Yes, somehow we worked it out to where Aaron was going to bring me home, but I was riding with my brother on the way there. Tyler had to be there early to sing the National Anthem.
I sent Aaron a text that I was there an hour before the game started. He said he would be on his way in a minute.
I couldn’t wait to see him. I sat on the bleachers trying to calculate when he would get there. Time seemed to move in slow motion. After ten minutes passed, I started looking for him. By that time, there were more people showing up. I scanned their faces.
When I finally saw Aaron, my heart skipped a beat.
He looked nice. Really nice. He had dressed up.
The football game was boring. I tagged along with Aaron as he talked to people he knew and his former students. One of our friends hung out with us too. At halftime, we decided we would leave.
Our friend (let’s call him Bob so I don’t have to type “our friend” every time…) decided he would leave too. He walked with us to the parking lot. We were about to part ways, when Bob asked, “So what are ya’ll up to?”
Aaron told him we were going to go hang out for my birthday. I wanted to add, “And you are not invited.”
But I didn’t. After Bob kept asking us about our plans, Aaron finally said, “You can come if you want to.”
What the crap? This was not part of the plan. Suddenly my night with Aaron was turning into a group event. Didn’t Aaron know the saying “Three’s a crowd”?
That invitation seemed to be what Bob was looking for, so he agreed to come.
“Great!” I lied with a smile on my face.
(Bob, if you are reading this, don’t worry. You quickly turned into a great part of the evening. I’m so glad you were there!)
We all agreed we would drop Bob’s car off at his house and take Aaron’s rental car (Mr. Feeney was still in the shop from his accident on State Fair Day).
On the way there, I remember I was very annoyed that we would be entertaining a third party. But then I stopped myself. Why did I care so much if Bob was coming? Besides, Aaron and I are just hanging out because we are friends. And Bob is also our friend. He has every right to come. And I have no right to demand an evening alone with Aaron. Only a girlfriend could do that. I was definitely not his girlfriend.
If Aaron and I talked much on the way to drop Bob’s car off, I don’t remember what we said. But, as we pulled into the neighborhood, he said something that made me think I was not the only one disappointed in our change of plans. Something that made me think Aaron had been excited about hanging out alone together too.
“I’m sorry that it’s not just the two of us anymore. Is it okay that I invited him? He seemed like he really wanted to come, so I didn’t want to leave him out. I hope it won’t be weird.”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to leave him out either. Do you think it will be weird if he comes?”
“Well, I just don’t want him to feel like the third wheel.”
“Right…I’m sure it will be fine,” I replied. I decided not to worry about it anymore. Tonight would be fun. No matter what.
Bob parked his car and got in the back seat. We headed downtown, not quite sure where we were going. We spent the ride there talking and laughing as usual, and by the time we parked, I was happy Bob was there. I decided that it was less awkward. Bob was easy to talk to, and he made our conversation flow easily. I was not nervous talking to him like I was nervous talking to Aaron. Aaron made my words mix up and get caught in my throat. I felt like I had to concentrate really hard to say anything to him. I couldn’t let him see that he made me lose my train of thought just by looking at me.
We started walking and decided to go into a restaurant recommended to us by a lady dressed up like a witch. I sat down first, and to my surprise, Aaron sat down next to me instead of across from me. I felt like my heart kept beating faster and faster. Surely the boys could hear it.
The waitress came and took our order. I can’t remember what I got. I do know that we ordered fried tofu and some kind of dessert.
The thing that I remember most about dinner is that I felt like Aaron and I were sitting really close. It made every hair on my arms stand up every time he moved. When he would talk to me, I could feel his breath on my face.
Right now as I am remembering this, my heart is beating faster. Isn’t that weird? It’s really sappy isn’t it? It sounds like something from a Twilight novel. But it’s true. He was making me crazy.
After we finished eating, the waitress asked how many checks we would need. Before I could say anything, Aaron spoke up.
“Just one check for her and me.”
The waitress said she would be right back.
I looked at Aaron. “You don’t have to pay for me.”
“It’s no problem. Consider this your present from me. Happy birthday.”
I smiled. “Thanks. Very much.”
“You’re welcome,” he said as he took the check from the waitress and looked at it. “A very expensive birthday present.” He winked at me.
I laughed. In my mind, I was thinking about how Aaron just bought me dinner. Did he usually buy girls birthday dinners? Am I taking this all the wrong way? After all, he didn’t bring me a present when he came to my party. Maybe he really felt bad about that and so that’s why he paid.
Still, there was never any hint from him that this was a date. I refused to believe that it was.
After the boys paid, we decided we would go upstairs where there was a deck outside, some couches, and a dance floor. We ventured out on the deck and looked at the city. There were many people walking around wearing very strange Halloween costumes.
After a couple minutes, the two people sitting down at the table next to us started talking to us. They were clearly having a lot of fun. Their names were Lucas and Trish. They were older than us, probably in their late 30s, and they lived together. I can’t remember if they were married or not.
Trish and Bob were soon involved in a conversation, and Aaron was talking to Lucas. Lucas didn’t believe in God, and Aaron started asking him questions, trying to see where he was coming from. Lucas asked Aaron a lot of questions too. I really can’t remember everything they said. I wish I could. But, by the end of the conversation, Lucas agreed he would come to church. We don’t know if he ever did.
After we said goodbye to our new acquaintances, we went back inside. It was late by then. Probably close to midnight, but neither Aaron nor I were ready to leave yet. Poor Bob. We decided to sit on the couch for awhile and make fun of the crazy people dressed up for Halloween.
Aaron sat down first and I sat next to him this time. Bob sat down on my other side. As we started talking, Aaron kept moving closer and closer. I don’t mean to get all mushy and romantic again, but I’m just telling you how it happened…
I remember that he kept leaning over me to talk to Bob. As he did, his hand would be on my leg or on my arm. Other times he would lean in close to whisper something to me to make me laugh.
I was very tense about all of this until I decided this was a fun game. Apparently, our “friend” boundaries were down tonight.
I had no idea what I was doing. This was not like me at all. First of all, he had never given me even a hint of romantic interest until that night. And now he had skipped words altogether.
I remember thinking of poor Bob. He must have thought he had interrupted a secret date or something. But he didn’t. As far as I knew, we were not on a date, and I had no clue as to why Aaron Jack Bauer was falling all over me.
But I didn’t mind one little bit.
After awhile, Aaron asked me if I wanted to dance with him.
My words didn’t work for a minute.
“Um, I don’t know how to dance.”
“Sure you do! It’s easy! You just have to move. These people won’t be paying any attention to you anyway. They’re all crazy.”
I agreed to dance with him with a parting glance to Bob hoping my look would say, “Sorry we’re leaving you here all alone. I have no idea what’s happening. This is new to me too.”
I followed Aaron to the dance floor. He started to join in while I stayed next to the wall.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I said.
“Just watch for a minute. See these people? They don’t know what they’re doing either. Come on. I’ll help you.”
I reluctantly followed him.
We danced for less than 10 minutes. I should probably say that Aaron danced. I moved my feet awkwardly. We mainly made fun of the other people on the dance floor.
After a couple songs he looked at me. “Are you ready to go?” he asked.
I nodded.
He put his arm around me and led me off the floor.
At this point, my brain went into overdrive. Aaron had just put his arm around me. Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying every second of it, but I still didn’t know what to think of this new side of him.
There were so many people around the dance floor that it was awkward to try to walk side by side. He dropped his arm as we made our way to Bob. I felt a twinge of disappointment from losing his touch.
Only until he reached back and took my hand (!!!!!!!!!).
I am sitting here now trying to remember and describe how I felt.
I was holding hands with Aaron. What was happening? I couldn’t just hold a boy’s hand when we had not even been on a date! I mean, I’ve never held a boy’s hand my whole life except maybe during a corporate prayer or something lame like that (not that prayer is lame…you know what I mean). I have never even been out on a date. I have never had a boy show any sort of feelings for me.
And yet here was my guy friend Aaron, who had really only been my friend for the past two months, holding my hand. What did that mean? What was this going to do to our friendship? Did he want to be more than friends? If he did, this was sure an interesting way to let me know that.
I was so confused.
But I did know something: I knew that I loved holding hands with Aaron Jack Bauer. I knew that I didn’t want him to let go. So even if this was just for tonight, if tomorrow everything went back to normal, I was holding his hand right now. And I was going to hold it as long as he would let me.
He let go of me when we got back to the couch where Bob sat all alone. Poor Bob. Oh well, he had wanted to come. Aaron handed me my jacket.
“Ready to go?” he asked Bob.
“Sure.”
We made our way through the crowd to the stairs. Aaron took my hand again. I felt safe.
We walked outside and headed for the parking garage. We passed some interesting characters on our way. I was not paying much attention to anything but how my hand felt in Aaron’s hand. It seemed like it was all a dream.
When we got to the garage, Bob offered to drive. I was disappointed at first, because I had wanted to sit by Aaron in the front seat, not Bob.
But then Aaron said, “Okay, why don’t you be our chauffeur. We’ll sit in the back seat.”
Again, poor Bob. He’s so nice. He didn’t mind.
We got to the car, and Aaron opened my door. I started to slide to the other side so he could get in.
“No, stay there. I’ll go around.”
“Okay.” I couldn’t stop smiling.
Aaron got in the other side and Bob started the car. We set off for my house.
Aaron took my hand in his and rested them in his lap. He leaned his head on my shoulder and said he was tired.
We all agreed that we were ready for bed.
Aaron told me he might fall asleep on me and asked me if I would be mad at him if he did.
“No, I’ll still like you if you fall asleep on me,” I said, not meaning it in anyway but that I would not be mad at him. I really didn’t mean for it to come out the way he took it.
He sat up straight. “Do you like me?”
I froze. I thought about what I had just said, and regretted it. This was not how I wanted to talk about this.
As I hesitated to speak, Aaron spoke up. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you don’t want to talk about this with Bob in the front seat. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. You don’t have to say anything right now.”
“Okay,” I said. Bob laughed it off, and we changed the subject.
The whole way to my house I thought about what had happened that night. At the start of the evening I would have never thought I would be sitting next to Aaron in the back seat and holding his hand.
I didn’t want the night to be over. I wished the car would slow down. My house was too close. I was afraid that I would wake up tomorrow and it would all be a dream.
I was scared that when I saw Aaron in the morning it would be awkward. That it would be like nothing had ever happened between us.
I knew that even though I was holding his hand and sitting close to him right now, I would not be able to go up to him and take his hand in the morning. My magical evening with him was about to be over.
It was like I was Cinderella. It was almost midnight and my night with the prince was coming to a close.
We pulled in my driveway. We actually all snuck into my house because Aaron had to use the bathroom really bad. That’s tricky, because my parent’s bedroom is right next to the garage door. Somehow we didn’t wake them up.
After Aaron finished, Bob walked to the car as Aaron and I hung back at the door for a minute.
I took his hand one last time.
“Thanks for taking me out for my birthday. I had a really great time.”
“You’re welcome. So did I. I’ll see you in the morning, right?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.” I smiled.
He gave me a hug. I held him, trying to engrain that moment in my brain. I didn’t want to forget how it felt. I held onto his hand until I couldn’t reach him anymore.
Then I let go.
Now I had to wait for what tomorrow would bring. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep that night.
To be continued…
The Beginning of Always 