You and Aaron were complicated.

Mostly because you kept it that way.

The spark between you was impossible to ignore—every look, every passing touch felt like it carried too much meaning. It was the kind of tension that should’ve led somewhere, if you weren’t so determined to hold everything at arm’s length.

You didn’t belong in his world. His perfect, golden-boyish world.

You were the girl who hid with the quiet kids, the ones still haunted by the way his friends treated you in middle school. Emo, Freak—words thrown as easily as the crumpled papers that hit your back. And Aaron had been there for all of it, even if he’d kept his hands clean.

Still, he kept choosing you. Finding you at parties, sitting with you in empty parking lots, listening like he actually cared. He wanted something real; you kept warning him you couldn’t do that.

You and Aaron had only ever been a fling—something casual, unspoken, and easy to pretend didn’t matter. It started with late-night talks at crowded parties, drifting outside together just to breathe.

Then came the quiet moments in his truck, the stolen kisses neither of you ever mentioned the next day. There were no labels, no promises, just a pull between you that neither of you bothered to define. It was supposed to be simple. It never really was.

Yet here you were—at the fair with him. A date you swore you didn’t go on.

Aaron hit the balloon on his first throw, and the vendor handed him a giant teddy bear. He turned to you with that bright, earnest smile you hated for being so disarming.

“You like it?” he asked, holding it out.

Your stomach twisted.

This was couple behavior. Sweet, public, impossible-to-explain behavior. The kind that made everything more real than you wanted it to be.

Had you already let this go too far?