I put the picture down and watched her carefully. Her face was flushed, and it looked like tears would fall off her eyes any second. She was upset, for sure.
I walked to her immediately and wrapped my arms around her. "I won't leave you alone when you are crying," I said quietly.
"S...sorry, I didn't mean to overreact," she sniffled.
"Shh...it's okay. I got you. Wanna tell me about it?" I said gently. She shook her head no.
I stroked her hair gently. "Is he the reason why you were so obsessed with me?" I asked. I kind of figured that out already, but I needed to hear it from her.
"Can I tell you about him later?" she looked up and asked. I wiped her tears away.
"Sure, just know that I am offended. I thought I was the original copy. But it turns out you liked that guy first. It makes me jealous," I said and frowned.
She let out a small giggle. "It's not that I only liked you for him. There are things I like about you only. Things that had nothing to do with him," she said quietly.
I smirked. "Oh yeah? Like what?" I asked.
"Like how you crinkle your forehead when you try to remember something," she looked down and smiled.
I cupped her cheeks and leaned over, then lightly brushed her lips with mine.
"Um...Aaron..." she whispered and fidgeted. Her eyes were closed.
"Tell me what else you like about me," I placed a soft kiss on her neck, making her shiver.
"You have cute dimples when you smile," she said. "Stop it, it tickles," she giggled as I stroked her ribs.
"How else am I different? On a serious note?" I raised my eyebrows.
"He was sweet and soft-spoken. Not an aggressive jerk like you," she said pointedly.
"Oh, I am aggressive, huh?" I chuckled and lifted her off the ground, then proceeded to carry her to bed.
"SEE! This is what I am talking about. So forceful," she whined.
I dropped her on the bed and hovered over her. "I won't do anything bad to you. You know that, right?" I said gently.
"Hmph...I don't trust you," she scoffed.
"Well, I won't. If you admit you love me again," I smirked.
"No way. That ship has sailed. I don't even like you anymore," Bella looked away. I am not letting her off easily. She is going to admit how she really feels. I will make sure of it.
"Fine. Then I guess I will leave you alone," I said and got up. She sat up immediately. Her face showed disappointment. Was she expecting something from me?
"Are...are you leaving?" she said hesitantly.
"Yup. You are not interested, and I am not about to force a girl to do things with me. But we can remain as friends if you like. I won't tease you anymore," I said. I can imagine my face turning dark. I expected her to resist me, but I couldn't keep doing this without getting my own feelings hurt.
"What about my letter?" she asked.
"Come get it yourself if you are so worried about it. You know where I live. Or are you too afraid to be alone with me again?" I smirked.
"I am not afraid!" she said determinedly. "I just don't believe you like me. You are just horny!" she said.
"Ouch! Is that what you really think about me? Just some horny dude who would sleep with any girl in front of him? Let me tell you something if I was like that, I would've fucked you a long time ago. It would've been too easy considering how you acted around me," I said.
"That's not true! I loved you, but I never would've just let you sleep with me when you were obviously disgusted by me," she said. Her eyes were tearing up again.
"Awe, I wasn't disgusted, freckles. I thought you were cute. Just a little annoying," I smirked and pinched her nose playfully.
"Whatever," she smiled.
"How about we start by just being friends? What do you say?" I suggested.
She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, we can be friends," she said quietly.
"With benefits," I added.
"NO!" she laughed and threw a pillow at me.
"Fine. It's just a plain boring friendship. We will keep it vanilla. I won't even hug you. We will just shake hands," I said and chuckled.
"You are dumb. Now get out of my house," she ordered.
"How about one last kiss for the road?" I offered.
"No..."
"Please? Just a small one. After that, we will resume our vanilla friendship," I grinned.
"Fine, just a small one," she said and moved forward.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer, then pressed my lips on hers. I lightly sucked on her lips, which were soft and warm. I felt hot inside. This wasn't going to be a small kiss. I should've anticipated that. I slipped my tongue inside her parted mouth and deepened the kiss. To my surprise, she didn't protest. She grabbed the back of my head and kissed me back. I stroked the small of her back while melting into pleasure.
We broke the kiss, almost gasping for breath.
"If this is how you kiss your friends, I am in!" I said.
"This is the last time!" she laughed.
We will see about that, freckles.