Theatre Geek - (R.B.) - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

AARON RAN a hand through his hair for the umpteenth time as he looked over his shoulder anxiously every few seconds, trying to calm himself down. Checking his watch again, he leaned back against the wall, taking a deep breath to compose himself and his erratic pulse.
He and a few of his best friends were standing outside of the venue where the after-party was taking place. It was more of a ball than a party, seeing as every senior student would be there. Pairs of couples and groups of students all chatted and laughed cheerfully as they streamed past the three boys into the hall. A few girls giggled and eyed them as they fitter past, but none of the boys took notice.
Aaron was freaking out. He couldn't stop fidgeting, and the rest of the boys were starting to get irked.
"For fuck's sake, stop being so nervous," Fabian mumbled, nudging his friend on the side reassuringly. "It'll be fine."
Fabian Ricci, one of Aaron's closest and eldest friends. The two boys practically grew up together, so it wasn't unusual for them to be introduced as brothers - or 'brothers from another mother' as Fabian often liked to joke.
Aaron bit his lip agitatedly, shoving his hands into his pockets to resist from checking his watch again. "I — I can't help it."
His friends couldn't comprehend why he was so nervous. He didn't have any reason to be. He was Aaron freaking MacLeod, for crying out loud. The most popular guy at East High, and likely the best soccer player of his age in the entire fucking country. He had girls falling over his feet left and right. He wasn't supposed to get worked up over anyone.
The thing was, Julia wasn't just anyone.
Fabian raised an eyebrow as he looked his friend up and down. "Seriously. I think you're hyperventilating."
Alec shook his head, slightly amused. "Oh, give him a break, dude. He's been waiting for this moment for far too long."
Alec Travers; you'd think considering how badass his name sounded, that his personality would match up. But no, he was perhaps the goody-two-shoes of their little friend group.
"What moment?"
At the sound of the familiar voice, Aaron froze. His gaze flickered up to see Julia stopping in front of him, with that sweet cheeky smile on her lips. When she directed that smile towards him, to say that his heart stopped beating for a moment would have been an understatement.
"Hey guys," she greeted, her brilliant brown eyes scanning over each of the boys briefly. Aaron's mind went utterly blank for a second, then went into complete overdrive.
"Erm, hi. Hey, hi," he stammered, his mouth running faster than his racing thoughts. "You...um."
"What's the matter, MacLeod? Cat got your tongue?" Kourtney teased as she appeared alongside Nini, flashing the boys a smirk as she took in their appearances. "I hate to admit it, but you three clean up well."
"I could say the same thing about you," Fabian commented as he gave her a charming grin, causing her to roll her eyes at his mediocre attempt at flirting.
"Anyway, I'm going to go grab a drink, I'll see you girls, later?" Kourtney shifted her gaze at her two friends.
Nini nodded, glancing around. "Yeah, I'll go find E.J." Oh yeah, those two had got back together again.
"Do nothing I wouldn't," Julia reminded them playfully. She waved at the girls as they strolled into the venue, getting lost in the crowd.
Clearing his throat, Fabian excused himself as well to 'find someone,' shooting Alec a meaningful look as he walked off. Catching on, Alec elbowed Aaron pointedly as he left, muttering something encouraging into his ear.
Aaron hadn't really heard what he'd said, but it sounded something like, 'don't screw up.'
He swallowed hard, his throat feeling dry. Goodness, pull yourself together, he berated himself. Say something.
"You look beautiful."
Julia bit her lip, ducking her head slightly to hide the pink tinge which dusted her cheeks. "Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself."
Feeling a bit more confident, Aaron grinned, gesturing to the hall where he could hear upbeat music and laughter, the general sounds of people having fun. "We should head inside, I guess." Julia nodded in agreement, and the two of them walked in.
The venue had been decorated lavishly with many glimmering streamers and ornaments, giving off a lovely Autumn vibe. The food was enough to feed at least three times the number of guests. Dozens of people milled around, talking loudly, while others whirled around and danced, laughing.
A group of sophomore girls nudged each other, giggling as Aaron passed by, but he barely noticed. His sole focus was on the girl beside him, the girl who was unknowingly giving him sweaty palms and aggressive heart palpitations.
He took his time to admire her discreetly. Her lips were quivering slightly as she took in the surrounding atmosphere. Her golden locks were loose and carelessly brushed, sometimes falling into her face as she moved. Aaron wondered wistfully for the first time what it would feel like to run his fingers through her hair.
"Aaron." Her voice startled him out of his daydreams and musings. She gave him a strange look, raising her eyebrows. "Everything okay? You spaced out for a moment, there."
"Everything's great," he assured quickly, clearing his throat as he tried to suppress the overwhelming urge to grab her hand. "Uh, the party seems cool."
Aaron nearly smacked himself on the forehead. After what felt like months (more like weeks) of flirtatious comments, was that the best he could do?
Julia looked like she was trying to hide a laugh. "Yeah, it does. You sure you're alright? You seem a bit jumpy," she teased, but there was a flicker of concern in her voice. Correct that, he was acting very much, unlike his usual self.
"I'm perfectly fine."
"Lia!"
Aaron breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted her familiar physique, hurriedly making his way toward her. Finally. He'd been searching everywhere, it was almost impossible to find anyone in this stupid crowd.
Julia giggled as she stumbled towards the dark-haired boy almost tripping over. She reached out to grip his shoulder to balance herself, while her other hand was clutching tightly onto a large glass of -- whiskey?
The contents kept sloshing over the side, but either Julia didn't care, or she was just too drunk to notice.
She was completely wasted.
It wasn't a surprise, really. This sort of thing happened every year at the soccer team after-parties.
It was an annual occurrence. Every year, a few certain senior boys would take it upon themselves to spike the drinks. The staff had their suspicions but they could never catch who did it, and they'd given up a long time ago.
"Woah, easy there, girl. You alright?" He asked worriedly as he steadied her. Aaron was perfectly sober, of course. He'd made sure to keep as far away from alcohol as possible, seeing as he'd experienced a massive hangover last year after drowning more than a couple of shots and getting into a fist-fight with a random freshman. Needless to say, he wasn't keen for a repeat.
"I'm great!" Julia slurred, absentmindedly taking another gulp of her drink before giggling again. "Great. Great, great, great."
Honestly, he should've seen this coming. He'd left her alone for just a split second to go talk with Alec about today's game, and when he'd come back, she'd been incoherent. It just worried him because of the way Julia was acting, he wouldn't be surprised if it was her first time trying whiskey. Or any alcoholic drink.
"All right, Lia, I think you've had enough of that." He managed to gently pry the cup away from her hand, causing her to pout at him petulantly.
"You're such a meany!"
"And you're drunk," he pointed out as if it wasn't obvious enough already.
Without warning, Julia grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards her, laughing when he almost stumbled into her. Aaron blushed, started by the sudden proximity of their bodies as she leaned her head on his shoulder, still giggling like a child.
He shook himself out of his daze and gently took a few steps back from her, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. Much to his trouble, she didn't move away that quickly - instead, she threw herself back against him, pressing a lingering kiss onto his jaw.
Aaron was almost certain that whatever those bastards had poured into the drinks, would also cause the drinkers to act unusually. He could feel her blonde hair tickling his neck, and it was incredibly and torturously distracting. God, he groaned. This'll be very difficult to explain to her in the morning.
"Have you — is this your first time drinking?" He asked her, his voice just above a whisper.
Julia frowned, moving her head from his shoulder to instead gaze at him directly in the eyes, their faces just mere inches away from each other. "You mean — you mean I drank alcohol? No, no...my aunt will be so upset."
"Do you want me to take you back to your home?"
She grabbed his face suddenly in her hands, examining him in delight as she hicupped.
"Nevermind. I am taking you home," he decided, removing her palms from his reddening cheeks and clasping her wrist. "You've had enough fun for tonight."
Ignoring her many protests, he started to lead her through the crowd of people, back towards where they'd come from.
"But Aaron — my aunt would be so upset if she saw me like this," she complained, yawning. Even though she didn't want to leave, it was clear that she was getting sleepy, judging by her languid movements.
"Don't worry," he promised. "I'll explain the whole situation to her." And bring you some hangover treatment drink tomorrow.
He spotted Fabian leaning against a wall, his arms crossed in amusement as he appeared to be watching something. When Fabian caught sight of him, he grinned and waved them over. "Ron! There you two are." He lowered his voice to a theatrical whisper. "How's it going with Baker?"
Aaron gestured to Julia, who was leaning her head on his shoulder again, half-asleep now. "You can blame those fuckin' senior boys. I'm taking her back before she does something she'll regret. Where's Alec?"
Fabian smirked, his gaze returning to whatever he had been looking at earlier. A few feet away, a (what looked like) very competitive game of foosball was taking place, coherent cuss words being thrown at each other. "They've hit it off well," he joked. "I bet it'll take only another casualty for them to start throwing punches."
Aaron rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he watched the group of boys, almost criticizingly. "Yeah? Well, I bet you fifty-bucks that they won't fight at all."
"Deal!" Fabian returned his attention towards Julia, raising his eyebrows in surprise as she started to hum quietly. "She's going to have a gigantic hangover tomorrow. Better get her home before she pukes all over the floor."
Aaron breathed a sigh of relief as he gently laid Julia down on top of her bed, watching as she yawned and buried herself under the soft covers. Being the gentleman that his mother had raised him to be, he'd made sure that she'd gotten home safely. Thankfully, he'd managed to find a spare key under the home's doormat, and he was even more thankful that she hadn't puked all over him.
He took a quick look around him, just out of curiosity. He'd never been in her home before (only ever on the other side of the door), and it surprised him to find that it wasn't much different from his own.
Just then, he caught sight of something red and white on her dressing table. Picking it up, he smiled to see that it was the scarf he'd lent her the week before. She had yet to return it, but something inside Aaron told him he'd let her keep it if she ever asked. He turned it over between his fingers, feeling the soft cotton fabric.
"Aaron?" Julia mumbled, causing him to put the scarf back down and glance at her questioningly.
"Yeah?"
"Come lie with me!" She stretched out her arms wide, inviting him in.
Despite the current situation, he couldn't help but chuckle. As much as the offer seemed tempting, he knew better than to accept. "I don't think that's a very good idea, love."
"Sit," Julia ordered, gesturing to the spot right next to her on the bed, and after a few moments of hesitation, he obliged. Her cheeks were bright scarlet, and her eyes were glassy and unfocused as they fixed on him intently. "You know what?"
"What?"
She crossed her arms in a huff. "You're so handsome, it's not fair."
He definitely hadn't been expecting that. Aaron raised an eyebrow dubiously, not sure whether to laugh or shy-away. "Wow," he mused, leaning against the headboard carelessly. "The Julia I know would never straightforwardly compliment someone."
"I'm serious!" She protested, throwing her hands up in exasperation when she noticed his growing smirk. "Don't do that!" She snapped, glaring at him irritably. "Don't — don't smirk at me like that. I — I like your smile, not whatever that is..."
She trailed off suddenly, yawning, and Aaron realized that he'd been alone in her bedroom for quite some time. He quickly got to his feet, pushing back some fallen curls up over his head uncertainly. "You should get some sleep, Lia. I'll go head down so I can wait for your aunt to arrive--"
"Wait," she interrupted him as she frowned, looking unsure of what she was about to say. Her next words were soft and barely audible but still took him by surprise. "Can you stay here for a while?"
Blinking owlishly, he ran another hand through his hair. "I don't think that's a very good idea--"
She stuck out her bottom lip, giving him her best doe eyes, and Aaron nearly forgot how to breathe. Who could resist that look? She was completely hammered, but he could already feel his willpower crumbling.
Accepting defeat, he sat back down, feeling his pulse quickening when she smiled at him. Pulling the covers over her, she yawned once more for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.
"Aaron?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," she murmured, as she shifted slightly, her cheek pressing against her pillow. Her words were slurred from alcohol and fatigue. "For bringing me home."
His expression softened. "No worries, love."
"You know something? She mumbled, her voice was muffled through the pillow. "I think... I think I might like you..."
Aaron froze, stunned, but before he could process her words, her eyes had drooped shut as she'd already drifted off into the dreamlike world.
After a few minutes, he couldn't resist. Leaning down, he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead, before getting up and letting himself out of her room, closing the door behind him.
Just as he'd grabbed his coat from the railing, whatever thoughts that lingered around his mind earlier had completely vanished. At the main door, staring directly at him was Julia's, Aunt Cheryl.