Love Novel 25

I’m exhausted, my body sore and tired, but I still get up in time for school.
I decide then and there to not think about Jake at all, every time his name even pops into my head, I force myself to think
about uncommon phobias.
I’ve ran through two of them today already and it’s barely 7am.
*Cleptophobia: Fear of stealing*
*Mageirocophobia: Fear of cooking*.
Alex and I used to go through lists of these, fascinated by them.
I lock the front door to my house and when I turn to start my walk to school, I gasp in surprise.
Aiden stands there, leaning on the hood of his car with a smile on his face.
It’s his careless smile that lets me know he is still completely oblivious to what happened between Jake and I yesterday
and the night before.
My heart pounds in my chest but I smile. It’s a genuine smile even if I did have to force it on to mask my shock of finding
him there. “Aiden, what are you doing here?”
He shrugs, wrapping his arm around my waist. He kisses me slow, careful and with a gentle swipe of his tongue. I get
butterflies in my stomach, which I’m so glad he can still ignite.
“I missed you yesterday. Are you feeling better?”
*Siderodromophobia: Fear of trains or railroads*.
I nod, feeling just a bit bad for having to lie to him about feeling sick. “Much better.”
He smiles down at me, “I wanted to give you a ride to school.”
He opens the passenger door for me and I climb in, setting my bag on the floor. “You didn’t have to. It’s really not that
far of a walk from here.”
He shrugs as he starts the engine. “I don’t mind. I got you some coffee, too.”
I look down at the cup holders, two coffees in the middle. Something sparks in my chest and my mouth parts. I can’t
remember the last time anyone had ever gotten me something at all. “You got me coffee?”
His eyes widen slightly. “Do-do you not like coffee?”
I smile, my lips trembling, my hands shaking as well as I take the coffee cup. “No, I do, it’s just…thank you.”
“I was thinking about you all morning, just wanted to see that smile on your face again,” He leans toward me and presses
a kiss to my lips.
I smile wider, the butterflies in my stomach going wild. “How was your day yesterday?”
He drives, his attention on the road. “Boring. Practice was tough. We have a big game tonight.”
I sit up at that, taking a sip. “I’m finally going to see you in action?”
Placing a hand on my thigh, he chuckles. “Yeah.”
There’s tension in his face and I tilt my head to get a better look at him. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m nervous,” He squeezes my thigh.
“Why?”
“There’ll will be scouts at tonight’s game and I’m suddenly worried that I want to impress them.”
I lay my hand on his and set my coffee down, leaning toward him to pepper kisses on his bicep. “You’ll do amazing.”
“You’ve never seen me play,” He mutters playfully between closed lips.
“I guess you’ll have to impress me then.”
He barks a laugh, turning into the school parking lot.
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My heart drops into my chest and I’m so relieved that he looks nothing like his dad. They look so different, enough for me to temporarily disassociate one from the other.
*Haphephobia: Fear of being touched*.
I for sure did not have that.
We walk to our first class, hand in hand. Some people stare at us and I step closer to Aiden, plastering myself to his side.
“Everyone’s staring.”
He grimaces as he looks down at me. “Sorry, it’s kind of part of the territory.”
I hold on to him tighter, biting down on my lips as the whispers around us grow.
“It probably doesn’t help that Sadie is most likely going around and starting rumors.”
I groan, tightening my hold on his arm. “Are you serious?”
“Does she look like the type that would stay quiet?”
I laugh at that. “No, she doesn’t seem very nice.”
“She’s not, but we’ve got this though, together.”
We walk into our first class and it feels just like that first day, all eyes are on us and people whisper. Mr. Admas gives us a
shocked look, but says nothing as he blinks and returns to his lesson on the board. I see some other students take out
their phones, snapping pictures of us and I grimace.
We make our way to our normal seats, Aiden making sure our seats are close together, close enough to where our knees
are touching.
“We’re playing the best team in the district tonight.”
I turn to him. “Do you guys think you’ll win?”
“I think we can, coach has some reservations, but I think we can. It’s my first year as captain, I want everyone to see that I wasn’t the wrong choice.”
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I frown, suddenly aware of how much pressure is on his shoulders and even more so about the amount of doubt he has
for himself. “Hey, you’ll do amazing. I know it.”
“Thank you.”
“Is there anything I can do to help? I can learn a cheer? Or is there like a song everyone breaks into? I’ll learn it and sing
it so loud, I’ll be the only voice you can hear.”
He laughs, wrapping his arm around my waist to bring me in and kiss me on the forehead. “Actually, since you asked,
there is one thing.”
“What?”
He pulls away and reaches into his bag, taking out a jersey. It has the number 8 on it and on the back, very clearly, is his
last name. Matthews. “It’s my old jersey. The guys on the team have a tradition of giving them to their girlfriends.”
“Girlfriends?” My insides take a tumble.
“I know we haven’t exactly talked about that, but I don’t see this going any other way. Do you?”
I shake my head.
He smiles, those dimples of his drawing my attention. He places the shirt over my head, and I tug it down until it lays
over my shorts. It practically swallows me up, but I love it. I look down at it and smile until my cheeks hurt.
“It looks like it was made for you.”
I laugh, and run my hands down the jersey. “Thank you. I love it.”
“Now you can wear it every game day.”
“I won’t forget.”
We get busy with our work, Aiden’s hand on my thigh the entire time. It’s comforting and I hold onto his fingers
periodically, playing with the veins that stick up from his wrist.
We stay attached to the hip until lunchtime, when the team gathers to go over game strategy. I go and search for Nikki.