"So." He began nervously. I could tell by the look on Aaron's face that he wasn't really ready to tell what he was about to.
"Are you sure your okay with telling me this?" I asked him. He nodded before speaking again.
"It started just after I left for England." He paused. "I wasn't coping very well with the fact that you had gone, the fact that I'd never see you again."
"Go on." I told him.
"Well long story short I missed you. I missed you so much that I had to try and find away to stop thinking about you, you were all I thought about and I was ruining my life. I tired everything but nothing seemed to work. Until I found one thing that did. Well for a while it did anyway. I told myself never to do this, but it was too late I needed something, and I needed it bad." He stopped.
"What did you do?" I asked nervously.
"I - I, became addicted, addicted to drugs." He stuttered. I never thought I'd hear those words in my life, especially not from him. I didn't quite believe him at first, I didn't know how to react to what he'd just told me.
"Oh." Was all that managed to escape my mouth.
I was still still really shocked at what he'd just said to me, Aaron was the last person I'd expect to do something like that. It couldn't quite sink in. The question that kept replaying in my mind was, is he over them? Is he still using them? If he is I wanted to make sure I helped him overcome this habit as best I could.
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, before I decided that it would have to be me to break the tension, by asking him the question I wanted to know most.
"Do, do you still like do them?" I asked nervously.
"No,well I haven't had any in about a month or so now, but lately I've been getting cravings again and I've been trying my best to try and forget about the cravings, and tell myself I don't need them." He told me. I could tell he was feeling a little better telling me now, he seemed to have loosened up a bit, he spoke much more confidently than he was before.
"I'll try everything I can to make sure you get over this habit once and for all. I'm here for you Aaron, every step of the way." I comforted him with a gentle smile.
"Thank you so much Steph, your such a good friend I'm so glad I'm finally with you again." He said pulling me into a friendly hug.
"Awe thank you, and your welcome." I giggled.
Aaron continued explaining the story of him getting into drugs, how he felt, and how he lost basically everyone. He was saying about how he only moved to LA about three weeks ago and that he wanted this to be a fresh start for him. I listened to every word he told me carefully making sure to register the whole story he was telling me properly.
"Shit." I mumbled checking my phone for the time. It was 10:00pm. How did it even get this late? It only felt like we had met a couple hours ago. How wrong was I though?
"What is it?" Aaron questioned in a slightly worried tone.
"Oh it's just I said I would of only been a couple hours." I began. "It's ten o'clock now Daniel is gunna kill me." I joked.
"Oh right sorry, it's me rambling on." Aaron laughed.
"Awe it's fine don't worry about it." I told him with a reassuring smile. "Well I guess I had better get going now. Thank you for telling me what happened. It was really brave of you to tell me everything like that, just remember I'm always here for you okay. Til the end. Don't hesitate to text or call me if you need anything okay?" I continued, standing up and beginning to walk over to the door.
"Thank you Steph." He added. I went to try and open the door but couldn't quite do it myself.
"Here let me."Aaron gestured. He lean't over to unlock the door, but stopped. Our faces we now directly opposite each others. Aaron began leaning in, so did I for a second or two but then I remembered. James. I stopped myself from leaning in any further. I don't know what had come over me. I guess tonight's events just got me so caught up, I wasn't quite clear on what I was doing.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Aaron shyly spoke.
"No it's fine, honestly." I told him with a comforting smile. He opened the door for me and I stepped out of the door.
"Well see you soon." I cooed.
"Yeah see ya, make sure you text me when your home or I'll be worrying, you shouldn't be out this late at night, sorry I was rambling on earlier." He spoke, bringing me into a tight hug, I hugged back. Just before the hug broke Aaron left a gentle kiss on my cheek. For some reason it sent butterflies erupting in my stomach. 'Why is this happening?' I asked myself.
I said my last goodbyes to Aaron before beginning to walk home. I checked my phone, it was now 10:10pm. Daniel was going to kill me. I noticed I also had quite a few miss calls and text messages from the boys as well, most of them were from James and Daniel though. They must be really worried.
Text from: Daniel
Steph where are you? You said you'd only be a couple hours. xx
Text from: James <3
Babe how much longer are you going to be our for? We are all worried sick. xx
Text from: Luke
Steph, I'm really worried please come home soon xxx
5 miss calls from Daniel
6 miss calls from James
3 miss calls from Luke
2 miss calls from Jai
1 miss call from Beau
I also had a few other text messages saying similar things to the others. Aaron lived by a park we had driven past a few times now, so I was definitely sure that I knew the way home now. I estimated that it would take me around, half an hour or so till I would be back.
I carefully opened the front door trying not to make too much noise. Too late. All five boys came running through into the hallway. Before I knew it I was getting millions of questions yelled at me.
"Where have you been?"
"Do you know what time it is?"
"Why were you not answering your phone?"
"We've all been worried sick."
I couldn't quite understand who was saying what.
"I'm fine guys. I'm sorry I just lost track of time, Aaron and I went back to his for a little while after we were finished at the mall." I told them all. I got given a few dirty looks at the mention of the name 'Aaron'. Daniel and the boys had never really been a big fan of Aaron from the beginning, sure they knew who he was and all, but they all said the same thing about him. 'He's bad news.' Why did they even think that? Did they know something about Aaron I didn't? Back when I used to date Aaron he was one of the sweetest guys I had ever met, how could they think bad of him?
After a small lecture from Daniel and Beau I was finally able to go upstairs and get changed. I removed my make up and then showered. I dried my hair throwing it up into a messy bun and got changed into a pair of comfy shorts and a vest top. A bit revealing in some peoples opinions but who cares? I was comfy. After about an hour or so of scrolling through my social media and watching my favourite YouTubers, Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee, I finally thought it was time to settle down and get into bed. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." I called. Seconds later the door opened and James walked in. "Hey James, you okay?" I questioned.
"Yeah. I was just wondering do you wanna go to the beach or something tomorrow, then come back and have a movie night?" He asked.
"Yes, of course. I'd love that." I told him with a wide smile. He let out a big smile showing off his pearly, white teeth. God that smile made me weak at the knees. James walked closer and sat down on the bed next to me, and draped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. He looked me in the eyes.
"I love you Steph." He cooed. My heart melted. I love him so much, it's unreal.
***JAMES'S POV***
"I love you Steph." I cooed. I did love her, I really did. She made me feel a way no one else ever has. I was waiting till the time was right to ask Steph to be my girlfriend. I wanted it more than anything, but I knew I had to wait. Even though she told me she liked me to, she might not be ready for a relationship. And I knew that if I asked at the wrong time, it may mess up my chances of ever being with her.
But if there was one thing I knew it was I truly did love Stephanie Sahyounie.
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Hey y'all sorry for the shitting ending, I needed to end this chapter quick as it is already a super long one. Sorry about that.
- Olivia xoxo