For the next few days, something felt off. Aiden noticed it immediately. Mia still talked to him. She still sat beside him. She still laughed at his stupid jokes. But something had changed. It was subtle. Almost impossible to notice. Yet Aiden noticed anyway. Because he paid attention to everything when it came to Mia. Especially lately. Too much lately.
Monday morning was the first sign. Normally, Mia would wait for him before heading to chemistry. Today, she left the classroom without him. Aiden barely managed to catch up.
"Hey."
Mia looked up.
"Oh. Hi."
Something about her smile felt forced. Aiden frowned.
"You left."
"What?"
"You left without me."
"I didn't know we had assigned walking schedules."
Aiden stared at her. Mia immediately looked away. That wasn't like her. Not at all.
The second sign came during lunch. Instead of sitting with him and his friends afterward like she usually did, Mia stayed with her own group. Every time Aiden looked over, she seemed distracted. Lost in thought. Once, their eyes met. She smiled. Then quickly looked away. Aiden didn't like that. Not one bit.
By Wednesday, he was officially worried. And when Aiden Scott worried about something, it meant it was serious. Mostly because he never worried about anything.
"She's avoiding you."
Aiden looked up from his desk. Noah was sitting across from him. Eating chips. Being annoying. As usual.
"No, she's not."
"She is."
"She's busy."
Noah laughed.
"Right."
"She is."
"Aiden."
"What?"
"You're staring at her right now."
Aiden immediately looked away. Noah sighed dramatically.
"You've got it bad."
"Shut up."
"I'm serious."
Aiden groaned. Unfortunately, Noah wasn't wrong.
That afternoon, Mia sat alone in the library. A history book lay open in front of her. She'd been staring at the same page for ten minutes. Without reading a single word. Sophie's warning kept replaying in her head. He's really good at making people care about him. Mia hated how much those words bothered her. Because the worst part? She wasn't sure Sophie was wrong. She liked being around Aiden. A lot. More than she should. He made her laugh. He listened to her. He was different from the person everyone described. But what if Sophie was right? What if she was just another girl who'd eventually get hurt? Mia sighed. She hated overthinking. Yet here she was. Doing exactly that.
"Found you."
Mia froze. She knew that voice. Aiden dropped into the chair across from her. His expression was unusually serious. No teasing. No jokes. No grin. Just concern. Mia suddenly felt guilty.
"Hey."
"Hey."
Silence. Aiden crossed his arms.
"Okay."
Mia immediately knew where this was going.
"Aiden—"
"No."
"What?"
"You're not getting out of this."
Mia sighed.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"That's a lie."
"Aiden."
"Mia."
The way he copied her made her roll her eyes. Unfortunately, it also made her smile. Aiden noticed.
"There she is."
"What?"
"The real smile."
Mia looked down. Aiden leaned forward slightly.
"Talk to me."
The concern in his voice caught her off guard. For a moment, she considered lying. Pretending everything was fine. But she couldn't. Not with him.
"I've just been thinking."
"About?"
Mia hesitated. Then sighed.
"You."
Aiden blinked.
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
"This isn't a compliment."
His smile disappeared.
"Oh."
The disappointment in his voice made Mia's chest tighten.
"Aiden."
"Yeah?"
"What do you want?"
The question surprised him.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean..." Mia looked down at her hands. "What exactly are we doing?"
Aiden stared at her. For once, he didn't have an immediate answer. Because the truth was... He didn't know. Not completely. He just knew he wanted to spend time with her. Every day. Every chance he got.
"You really want to know?"
Mia nodded. Aiden took a deep breath. Then looked directly into her eyes.
"I like being around you."
Mia's heart skipped. Aiden continued.
"I look forward to seeing you every day."
Another skipped beat.
"And when something's wrong, I notice."
The library suddenly felt very quiet. Neither looked away. Neither spoke. For a moment, it felt like the rest of the world had disappeared. Leaving only the two of them.
Then-
"Aiden!"
Both jumped. Noah appeared out of nowhere. Looking entirely too happy. Aiden immediately dropped his head onto the table.
"You have the worst timing in human history."
"Thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment."
Noah ignored him. Then looked between Aiden and Mia. His eyes widened.
"Oh."
"No."
"Oh."
"Noah."
"Ohhhhh."
Mia buried her face in her hands. Aiden looked ready to throw a book at him.
A few minutes later, Noah finally left. Peace returned. Sort of. Neither Aiden nor Mia seemed able to continue the conversation. The moment had passed. But the feelings hadn't. As Mia packed her books, Aiden stood.
"So..."
"So?"
"You okay?"
Mia looked at him. Really looked at him. And for the first time in days... She felt better. Not because her doubts were gone. They weren't. But because talking to him reminded her of something important. Aiden wasn't perfect. Far from it. But he was trying. And maybe that mattered more than his past.
"Yeah," she said softly.
Aiden smiled. The genuine smile. The one she secretly liked most.
"Good."
As they walked out of the library together, neither noticed the small smile on the other's face.
Or maybe they did.
And simply didn't want to admit it. Because the truth was becoming harder to ignore. Whatever this was between them... It was no longer just friendship.