Only Fools

Chapter Thirty Six

"You're bold, Aspen Grayson," Margot says a few seconds after I open the door as her eyes look me up and down, realizing what I'm wearing. At the same time, I just stare at her, because everything suddenly feels different. Nothing truly is on the outside, but I'm so blatantly aware of my feelings for her that it seems like it is.

I appreciate her beauty more than I did before and I feel more nervous around her, increasingly worried that I'll do or say something wrong. So I try to just act normal, because that's the best that I can do right now until things begin to feel normal again.

"I don't know what you mean," I play dumb as I let her in and close the door behind her.

"Really?" she asks me as I turn around to face her. However, as soon as I do, she reaches out and grabs the front pocket of my hoodie, pulling me forward and causing for my breath hitch in my throat. I'm suddenly very happy that I decided to wear this sweatshirt.

"Because I'm pretty sure this is my sweatshirt that you just won't seem to give back," Margot whispers in my ear.

"Really? Huh, I didn't even know you liked this band," I tell her, trying to stay cool despite our close proximity.

"Yeah? And what band might that be?" Margot asks as she glances back down at the sweatshirt before locking eyes with me again. As our eyes meet, rational thought suddenly leaves my brain and I go fumbling for words. I swear I knew the name of the band earlier. Why the fuck can't I think of it now? I glance back down at the logo on front. It's a mouth. Something to do with mouth?

"Lemonade mouth?"

Shit. That's a band from a Disney Channel original movie, idiot. I clear my throat as the name finally pops into my head.

"Rolling Stones?" I offer to Margot instead, but a smile already escapes onto her lips due to my first answer.

"Alright. Well you can keep it a little while longer, but only because you look so cute in my clothes," Margot says with a wink before unfortunately enough backing away and walking into the living room, leaving me out in the hallway in a slightly stunned silence.

Quickly, I clear my throat and gather myself before following Margot's lead and walking into the living room where she's sitting on the end of the couch, patting the spot beside her. A smile sneaks onto my face at the sight and it's then that I make the decision that I should tell her tonight.

"So. What are we watching?" Margot asks, breaking me from my thoughts as I sit down beside her and take the opportunity to lean into her. I glance over at the dvd I brought home from the video rental store and suddenly begin to doubt my choice.

"Can we just talk for a while?" I ask the girl quietly.

"About what?" Margot asks me.

"Anything," I respond to her as I try to stay in this moment with her. How many of these moments do I truly have left. If I tell her I like her, then maybe she'll never let me sit this close again, maybe we won't be able to just talk about anything. So maybe I won't tell her tonight.

"Did you know the universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billions years old?"

"What?" I ask the girl, not having expected her to say that.

"And Pluto is one third water," Margot tells me.

"Wait. Why do you know this stuff?" I ask her, realizing that the space unit was years ago in elementary school and I don't even remember learning this stuff. Does she just have that good of a memory?

"I used to want to work for NASA when I was younger," Margot tells me. My mind flashes back to when I told Naomi only hours earlier that I wanted to learn more about the girl and I can't help but smile as I store the new information in my brain.