The Bully And His Quiet One

Chapter 32

Blake's POV

I looked up to Aiden walking down the stairs. "Anna come on, it's not like I'm a brand new person." He was wearing a grey suit while I was wearing a black one, and we were both wearing deep red ties. Anna straightened his hair and styled it so it stood up a bit and he had the matching bracelet from Christmas on.

"Hello handsome." I walked up to him and kissed him. "It is nice to finally see you again."

"It is nice to be free."

"Hey! You enjoyed it, plus you look good. Where's mom?"

"I don't know. Upstairs probably." Anna ran back up the stairs.

I grabbed Aiden by the waist and pulled him into me. "You do look good."

"And so do you." I grabbed his face and leaned down and kissed him. 

"I love you so much Aiden."

He reached up and placed his hands on mine. "I love you too."

"I got mom," I heard Anna call as they came down the stairs. I let go of Aiden and went to grab our boutonnieres from the counter. I handed Aiden mine and then placed his on his suit, and he did the same to me.

"Oh, you both look so handsome." My mom finished her way down the stairs and gave us both a kiss on the cheek. "Okay picture time."

After what felt like an eternity of picture taking, Aiden and I finally headed out. We met up with our friends at the diner. Ryan and Max, were of course going with each other. Alex and Leo both asked one of the basketball cheerleaders. I was surprised to find out that Leo asked Lindsey. She's new to the squad and is a bit shy, doesn't seem like Leo's type. I actually like her though. She isn't stuck up and she cares about more than just her looks, unlike the girl that Alex brought.

Lindsey sat next to Aiden, and I was worried at first because of Aiden's anxiety around new people. But he seemed to be fine. After we ate we drove to the ferry terminal where our prom was taking place at this year. Aiden got out of the car and took a deep breath.

I grabbed his had and gave it a squeeze, "you okay?" He nodded his head and we made our way inside. There was already quite a few people there, so we got a drink and waited a couple minutes so that Aiden could feel a bit more comfortable being there and then made our way out to dance. The rest of our group for some reason took so much longer to get there, so they found us as they slowly showed up.

As time went on and  more people started to show up, I could see Aiden's mood start to change. "Hey, I'll be right back," he leaned in and whispered to me before walking off. I waited through a couple of songs and when he didn't come back yet, I grabbed some water and went to find him. I eventually found him standing out on a deck overlooking the water.

"Aiden?"

He turned and looked at me, "sorry, I just needed a breather."

"Don't apologize." I walked over to him, I could still hear the music playing from inside. "Here," I handed him a water.

"Thanks." We stood in silence for a few minutes watching the waves below us. "Why is this so hard for me?"

I reached over and grabbed his hand. "I don't know." He leaned his head against my shoulder. I heard a slow song start inside. "Aiden, do you want to dance?"

He looked up into my eyes. "Yes."  We left our cups on the ledge and I wrapped my arms around his waist. We started swaying to the song and he nuzzled his face into my neck. "I love you so much."

"I love you too Aiden." Once the song was over we stayed embraced for a while longer.

"Blake?" I looked down at him. "Do you mind getting me more water?"

"Absolutely not. I'll be back in a few." I gave him a quick kiss, grabbed our cups and walked back inside.

Aiden's POV

I didn't want to go back inside yet, the ocean breeze feels nice, but I was dying of thirst, so I sent Blake to get more water.

"Aiden?" I turned around and saw Lindsey at the door.

"Hey Lindsey."

"I just thought that I would check on you, did Blake find you?"

"Yeah he did, he just went to get us water."

"Good." She walked out to me and took a breath, "I'm sorry"

"I'm fine, just a little anxiety."

"No, I mean for what I did when we were younger."

"Oh, I just thought you forgot. It was a long time ago, I've moved passed it."

Lindsey and I used to be friends when we were elementary school. When middle school started, she was the first one I told that I might be gay. Middle school is also when the bullying started and she tried to stay friends with me, but as time went on, she got other friends and eventually stopped hanging around me.

"It still doesn't make it okay. I should've stayed by your side and helped you. It killed me to see you hurt, I should've helped you." I could see tears forming in her eyes.

I reached over and grabbed her arm, "it's okay."

"I've missed you." She looked over at me, "Like a lot."

"Me too."

"I hope we can re-connect and be friends again."

"I would like that." I said and She smiled at me.

Blake then came back out with more water.

"Alright, well I'll leave you two. See you later." She gave me a quick hug and walked back through the door.

"Making friends?" Blake raised his eyebrow at me.

"More like making up with an ex-friend."

"You two used to be friends?" I nodded. "What happened?" I looked at him, raising my eyebrows. "What?"

"I became the gay freak with new bruises every week."

"And she decided that she couldn't be friends with you anymore?" I shrugged. "And you're just going to forgive her? Just like that?"

"I forgave you. Why can't I forgive her?"

"You're right. I'm sorry." He looked down at his hands.

"Hey, that's okay. You're just looking out for me." I gave him a kiss on his cheek. "C'mon let's go back inside."