Chapter 27A: Get over it

A/N: Thanks to Jim for editing!

"Hey, Rory," Aaron said, smiling as his eyes drifted over me in a way that was likely meant to be obvious.

"Are you out of your fu..."

"Hi, Gail!" Aaron said loudly, cutting me off and looking past me, at Seth's little sister. He then had the nerve to flash me a warning look, and I hated him for it. He was the jerk. And he sure as hell wasn't supposed to be pointing out that I was being one by raising my voice in front of a little girl. I looked at Gail, suddenly hating that she was there. What I hated more, was that she was smiling her cute, toothless smile at Aaron. Obviously, she didn't know any better.

"Hi, Aaron! Are you coming to my house, too?"

"Not this time," Aaron told her. "I just wanted to say hi to you and Rory real quick." His eyes moved to mine. "Hi. Funny, finding you with Seth, isn't it?" There was a certain amount of resentment in his voice. I could have kicked myself when it actually made me feel guilty. I frowned, and tried to remain as calm as possible. There was no sense in blowing up, with Gail right there next to me.

"It's none of your business," I stated, hoping he'd take a hint as my eyes drifted suspiciously to Aaron's hands, which happened to be on the steering wheel. Aaron saw the look and made a disgusted sound as he released the wheel, looking annoyed.

"Are you fu... are you kidding me?" Aaron demanded, roughly releasing the steering wheel. "I just wanted to talk!" He looked entirely offended. "What's with you, Rory?"

"Me?" I demanded. He was unbelievable. He also had the nerve to roll his eyes.

"Come on, Rory, let's go somewhere and talk," he said, sounding as if he had no doubt that I'd actually get up and go with him.

"Excuse me?"

"Let's go for a walk. Come on, I'm tired of playing games here."

"I wanna go for a walk," Gail spoke up. I glanced at her, and then desperately looked around, wondering where Seth was before I glared at Aaron.

"We both know you wanna talk to me," Aaron insisted. "Now come on." He slid his hand across the seat, and when his fingers brushed over mine I jerked my hand away.

"You're completely delusional," I informed him.

"What's dulashanal?" Gail asked, and I glanced at her again before lowering my voice towards Aaron.

"Go. Away."

"Look," he said, leaning closer, "I don't know what your problem is, but..."

"What my problem is?" I demanded. "I told you what my problem is! It's you."

"Why? Because I had a couple drinks and now you think I don't like you anymore?" he replied, making sure to sound like he was speaking to a toddler. I resented that. "Please. Rory, stop kidding yourself, and stop trying to get to me, because it's not working."

"What the... what are you talking about?" I demanded.

Aaron lowered his voice even more.

"Seth? I mean, seriously. You think that bothers me? We both know how you really feel about him."

"I'm not doing anything to bother you!" I retorted. "And who I'm hanging out with is none of your business. Christ. You really do think everything's about you, don't you?"

It would make sense. It was beginning to occur to me that Aaron was a very self-centered and selfish individual. Yeah, I probably should have figured that out back when he was unzipping his pants in front of my face, or when he wouldn't kiss me after my mouth had been anywhere near the organ that he seemed to use in place of a brain. Or, maybe I should have figured it out when Aaron didn't want me to go after Luke because it wouldn't have been fair to him. Then, there was the party he took me to where he treated me like a stand-in shadow before he said things that were meant to tear me down and build him up. It wasn't just his behavior with me, either. He'd done the same things to Luke. He had Luke doubting himself. Aaron had no intention of fixing things regarding Luke's criminal offense because it didn't suit Aaron. Aaron had been certain that Seth Fisher was dating Angela for the sole purpose of making Aaron jealous. And now, Aaron thought that the only reason why I was with Seth was to get to him. Once again, I found myself feeling incredibly stupid because I hadn't seen any of this before--or because I'd seen it, and just hadn't cared. In fact, I don't think I really cared until Aaron's behavior affected me. I guess that made me just as self-centered as Aaron Keslin. I felt disappointed. In myself.

"What do you mean?" Aaron responded, sounding almost bored. "Are we going to take a walk or not?"

"You really are out of your fucking mind."

Gail suddenly gasped behind me.

"That's a bad word," she informed me. "You have to use soap now."

"Sorry, Gail," I responded, trying really hard not to snap at her.

"Yeah, it's a bad word," Aaron remarked, smirking.

"Will you just go? Please?" I decided to try and reason with him. It didn't work.

"Rory, will you just stop and..."

"You stop," I cut him off, and then dropped my voice down to a near whisper in hopes of avoiding Gail's ears. "We can't have this kind of conversation right now, and... you and me--we're not friends. We're not anything anymore."

Aaron stared at me for a long moment, his expression an empty one.

"This is because you've been talking to Seth, isn't it?"

"No," I said sharply. "It doesn't have anything to do with him."

I was becoming concerned here. I just wanted him to get out of the truck. Gail was watching us with interest, and probably understood that her brother was being mentioned. It was a careless way to be having this kind of conversation, not to mention that I fully expected Seth to return any moment. Or at least I expected someone to notice that Aaron was in the truck with me. There were a lot of people there, some being Luke's friends. As bad as it would look, I think I was actually hoping that someone would notice. Then maybe Aaron would leave.

"Then where else would you get the idea that I never liked you?" he demanded, and I paused, mostly because if I didn't know any better, Aaron seemed a little upset about this. I had to think about my response for a moment. True, it was Seth who'd told me certain things about Aaron that led me to believing that he'd been using me, or playing a game with me... or doing things with less than honorable intentions. But if I really thought about it, it was me reflecting on every moment I'd ever spent with Aaron Keslin that had drawn me to the conclusion that he'd never actually been interested in me.

"From you," I ultimately decided, and Aaron frowned at that. He even looked a little confused. "Listen, it's over, Aaron, so you don't have to pretend anymore," I continued. "I don't know what it is you want from me now, but..."

I never got to finish what I was saying. Aaron's face had suddenly contorted into what could only be described as a resentful frown, and he was suddenly opening the door and sliding out of the truck.

"You know, fuck you Rory," he suddenly snapped at me, and my eyes widened at that because I had no idea what I did to deserve it. Before I even developed the sense to get angry about it, Aaron was slamming the door in my face while Gail shouted that he'd used a bad word and he'd have to use the soap.

"Where's Aaron going?" she asked me. I didn't answer. I was too busy watching Aaron push his way through the crowd now, and attempting to stomp down the sudden urge to go after him. But that was because I couldn't figure out what he was so upset about. We were over. It's not like that was supposed to be any skin off his back.

Unfortunately, every time I saw Aaron I could still feel the damage weighing heavily on my own back, and it made for a very frustrating situation, because every time my stomach knotted up with thoughts of Aaron Keslin, I had to adamantly tell myself that I didn't want him back--which I didn't. I think. No, I knew. I closed my eyes, thinking over the last Aaron-free week and could clearly understand that I'd been better off. He'd been nothing more than an unnecessary source of stress for me, and I didn't even mean that to be insulting towards him. It was simply a fact. Without having to worry about what he was thinking, or if he was going to show up, or even what I was supposed to do when I wasn't with him, I'd been able to focus on a few other things--and people. Like with Luke, or even Eddie and Jase--it had been nearly impossible for me to get to know them as I was doing now, all because there was that one thing I knew I couldn't talk to them about. Aaron Keslin. Not that my dishonesty with the family I'd been living with had been the entire problem when it came to getting to know them better. But, it had been part of it. And, not being able to be honest with Luke, Eddie and Jase, hadn't been the only thing wrong with my involvement with Aaron. I didn't want him back. Aaron and I wouldn't work. I could say that with a certain amount of certainty. But, I did want something from him. I realized that as I watched him walk away from the truck.

"Seth!" I heard Gail say, and looked up to see that Seth was, in fact, coming back towards the truck. He was still talking to Angela, and he was smiling. Actually, even from the distance it looked like he was blushing, and she was teasing him about something.

I felt horrible already.

"Hey, Gail," I said, "stay right here, okay?"

I opened Seth's door, and slid out the same way Aaron had, just as Seth started coming back towards the truck. He smiled at me as he approached.

"Sorry about that," he said. "You ready to go?"

I frowned.

"Seth... I have to go."

His smile disappeared, and he looked at me inquisitively, probably waiting for an explanation.

"I really am sorry," I continued. "Do you think I can call you tonight?"

Seth looked thoroughly confused, but seemed to recover quickly.

"Okay... I mean... yeah. Is something wrong?"

"No," I said quickly. "I mean... I'm glad I saw you today," I added a pointed smile, and his expression seemed to soften some. "There's just something I have to do, and if I don't do it now... look, there's just something I have to do. I'll call you?"

He studied me for a moment.

"Can I at least give you a ride somewhere?"

I looked around the park, and then shook my head.

"Okay," he replied after a moment, chewing his bottom lip. "Call me."

I don't think that I left the best impression on Rick or Brian when they said hi to me and I barely even waved before I took off in the direction that Aaron had gone in. For some reason, I was surprised to find him alone, or even still there. He was standing halfway down the hill in front of the empty picnic tables, picking up and throwing what seemed to be imaginary rocks. He looked agitated.

"Aaron."

I nearly flinched when he glanced over his shoulder and smirked at me. I figured it was his way of saying "I told you so," because he'd known that I was going to talk to him, either way. Prick.

"Never mind," I said irritably, deciding that I wasn't interested in feeding his ego by staying. But, I didn't get very far when I turned to go. No more than two steps.

"I did like you," he called after me. "I do like you."

I stopped, against my better judgment, and turned to face him again.

"I don't believe you," I said simply, and Aaron frowned. "And even if I did... I don't really think it matters anymore."

"Then why are you here?"

I was silent for a moment.

"I wanted to hear you say that," I admitted. It was true, too. Even if I didn't believe him, I'd wanted to hear him say it because part of the difficulty of thinking about Aaron Keslin revolved around the fact that I'd been absolutely nothing to him when he'd been... well, my first.

"Yeah? Well it's the truth," Aaron stated, taking two steps towards me before stopping. "I do like you... but I like Seth more."

I felt myself freeze when I heard that, for more than one reason. For a moment, I wondered if he was just trying to get to me, if he was being cruel. But, he didn't look like he was trying to be malicious, and there was simply too much truth behind his words for me to question them. Besides, his admission backed up a few of my theories. But I didn't find myself at all happy about it. Instead, I felt incredibly uncomfortable. Part of me wanted to hate Seth, because Aaron thought he was better than me. But more than that, I found myself somewhat jealous, considering the way that I was beginning to feel about Seth. I had the sudden urge to tell Aaron not to even think about him, which I didn't do because for one thing, I had no right, and for another, it would have likely made things worse.

"Well, then I guess..." I'm not sure what I planned to say. I think I just wanted to escape the awkward silence that had suddenly come between us.

"I like Seth," Aaron continued, when I didn't. "But that still doesn't mean that I was using you." I regarded him skeptically, narrowing my eyes. "Okay," he admitted. "Maybe at first, I just wanted to get a rise out of him. But, then I started talking to you that first night, and... I liked you, Rory. You were never Seth, but you can't say that I didn't like you."

"Then what did you like about me?" I challenged hotly. I'm not sure why I was suddenly so upset. I'd expected the worst to begin with, and this wasn't even it. Aaron was actually being honest with me, not to mention that he was speaking completely reasonably. I guess if anything the meaning behind his words is what was getting to me. I was good, just not as good as Seth. I'd figured it out the first time he'd said it, damn it. He didn't need to beat it in.

"I thought you were cute," Aaron replied. Cute seemed like an insult coming from him. "And you were fun. You made me laugh, and I had a good time when I was with you... and I even liked listening to you complain about your family. You're all pretty fucked up, you know that?" He actually laughed. I gritted my teeth, suddenly feeling horrified that I'd ever confided anything in him.

"So glad I could be a source of entertainment for you," I sarcastically retorted, right before I turned on my heel, needing to get away from him. I was fuming. Even more so when he grabbed my arm and spun me back around a moment later. "Just fuck off, Aaron!" I snapped, jerking away from him. It was quite possible that he'd gone too far in commenting on the rest of the family.

"I thought you wanted me to be honest," Aaron retorted. "I do like you."

"Stop saying that," I ordered. I could feel myself shaking, partly because he was pissing me off to that point and partly because his words stung more than I wanted to admit. "You don't even know what it means to like someone!"

"And you do?" he scoffed. "Okay, Rory, I'm dying to know--what do you like about me?"