AARON'S POV
Aaron woke up the next morning to the sun shining through his open window. As he stretched he looked at his alarm clock. It was only 9:30 on a Sunday. After debating whether or not to go back to sleep, he sat up. It was a new day. He could spend it with Lacey. Just thinking about her made him smile. He couldn't get last night out of his head. Their passionate kiss, he told her he loved her, and best of all she said it back. Remembering her say 'I love you' still made his heart jump. Deciding to start the day early he went and jumped in the shower. The warm water helped to clear his head. Even though he was still on an emotional high from last night he still remembered what had happened before. The fight with his dad. He was going to have to deal with it at some point. It wasn't like he could hide from his dad for forever. Aaron walked out of the bathroom and changed clothes. On his way downstairs Aaron passed by his dad's study. The door was still closed. He knew his dad was still in there, probably still fumming about last night.
Walking into the kitchen he found his mom. He did feel bad about last night. His mom had wanted last night to go smooth and that definietly didn't happen. Walking up behind her Aaron planted a kiss on her cheek. "Morning mom."
"Oh! Good morning dear. You seem to be a bit happier than I would have expected." she said eyeing him.
"Well Lacey and me had a good talk last night." Aaron said grabbing an orange out of the bowl of fruit in the kitchen.
"Really? Well that's good. I feel so terrible about what happened last night. She probably thinks that we're awful people, Jon and me. I can't believe that your father said those things."
"Don't worry mom. Lacey isn't mad. She's not mad at dad and she definitely isn't mad at you," Aaron said while peeling his orange.
"She isn't mad?"
"Nope. She even wanted me to tell you that your dinner was amazing."
"She's such a sweet girl. I don't know where you found her at Aaron but you need to keep her."
"Oh don't worry mom. I plan to."
With that Aaron walked back upstairs to his room. He grabbed his phone off his dresser along with his car keys and jacket. He decided to go see Lacey. Hopefully she would be awake, and if not he could always give her a wake up call. As he was walking past his dad's study the door opened. His dad walked out.
"Aaron."
Aaron froze. 'Not now.' he thought. "Yeah?"
"Can we talk for a minute?"
Aaron turned to look at his dad. It was clear that he had been up all night. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was a mess. He was still wearing the clothes from dinner last night. In that moment, looking at his dad, Aaron had never seen him look so...old. It seemed that in the span of one night his dad had aged 15 years. As much as he didn't want to, Aaron knew that he was going to have to finish his discussion with his dad. It was just harder because now Lacey wasn't there to give him that reassurance.
"Fine." Aaron turned and walked into his dad's study. He sat on the small tan couch in front of the window. His dad walked in behind him closing the door. Hearing the door click closed Aaron felt totally alone. His dad sat down in his black leather chair in front of his desk, looking completely intimidating. Aaron watched as he put his head in his hands, letting out a sigh.
"First of all," his dad said breaking the silence, "I want to say that I am sorry for the way I acted last night. I wish that Lacey was here so that I could personally apologize to her as well. I over reacted."
Aaron knew that his eyes were wide. His dad NEVER apologized for anything. It didn't matter if he was clearly wrong or not, saying sorry was just something that his dad never did. "Ok."
"Now, we need to move on to talk about the bigger topic at hand."
'Here we go' Aaron thought. This was his dad talking like this was a business transaction. He couldn't just sit and have a father-son conversation.
"Did you mean everything that you said last night? That you don't want to go to UCLA?"
Aaron looked at his dad. In his dad's eyes he could make out the tiniest bit of hope. Hope that Aaron would just admit that last night was a joke, that he still wanted to go to UCLA. And Aaron knew that he could lie and tell his dad that, but then last night would have been for nothing. As much as he didn't want to upset his dad he knew that he had to tell him the truth. "No dad, I don't want to go to UCLA." At that his dad's face fell.
"I just don't understand it. For years we have talked about this. It was set in stone. You would go to UCLA and play on the team there and get your degree. I don't understand what changed that," his dad said looking up at him.
"Dad listen, I never really wanted all of that. Yeah I want to go to school and yeah I want to play ball where ever I go, but I don't want to go to UCLA. I never have really."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't want to disappoint you," Aaron admitted.
"Disappoint me?"
"Yeah. This was your dream for me. You were right, ever since I was little this is what you have wanted me to do. And I was going to let it happen. But then Lacey helped me see that this is my life."
Aaron saw as his dad's face turned hard at the mention of Lacey. "Don't do that dad!"
"Do what?"
"Don't blame her for this."
"I don't blame her for this. I think that if you really felt this way, this would have happened at some point or another. I also think that she helped to push the process along. I'm not mad at her, and I definitely don't blame her."
"Well dad she was right last night. Our relationship has been going down hill. I didn't want to go to UCLA but to make you happy I would have, but at the cost of how I felt about you."
"What do you mean?" his dad asked confused.
"Dad I know you can't see it but because of this whole UCLA thing I've started to not want to be around you, I've started to not even like you." Aaron paused. That was harsh and he knew it but he was laying all of his cards on the table. He couldn't hide this anymore. If he truly wanted this to be over with he had to get everything off of his chest. "I don't want you to come to my games because you put way to much empahsis on me being the best. I don't want to talk to you because all you talk about is UCLA this and UCLA that. It's like my best isn't good enough because it isn't good enough for UCLA. Lacey has helped me realize that if I want to be happy I have to live my own life. And that if I want us to have a good relationship I needed to talk to you about it. I love you dad, but I don't want to be miserable for the rest of my life."
Aaron watched as his dad took all of this in. It was a lot to absorb and Aaron knew that. He waited paitently. He hoped and prayed with all his might that his dad would understand this. Finally after what felt like forever his dad spoke.
"So you want to go to Rockhill?"
"Yeah I do. Lacey helped convince me to apply and to call the coach. I got into the school and the coach has offered me a full ride to go and play."
"Well I did a little research on them last night. They aren't as big as UCLA but from the looks of things they do have a nice school and a decent ball program. And a full ride is really impressive. I think you are the best ball player out there son but there is no way you would have gotten a full ride to go to UCLA."
Aaron couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was his dad actually agreeing with him? Was he admitting that it was ok that he didn't want to go to UCLA?
"What are you saying dad?"
"Son, I want you to know that no matter what I want you to do or what I think you should do you are my son. You and your mother are my entire world and I would do ANYTHING to make you both happy. I didn't see that you weren't happy. I just had it so engrained in my head that this is what you wanted that I never stopped to really ask you. And more than that I don't want to lose you. You're my only kid and all I want is the best for you. I'm sorry for how tough I have been on you and how hard I have pushed you."
Aaron could hardly breath. There was no way this was happening. Not knowing what to say Aaron muttered, "It's ok."
"No it isn't. But I want to make up for it. So......if you really want to go to Rockhill then I think that that is where you should go. And I want you to know that I fully support you."
The smile that was on Aaron's face was huge. He couldn't believe it. It had all worked out, just like Lacey said it would. "Really dad? You meant it?"
"Yeah I do."
Aaron stood up. "That's great! Thanks so much. I can't tell you how happy that makes me."
"Well I am proud of you son. I hope that you know that."
"I do."
They both stood up and his father embraced him in a hug. It felt great. Aaron really couldn't believe it. After so many years of holding the truth back, of just going with the flow, now his dad knew the truth. There was no need to hold back anything. Aaron embraced his dad and for the first time in a long time he felt happy with his dad. There was no underlying anger, there didn't need to be. After they pulled apart his dad spoke.
"So I guess the only thing left to do now is to talk to the coach from Rockhill and get that scholarship signed. You haven't signed it yet have you?"
"No I didn't want to go that far without telling you about all of this."
His dad gave a relieved sigh. "Well I am happy about that. I would have been pretty upset if I didn't get to see you sign your scholarship."
Aaron gave his dad a smile. This was the dad he had missed for so long. The dad that was happy and carefree. But the last few years had taken that away from him. He had been so consumed with getting Aaron to UCLA that it was like Aaron really wasn't his son anymore, he was more like an object.
"We do have something else we have to do too," his dad said. The tone in his voice made Aaron look up at him.
"What is that?"
"We have to call the coach at UCLA and let him know that you have decided to go somewhere else."
Aaron hadn't even thought about that. It didn't really seem like a big deal though. True, he didn't want to have to call the coach there and tell him that he had decided to go somewhere else, but he knew that the coach wouldn't be to broken hearted by it. If Aaron had to do it he would.
"I'll do it dad. It's not that big a deal."
"Well I'll be right there with you. Honestly I should be the one calling to tell him that you won't go, but I think he might find that a little weird."
Aaron let out a laugh. "I'll call him tomorrow. I'll also call Coach Stewart at Rockhill and set up a time to sign the scholarship."
"Sounds great." His dad said smiling.
After a little more time of light conversation Aaron decided that he had to go see Lacey. She would be so happy about this. Aaron left his house and got in his car. The drive to Lacey's gave him time to really think about everything that had happened. His dad had finally, after so long, accepted that he didn't want to go to UCLA, that he didn't want to play basketball there, and that he didn't want to get the degree that his dad had wanted him to. But more than that, his dad had been ok with Rockhill. Aaron had a hard time putting his mind around it. And just like Lacey had said, it happened A LOT sooner than he thought that it would. He pulled out his phone to call Lacey. It only rang a few times before she picked up.
"Hello?" Aaron could tell that she was still asleep. He glanced at the clock on his dashboard and saw that it was only 10:15, and it was a Sunday. Even though he felt bad for waking her up Aaron still thought that she sounded cute. He could only imagine laying there with her.
"Hey," he said gently. "Are you still sleeping?"
"Mhmm."
Aaron let out a little chuckle. He could only picture her with her hair messy, laying in bed all snuggled up, trying to talk to him. She was probably still half asleep. "Well I happen to be in the neighborhood. Mind if I stop by?"
"Nuh uh. Door is unlocked. Just come back to my room."
"Ok see you in a little bit."
Aaron pulled into Lacey's familar drive way. It was hard to imagine but Lacey's house almost felt like home to him. It wasn't as big as his house, or as nice but it just had a better feel to it. Aaron didn't know whether that came from the fact that it was where Lacey lived or the fact that her family was so welcoming. Over the past few weeks Aaron had really gotten to know Lacey's family. Her dad was a great guy. Aaron loved to sit around and watch football with him. In a way Aaron guessed that Lacey's dad was how Aaron had wished his dad would be. Maybe now that this whole UCLA situation was taken care of his dad would be like that. Aaron also loved her brothers. Everytime he was there her littlest brother, Noah, had to drag him back to his room to show him his newest toy. And her other brother, Gabe, who happens to be quite the artist and comedian, would always give him something to laugh at. Aaron loved being there. Smiling he walked up to the front door. He had stopped by the gas station on his way there and had picked up a few things, two things of Orange Juice and a box of Krispy Kremes. He knew that they were Lacey's favorites. Before he could even knock on the door, it flew open.
"AARON!" Noah yelled.
"Hey buddy."
"Ooooh, you brought doughnuts!" Noah said eyeing the doughnuts in Aaron's hand.
"I did. They are for your sister, but I think you can have one."
Aaron walked inside and gave Noah a doughtnut and watched him run off to his room. He made his way back to Lacey's room. Her door was closed when he walked up to it. Tapping lightly Aaron listened for a response. When he got none he slowly opened the door. Laying there, all sprawled out on her bed was Lacey. Setting down the food Aaron crept closer to her. The way he had pictured her was almost exactly right. Her hair was messy and flowing around her face. Aaron reached out and put a stray strand behind her ear. His fingers barely grazed her cheek, but she still turned her head towards his hand. There was a rosey tint to her cheeks, and she looked so peaceful. Yes, the way he had pictured her was almost right. Except she was more beautiful than he had imagined. Even now, laying in bed sleeping, she was beautiful. He couldn't help himself, he reached down and gently kissed her cheek. As he was pulling away he felt a hand on the side of his face. Looking down he saw Lacey looking up at him with those deep brown eyes. He smiled at her.
"You missed," she said quietly.
Aaron looked at her with a confused expression. What did she mean he missed? Suddenly she lifted herself up and planted the littlest kiss on his lips. She layed back down looking up at him smiling.
"Oh I did miss. Sorry." he said.
She yawned and stretched herself out. Aaron saw as her eyes caught the Krispy Kremes sitting on her nightstand. Aaron let out a laugh before finally saying, "Yes they're for you. But Noah did manage to get one."
"Thank you. And I plan to eat every one of those, but for right now I would really like to just lay here with you."
She didn't need to ask Aaron twice. Kicking off his shoes Aaron crawled under the covers next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close to him as he could. Her back was against his chest. This was it. Here he was truly happy. With Lacey in his arms there wasn't anything else in the entire world that he wanted. Hearing her sighing contently just made him that much more happy. This girl in his arms was all that mattered. He loved her, loved her more than anything else. Never had a girl held so much power over him before. He knew that all she would have to do was to look at him with those beautiful brown eyes and he would do anything she asked. But it didn't matter that he was wrapped around her finger. He loved it.
"Hey guess what." Aaron said.
"Hmm?"
"Me and my dad talked this morning."
With this Lacey turned to face him. Her eyes were wide and serious. "What happened?"
Aaron caught the nervousness in her voice. "Actually it went....great."
"Really?!"
"Yeah. He said that he is ok with me not going to UCLA and he supports me going to Rockhill. He also said that he's sorry for how tough he's been on me."
Aaron watched as her eyes lit up. "Oh Aaron that's great!" Her arms wrapped around him in a vice like hug, catching me off guard. Laughing Aaron hugged her back.
"Oh, and he said he isn't mad at you. And that he's sorry for what he said last night."
With this Lacey pulled back and looked at Aaron. "Like I said, I wasn't mad. I mean, I was at first, but then I guess I understood. That was a lot to take in, and your dad just needed to find someone else to blame it on. I was an easy target."
"I'm still not happy about what he said."
"Well it's over and done with. No need to worry about it now."
They went back to cuddling, making light conversation but just enjoying being in each other's arms. Laying there quietly Aaron could feel the beats of her heart. He cherished each one. Aaron layed there and thought. Up until now his whole life had revolved around one thing, basketball. Basketball was the key to everything; his happiness, his escape from his dad, the key to his future. But now, with Lacey in his arms, his world started to take on a different angle. Aaron realized that now, this girl he was holding, was his whole world. And as each one of her heart beats passed, it only helped him to see it that much clearer.
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Ok so I know that I said that this story didn't have much longer, BUT I didn't like the previous ending that I had planned out. So since I have a different one that means the story is going to have to go on a little bit longer.....yes I know youre all sad about it ;-) Please remember to vote and fan and COMMENT! Thanks so much!