Strike 3 (Aaron Tveit)

Strike 2

"God, Aaron" Malcolm laughed on the other end of the phone call, "you're not seriously asking me this, are you?"  

Aaron held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he held out two trench coats before him, "I'm damn serious, Malcolm" he says, "now, which one? The khaki one or the black one?" 

"Man, I'm shit at this." Malcolm laughs, "why don't you just call Joey? I'm sure he'd know." 

"Are you out of your mind?" Aaron exclaims, "he's bound to tell Candace and it'll just ruin the whole surprise."  

"You're not really going for what your mom said, are you?"  

He sighed, taking a seat on the bed as a memory quickly passed through his mind.

(Memory)

"Aaron, honey" said his mom, Posie as he dropped by for a visit one morning, a couple of weeks after Les Misèrables had premiered. "Don't you think you should, you know...settle down at this point in your life?"  

"What, you mean, take a break on acting?" He replied, raising a brow at his mother's suggestion.  

"No, I mean...allow yourself the pleasure of having a girl in your life"  

The idea of it all made him scoff, "a girl?"  

"Yes, a girl." She pressed, "musical theatre is something abstract. It can't love you back and I think you need someone who will...other than fans and family, I mean"  

"Like who?"  

Posie approached this topic gently, "I don't know....maybe like, Candace?"  

Aaron looked up from his breakfast food and at his mother. Needless to say, he was taken aback by such a topic. "Allow yourself some love, honey" she says again, "I mean, think of it this way. Embody Enjolras again."  

He smirked at her pronunciation, "Uhn-jol-rhas, mom."  

"Just embody him again. And look at her in the sense that she was a French Revolution waiting to be won." She smiled, "Aaron, if there's anyone who deserves indulgences in love, it's you. Now, I'm not saying you should go for her because I told you it was time to settle down."  

"I know that, mom"  

"And I'm sure you know that in the span of those two years, it's pretty obvious that your love for her never died down. So give yourself a fighting chance to fight for her. I mean, Enjolras may have lost his battle....but maybe Aaron would win"

(End of memory)

"She's a French Revolution waiting to be won" he said, quoting his mom, "and okay, maybe Enjolras lost his battle. But maybe I, as Aaron, would have a chance at winning."  

Malcolm smiled at the other line, "I think you should go for the black one"  

"And why is that?"  

Malcolm began to sing on the other line, "Black, your world while she wasn't there"  

And so it was with the black one he decided to wear as he made his way to Leonardo's.

He walked slowly as he approached Leonardo's, afraid to look like he's been stood up. But his eyes found Candace's as she approached the place.A more confident Candace appeared to Aaron as they got their lattes and left the store.

"So, does this mean you're willing to try things again?" Aaron asked, "I'm only thinking out loud here"

"Better to deal with something now than let it drive you to insomnia because of the overthinking" she replied, "I worked too hard to forget what happened two years ago to let it all go to waste."