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The night that Erika realized she was in love with Aaron Judge was the first night she'd ever seen a shooting star in the Bronx.
She would have thought it was a sign from the universe (it had to be, right?) but she was too busy kissing him on the balcony of his apartment to ponder anything that the universe might have been trying to tell her.
In that moment, she didn't care who saw the two of them, or what they had to say, or anything else. The once private girl had opened up her heart and all of this pastel pink love began radiating from her, right towards that beautiful boy of hers.
Erika was keen on never stopping this. Why would she want to? She had a great job, a great family, a great apartment in the greatest city in the world and the greatest boy in the world – what could the world try to do to her?
It was all sunshine, rainbows and home runs until it wasn't.
The night she read the TMZ article about her being some kind of gold digger who was trying to pull something over on Aaron was the same night that she locked herself in her bathroom and cried until she made herself sick.
It was also the same night that she and Aaron decided to keep things more low-key – secret being the word actually used.
It would be hard, of course, but it was how things had to be for the two of them to have a shot at making this work.
(Regardless, she had to remind herself that it was perfectly fine if she respected the way things had to be, but still hated them with every fiber of her being).
In the moments since, through proclamations of love inside utility closets and in unvoiced prayers, Erika wondered if their bond was growing stronger or becoming weaker. Part of her thought that, if there was any possible way that both could be happening simultaneously, that this was what that felt like.
And it felt like someone stabbing a knife in her chest. Repeatedly.
ミ ━━━━
Somewhere between a dream and a nightmare came the trip to Baltimore.
Aaron tried to take a chance and remind his girl that, even though they weren't together openly, that they were still together. He'd surprised her with a plane ticket down and a key to one of the nicest hotels in the city.
