I wake up to the sound of my phone buzzing. I sit up, a little too fast which makes everything around me blurry. I rub my eyes as I reach over to grab my phone that's sitting on the bedside table.
I answer it, seeing that it's James who is calling me.
"Morning. You better have a great excuse to why you woke me up." I joke and James chuckles.
"Sorry bubs, but morning." He says then he sighs. "I have some fucking bad news."
"Oh what? You can't make Saturday? It's fine we can just chill at one of our houses Friday night, no big deal." I say jumping to conclusions and James chuckles.
"I wish it was that, but it's not, it's worse."
"Okay.. so stop beating around the bush and tell me what's wrong."
"I told the club what happened with Daniel and how I beat him up."
"JAMES! Why would you do that?" I ask then I get up.
"Hold that thought, I'm coming over so you can explain it to me in person." I say and I hear James sigh, but I know either way he wants to see me.
I chuck on a pair of jeans and a jumper, before running downstairs where I grab my car keys off the hook, and also grab an up and go to drink on the way.
I get to James' house in no time, parking in his driveway, then walking up to the front door, pressing the doorbell.
"We could've had this conversation over the phone you know."
"I know, just wanted to see you." I say and he chuckles.
"I'm not complaining." He says shutting the door behind me before we both walk into the living room, taking a seat on the couch.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell them that it was you, I left your name out of it."
"Thank you. But why did you hand yourself in?"
"Cause I know how Daniel does things, sooner or later he would've gone to the police and said that I assaulted him, so this way, the club and AFL know about it and they can deal with it, before the police get involved."
"Okay, but are you fine?"
"I'm fine, just that I have to miss the first three weeks of the season."
"YOU'RE JOKING RIGHT?"
"I wish I was Tahls, but this is the punishment tribunal is going to give me. It's either that or the police, they gave me an ultimatum and obviously I chose to miss the first few weeks."
"Shit James, I am so sorry. This is all my fault if I never dated Daniel then this..." I start but he cuts me off by placing a hand over my mouth to silence me.
"Stop. Just stop." He says, removing his hand from my mouth then continuing. "Please do not blame yourself for what happened with Daniel. It is NOT your fault."
I look into his gorgeous eyes and sigh. He's right, I shouldn't be blaming myself when it's not my fault what happened. But sometimes it's just easier to blame yourself for things.
"Okay." I say and he sighs, grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze.
"Have you eaten?"
"I had an up and go on the way here."
"So you haven't eaten." He says getting up and walking over the fridge, pulling out some bacon and eggs.
"You don't have to make anything, I'm not hungry."
"Don't bullshit me Tahlia, you're always hungry." He says and I sigh, then smile.
"Do you study me or something to know I'm always hungry?"
"I wouldn't say study you, I'd say I know you well enough to know that you're always hungry."
"Fair enough." I say and he smiles.
I watch James as he pulls stuff out from cupboards and starts cooking. I can't help but bring up the fantasy I've had in my head for a while that we're together, that James is my boyfriend and he's cooking me breakfast, as he does every morning.
Except that fantasy isn't real, and probably won't be real... for a while anyways.
"Naughts told me you two went on a fishing trip the other week, how was that?"
"Yeah it was good, Aaron definitely made it interesting."
"He would've. He also told me he kissed you."
"He what?" I say jumping up from the couch and walking over to James where he is frying some bacon in a pan. "He wasn't supposed to tell anyone."
"Well I guess he needed to vent to someone, and usually he said he goes to your brother, but obviously that wouldn't be appropriate would it now?"
"No it wouldn't." I say then I sigh. "We shouldn't be talking about this?"
"Why not? We're friends right?"
"Yeah." I say and he smiles.
"Then why can't we? Friends talk about this stuff all the time, tell me how you felt."
"Honestly?"
"Honestly."
"I don't know how I felt."
"You would've had to feel something if you went in for another kiss." James says with a smirk and I frown.
"Can I ask what you're trying to do here? I thought you liked me?"
"I never said those words did I now?"
"No, you didn't." I say feeling my heart sink.
"Look Tahls. I'm not going to stop you if you want to explore something with Naughts, he obviously has you feeling a certain way, you probably don't even realise it."
"No, I am not exploring anything with him."
"Why? The kid clearly likes you."
"He doesn't like me like that, it was just a one time thing?"
"Really now? If it was a one time thing then why did you also kiss him in Noosa, whilst drunk? Drunk words are sober thoughts, same thing goes for actions."
"I wasn't thinking straight."
"Tahlia." James says looking at me. "You're making excuses."
"I'm not."
"So what do you want then?"
You. I want you. Is what I want to scream out to him, I want to tell him that he's the one I want, and have wanted for ages. But I don't say anything, instead I stand there in silence, trying to figure out something to say.
"Well?"
"I can't say it." I say and James smirks.
"Sure you can."
"No."
"Yes." He says and I don't budge, then he sighs. "Alright fine, don't tell me then. But I will keep asking you, until you figure out a response."
"Why do you want to know so badly?"
"So I know whether I'm wasting my time or not." He says and I nod.
"Well I can say you aren't." I say and he smiles.
"Well that's good to know, I love spending time with my bestie." He says, scooping out the bacon and eggs and placing them on a plate, then taking it to the table where we both sit down and dig in.
"Is that sarcastic?"
"Why would it be sarcastic?"
"I don't know." I say sighing and James smiles.
"I'm just messing with you Tahls, but seriously if you want to see where it goes with Aaron just do it." He says. "Before I tie you down.." He adds in a very low voice so that I can't hear him, but I manage to catch it.
Those five words make me want to smile, but I manage to keep a straight face, even though those words make butterflies appear in my stomach.
I finish eating breakfast with James. I then stay a few more hours before I decide it's time to go, I thank him for the meal before making the short drive home, confused as to why he is pushing me to see where it goes with Aaron.
As I turn into my street I see a familiar car in the driveway and I sigh. Aaron is here... I think as I park my car next to his.
I look into the car to see that Aaron is sitting in there, on his phone. Maybe Em and Marcus went out.... I think as I turn my car off and jump out, walking past Aaron's car I smile, tapping on the windscreen to get his attention. He smiles when he sees me, and jumps out of the car instantly, before wrapping me in a hug.
I breathe in his cologne and instantly die, he's wearing the exact one I told him makes me weak at the knees. This boy knows what he's doing.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask as we walk into the house and plonk it on the couch.
"Nothing, I was bored so I thought I'd drop past. Where did you go?"
"I was at James' house."
"Oh did you spend the night there?"
"Nah I went there for breakfast."
"Breakfast? That's random."
"Yeah very random, he rang me this morning telling me that he got a 3 match ban cause he bashed Daniel."
"Oh shit, that's not good."
"Agreed. Oh well, it could've been worse if the police got involved I guess."
"True." He says and I smile.
"Want anything to drink?" I ask and he nods.
"Yeah a beer please."
"A beer?"
"Yeah, I can have a few." He says and I raise an eyebrow at him. "Come on Tahls, I don't have training tomorrow, and I promise I'll only have one."
"Alright, fine." I say getting up and grabbing him a beer out of the fridge as well as pouring a glass of wine for myself.
"There you are."
"Thank you." He says and I smile.
A few hours later....
"So then I just flung the golf club and it went flying out of my hands, and nearly hit a person, that's how far it went." Aaron says while I laugh my head off at something that isn't supposed to be that funny. Instead it should be stupid, but here I am dying of laughter. Must be the alcohol talking.
"That is the funniest thing I've heard all week." I say in between laughs and Aaron laughs as well.
"I know it was crazy. But it didn't happen again, although I did miss the golf ball a couple of times." He says and I laugh again.
"This is nice." I say trailing my fingers on his hand which makes him smile.
"It really is nice." He says flipping his hand over so that he and intertwine his with mine.
I look into his eyes, then down to his lips. I get the sudden urge to kiss him.
I'm definitely not thinking straight when I act on that thought and inch my face closer to his. I look up at him and he smirks.
"So this is where it's going huh?"
"Just shut up and close your eyes before I change my mind." I say and Aaron chuckles as I close my eyes and lean in closer, our lips brushing each other, before they completely touch and fire corses through my bones, as our lips move together in sync.
His hand moves to cup my face, and pull me closer to him, whilst one of my hands goes to his hair, playing with it gently.
The kiss intensifies a bit when he lifts me onto him, to straddle his lap, which I don't back away from.
The tiny bit of me that's sober realises what's currently happening and pulls away. I sigh to myself as I put my head in my hands, still on his lap.
"What's wrong?" He asks and I sigh.
"We shouldn't be doing this." I say, waving my hands between us and Aaron sighs.
"Clearly you want to."
"I'm drunk."
"That's not an excuse Tahls." He says and I nod, then sigh.
"You're right." I say looking into his gorgeous blue eyes. I feel guilty for doing this, again to him. Maybe if we just get everything out of our system, we might be able to go back to just being friends.
I lean in and place a soft kiss on his lips.
"This never happens again.. understood?"
"Understood." Aaron says with a smile and I smile as I press my lips to his again.
"What are we doing?" He says a few minutes later and I sigh, shrugging.
"I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm sorry." I say getting off him and he sighs.
"Maybe I should go."
"No, please don't, can we at least talk it out?"
"What's there to talk out? You're never gonna like me more then a friend, and I just have to accept that." He says getting up and I get up, running after him.
"Aaron please, I am sorry."
"Sorry? You're sorry? This is the third time this has happened and you made it very clear after the fishing trip that it wouldn't happen again, yet today you're all over me." He says and I sigh, putting my head in my hands as I have plain and simply used the kid.
"I really am sorry Aaron." I say and he sighs.
"Even if I wanted to be mad at you I can't. But Tahls, you need to set your priorities straight. I don't want you to get to the stage where you have to choose either me or worps, but if we continue like this, it's probably gonna get to that stage." He says and I nod.
"I know, I don't want it to get to that stage."
"Well then, this never happens again." He says before he lets himself out and I stand there dumbfounded.
What the hell have I done?...
***
A bit of drama to finish off the chapter ahaha
Will everything be fine with Tahlia and Aaron's friendship?
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