The Girl in the Hooded Jacket

The Era of Aaron

Violet came home late the next night.

11:36, to be precise.

I was sitting cross-legged on my bed studying for my chemistry test when she burst through the door and flung herself onto the bed, her flushed cheeks pointing towards the ceiling.

"You were gone quite a while." I noted, not looking up from my textbook. "How was your date?"

"Oh, it was amazing." Violet sighed happily, turning on her side to face me. "He was amazing. A total gentlemen."

"Oh?" I said. I found it hard to picture. Aaron holding a bouquet of roses. Aaron pulling out a chair for his date before sitting down himself. Aaron using any pronouns other than 'dude', 'girl', 'bro', or 'man'.

It was unimaginable.

Violet sat up, her blue eyes meeting mine. "I think this could really be the start of something." She told me. "I think... I really like him."

I scoffed, then quickly covered it up with a coughing fit.

But Violet didn't notice. She was too busy drooling over Aaron and looking starry-eyed.

And thus began the new Era: The Era of Aaron.

Over the next few days, I started to see less of Violet. And when I did, she would always be with Aaron.

She would come home late every night, the only interaction between us being the car rides to school. And even then, we wouldn't really talk. We'd barely even acknowledge each other's presence.

I was walking to the lunch tables one day when I saw Violet pressed against the lockers with her lips parted, her hands roaming over Aaron's back, his mouth sucking away at her neck like a leech.

Violet's eyes flitted in my direction, and then she froze. Our eyes locked.

For a fleeting moment, I saw something flash across her expression. And then it was gone.

I huffed and walked away as fast as I could, eyes cast toward the ground, trying to ignore the scene behind me.

How was this fair, in any way? How could a girl like Violet end up with somebody like Aaron, and why, why not with me? I wanted to scream. I wanted to punch something. I wanted to yell and pull my hair out and curse at the heavens in twenty-seven different languages, because English itself didn't provide enough swear words to satisfy me. But I didn't. I just kept walking. Away from my worst nightmare; away from the girl of my dreams. And, somehow, the two were starting to blend together.

When I arrived at our table, Andrea and Ray were beaming, and Justin looked like a toddler trying to hold in a juicy secret. I cocked an eyebrow. "Well?"

A girlish giggle escaped Justin's mouth. "Tell him what you guys were doing." He said, nudging Ray.

Ray cleared his throat and hitched his glasses higher onto his nose. "We, uh... we kissed."

My eyes widened. I looked at Ray, then Andrea, then Ray again. "You're shitting me."

"Not just kissed." Justin jumped in. "It was a full on make out. They looked like they were trying to eat each other's faces."

I winced at the explicit imagery. "Are you guys dating now, or...?" I trailed off, still trying to absorb what had happened.

Andrea and Ray shared a sheepish smile.

I buried my face in my palms and let out a groan not all that different from a constipated pterodactyl. "DOES EVERYBODY HAVE A GIRLFRIEND BUT ME?" I screamed into my hands.

"Seems to be the case." Justin murmured.

I peeked at him through a crack in my fingers. "Not helping."

Justin laughed. "Sorry dude. Couldn't help it."

I buried my hands in my hair.  "Oh, fuck me." I muttered to myself.

"Hey." Justin said, placing a hand over my back. "At least let me buy you dinner first."

I shrugged his hand off, but ended up laughing despite myself. "You're an odd little man, Justin Castle."