I still felt a bit cowed in his presence, as if he were one of the cool kids just hanging out with me to be polite.

"A movie sounds great,” he said.

I flipped channels to find a good buddy comedy while he settled on the couch pulling his food out of the bag and laying it out in front of him on the table. I grabbed my burger and took a bite, washing it down with a swig from my soda. I liked that we didn’t have the expectation of having to go to a fancy restaurant every time we got together.

We ate in comfortable silence, back to our quiet dynamic, our default setting of Aiden and Blair, just like we always had been. I did feel a bit of an undercurrent that seemed different this time. We had both revealed something to the other that we had never known before. His behavior indicated that he felt a little bit vulnerable for it, but then again so did I. I wanted him to know that everything he had said would be safe with me. But the calm exercise of watching a movie had an air of domesticity to it, which was also different for the two of us.

After we ate and I paused the movie to clean up the bags, tossing them in the garbage in the kitchen, I returned to the couch. He had his arm resting casually on the back of the couch. I took the opportunity to curl up next to him, leaning into the crook of his arm, which seemed to cause him a bit of surprise.

I started the movie, which neither of us were watching, and smiled as he tentatively placed his arm around my shoulders. I felt as if my heart would burst. Despite everything that had happened, I still felt sometimes like that girl in the braces and glasses, wishing to catch his eye like the pretty mall girls that he once went after. In the long run.

I knew that this was better.

We had both grown into adults. I had a better idea of what I wanted out of life, and I knew that at least for now Aiden did fit into that plan. The idea of falling in love had become a possibility, and I had proven to myself at least that my work didn’t have to be compromised for that to happen.

As the movie continued I couldn’t help but notice his soft breath on my forehead as I had my head leaning on his shoulder. His fingers traced small circles against the fabric of my shirt and against my arm. I had my knees pulled up, leaned slightly over onto his lap with my feet tucked under me.

The credits rolled, and I turned to face him, no longer having the pretense of watching a movie. With his other hand he gently reached over and cupped my chin, drawing my face to his. The kiss felt different this time, more intimate somehow. I knew without a doubt that we had crossed a threshold.

I kissed him gently, relishing the warmth of his lips, the strength of his body. With his arms around me I felt safe. I knew that there wasn’t a thing that either of us could do that would harm what we had. I moved my hands to his chest to unbutton his shirt, but he stopped me clasping my hands with his.

"Not yet,” he whispered, pulling back a few inches "I want... "

"What is it?" I asked.

"I want you to know that I mean it,” he said. "I don't want to rush tonight."

I understood his meaning.

"Okay," I said, placing my palm against his heart and smoothing out the fabric of his shirt.

"Oh Blair," he said, pulling us closer once more and speaking with his lips pressed against my forehead. "I just want to be with you."

I leaned in and rested against his chest, the crown of my head nestled perfectly into the crook of his neck.

"You’re with me,” I whispered. "I'm not going anywhere." I didn’t want to move, but I also knew that we both had court early the next morning. "Do you want to go get some clothes for tomorrow and stay over?" I asked.

"I have a suit in the car. I picked up my dry cleaning this morning,” he said.

"Well that works our nicely."

"Yes it does,” he whispered.

We fell asleep on the couch wrapped in each other’s arms while the television flickered with some late show.

Chapter Eleven

"Aiden and Blair! Sitting in a Tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" The sound of Kelsey's mocking voice cut through my sleep like a knife through butter.

I opened my eyes immediately, regretting having fallen asleep on the couch due to the muscle cramp slicing through my neck muscles.

Sometime in the night Aiden and I had repositioned to a semblance of lying down. My head rested on the arm of the couch, and Aiden was just lifting his head off of my shoulder. His hair stuck out in disheveled spikes. I could only imagine what I must have looked like.

I glanced up squinting at my roommate who stood over us with a grin on her face and her arms crossed.

"Good morning, Sunshine,” she beamed.

I carefully sat up, untangling from Aiden as he also became vertical. I rubbed my neck to try and relax the cramp.

"Coffee?" I said, giving Kelsey a pleading look.

"In about ten minutes," Kelsey said while still giggling as she headed to the kitchen. "I gotta say though, you guys looked adorable all snuggled up together. Just adorable. Too bad I didn't take any pictures before waking you up... Oh wait! I did!"

Her laugh veered into a false maniacal cackle.

"Great."

I rolled my eyes and looked over at Aiden who glanced at me with a sheepish look. We both burst into laughter at our scenario. The clock indicated that we had about three hours before we had to be at court, plenty of time.

"What do we do now?" Aiden said, raking his hands through his hair.

"I think breakfast is in order at least,” I answered.

He chuckled and stood, adjusting his clothing and heading off to the restroom. I met Kelsey in the kitchen just as she had the coffee brewing. She looked at me wide eyed.

"What?!" she said in a stage whisper.

"I don't know," I said with a shrug. "We just fell asleep on the couch together."

"That's like.... I don't know. That's way serious!"

"It kind of is, isn't it,” I agreed.

"More serious than sex even, I would say,” she said with a knowing nod. Her face relaxed and she spoke again in a normal tone as Aiden stepped into the kitchen behind me. "Coffee?"

"Thought you'd never ask,” he said, reaching for the mug that she held out to him.

"I'm going to go and get ready for the day," Kelsey said in an attempt to avoid being the third wheel.

She gave me a significant glance behind Aiden's back as she exited the room, which I responded with by rolling my eyes. Despite the obvious awkwardness, as soon as she was gone Aiden walked over to me and kissed me on the forehead.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"Good morning," I said.

I felt strangely light headed, as if everything were falling into place. A small part of me felt a tiny amount of victory, since waking up with Aiden had been a fantasy of mine for a long time. I poured myself some coffee after he did and I opened the cabinets to see what we had to offer for breakfast.

"Let's see,” I said. "Would you like some Pop Tarts?"

"Seriously?" he said. "Do you have any eggs?"

"We do not have eggs,” I said.

"You stay here and get ready for work,” he said. "I'm going to run down to the store and get you a proper breakfast. I don't know how you enter the courtroom everyday on nothing but toaster pastries. Honestly, Blair." He shook his head but the look in his eye betrayed his continued playfulness.

"Okay," I said with a small laugh. "If you say so."

"I'll be back in ten minutes,” he said, pulling on his jacket and grabbing his car keys on his way out the door.