#aaron pace

AARON - 

You gather your things (and your bundle of nerves) as you walk up to Aaron’s seat. No one’s sitting next to him. Perfect. He looks up at you as you stand at the edge of his seat. “Can I sit with you?” You ask sheepishly, waiting to be hit with a cold, hard no. To your surprise, he nods and moves his belongings. You give him a quiet thanks that he reciprocates just as quietly. 

By the time he talks to you, the bus has already started moving. “Were you scared of sitting alone?” He asks, a sly smile on his face. You thought he wouldn’t say anything snarky… You decide to give him a taste of his own medicine.

“Yeah… that sort of thing. You know, I just can’t handle being alone,” you say, looking at him and batting your lashes with a fake pout on your face. You tried your best to conceal the fact that he made you flustered. He rolls his eyes and a small chuckle escapes him as he revels in your antics. 

“Sure you can’t… So you just had to sit with me?” He asks and scoots closer to you. Goddamn you Aaron Pace. You immediately feel your face heat up as he does that. He notices your reaction and his smirk becomes even more prominent. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” He questions, looking you straight in the eye. You shake your head, knowing that you’d embarrassingly sputter out an answer if you were to actually speak. “Words please,” he says, egging you on. 

“Fine. Nothing. I just sat here because there was no one else to sit with. There, happy?” You say, making sure to give him the dirtiest of looks. 

“Very,” he says, chuckling afterwards. “After all, with you around, I guess I can’t handle being alone as well.” You laugh at his comment and let him wrap his arm around you and you rest your head on his shoulder. Shortly after, you fell asleep to the sound of him humming along to the songs he was listening to through his headphones. After not noticing much movement from you other than your breathing, he tries his best to look at you without jolting you. After figuring out that he couldn’t do that, he opens his camera on his phone and takes a look. When he realizes that you’re asleep, he takes a picture of the two of you to tease you with later (and to admire but no one had to know that) and quickly falls asleep himself. There are now multiple blackmail photos of the two of you sleeping circulating the band. 

-

CLARK - 

You internally panic as you realize that one of the only truly viable options left as a bus buddy is Clark. You had nothing against him, in fact you had a huge crush on him. However, you preferred to like him from afar and try to completely eliminate the risk of him hating you. How can someone hate a person they don’t know? 

After realizing that you either had to sit next to Drum or Drummer (you never could tell them apart) or Clark, you picked the obvious option. “Clark, do you mind if I sit with you?” You ask, trying to be as polite as possible so he wouldn’t decline and then subject you to the torture of sitting next to one of Them for a few hours. 

“Not at all,” he says, moving his clarinet case with ease. You never noticed how nice it was despite knowing that he’s had it for a while. You want to comment on it, but you decide against it due to the fact that you thought it would sound weird and bring you to the top of Clark’s hate list. However, he noticed that you were staring at it. “Is there something wrong with my clarinet case?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. You immediately shake your head.

“No, no! I was just shocked at how nice it was, especially since I’ve only really seen the school’s clarinet cases,” you say, embarrassed that you got caught staring. He lets out a laugh. That’s the first time you’ve ever heard him laugh!

“Well, I’m glad that you know how to appreciate true beauty when you see it. If you’d like, I could tell you more about the clarinet inside.” You instantly nod and bask in his presence. His passion shone through his description and knowledge of his clarinet and when he told you the story of how he obtained it, you couldn’t help but want to congratulate him on how far he was able to come. 

-

DOUG - 

You made a beeline to Doug’s seat after hearing the information. He wouldn’t say no to you, right? You stand at the edge of his seat and ask the question - “Can I sit with you?” He nods, but doesn’t move his stuff. You’re confused. Scratch that, you’re both confused. He’s confused as to why you’re not sitting down and you’re confused as to why he hasn’t moved his stuff. To break the awkward silence, you gently and quickly tell him to move his stuff so you could sit. 

He hits you with the age old “Ohhh”. You both laugh as you take the spot next to him. You’ve had a crush on him for the longest time and you knew this was the perfect opportunity to talk to him, but you didn’t know what to talk about. Luckily, Doug had that covered. Well, mostly. He began talking, but you could tell it wasn’t to you. It seemed as though he was talking to himself, but he kept pausing as if he was giving someone else time to respond. You shrug and let him do his thing until he asks you something. “Why’d you want to be bus buddies with me? Everyone else says that I talk too much during the trip which makes it harder for them to sleep,” he says, waiting for your response.

Now’s your moment! You decide to be honest with Doug, after all, he’s not gonna tear you apart if you’re honest. “I wanted to sit with you because you’re fun to be around! You’re hilarious and so kind,” you say, giving him a smile. He beams back at you. 

“Wow, really?” He says in surprise, and you nod. “I didn’t know that fun could be around you! I can’t believe I can make that happen. That has to be some kind of superpower!” You laugh and shake your head.

“No Doug, I mean that you make things fun and that makes people want to hang out with you.” He lets out another “Ohhh” and nods in understanding. He then wraps you in a bone crushing hug and you have a hard time breathing. “Doug… I can’t breathe…” you say. “Oh!” He says, loosening his grip on you. 

-

GARTH - 

After noticing your conundrum, Garth flags you over. You wander over to his seat with a confused look on your face. “Did I do something?” You ask him, tilting your head. He shakes his head and smiles at you.

“No, not at all. I just wanted to invite you to sit with me,” he says, gesturing to the empty seat next to him. He already cleared his stuff from it!

“Oh! Alrighty then!” You say, grinning as you sit next to him. This is the moment that you realize just how skilled Garth is at talking to people. While he did open with some pleasant small talk about the weather and the weekend, the two of you eventually got to the point where you were both discussing some deep secrets and gossip. The bus ride ended sooner than the both of you would’ve liked, but you both agree to text each other more when similar issues arise. 

-

PETER - 

He can’t be that bad, right? You ask yourself as you make the trek to his seat. Surprisingly, the seat next to him isn’t claimed already. He notices you standing by his seat, clearly debating on whether or not you were going to ask. “You can sit with me, you know. I wouldn’t mind,” he says, smirking as he patted the spot next to him. You roll your eyes at him and cross your arms, despite the fact that he immediately knew what you were going to ask. 

“I wasn’t even going to ask that!” You say, sighing at his attempt to be smooth. “But you were!” He says, giving you a look.

“Was not!” You say, still standing in the aisle. The bus driver makes an announcement telling you to sit down so he could start driving. You sigh and finally take the spot next to Peter and he looks at you with a victorious smirk. “You are the absolute worst,” you mutter as you give him the dirtiest look you can muster.

“It’s not my fault that you just wanted to sit with me that badly! I knew my charm would get to you eventually,” he says, smirking. Once again, you roll your eyes at him and this time he notices. “Careful, we don’t want you getting your eyes stuck there!”

“What if I do? Maybe then I wouldn’t be able to see your horrible face,” you say, giving him a look. Sometimes you questioned why you liked him. This was definitely one of those times.

After his horrendous attempt to try and fluster you, he was actually quite pleasant to talk to. The two of you thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the trip as you both talked about both the most mundane things and the most serious things. 

-

POPTART - 

It was as if a lightbulb shone brightly over your head as you got the idea. SItting next to Poptart would be a great idea! You had the biggest crush on the boy and you thought that sitting next to him would be able to help you talk to him. You went to his seat and asked “Can I sit here?’”. He turns his head to look at you, but he doesn’t respond. You stare at him and he stares right back at you. After a painful 2 minute long staring contest, he blinks and then nods. You mumble a quick thanks and take the spot next to him. 

“Normally people would leave once I started staring at them, but you didn’t! That means you really must’ve wanted to sit with me!” He says, grinning. You laugh awkwardly at his comment. “Don’t worry, that was meant to be weird!” He says, bringing a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. This time, you just laugh at his antics.

“How do you come up with this stuff?” You ask, smiling at him. He shrugs.

“I just do.” You leave it at that. The two of you enjoy the bus ride home and you feel glad that you were able to get closer to him. 

-

SAMUEL - 

You decided that Samuel would be the best option considering that one - he’d probably let you sit with him and two - the two of you would most likely be minding your own business. You wander over to his seat and ask him the age old question, but he seemed to have his earbuds in. After noticing your presence, he takes out an earbud and asks you to repeat your question. You do, and he murmurs what seems to be a yes. You take it as a yes due to the sole fact that he nodded while saying so, and you take the spot next to him. 

The ride was peaceful and silent between the two of you for the most part. That was until he offered you an earbud. You graciously took it and listened to his music that mostly consisted of jazz and other relaxing instrumentals. You quickly fell asleep on his shoulder and he didn’t even want to try and move you. Instead, he placed his head on top of yours and decided to fall asleep as well.

-

TOM - 

You make the easy choice of sitting with Tom! After all, he’d be easy to talk to plus he was hilarious. You toddle over to his seat and see that no one was sitting next to him. Perfect! He notices you standing and gives you a smile. “So what brings you here?” He asks you.

“Just wanted to ask if there were any free seats around here…” You say, pausing for dramatic effect. You point out the spot next to his. “Looks like there’s one right here! Mind if I take it?”

“Not at all!” You both laugh as you take a seat. You both excitedly chatted about band and other topics, however it was a later trip back to school and you checked your phone. It was about 11pm. It wasn’t terribly late, however you were extremely tired from earlier in the day and you felt like you were about to crash. However, you just couldn’t fall asleep. You felt your head hit Tom’s shoulder and you felt your lips open and make sounds that you could only assume were words, but you weren’t registering exactly what it was that you were saying.

"Literally every time I go to do it, the drumline is always nearby. I swear they never leave one another alone!" You softly hit your head against a locker while looking down at the ground.

"Would you... want me to give him a hint? Let him know you want to ask him while he's alone?" She suggests softly and you shake your head furiously.

"No. Please don't. I... have to do this." You sigh, and she pats your back.

"Fear of failure will always hold us back from our potential, Y/N. Just go for it. If he says no, maybe he's not everything and a bag of chips like you think he is." She shrugs, trying to lighten your mood. You shrug, and the two of you continue to your first classes of the day, discussing other mundane topics to help get your mind off of your current predicament.

At lunch, though, you are reminded once more of your failures.

You decide to sit by yourself today, pulling out a book and almost go to put your earbuds in before someone else joins you at the table. With a whisper of a sigh, you look up and see the piercing eyes of Aaron. "Is it alright if I sit with you?" He asks before sitting down.

"Uh." You blank for a second, regaining your composure in a snap, though. "Sorry, of course." You sit up and set your earbuds and book to the side.

"You've been acting weird lately." He states as a matter of fact, looking down at his food.

"Weird?"

"This morning?" He looks up, raising a brow. "You wanted to ask me something. Then the others walked in and you ran off." You inhale sharply at his observation and sigh in defeat. "No one else is here, so you can ask now. Unless a lunchroom full of people is still too scary." He teases with a smirk and you cross your arms.

"It's not that it's--ugh." You close your eyes and massage the bridge of your nose anxiously. "I wanted to ask what--um." You stumble on your words and then just blurt it out: "yourhomecomingplansare?"

"Jeeze, if I hadn't known any better I'd think you were speaking an entire different language." His playful smirk still spread on his face. You take a deep breath.

"What are your homecoming plans?"

He blinks without a word at first, and his silence is eating at you. "I wasn't planning on going,"

"Oh." Well, you got it out of the way, at least. You wouldn't have to worry about asking anymore. Now you can worry about the total utter rejection for the next few weeks. "If you don't want to go, that's fine."

"I didn't say that." He continues, "I'll go with you, if that's what you're getting at. Too scared to go alone without a date, huh?" His playful smile returns and you exhale with a huff.

"No."

"That's totally what it is " He leans his cheek in his hand.

"Is not!" You hide your flushed face in your hands and he chuckles. "This was a mistake." You mutter softly, but he hears you.

"You're stuck with me. I'll tell everyone you only asked me because you were to afraid to go all by yourself." He starts to use a pouty baby voice near the end of his threat with a mischievous smile.

"Fine! You win!" You stuff your face with the remainder of your lunch and rush off to your locker, hoping to calm yourself down after what you just experienced.

Like always, Cadence is waiting for you and she sees that you're in distress. "Hey, everything okay?"

"I finally did it." You lightly hit your head against a locker, closing your eyes.

"Yay! How did it go?" She congratulates you with a quick hug and an excited hop.

"He said yes." Your voice betrays your relief, and Cadence notices.

"You don't sound too happy about it, though."

"I'm relieved he said yes, but what now? What if I mess up?"

"Oh, Y/N." She gives you a big hug and trues to get you to look at her in the eyes. "You don't need to worry about 'messing up.' You should be celebrating! Why don't we go get ice cream after school today? Your section doesn't have sectionals, and I don't have any drum major responsibilities to deal with." The thought of hanging out with Cadence does relax your mind a bit. So you agree. "Great! I'll see you after school then. Let's get going, before we're late." She tugs on your sleeve and the two of you walk together back to class.

The ice cream date with Cadence definitely helped ease your worries. Not fully, but you felt much better afterwards. Cadence had a way of encouraging and boosting everyone's spirits; which is probably why she was a great leader. Some of her advice kept ringing in your head on your way home.

"You seriously just need to be yourself. I'm not super close with him, but I know that he likes it when people are honest."

Be myself... That can be so hard when you really want someone to like you.

After pulling into the driveway at home, you realize you're going to have to break the news to your parents. They're going to flip. Your grip tightens on the steering wheel before you sigh and head to the front door of you house. The key stays in the lock for a moment longer as you gather your thoughts and swing the door open. "I'm home!"

You can hear your dad cooking in the kitchen as Mom is vacuuming the living room. When she sees you walk through the door she gives her usual warm smile. "Welcome back, sweetie. How was school?"

"Good. I, uh, got a date to homecoming." You mention casually, kicking your shoes off by the front door. This sudden news causes your mom to gasp very dramatically and she nearly drops the vacuum to rush over to you.

"Really? That's great! Who is he? Or she?" She adds with raised brows, guiding you with her arm around your shoulders to the kitchen where Dad is whipping up something delicious for dinner. "Honey, Y/N has a date to homecoming!" She exclaims, squeezing your shoulders.

"Oh yeah? Who's the lucky fella?" He asks over the sizzling of food in the pan.

"Um, his name's Aaron. He plays snare in band with me." You bite your lip, hoping your nervous energy dissipates soon. "You've probably seen him before at our performances."

Mom nods. "Ooh, I remember. He's a handsome young man, I can see why you said yes."

"Oh, well, I asked him, actually." You laugh awkwardly.

"Good on you, Y/N! That's a very brave thing to do." Dad chips into the conversation as he focuses on cooking your guys' dinner.

"Are you going to want a new outfit? Or do you want to wear the one from last year?" Mom is obviously ready to take you shopping if you want to. You have a casual conversation with Mom and Dad about when homecoming is and what you want to do for your outfit. You decide on going shopping with Cadence and your mom for a new one.

After dinner you get yourself ready for bed, shooting Cadence a couple texts to plan on your shopping trip this weekend. Not having a home football game on Friday will be very nice, so you and your best friend decide on doing a sleepover and shopping trip on the next day.

You're going to be the best dressed, we'll make sure of that!

You smile at her text and throw your phone on the charger with a smile. Maybe this won't be so bad... You think to yourself before falling asleep for the night.

The next morning you head off to band rehearsal, and your anxieties return once you remember you have to go through the days leading up to the dance. You don't know why you were so nervous; he said yes. He could've easily said no, right? It seemed like he only agreed since he thought you were desperate for a date. Did you seem desperate?

The anxious thoughts were running through your head all morning at rehearsal. You missed a couple step-offs and Wiley even called you out on the stadium microphone once. Cadence kept giving you sympathetic glances whenever you passed the podium. You could feel Aaron's piercing gaze on you the entire time, even if he was standing behind you with the drumline most of the rehearsal. You were more than happy to rush off the field once morning practice was over, and quickly put your instrument away in your band locker.

"Y/N." The familiar voice of Aaron rings in the air and you turn towards him. He still has his harness and snare on. "Are you really trying to avoid me?" A playful lilt in his voice lets you know he's not really upset.

"Uh, maybe?" You answer honestly.

"I'll walk you to class." He says shortly and turns to go to the battery lockers. "Don't run off without me." The teasing tone returns, and you sigh, waiting for him by the band doors.

Cadence catches you, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "Ready to go?"

"Oh, right..." You glance over to Aaron nervously. "Aaron... said he'd walk me to class." Your best friend tries her hardest not to squeal and hop with excitement.

"This is good! Right?" She furrows a brow at the question to make sure she's correct.

"I guess..." You rub your arm nervously. "Yeah, it's good."

"Well, I'll see you after lunch then." She winks and takes her leave just as Aaron is walking up to you with his neutral, almost deadpan face.

"Let's go." He nods towards the door and you follow. "What's your next class?" He walks a little close to you in the crowded hall.

You answer shortly. "Physics." He nods and without another word the two of you make your way on your usual path to your first class of the day.

The silence eats at you, but you know Aaron well enough to know that if he has something to say, he'll say it. And he does. "You know, if I'm going to be your date to homecoming, you're going to have to get used to not getting so nervous around me." Without even looking at him you can just hear the smirk he has on his face.

"Yeah, I know..." You huff and cross your arms.

"So I'll walk you to class from now on."

"Do I get a say in this?"

"No." You look over and he's giving you a mischievous side eye. "You're stuck with me." Your heart skips a beat and you look away quickly to hide the blush on your cheeks.

Soon enough you make it to the physics room and you stop outside the doors. "Thanks for walking me." You face him and see his yellow eyes trained on you, neutral and hard to read as always.

"I'll see you at lunch." He puts his hands in his pockets and turns to walk away.

"Do I get a say in it?" You manage to get out in a playful tone.

"Of course not." He smiles as he fades into the crowd of students trying to get to class on time. You look down with a smile, entering the classroom with that giddy smile still plastered on your face. Some of your classmates are also bandmates and are whispering with one another. Normally you'd probably be bothered by it, but, despite your obvious anxiety, you were pretty happy. Despite your awkwardness on the situation, you were looking forward to lunch that day.

For the next week the routine stayed the same: after band Aaron would walk you to your class. If you didn't have band that morning due to the block scheduling, he'd still wait for you at the band room since Wiley let people practice in there before school and you were one of the few who actually came in to practice. Aaron was right to get you used to not being nervous around him; you did start to relax a bit after having him walk you around for a week. Those butterflies would still work their way into your stomach, but you were able to hold actual conversations with him.

During that week he messaged you after school.

For scientific reasons: What color are you wearing for the dance?

You message him your answer.

Cool. See ya tomorrow.

"What's got you smiling so much, sweetie?" Mom prods you while you're watching a show with her in the living room.

"Nothing." Your giddy smile betrays your attempt at lying, but Mom always knows, and her knowing look is on you.

"Uh-huh. I'm sure it has nothing to do with your little drummer boy."

"Mom!" You hit her playfully and she laughs and you continue watching your show together.

The homecoming football game was finally upon you. The halftime show performance actually went pretty well, considering you only had the opener and part of the ballad on the field. Third period of the game was always your free period to get food and get changed out of your uniforms. While sitting in the stands chatting with Cadence and your other friends, you catch Aaron's gaze and wave to him. He gives a small wave back and turns back to the conversation he's having with the drumline.

"So, you and Aaron, huh?" Susie nudges you and you suddenly get bashful.

"It's nothing."

"It certainly doesn't seem like 'nothing!'" She looks over at Cadence for some help, and she nods in agreement.

"There's definitely something there."

"Well I'm telling you, it's nothing at the moment." The sudden shift of attention on you leaves you scrambling to find something else to talk about.

Susie shakes her head. "Girl, he's walking you to your classes and tries to have lunch with you sometimes. He might not say anything about it, but his actions are showing he's interested." She looks over the group's heads over to him, then lowers it back down. "I don't think I've ever seen him give one person so much attention."

"Ahhh, whatever." You look away from the group's eyes on you.

You weren't sure why you were so convinced that it was nothing. Yeah, it made you giddy whenever you saw his name pop up on your phone, or when he would walk you to class, but when you'd originally asked him to go he made it sound like he was only going to make sure you didn't go alone. Out of the kindness of his heart. Maybe you didn't want to get your hopes up for something that might not be there? The conversation quickly shifts to something else and the football game continues. You guys lose, but that's okay; the band always wins.

As you're pulling your coat on to head out to your car, you sense someone standing close by and look up. Aaron's familiar silhouette is leaning against the door frame with his hands in his pockets. "I'll walk you out to your car." He doesn't even ask, but you reply with the usual.

"Do I get a say?"

"Nope."

He follows you out into the cool fall night. Most of the crowd from the game are still waiting to get out of the parking lot, so it will probably be awhile before you can even leave. You make it to the spot in the far corner where your car is parked and you look over at him with a ghost of a smile on your face.

"So, you can finally look me in the eyes, eh?" He leans on your car, hands still in his pockets.

"Sure." You roll your eyes and mirror his stance. "Don't feel so flattered."

"Never." He lets out a little chuckle and you do end up looking away. "I'll pick you up tomorrow. Send me your address." You nod and pull out your phone to text it to him.

"Fair warning, my parents will want tons of pictures."

"You'll have to send them to me. My parents won't rest until they have those pictures." He jokes, causing you to laugh. When you open your eyes again he's staring at you, with a slight hint of... fondness? He takes one of his hands out of his pocket and cautiously reaches out to your hair. "You got a little something there." He pulls out a small piece of a dried up leaf that must've fallen into your hair at some point during the game. His hand lingers in the air for a moment, as if he's debating his next move, but decides against it and returns his hand back into his pocket. "I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Y/N." He stands up from leaning on your car and walks off without another word.

"Night." You manage to get out, flustered from the exchange, and watch him walk off to his own car several rows away. Your heart is pounding in your ears, and all you can seem to do is just stand and stare at the back of his head. You were going to be a mess tomorrow, you could already tell.

Part 2 ->

—

You always tried to get to school early to make use of the practice rooms especially since everyone seemed to want to use them at that time. You especially needed to practice considering the fact that you had a rehearsal today with your accompanist and you hadn’t practiced at all for it. You found that arguably the best practice room was open so you placed your stuff in there and tried to quickly get your binder and your anthology book for lessons. You noticed a person standing in front of the room. He notices you as well. “Are you using it?” He asks, looking at you expectantly.

“Yeah? My stuff is already in there,” you tell him, clutching your binder. If he really wanted to fight about a practice room at 6 in the morning, he could if he wanted to. You would gladly give it up if he was going to keep it going, but you’d make practicing absolute hell for him. 

“Well I need to use it to record something for an assignment,” he says, clearly expecting you to give up the practice room. You roll your eyes at him. He really couldn’t have used one of the other open practice rooms? Sure their acoustics were horrible in comparison to this one, but your stuff was already in there! 

“I needed to use it to practice something for voice lessons,” you respond, raising your binder and book up. He looks at it, confused. 

“Can’t you do that somewhere else?” He asks, giving you a look of disdain. You roll your eyes and decide to end the conversation. When you said you’d make practicing hell for him, you weren’t joking. You enter the practice room next to his and you pull out your sheet music. After doing some light hums and lip trills, you pull out a couple arias from your book. Quickly taking a sip of water, you sing a couple scales. Your voice seemed to be in good condition today. Perfect. You decide on the easier of the two arias to avoid straining your voice - Sebben Crudele. You sing through it to see if you had it memorized and thankfully you did! This would help you avoid the wrath of your voice teacher. You were going through the rough patches of the song when you heard a knock on the door. You look through the window and see the guy from earlier.

You open the door and give him a confused look. He clears his throat. “Do you mind keeping it down? Everytime I record my part check, I hear more of you than I hear myself!” He’s cut off by the sound of yelling down the hall.

“DRUM. DRUM. DRUM I SWEAR TO GOD.” You both look to see where the voice is coming from and you see the source coming this way. It was a brunette boy who looked outraged at the guy who knocked on your door. You both look at him confused. Why was he calling out for a drum???

“Aaron what’s wrong???” The guy asked, looking confused. 

“Tell me why I found your crumpled up sheet music on the floor covered in spit,” Aaron says, clearly pissed. He gives you a look and then Drum?? one as well. “Is he bothering you?” He asks. You sigh and nod. 

“She was bothering me! She kept like making all these high pitched noises!” Drum?? says, looking at you as if you committed a war crime. 

“This is what happens when you make the wrong person mad,” you mutter, rolling your eyes at the dude in front of you. Aaron sighs at the exchange. 

“Do you mean singing?” He asks him, giving him a dirty look.

“Yeah! That thing!! Can’t you do that anywhere?? So she doesn’t really need the practice room!” Drum tried arguing. 

“You can also play your little instruments anywhere, but I’m not complaining about that,” you retort.

“Aaron!! Do Something!!” He says. The boy rolls his eyes.

“Just leave her alone. She has a point. What’s your name?” Aaron asks, turning to you. You tell him your name and he nods. “If he keeps bothering you, or if any of the drumline bothers you, come to me and I’ll set things straight.” You nod at his comment, amused that he’d even say something like that. He was probably a section leader, you thought, judging by the way he commanded that guy to leave you alone. He reminded you of one of your old section leaders. You leave it at that and shut the door and continue practicing. 

Aaron sighed as he dragged Drum away from the practice rooms and into the band room. He gave him the dirtiest of looks. “Why would you embarrass us like that?” He asks, rubbing his temples as Drum struggled to come up with an explanation. “You know what Wiley said, to leave the vocalists alone if they’re practicing. They need the practice rooms just as much as we do.”

“Yeah but she was so loud! She was louder than me trying to play the part check!” He whines. Aaron does the thing that you do to dogs to get them to calm down. He pokes his neck with two fingers. 

“If she’s louder than your playing, then that’s your issue. An instrument playing at forte will always be louder than someone singing forte,” he grumbles, obviously fed up with his antics. This wasn’t the first time that a spat between Drum and a vocalist occurred. “Just practice elsewhere. Practice here for god’s sake.” Aaron decides to walk out of the room, but stay nearby to see if he actually practices. He does not. He let out a loud exhale as he tried to come up with a prank to use to get Drum to practice productively. The bell rang and interrupted his thinking. 

You let out a sigh as the bell rang. You didn’t want to go to class and would much rather practice your music. Instead of putting your belongings back into the choir room, you decided to just put them in your backpack. As you exited, he called out your name. You turn to face him and greet him with a smile. “Thanks for earlier,” you say, fidgeting with your hands.

He nods. “It was nothing.” The two of you walk in awkward silence until you exit the music hallway. 

“So what class are you headed to?” You ask him as you both go the same way.

“Poetry.” “Do you like it?” You ask. He didn’t seem like the type to take poetry in the first place, but we all have our interests.

“I think it’s a good outlet for me, even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of it when I took the class. I only took it because my counselor said I couldn’t take a different class.” You nod at his words. You had beef with your counselor so you understand why he felt that way. “What class are you going to?” He asks, looking you straight in the eye. You only realized this now, but he was really attractive. You brush it off and continue the conversation. You can talk about him to your friends later. 

“English,” you say, shuddering. He gives you a confused look.

“Who do you have?”

“Williams.” He makes a face that could only be described as pure loathing.

“Well I’m sorry for your loss. I hated her when I had her.” 

“I always feel horrible for the classes near us whenever she goes on one of her rants,” you murmur, thinking back to the time that she got really pissed about a kid’s essay and threw a heavy metal water bottle. 

“No yeah, my poetry class is right next door and every time she starts going on a tangent, my teacher just tells us to brace ourselves and he plays music,” he says, almost amused. You nod and let out a laugh. The two of you walk in silence to the English wing and separate once you two get to your respective classes. But before the two of you enter your respective classes he stops you. You give him a confused look.

“Is something wrong?” You ask, tilting your head. He shakes his head with a smile. “No, just hand me your phone,” he says, sticking his hand out.

“Didn’t think you’d be the type to ask for my number so soon,” you joke, obviously keeping your phone away from him. He laughs as you try to keep him from getting it.

“Well then, if you don’t want my number, then I guess you’ll have to fall victim to all the band kids who are gonna bother you in the practice rooms,” he says, shrugging and getting ready to leave.

“Wait! Aaron, no!” You say, grabbing his hand and placing your phone in it. He lets out a chuckle at how you caved. He puts his number into your phone and sends himself a text. He pulls out his phone and checks to see if it sent. It did. 

“If any band kids pester you again, just text me and I’ll gladly come to your rescue,” he says, smirking at you. 

“Thanks for the offer Prince Charming, but I don’t think you’ll have to.”

“Oh so you think I’m charming?” He asks, raising his eyebrows at you. You shake your head and try to hide your laughter as you head to class, but he stops you again. “What class do you have after this?”

“Math…”

“With who?” 

“Miller…”

“We’re in the same class.”

“What? How have I not noticed you?” You ask him, trying to recall if he ever was in your class.

“I don’t know, but I knew you looked familiar earlier. Let’s walk to math together afterwards?” You nod and finally get into your classroom just before the bell rang.

—

You wait for Aaron outside of your classroom. The door to his class is still closed, but right as you’re about to leave, the door swings open. He comes out of class, eyes scanning the area, looking for you. He smiles when he sees that you waited for him. “Glad that you didn’t forget about our little plan,” he says, walking next to you. 

“How could I? It’s not everyday that you talk to Mr. Prince Charming himself,” you say, laughing at your own joke. 

“If anything, Peter’s Prince Charming. I think I’m more of a Derek Charming,” he says shrugging. 

“Like from Ever After High?” You ask, looking amused.

“Yeah, that one.” 

“What do you know about Ever After High?” You tease.

“I’ll have you know that I watch it with my little sister,” he says, sticking his hands up in defense. A thought pops into your head.

“Wait, so where do you sit in math? I still don’t know how I didn't notice that you were in my class.”

“I’m like all the way in the back corner by the door.” You nod. 

“That’s a really good seat. I got stuck sitting by her desk. But looking out the windows is really nice, if she actually leaves the blinds open.” You both snicker at your comment. Your teacher was infamous for having an insanely dark classroom that everyone fell asleep in. Her blinds were always closed and her lights would always be off and instead, she would only have fairy lights on. You both entered the class and you both chatted at his spot until the bell rang. You wandered off to your desk and sat there, getting your things out.

“Ok class! I have a bad headache right now, so you guys can just do these practice problems with a partner and just check them with the answer key by the end of class,” she said, handing out sheets of paper. You turn to look for a partner and realize that your friend was absent today. You sigh and figure that you’ll just work alone on it. When you get ready to start the first problem, you notice a figure standing by your desk. You look up and see Aaron.

“Wanna be my partner?” He asks and you nod. You follow him to his seat and pull up a chair. He’s actually pretty good at math which is nice since math is definitely one of your weak spots. The two of you make small talk until he asks an interesting question. “Would you want to hypothetically help me pull a prank?” You raise an eyebrow. 

“On who?” “The guy from earlier. He’s in my section and he’s been causing some trouble lately and I need to keep him in line somehow.” You nod at his reasoning. It makes sense, but you’ve never heard of anyone pulling pranks to keep anyone in line. The worst thing a section leader has done in choir was probably just throw a stand with someone’s binder and music in it but that was different from a prank. 

“I’ll think about it. I just need more details, you know?” He nods. “What would you even do?” He says something regarding his drum. “But how would I be involved?”

“I just need you to do your thing and sing your little heart out. That shouldn’t be too difficult right?” You let out a small laugh at his question.

“It shouldn’t be. Any suggestions on what I should be singing?” You ask jokingly. But he seems to take it seriously.

“Do you have your music on you?” You nod and pull out your anthology book and hand it to him. He reads the title. 

“Coloratura arias for soprano. Neat.” He flips through the book, examining the music. He places the book between the two of you so you both can get a look. You already knew the contents of the book, so you chose to observe him. He grimaced as he looked at a page. 

“What’s wrong?” You ask, trying to see what page he was on. It was a page from the aria “Ah! Tardai Troppo”. All the melismas must’ve been what he was referencing. “Nothing. Your music just looks intimidating. But I think you should sing this one.” He gently shuts the book and hands it to you. Your hands brush for a split second. You’re definitely going to tell your friends about him. You put your book away in your bag and continue on with the math problems. 

— 

Later in the day, you walk to the music hallway with a skip in your step after your interactions with Aaron. He’s really sweet and funny and just… he’s amazing. You go to find your voice teacher in the choir room, but you see her speaking to Garth. Garth was one of your closest friends as you often kept him company when he wasn’t busy accompanying any of the choirs. Both of them looked concerned and only looked even more worried when they both saw you. “Did someone die?” You ask, looking around. No one else was there except for the three of you.

“No, it’s not that. I’m afraid I won’t be able to accompany you during solo/ensemble night. Something personal came up,” Garth says. You nod in understanding. Whatever it was, you hope that he’s ok. “It’s ok Garth! I just need to find someone else to accompany me right?” You ask, looking between the two of them. Your voice teacher nods and Garth clears his throat.

“Yep! And in fact, I think I have the perfect person for you. Do you know Aaron? Aaron Pace?” Garth asks. You nod. “I’m sure he’d be willing to accompany you. In fact, I think he has lunch this hour so you could ask him right now and you could give him my music as well.” He hands you the sheet music. 

“I’ll go hunt him down!” You say, giving a mock salute to the two of them. You exit the choir room and head into the practice rooms. You send Aaron a quick text. 

where are you?

He responds just as fast. 

practice rooms, why?

You sigh

i need to meet with you, it’s important. 

meet me in the big piano practice room. i’m already there. 

You circle around the practice rooms and find the one he was talking about. He was sitting on the piano bench on his phone and looking up. His eyes brightened when he saw you and he let out a chuckle when you tried to pull open the heavy door. “What’s up?” He asks, looking concerned after seeing the look on your face.

“I kind of have a favor to ask you. It’s fine if you don’t want to, but basically I need an accompanist for solo ensemble night and mine kind of bailed and he told me to ask you if you could be my accompanist,” you sputter out. He nods, deep in thought.

“I mean sure, why not? Solo ensemble night is like, a month away right?” You nod. “That should be enough time for me to learn the music. Do you have it with you?” You murmur something that seemed like a response and you handed him the sheet music. “Oh nice. This is the song we were looking at earlier, and most of it looks easy enough to learn in like 30 minutes or so. Tell you what, since we’re both a little occupied with our little prank today, when I get home I’ll learn it and if I can learn it pretty quickly, I’ll send you a text and you can come over. If not, we can just run it tomorrow during lunch.” “Yep! That sounds good. Thank you so much for agreeing to this even though I kinda just sprang it onto you,” you say sheepishly. 

“Well I’ll be off now. Good luck with whatever his name is.” He laughs at your comment and you walk out. Little did you know, he only agreed to it because it was you. 

—

Later in the day, you get a text from Aaron. 

i finished learning it. there were only a couple tricky spots, so you can come over now. here’s my address - xxxx

You read through the text and type out a response

would you mind picking me up? It’s totally fine if you can’t, my car’s just getting an oil change right now

You hear the chime of a notification

what's your address? i’ll be omw

You send him your address. After 15 minutes or so you hear the doorbell ring. You grab your things and then head downstairs to look through the peephole. You see him standing there. You open the door. “Hi,” you say, feeling immediately awkward after saying it.

“Hi,” he says back. It takes 5 seconds of awkward silence before the two of you burst out in laughter. “So are you ready to go?” He asks, fiddling with his hands.

“Mhm!! Let me just lock the door real quick and then we can go.” You exit the house and try to lock the door. You stand there, trying to hold all your things while trying to put the key into the lock and Aaron takes your music from you when he notices you struggling. You thank him and you both get into his car, with him opening the door for you. You two both sit in comfortable silence as he drives to his house. You both get out and he uses his house keys to get inside. He gives you a slight tour and leads you to the room where his piano is. He grabs a stand nearby and hands it to you. You decide to break the silence. 

“How was it?” You ask, and he hums in response as he’s setting up his music. He freezes like a deer in headlights. 

“How was what?” 

“Learning the music,” you say, deciding to copy him and set up your music as well. He nods at your response. You notice that he hasn’t responded and has what seems to be a thinking face. 

“It wasn’t horrible,” Aaron says, shrugging. You laugh at his response. “What? It wasn’t!” 

“I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at how long it took for you to come up with a response,” you say, covering your mouth before your laughter turned into a fit of giggles. 

“You are the absolute worst,” he says jokingly, making an exaggerated sighing noise and marking something in his music. 

“But you love me for it!” You say, mimicking his actions. He rolls his eyes at you and clears his throat. 

“Is there anything that you do that isn’t written in the music?” He asks, picking his pencil up.

“There’s a few ritardandos and other things, but we could just go through the piece and fix it as we go,” you say, flipping through your music. A question lies on the tip of your tongue, but you decide not to ask. Aaron can tell that you were thinking about something though based off of your facial expression. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I was just curious about why you asked that,” you admit.

“Because I’m accompanying you… It’s not my first time doing this,” he says, laughing at your dumbfounded expression. “You’re the soloist, not me. I’ll always be sure to watch you and follow you.” 

“How? Are you gonna practice or something?” You tease, laughing at your own joke. 

“I wouldn’t mind doing so if it was you,” he retorts. “But if that’s all, then that should be fine. We should be able to get started.” 

You nod and you take a swig of water from your water bottle. He plays the intro to the piece. It goes shockingly well considering that he just learnt the piece and that you hadn’t practiced much, but you eventually get to the end of whatever good luck the two of you had. You got to a very painful melisma with way too many accidentals to count which made it hard to stay in key. 

[a melisma is basically a riff - it’s singing multiple notes on one syllable]. 

Aaron makes a face and stops playing when your voice trails off. “What happened?” He asks, looking genuinely concerned.

“Nothing! I’m fine, I just psyched myself out a little bit with that part. I think I just need to review it really slowly really quickly,” you say, shuddering at the fact. Normally you could sing it in front of literally anyone, but why were you scared to sing it in front of Aaron? He wasn’t going to blow up at you or anything for not being able to sing it.

“No yeah, I get that,” he says, nodding at your comment. 

“It’s just embarrassing that I messed up,” you say sheepishly, choosing to fiddle with a corner of your sheet music.

“Don’t worry about it, you sounded great,” he says, turning to face you and giving you what seems to be a genuine smile. You nod and murmur a quick thank you. “So do you want me to play your part for you, or do you want to play it?”

“I can play it.” With that, he scoots over on the piano bench and gives you space to sit. You play your starting note and hum it. You try to make your way through the melisma, but it’s been a while since you had to play an instrument. Aaron notices you struggling after a few rough attempts. 

“Here, let me,” he says, so quietly that it was almost a whisper. He gently removes your hands from the keys and instead places his on the keys. With his free hand, he places your hands on top of his and slowly breaks it down for you, letting you control the tempo. After doing this a few times, he looks at you expectantly. “Do you feel better?” He asks, turning to face you. 

He looks you straight in the eye. You nod and quickly get up from the bench, trying to hide the flustered look on your face. You think he doesn’t and the rest of the rehearsal goes smoothly. Afterwards, you both make arrangements to meet up again and rehearse before solo ensemble night. 

—

After a few more rehearsals, you became much more comfortable performing with Aaron. In fact, you became so comfortable that instead of having productive rehearsals, you’d spend the time mostly talking. You both leaned towards each other to listen to what the other would say. The two of you would talk about small things, like new music that you got or just about your day. But this rehearsal was different. You had been on the brink of losing your voice due to the fact that you’d been overusing it lately, but you tried not to let that get the best of you. You kept running through the piece with him over and over again, but it kept getting harder and harder to get up there. Eventually it got to a point where nothing would come out. When he couldn’t hear your voice, he turned to look at you, but all he saw was you taking deep breaths with teary eyes.

Aaron didn’t know what possessed him, but he immediately got up and went to you. As he got closer, he realized that you started crying harder and started sniffling as well. He starts trying to calm you down, but you decide to wrap your arms around him. He holds you and tries to soothe you as your tears keep coming and eventually they come to a stop. “Are you alright? What happened?” He asks as you pull away from him and just stare. He’s surprised when your voice comes out hoarse and raspy. 

“Nothing. I just needed to shut up for a little bit, go on vocal rest, you know? And I was stupid and I chose to ignore it and it just-” You say, trailing off. He nods and opens his arms towards you, giving you a silent offer for a hug. You accept it and he rubs your back as you try to keep calm.

“You don’t need to push yourself. Solo ensemble night is going to go well, don’t worry about it,” he murmurs as you choose to bury your head in his shoulder. He pats your head and is eventually able to coax all the negative feelings out of you. That night, you realized one thing. You absolutely and positively have a thing for Mr. Aaron Pace.

—

That night you decided that you needed to tell someone about what happened and what you should do. You were in absolute shambles. You didn’t know what to do. If you told him about your feelings and destroyed the friendship the two of you had, you didn’t know what you’d do. You decided to call Cadence since she’d probably know the most about him in the first place. 

Your phone rang a few times until Cadence answered. You had science with her and the two of you became friends due to the fact that you two both came to class when there were no other seats open, so you both just ended up sitting next to each other. “Hi!! What’s up?” Cadence asks, angling her camera until you could only see her forehead and her eyes. You laugh at her and take a screenshot to annoy her with later. “Why’d you screenshot it?” She asks, zooming out to give you a dirty look.

“No reason,” you say, smirking. “But seriously I wanna ask you about something.” “I’m all ears,” she says, placing her phone on her bed and staring directly into the camera.

“Ew… Don’t do that…” You say, covering your eyes and exaggeratedly shuddering at her actions. “Fine, but what is it that you wanted to talk about?”

“I think I have a crush on someone-” “Who? Is it Aaron?” She asks, wiggling her eyebrows. Your jaw drops. Was it that obvious? “It wasn’t… Actually it kinda was, but if he hasn’t said anything about it yet, then I’d say that he thinks highly of you at least. If he didn’t, he probably would’ve told you to drop it or to stop talking to him.”

“I said that out loud?” You ask, looking confused. She nods.

“Mhm. But seriously, I think you have a chance. Maybe all you need to do is tell him!” “But what if I ruin our friendship by doing that?”

“Well, do the benefits outweigh the risks? Because if you’re really worried about ruining the friendship or something, just ask yourself that before doing so. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you.” You proceed to tell her about the incident and what happened and she gives the same insight. “He’s blunt. He’s not gonna act like that just because. In fact, I’m surprised he even agreed to being your accompanist in the first place. But there’s a first for everything, so I say you should just go for it.” With that, your conversation with Cadence ends. You let out a loud exhale as you let yourself fall onto your bed. You truly didn’t know what to do. 

—

You decided the best way to deal with this was to distance yourself from him. Cadence was right, you needed to be able to weigh both the pros and cons before confessing. You needed to clear your head, and you knew that you wouldn’t be able to do that if you kept talking to him. Your walk to class felt lonely without him and you felt your heart ache when you passed him in the hallway. He tried to wave to you, but you flat-out ignored him. After English, you made sure to take a different route to your shared math class. This routine continued until solo ensemble night. 

—

When the night came, you paced anxiously backstage. You were ready to get this over with and be free from your thoughts of Aaron. However, he didn’t make it easy. You were busy watching someone’s performance on stage and didn’t notice him walking over and standing next to you. Someone clearing their throat catches your attention. “You know, you shouldn’t be doing that. It messes with your voice,” you say, not realizing who you were speaking to.

“But I’m not singing,” he says. You turn and finally notice who’s next to you. 

“Aaron?” You ask, mouth open in shock. You didn’t think he’d willingly talk to you after you tried distancing yourself from him. 

“Did I do something to you? Did I cross a line during that one rehearsal? If I did something, please tell me. I can’t have you ignoring me like this, especially not when I feel- nevermind,” he murmurs, all of it coming out at once.

“You didn’t do anything. It was just me being stupid,” you mutter, rubbing your temples in embarrassment.

“Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t stupid. I’m sure you had a good reason,” he says, trying to get through to you. You shake your head, but you can’t. He takes your face in his hands and looks you in the eye. 

“It was stupid. It was so so stupid. I thought that distancing myself from you would help me figure out whether or not I should confess to you and it didn’t work at all and now I’m just left with all these feelings for you and I don’t know what to do,” you blurt out, immediately covering your mouth. You’re shocked that all these words exit your mouth, especially since you were so terrified of confessing to him in the first place. Aaron lets out a deep breath and hugs you tightly. 

“You know, you could’ve just told me. I don’t just act this way with anyone. I really do care for you. I have feelings for you as well,” he whispers into your ear. “Can I kiss you?” He asks, pulling away from the hug. You nod and wrap your arms around his neck and he places his hands on your waist. The two of you pull away from each other just before you’re called to the stage. “Good luck out there. Not that you’ll need it,” he says, smirking at you. He pats your head and quickly fixes your hair before the two of you walk out. 

“I could say the same to you,” you whisper to him in the wings. He smiles at you and then takes his seat on the piano bench and you take yours by the microphone. The performance goes well.

—

The two of you have a fit of laughter as you both make your way to the parking lot. “I hate these heels,” you say, giggling as you take them off and go barefoot on the concrete. You let out a shriek when Aaron picks you up.

“What? You said you hate your heels, so I just gave you a solution. I can’t have my pretty little girlfriend walking barefoot in the school parking lot. Who knows what you’ll get from walking here?” He jokes, and you let more giggles escape. 

“So that’s what I am, huh? Your girlfriend? And you think I’m pretty?” You ask, laughing as he pretends to think. 

“Mhm, and I think you’re very pretty,” he says, chuckling at you. He tucks a strand of hair behind your ear, and pecks you on the forehead, causing you to fake swoon. 

“You are the absolute worst, you know that right?” You say, mimicking his words from a while ago.

“You love me for it though,” he says, smiling at you. He puts you down when the two of you reach his car, only to open the door for you and let you in. “Where do you wanna eat?” You shrug and tell him that it didn’t matter and that he could just go through any drive-thru. After getting some fast food, the two of you headed to his house. The drive was shrouded in comfortable silence since both of you guys decided to eat in the parking lot and then drive home. The two of you agreed on having a sleepover after solo ensemble night beforehand so you two could talk about it afterwards and get food together.

Once the two of you got to his house and went through your nighttime routines, the two of you sat on his bed. “So are you sure about the whole having feelings for me too thing or…” You ask, trying to break the silence. He playfully rolls his eyes at you. “No, I just invited you to my house to spend the night because I actually hate you and want to punt you out the window while you sleep,” he says sarcastically. You laugh at his joke and embrace him. “But seriously, I do care for you. In fact, I have something to show for it.” He gets up from his spot on the bed and you follow as well, just now noticing his too short Star Wars pajama pants. He goes to his desk and you stand there awkwardly before he places a box in your hands. He notices you looking between him and the box.

“What is it?” You ask, examining the outside of the box. It was just a plain, small, shipping box - the kind you’d use for jewelry.

“Just open it,” he says, grinning and giving you his hand. You take it and let him lead you back to your spots on the bed. You open the box and find it filled with small strips of paper stapled to a larger piece. 

“What is this?” You ask, smiling as you read the paper. You feel your face heat up and you feel flustered when you read the bottom panel of the box. It read: ‘songs that remind me of you and why”. “Shut up,” you say, covering your mouth with your hand. “You did not.”

“I did,” he says, laughing at your reaction. “Go through the songs.” You do, and you notice that they’re all songs that would play during the time the two of you spent together. From discussions about Laufey to trying to get him to scream Taylor swift to arguing about composers, they were all there. You gently shut the box and wrap him in the tightest hug that you could. You quickly break away to give him a peck on the lips, and he decides to deepen it. You finally pull away from him, slightly out of breath and trying to get air back into your lungs.

“When did you make this?” You ask him. 

“Around when you were keeping your distance. We had this poetry assignment and I was inspired by it,” he says. “I wanted to preserve all our memories together. After all, I know that music means just as much to you as it does to me and I wanted something that would remind me of that.” You nod at his words. 

You continue with morning rehearsal as normal, and as you are returning back to the band room, you hear the clatter of drumsticks and a snare as Aaron rushes to catch up with you. "Hey, what's up?" You look over at your friend with a friendly smile.

"What are you doing on Sunday?" He sets his sticks back into the pouch attached to his snare, and comfortably rests his hands on the drumhead.

Your eyes wander up as you think if you had anything planned the day after the next competition. "Probably just catching up on some sleep. Why?"

Aaron pauses, as if he's regretting bringing it up, but follows through. "My cousin is having a quinceañera, and she's letting me bring a friend. Would you like to go with me?"

You tilt your head, confused. "A quinceañera?"

Aaron nods. "It's a birthday party thrown when a girl turns 15. Kind of like a sweet 16 but on steroids."

You nod back. "That sounds like fun! I'd love to go." He seems relieved at your answer, and you two chat about the competition coming up this weekend on your way back to the band room.

Saturday passes quickly, you all did pretty well at the competition, all things considered. Still not quite where Wiley would like to be but you all felt good about your performance.

Sunday rolls around, and you try your best to make sure you get up on time. The competition made it a late night for them, and you would feel awful if you slept through your plans. The alarm going off from your phone blares in your brain, and you grumble as you reach over to turn it off. Shortly after, you see a message pop up from Aaron.

You up yet?

You text back

Barely

and get up out of bed with a stretch of your arms. It's around 11 am, and your parents have obviously made some breakfast; you can smell it from your bedroom. You swing your feet from your bed and drag them as you make your way to the kitchen. For this Sunday, your parents have made the works: pancakes, eggs, bacon, and toast. Like usual, a plate has been set aside for you in the microwave. It was expected that you slept in on Sundays due to your competitions that occurred on Saturdays.

Later that day Aaron's name pops up on your phone's notifications.

You better be ready. I'm here.

Normally that would come off as aggressive from most people, but you'd been friends with Aaron long enough to know his sense of humor. You bid your parents farewell, not before they stress your curfew, and head out to his car. Once you get buckled in you look over to your friend in the driver's seat. He gives a small smile before backing out of the driveway and navigating the two of you to the venue.

"So, what can I expect tonight?" You break the silence.

"Lots of good food and dancing." He nods at the notion, keeping his eyes in the road.

"I'm not going to lie, my favorite part about birthday parties is the cake." You chuckle. "You'll have to show me some moves, because I am not the best dancer."

Aaron's lips curl into a sly smile. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't make yourself look that much like a fool."

"Oh, great!" You throw your hands up in the air dramatically, but smile.

The drive is a little longer than you expected, but you both make it there as many more of the attendees do. The venue is pretty nice, and when you walk in your senses are inundated with stimulation: there are balloons, streamers, and other party decorations everywhere, all matching the color scheme of a magenta and dark purple; the smell of food wafts from a line of tables in the back corner; and what you guess is salsa music is blasting from the speakers though no one is dancing quite yet. The two of you walk over to the tables to find empty seats, Aaron guiding the way with his hands casually in his pockets, and you are eventually approached by women you assume to be his relatives.

"Hola, chulo**!" A middle aged woman greets with a hug smile and grabs his face, squeezing his face endearingly, and kisses his cheeks. They all exchange the same greeting, though not with as much energy as the first.

**term of endearment for a boy or man meaning cute/handsome

"Esta es tu novia?" (Is this your girlfriend?) The oldest woman in the group gestures to you and Aaron stiffens up.

"No, abuela. No ella es mi novia..." (No, grandma, she's not my girlfriend.)

They all look over at you with a smile and Aaron introduces them. The middle aged women being his aunts and the oldest woman being his grandmother. "It's very nice to meet you all." You smile at the group.

One of his aunts gently nudges him, muttering, "Que linda! Ella debería ser tu novia." (How pretty! She should be your girlfriend.) Aaron groans and they start to speak English with you, asking some questions about yourself. When they leave to find their own seats, you look at Aaron, impressed.

"You never told me you could speak Spanish."

"You never asked; and it never came up." He shrugs and sits back down. "Sorry if you felt a little left out in that conversation. I promise we're not doing it so you don't know what we're saying. They said you were really pretty." He glances over at you to hear your reaction.

You find yourself feeling bashful at their compliment, and wave your hands. "No! It's fine, I swear."

The two of you chat a little more as the venue fills with more and more family and friends. Soon the table you're sitting at is full of more people and you suddenly feel a little overwhelmed. The chatter of conversations, both in English and Spanish, buzz across the room, and the music is still blasting as everyone starts to settle in. Aaron notices your stiff posture, and leans in closer to you. "Doing okay?"

Surprised by his face suddenly getting close to yours, you can't help but inhale sharply, but answer back, "Yeah, I'm fine." He nods and crosses his arms as he sits back in his chair. The chatter dies down when someone walks up to the microphone at the head of the room and starts the festivities.

The party begins with the food, and you follow Aaron over to where it's set up, waiting in line patiently. When you grab your plates, he starts to explain what's in a lot of the dishes you see before you. There's some common foods like spaghetti, but you elect to try some of the chicken and rice that you keep smelling.

The food was delicious, you even go back for seconds at one point, and Aaron laughs when you return. "You'll have to come over and have some of our food some time, if you love that so much."

"Are you inviting me to dinner at your house, Aaron?" You ask playfully, nudging him with your elbow.

"And if I am?" His gaze bores into you, leaving you flustered since you weren't expecting that reaction.

"Uh, then I'd happily accept. This food is amazing!" You try to feign confidence and dig into your plate of seconds.

The chatter dies down once again, and the girl of the hour stands up from the head table. She gives a little speech thanking everyone for coming, and then she and her group of people sitting up there with her get up to do a practiced dance over on the dance floor. "She asked me if I wanted to do that with her, I'm honestly kind of regretting saying no." He leans his head in his hand propped up on the table.

"Why'd you say no?" You tilt your head.

"I... honestly don't know." He shrugs. "But it would've been fun to show off for you." He smirks and you roll your eyes.

"Anything to show off, right?" You add a little laugh.

Aaron leans in a little closer to whisper in your ear. "She was pretty disappointed when I said no. She told me not to tell anyone else, but I'm her favorite cousin." He backs up to see your reaction to this.

"You really like to butter yourself up, don't you?" You tease with a playful grin.

"Only to try and impress you." He quips back and you swear you see him swiftly look away to avoid your eyes, but he's watching his cousin's dance. After another moment of watching them, he looks back over at you. "That's the only reason l reason why she let me invite you; it was going to be family and close friends only but she can't say no to me." After he says this, his cousin's dance ends, and many of the attendees stand up and make their way to the dance floor. Aaron also starts to stand up, looking down at you. "Do you want to dance for a bit?" His yellow eyes look hopeful that you'll agree.

"I think I'll sit out for a bit. I'll come in a second though." You reassure, starting to feel butterflies intensify in your stomach. He nods and goes to join his family for some dancing. Though tempted to pull out your phone, you feel it would be a little rude to do so, and decide to watch the many family members dancing. There are several young kids running around playing with one another, and you find yourself laughing quietly when they run into one another or an adult.

You see Aaron dancing with his cousin, who sports a beautiful and puffy dress that matches the magenta decorations. She has a tiara on her head that sparkles from the lights of the room, and her makeup is done beautifully. They're all smiling and laughing, which is rare for you to see such genuine smiles on Aaron's face. Suddenly you see his cousin approaching you, alone. She sits in the chair next to you and smiles. "Hi! I'm Aaron's cousin, Camila. Are you having a good time so far?" She has a very upbeat and bubbly voice, and seems totally comfortable talking with a stranger.

You introduce yourself. "I'm having a lot of fun, thank you for having me."

"Oh I know of you: Aaron talks about you all the time." This catches you off guard and you look away with a nervous smile.

"Does he now?"

She has a mischievous grin on her face and Camila then leans in, covering her mouth from the side to tell you a secret. "You can't tell him I told you this, but I think he's got a crush on you." Your face instantly feels hot and you know that your cheeks are red. "That's honestly why I told him to bring you. I think you should go dance with him." She stands up and holds her hands out to help you out of your seat. This sudden invitation leaves you a little speechless for a second. "Oh c'mon! He'll be glad to dance with you." You shrug to yourself and take her hands, letting her pull you out to the dance floor.

The two of you weave through the crowd and find Aaron dancing with a couple of of the younger kids. "Baila con tu novia." (Dance with your girlfriend.) You hear her say to Aaron with that mischievous grin of hers and she gently pushes you towards him. He squints his eyes at her, grumbling something you can't hear above the loud music, and lets Camila dance with the kids he was previously dancing with.

He leans closer to your ear so you can hear him better. "I see Camila convinced you to come dance with us."

There's a nervous smile on your face. "Yeah, she was pretty insistent."

Aaron nods and leans in again "Sounds like Camila." You stand there awkwardly, watching the other adults dancing in pairs to the fast-paced music. You had never really danced, let alone to latin music before. "Here, I'll teach you." He holds out his hands to take yours and guide you to the proper dancing position. He places your left hand on his shoulder, and gently grasps your right hand in his, and then he places his free hand on your side, a little higher than your waist. You look and feel very stiff while trying to keep a good distance between your bodies.

"Okay, we're in marching band, so I hope you know how to step in time." He snickers, and continues. "This will be a little weird, but you're going to start on your right foot and do this." He shifts his weight between his feet, bending one leg and then switching to the other as he shifts his weight. "And keep your upper body still, it's all in the hips." He looks into your eyes. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." You drown out your anxiety with a smile and he takes the lead. As you dance through the current song, you stumble and mess up several times, but at least you keep your feet in time. After a couple tries you start to get the hang of it, though not nearly as fluid as the rest of his family dancing around you.

"Let's try a spin." He doesn't give you the chance to react and goes right for it. You spin the opposite way and trip, falling backwards into Aaron. A squeal of surprise escapes your mouth, but you feel his arms catch you effortlessly. "I did not think you were going to butcher that so badly." He whispers in your ear and you feel the butterflies return in your stomach. "We'll just have to practice more another time." He turns you back around to face him.

Remembering Camila's words, you decide to take a chance and be a little bold. "First dinner, now dancing? Aaron, it sounds like you're trying to take me on a date."

He leans his forehead on yours as you continue dancing again. "Maybe I am. Though, I kinda don't want you to get better at dancing; I like being able to catch you if you fall." As you roll your eyes, you catch Camila's eyes and she gives you a big thumb's up. You spend the rest of the night dancing with Aaron, getting a little better with each song. As the party goes on you look forward to your d with Aaron in the future with a giddy smile on your face, content with being his dance partner for the evening.

Dinner goes well. You met a couple percussionists you weren't super close with. They're usually off in their own world and are all pretty close with one another so you never really found the chance to get to know them more. Surprisingly enough most of them didn't seem to have dates; just Aaron and one other girl in the group. It was awkward at first, but they were all so friendly and goofy that you were able to relax by the time you guys got your food. You were able to chip into the conversation every now and then, and even got the group to tease Aaron a bit.

"Y/N." Aaron quietly taps your arm. You look over to him and he points to your face. "You have some leftovers." And without waiting he takes his napkin and gently wipes it from your chin. Your face obviously goes red and you thank him quietly. Some of the other members of the group are smirking over to Aaron who ignores them and continues eating his food.

After everyone is done eating the group disperses to their respective rides and we all meet each other back at school for the dance. It was a quick, comfortably silent drive between you and Aaron, and when you arrive you almost immediately hear Cadence's excited squeal.

"Y/N! You look so pretty!" She gives you a big bear hug and you swear you can hear your ribs popping. "And hello, Aaron." She greets with a smile.

"Hey Cadence."

You pull your best friend away and take a look at her dress. "You look gorgeous, girl." You also greet Tom, her date for the night, and he smiles widely.

"Let's head inside, yeah?" Cadence takes you by the hand and leaves the boys behind. "So... how's it going so far?" She links an arm with you and you smile.

"Pretty good, I think." Cadence nods in approval.

"If he does anything to hurt you, I'll kill him for you." She jokes with a nudge.

You laugh and add, "You'll have to wait in line; I'm sure my parents will do the same." You separate to go back to your date's side again. The doors to the school open and the sea of students start to file in. Once inside you get out the tickets for the student working the admission table and stand close to Aaron in the crowd of students making their way towards the gym. He puts a protective arm around your shoulders.

"Doing okay?"

"Yup!" You try your best not to squeal out in shock at the sudden feel of his arm around your shoulders.

The theme for the dance was "Neverland," like Peter Pan. The homecoming committee did a great job decorating and planning this. The balloons and cutouts looked wonderful and so detailed. They definitely got some art or theater kids to help out. As people started to settle in, the DJ started to play some more upbeat and fun songs to dance to.

Cadence and Tom were already tearing up the dance floor with their goofy moves. When Cadence catches your eyes she pretends to throw an imaginary lasso to you, beckoning you to join her. At first you're hesitant, but her advice rings in your mind. "Just be yourself." You turn to Aaron and grab his arm gently. "C'mon." You nod towards Cadence and Tom, and he slowly walks over to your friends being goofy as ever. You join them in their chaotic dancing and Aaron just swings side to side with a slight smile on his face. After a while, you walk up to him, grabbing his arms and start to wave them around like a crazy puppet.

He laughs and smiles down at you. "You call this dancing?"

With a shake of your head you answer, "No, but it's still fun. Would you rather do the marching show visuals?"

"Hell no." He laughs again and joins you in your silly dancing, though not with the same vigor as Cadence and Tom.

The night goes on; with you dancing crazy with Cadence and Tom, joining the inevitable conga line, and finding dance circles with other band friends. Aaron ducks off for a few minutes now and then, letting you know he's gonna talk with some percussion friends, but always returns promptly.

You find yourself exhausted from all the fun, and Aaron notices. "Want to step outside for a bit?" He's taken his coat off for the time being and has his hands in his pockets. You nod, letting Cadence know you're going outside for a breather.

When the cool fall air hits your skin you immediately feel better. You didn't realize how stuffy it was in the gym until you came out here. The two of you find a nearby bench and sit in silence. After a minute or two, the cool air starts to settle in and you shiver a bit; realizing you left your coat in his car. The sensation doesn't last long, because you feel something drape over your shoulders. Aaron has lent you his coat and once again stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Did you forget your jacket on purpose?" He raises a brow with that smirk of his.

"I'll have you know, I didn't think I'd need it."

"Sure you did." He nudges you and you push back playfully. "Having fun tonight?" He asks after the two of you settle down.

"I am." You reply, still giggling from pushing him.

"Good." He nods. "I'm glad I didn't stay home tonight."

You simmer on the question that had been bothering you since you asked him to the dance. "Why did you change your mind?"

"Because you asked me. And you obviously were to scared to go all by yourself." He doesn't skip a beat on answering.

"Oh."

He glances over at you, hearing your slight disappointment in his answer. "I mean it, it's because you asked me. I wouldn't waste your time, Y/N." You sit up a little straighter at the shift in his tone from teasing to something a little more firm and serious. "I wouldn't have said yes if I thought it was a waste of time. I wanted to spend time with you." He's now avoiding your surprised look, shocked with what he's admitting to you right now.

"That's good to hear..." You nod and pull his coat around your shoulders a little tighter.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? I like you, Y/N. That's why I said yes." He's now looking directly at you, with an apparent vulnerability in those normally neutral eyes. You take a couple deep breaths.

"Good, because that's really why I asked." You laugh nervously.

"I know. It was pretty obvious." There's a twinkle in his eyes.

Your mouth hands open in shock. "Then why--" was he pretending to only do it for fun like that?

He cuts you off. "Because I thought it was cute seeing you nervous like this." He flinches when you playfully punch him in the arm. "Hey!" He laughs an infectious laugh, causing you to join in. Once the two of you settle down he stands up holding out a hand to help you up. "Ready to head back inside? It's getting colder out here." You accept the hand, stand up next to him, and link an arm around his. He leads the way back inside, and your friends' eyes are all on you.

"Welcome back!" Cadence's eyes shift between the two of you real quick, noticing his coat around your shoulders. You slightly widen your eyes at her silently saying I'll tell you later, and she catches on right away.

Soon it's nearing the end of the dance, and the DJ turns on a slow song. The couples, and some groups of friends, gather on the dance floor for the final songs of the night. You stare on and feel a tap on your shoulder. "Are you going to ask me to dance or what?" Aaron holds out his hand and you take it.

"I, uh, don't know how to do this." You admit nervously.

"Don't worry, just follow my lead." He assures softly and you feel the storm of butterflies form in your stomach. He takes your hands and rests them on his shoulders around his neck and then his hands hover near your waist. "May I?" He awaits your answer patiently. After you nod, he gently goes through with the motion and starts to sway side to side. "See? You got the hang of it already. It's that easy."

The song goes on and on, and it feels like time has slowed down for you. He leans his forehead on yours, a small content smile splayed across his face. "Did you have fun tonight?" He asks once more and you nod.

"Yeah." A smile forms as you reminisce the night's events, with all its twists and turns.

"Good." He hums.

"Did you?" You shift your hands nervously behind his neck.

"Yup." His reply short and sweet. The two of you away side to side a little longer before he speaks up again. "I'm glad you asked me. Don't tell anyone this, but I was too scared to ask you myself."

"I don't believe that." You slightly tilt your head to the side.

"It's true. I was honestly terrified." He assures and you shake your head.

"You can thank Cadence for that; she's the one who convinced me to do it." He chuckles softly and once the song is over his hands leave where they were sitting in your waist and you untangle your hands from around his neck. You didn't want this moment to end. The ghost feeling of his hands on your waist lingers as you daydream about the dance you just shared. Your thoughts are interrupted as the DJ starts to play one more exciting song to end the night, but Aaron takes your hand.

"Let's try to beat the crowd out of here." You say your goodbyes to your friends and the two of you walk to his car, hand in hand. Once again he opens the passenger door for you, shutting it when you are fully seated, and he starts the car. The whole way back he holds your hand, while you lean on the car door, trying not to fall asleep from the night's activities.

You feel the car slow to a stop and hear him shift the gear into park. "Thank you for the fun night." He strokes your hand softly with his thumb.

"Of course." You reply, eyes heavy with sleep. "I had a lot of fun too."

You stare at one another for what seems like forever before he leans a little closer. "Can--Can I kiss you, Y/N?" His yellow eyes await your answer patiently.

The question catches you off guard. "Yeah." You nod and lean in towards him. It's over just as quick as it started, as he gives you a quick peck on the cheek. You reach up a hand to where his lips met your cheek, and he gets out of the car to open your door for you. He takes your hand and helps you up to your feet, keeping a gentle but firm grasp on your hand all the way to your front door.

"I'll see you on Monday." He holds your hand a little longer, squeezing gently before letting go and heading back to his car. You wave as he leaves and sigh. A light, joyful sigh, at that. You were so happy to have had taken the leap of faith and ask him, as it left you with a fond memory to look back upon. You really did have to thank Cadence for encouraging you to be braver. Thinking about Aaron's hand in yours, you turn back to your front door and step inside, hearing Aaron's car take off only once you're safely inside.

<;- Part 1