The rest of the ride home was silent. I was lost in my own thoughts, thinking about everything that'd happened since that party.

The party. The first time I'd met Aaron. The first time he'd kissed me.

Everything had changed since then . I'd lost my best friend. I'd made new friends, found new ones. I'd found Aaron .

I was upset about what Kayla had done. I felt really bad for Trent. Even more now, after seeing his condition today. He was still broken. He did a great job of hiding his emotions but I knew he wasn't completely over what had happened. He loved Kayla with all his heart and she broke him.

Despite all that had happened, a part of me-a large one , no doubt- was glad. Glad that I'd come to live with the Woods. Glad that I found such amazing people.And most importantly, Aaron.

God, I couldn't even imagine my life without him in it now.

"Ashy? We're home," his soft voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I nodded, still thinking what I'd done to deserve a guy like him.

We both got out of the car and went inside. He walked me to my room.

"I'll just go get changed," I said, grabbing my pajamas.

"I'll wait," was his reply as he sat down on the bed.

I waved him off. "It's okay, go to sleep."

"I'll wait," he insisted.

"Okay, I won't be long," I gave him a small smile.

I quickly got changed, splashed water on my face and went back to join him.

"Aaron..." I began.

"Hmm?" he gave me a small smile.

My heart skipped a beat. How could someone be so beautiful?

"I'm sorry for tonight."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Sorry? You don't have any reason to be."

"I do, I mean you were so excited. Um, not that I wasn't, I was very excited too and everything was going so well but I know it's not my fault but it kind of is I really -"

"Ashley, breathe."

I took in a deep breath and exhaled.

"Good."

I caressed his face with one of my hands.

"Don't you want to get changed?" I asked, glancing at his shirt.

"I had better things in mind," he winked.

I punched him playfully."Shut up."

He chuckled."I'll be right back, okay?" he said, getting up.

I didn't want him to go, even if it was for a few minutes,but I nodded anyway.

He kissed my forehead before going into his room.

I took a deep breath to calm my heart down.

Aaron Woods,what have you done to me?

He was back a minute later, with a grey t-shirt and sweatpants on. His hair was messed again, and he looked as gorgeous as ever.

"Stop drooling,Ashley," he winked,teasing me.

My eyes narrowed."I was not drooling."

"Uh-huh. Sure you weren't."

"I was not."

"Were too."

"No-"

"Shut up," he sat down next to me on the bed.

"No."

"Shut up."

"No!"

"I'll make you then."

"You can't make me," I scoffed

"I can."

"Shut up."

"After you."

"Oh for God's sake shut-"

I could say no more than that because at that very moment, he did actually make me shut up.

He crushed his lips against mine. I was frozen for a few seconds before I kissed him back eagerly. He pulled away, leaving me breathless.

" I told you I'd shut you up,didn't I?" he smirked.

I slapped his shoulder."You're an asshole, you know that?"

"You like me anyway," he said,leaning in closer to me so that our foreheads were touching.

I smiled. " True."

He pecked me on the cheek before pulling away. "Lets go eat something" he said,grabbing my hand, making me stand up with him.

I realised we hadn't eaten anything.

"Pizza ?" I guessed.

"That's my girl," he grinned.

We heated some pizza and brought it back upto my room. Once we were done eating,we put away the plates.

"You wanna sleep?" Aaron asked me.

I nodded."Yeah, I guess." I was tired and my eyes were starting to hurt.

"Goodnight," he said, getting up to leave.

"Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay?"

He smiled. "Always."

***

"You guys so did it last night," Amanda giggled.

I glared at her for what she as insinuating as I finished drying my hair. Amanda had come in early that morning and seen Aaron and me sleeping in the same bed and she was convinced we'd done something.

"We did no such thing. We were just sleeping."

"Uh-huh," she winked.

I rolled my eyes. No body could convince her otherwise.

"So, tell me about that date," she said excitedly, rubbing her hands together.

My face fell. The date. It would've been our first date.

"There was no date," I sighed, running a brush through my hair one last time.

"No date? What do you mean?" she asked, looking surprised.

Sighing, I gave her all the details.

"Oh my Gosh, that's terrible!"

"Tell me about it," I muttered. I put a little bit of makeup on so I looked presentable to go to the hospital.

"Seriously, that sucks. I feel so bad for you guys," she frowned.

"Yeah, I know me too," I replied, grabbing my phone from the bed.

"Anyways I'll see you later, okay? I have to go to the hospital with Aaron."

She nodded."Take care."

I first went inside Aaron's room to check if he was ready to go.

Just as I was about to open the door, he opened it from the inside.

"Whoa, talk about good timing," he smirked.

I laughed."You ready?"

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p'.

"Let's go then," I said,turning to leave.

"Wait," he said, spinning me around.He pulled me inside his room and closed the door.

"What are you..."

"I wanted to do this first, he whispered, holding my face with both his hands before he leaned down to kiss me on the lips.

Before I could respond he pulled away, leaving me in a daze.

"We're getting late, Ashy," he smirked triumphantly seeing the effect he'd had on me.

I glared at him. Jerk.

Twenty minutes later, we were at the hospital.

"What are we even going to say to her?" I asked Trent, who was leaning against the wall, contemplating whether to go in or not.

He shrugged."No clue."

"We'll just go with the flow then. C'mon."

I just wanted to get this done with.

"I'll wait outside," Aaron said and I barely even looked at him. I was still pretending to be mad at him for the kiss he stole in the morning.

He clearly picked this up, and I saw him smirk from the corner of my eye. He was clearly amused.

Trent gave him a nod and we entered.

Kayla was sitting on the bed, a few bandages here and there. She had dark circles and her hair looked messy. Other than that, she seemed to be okay.

There was an eerie silence in the room for a whole minute before she finally spoke up.

"Hey," she offered a small smile.

Neither Trent, nor I smiled back.

"We came to see how you're doing," I stated the obvious.

"I'm alright. My head hurts a bit but it's not that bad," she replied.

We both nodded our heads slowly.

"Okay. Great. We're going to go now. Take care," I said and turned around to leave.

All this while, Trent had been quiet.

Just as we both reached the door and were about to leave, she spoke again."Wait!"

We both whipped our heads towards her.

"Trent. Uh, I, can I talk to you?"

He looked at me as if asking me. I wanted to say no but keeping in mind that she wasn't well, I gave him a nod.

"I'll be outside," I said to no one in particular, indirectly warning Kayla to not try to pull any shit.

"Ashley?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for coming to see me, I really appreciate it."

I nodded my head in response before leaving.

"Hi babe."

"Are you talking to me?" I gave him a sarcastic smile.

He rolled his eyes. "Always the drama queen, Ashy."

"Shut up."

"That was such a great comeback," he said with mock surprise.

I scowled at him.

"Dont be mad, I was only teasing you."

I chuckled."I know."

"My Ashy is back!" he exclaimed with joy and I resisted the urge to laugh.

"Please try to keep it down. This is a hospital," a nurse passing by said in a stern voice.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Aaron said, not so quietly.

She glared at him before going away.

"That was mean, Aaron," I laughed.

"She was mean too."

The door opened then and Trent came out."Let's go."

"What'd she say?" I asked, curiously.

"What do you think?" he asked, looking at me.

I sighed. Of course she must have apologized to him and asked him to take her back.

"Did she at least thank you?" I asked scornfully.

He chuckled at my tone."Yeah."

"Don't mind her, she's got her panties in a twist today," Aaron snickered as we entered the elevator.

Needless to say, he received a smack upside the head from me.