shook her head.
"Wow, Danny never struck me as the type to want to settle down with a girl." She let out.

Raven laughed loudly, slapping her back.
"Forget about that BS. If I were you, I'd be thinking about how that idiot might end up being your brother-in-law." She said between laughs and I laughed along with her.

We continued conversing and I excused myself to get a drink. A few more of Aaron's friends had come, so there was a slight crowd. I know, this wasn't the best environment to share my secret, but I couldn't just get Aaron to tell them to leave. Danny had invited them and he had no clue about the secret I was about to share, so I just had to man up and deal with it.

All I had to do was wait for my parents to come who, at the moment, were stuck in traffic.

I put a cup to my lips and took a sip, relishing in the feel of the cool liquid that contrasted against the warm weather.

"Enjoying yourself? You must be, this is the closest you'd ever get to popularity." A snarky voice came from behind me

__________________________________________