We All Fall Down •An Aidan Gallagher Fic•

•New People•

A girl with sleek red hair responded, "I'm Samantha."
    
A girl with strikingly high cheekbones said with a sweet voice, "I'm Isabelle! How are you all?"
    
In all, there were six girls in the group. All of them lived here except for Olivia.
    
Riley, a blonde, was funny. "I know I'm just meeting you all but I need to complain. Boy problems."
    
Everyone in the little circle nodded understandingly. We sat in the jungle gym and listened.
    
"I'm really desperate, 'ya know? And I've been talking to guys lately, mostly getting rejected. But I texted this one guy I found on insta that he was cute and we should talk more. He said bet." A chorus of oooo's erupted from us. "So I'm snapping him and long story short his friend added me, Said racist shit- probably to see if I was ok with it- and I blocked the friend and the kid blocked me!" Samantha let out an audible tch. "It's so sad cause he was cute and we were getting along but he's a RACIST."
    
We all offered our words of comfort before Olivia looked around. "Anyone else want to talk about boy problems?"
    
Isabelle piped up. "I'm ugly, so I don't get them!" Everyone giggled and mumbled same...
    
"How about you?" Said a girl who introduced herself as Harriet to me.
    
"Well... I'm seeing someone."
    
Riley gasped. "Tea. Who?"
    
"Oh... promise you won't freak out?" They nodded. "Aidan Gallagher."
    
"Yeah sure." Laughed Samantha.
    
Olivia shook her head. "She's for real you guys. I saw them together. She's famous on YouTube."
    
I showed them the pictures with me and Aidan, plus the first half of the news article written about us what seemed like years ago. I was careful so they didn't read the part about me not existing.
    
Everyone freaked out. I told them about how we met and our relationship so far. They seemed star stuck.
    
"This might be weird but can I have your autograph?" Asked Harriet. The others nodded.
   
I gave it to them, and we exchanged numbers. "Believe it or not, I need friends. So if you aren't planning on using me, we should hang more often." I Said.
    
Riley snapped loudly. "Well there goes my plan to use you for clout!" We all laughed.
    
For the next hour I felt better than I had in a while. All the girls- except for Isabelle- seemed genuinely interested in me as a person and not my fame. I felt included, I felt cool, and I felt like I had friends.
    
For the third time that say, Isabelle said, "So can I have a shout out on your main?"
    
I sighed. "Maybe later." Maybe not.
    
"Look!" Hissed Riley. "Boys...." She pointed to a couple cute boys playing soccer.
    
"Shit." Said Samantha. "Let's go fucking flirt with them."
    
I held up my hands. "Hey, I'm taken."
    
Harriet smirked. "We aren't. Let's go get 'em!"
    
The girls giggled. Back home, these would be the same things I had always wanted to be doing. We walked over to them and they started flirting.
    
It was a horrid sight. The only one with a bit of success was Riley. She watched a tall boy with dark hair until he noticed, and she smirked. He walked over to her and they started chatting.
    
Samantha and Harriet tried to talk to the boys but were shut down. Isabelle didn't succeed in getting their attention, and Olivia hung back with me.
    
Riley came over smiling, everyone else disappointed.
     
"I got his snap!" She said.
     
"I got ignored." Said Isabelle.
     
"I got made fun of." Said Harriet.
     
"Sorry guys." I said laughing.
    
We walked around the park, chatting and learning about eachother. It was fun to be in the company of girls my age again.
    
When we parted ways, I made sure to tell everyone but Isabelle to call me. Sorry not sorry. I said to myself.
    
On the way home I was noticed by a few people, but no one asked for an autograph.
    
I walked in the door and was greeted with the smells of my favorite food.
    
I ran into the kitchen. "Betsy! You made meat sauce!" I had taught her how my mother used to make it- basically just a spicy bolognese sauce with rigatoni.
     
We ate and I told her about my new friends. She was genuinely interested and peppy. I felt like a totally different person than I had yesterday. I was happy.
    
"I don't know what to wear..." I groaned.

    
Betsy made a face. "What do you mean?"
    
"I don't have a lot of clothes."
    
Flustered, she ran and brought back her wallet. She handed me a hundred dollar bill. "Here. Buy clothes."
    
I shook my head. "I could never-"
    
"Don't." She interrupted. "This is Craig's money. I cashed a check he received yesterday. We don't need the money anyway- I just got a big check for myself as well."

"Really? For what?"

"I wrote a book last year. I got my first payment from it yesterday." She lowered her voice. "It's over ten thousand dollars. After taxes."

I stood up and hugged her. "Congrats! That's great!"

She pulled away and shoved the money into my hand. "So take it. Go shopping tomorrow."

I agreed. "Let's watch a movie." She offered. "I'll make popcorn!"

We settled down in the living room and watched War Horse. It was the saddest movie I'd ever seen, and the two of us clung together as we cried.
    
It was late when the movie was over and Betsy sent me to my room. I got ready for bed and checked my phone before I went to bed. My heart sunk just a bit when I saw Aidan hadn't texted me all day. I struggled, trying to come up with something to write, before giving up and going to sleep.