My Perfect Mistake

Chapter 23 (Part 1)

Chapter 23

*Victoria*

I walk into school and head straight for my locker. Nearby, Aaron's friends stand talking but Aaron is nowhere in sight. Can I really be friends with them? Would Aaron be upset it I tried to be? He probably doesn't want anything to do with me now. I don't want him to hate me more than he already does.

I grab the things I need for first period and as I shut my locker, Connor leans against it, a large smile on his face and his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Hi beautiful." He greets me and I lower my head, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear.

"Don't call me that." I say quietly, shaking my head.

"Why not? It's what you are." He puts a finger beneath my chin and tilts my head up so that I'm looking into his eyes. "Beautiful. Aaron was an idiot for dumping someone like you." I flinch a little and hope he doesn't notice. "Want to come hang out with us?" I look over his shoulder and see that Aaron still isn't there, but that doesn't mean he won't show up.

"I don't want to intrude." I take a step back.

"You won't be." He takes hold of my hand and leads me over to his friends. Once there, I quickly pull my hand away.

"Hi Vicky." Caleb greets me with a smile.

"She thought she'd be intruding, can you believe that?" Connor says.

"I told you to come hang out with us at any time." Caleb says. "And I meant it."
"Hey guys." My body freezes at the sound of Aaron's voice. I knew this would happen, I'm not ready for this yet. It's only been two days.

"Aren't those the clothes from yesterday?" Fawn asks.

"I got a little caught up at Grace's, if you know what I mean." It felt as if a thousand pounds were placed on my chest and tears pricked at my eyes.
Connor high fives Aaron and I flinch. "Two days and you've already..." Connor is cut off by Caleb clearing his throat. All eyes drift to me and Aaron realizes my presence.

"Victoria." Aaron says in shock. "I didn't realize..."

Before he can finish and the tears can fall, I turn and rush to the closest girl's room. I rush inside and close myself inside one of the stalls. I finally let the tears fall and for a moment, I'm crying so hard I can't catch my breath. Already it's as if I never existed. He's happy with her, a lot more than when he was with me. Perhaps we just weren't meant to be.

"Vicky?" Caleb's voice echoes through the restroom. What is he doing in here? "Aaron can be an insensitive jerk, but we all know that. Don't let him make you feel this way. Don't let him control your life. You had a life before him and you'll definitely have a life after him. You just have to try." I sniffle as the tears finally stop. "You've probably been too preoccupied to notice but," he clears his throat as if he's nervous. "There's a school dance this weekend. I know it's last minute, but would you like to go with me?" he pauses. "As friends of course."

I wipe my eyes and cheeks clean of any tears and exit the stall. Caleb leans on the wall, one hand over his eyes to shield them.

"It's okay to open your eyes." I say. He removes his hand from his eyes and looks at me. He gives a small smile that makes me feel a tiny bit better.

"So will you go with me?" I sigh as he nervously bites his lip. I don't feel comfortable going to a dance or even hanging out with someone who isn't Aaron. But how can I possibly turn down a guy who runs after me and follows me into the women's restroom.

"Sure, why not?" He grins. "As friends."
"Of course. I'll pick you up at 7:00."

"Sure."

We head back to his friends and Aaron immediately begins to apologize. He reaches towards me to take my hand and I quickly move out of reach.

"I'm sorry Vicky." He says once more.

"Don't worry about it. I'm uh, going to head to class early."

"See you at lunch?" Caleb asks.

"Of course." I smile.

At lunch, I meet with Caleb and his friends. Connor immediately drapes a casual arm across my shoulders. I frown as I shrug off his arm.

"Victoria, can I speak to for a minute?" Aaron asks, catching my attention.

"Actually, right now isn't the best time."

I don't think I'm ready to be alone with him again. I'd break down and he'd probably love to see that I'm so heartbroken over him.

"Vicky and I actually have something to talk about. We'll meet you guys after."

I furrow my brows in confusion as follow Caleb to a table. He sits across from me with a smile.

"So what is it that we have to talk about?" I ask, glancing over at his friends who stare at us.

"Nothing really. I just know my best friend. He was going to apologize and ask for your forgiveness. All the things that will suck you back into believing he's a nice guy. But then he'd just end up hurting you again. What you and Aaron had was great. It was so great that you two aren't the type of people who can go to being friends."

"Did you know he had feelings for Grace?"

"No. He kind of sprung it on me. I guess with all the time they spent together while Grace was getting to know Sophie, brought them closer together. But I don't think it's going to last for very long. He loves you, he's just curious about what life could be like as a family that's not broken. And when it blows up in his face and he comes running back to you, it'll be your decision whether to forgive him or let him suffer. And if you ask me, you should let him suffer."

"Why?"

"Because you're too good for him and he's an idiot for letting you go."

*Aaron*

I watch as Caleb and Victoria casually talking. I didn't think they were that close, Sure Caleb liked her and thought she was sweet, and they'd talk whenever in the same room. But when did they start hanging out?

"What's going on with them?" I ask my friends.

"Not sure." Fawn says with a shrug. "He's been protective of her since you dumped her. He wants her to hang out with us and to make her feel better."

"Does he like her?" Caleb wouldn't do that to me, would he?

"He better not." Connor says. "I called dibs on her first. He's violating the bro code."

"I don't think it's like that." Fawn cuts in. "I think he just wants to be there for her through all of this. But I think it's just as friends."

"Well it better be."

I leave early from lunch and head to Grace's dorm. It was sweet of her to watch over Sophie for half of the day while I attend some of my classes. I expect her school to be a lot stricter when it comes to skipping classes, but I guess not.

I pull up to Grace's dorm and run upstairs. I knock on the door and wait. The door quickly opens and instead of Grace, I'm met with a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes. He wears a tailored suit and perfectly shined shoes.

"Aaron Evans?" he asks.

"Yeah, and who are you?" I try to look behind him to see if I can spot Grace, but he takes up the entire doorway.

"I'm Grace's father."

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I'm sorry I've taken so long to update. This is the first part of this chapter. It's harder now that I work full time and attend school part time. Please bear with me as I rewrite multiple stories while trying to continue others.

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