Meaningless Routine

With an enraged sigh, I pulled myself from Aiden's grasp. He groaned and reached for me, apologizing again. All I did was shake my head and let a soft breath fall from my shaky lips. His eyes, desperate and begging, reached mine.

"Baby... Alex, I'm sorry."

"She's in love with you," I said with a flat voice. "And you love her."

The desperation was replaced with anger. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into him. "Don't you dare say I love her, don't you ever say that. You know I don't love her and you know I never will. I only love you, Alex. So don't you dare fucking say I love someone else."

His loud voice shocked me and I pursed my lips, frowning at the thought of Noelle being in love with my boyfriend. It was obvious that she loved him. She thought that Aiden was God. Her sophomore self adored his senior self. She was only one year my junior and two to his, but she still was obsessed with him.

"Well what do you expect, Aiden?" I asked loudly, taking a step back from him. "It's our one year anniversary and she just... she just shows up and you sit there and talk to her and you ignore me! Are you sick of me? Is that it? I'm not new enough for you?"

He glared and pulled me back towards him. "God damn it, Alex, just stop it. You know that's not true. You know that I only love you, I don't know how many times I need to say it. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you so much it fucking hurts me, okay? Noelle is just a girl that means nothing to me. She could never compare to you at all. But you know how she is. You know if she says one word about how I ignore her to my dad, then I can't play this season."

"Then tell her to just stop! Stand up for yourself, Aiden. Until then, just don't... don't come near me. Get rid of her or lose me."

At the last seven words, his face and eyes softened. His hands cupped my cheeks and he frowned. "Baby, don't -"

"You knew this was coming, Aiden. So just, call me when you've made your decision."

Her name was Noelle Roberts. About a year into mine and Aiden's relationship, his father's new wife's sister moved in down the street with her husband and daughter - Noelle. She instantly became infatuated with Aiden, trying every way to get to him and between us. She loved him, that much was obvious.

For the next months, she had gotten under my skin. She did everything she could to push Aiden and I apart and while she failed, she did manage to piss me off a great deal. Aiden was right, though. Noelle was a manipulative bitch and if she were to complain once to her mother, she'd tell Aiden's step mother and then his father wouldn't let him play baseball.

I knew I was being harsh, but the terrorizing brunette had pissed me off too much. I couldn't deal with it anymore. I couldn't and I wouldn't. I was just a high schooler, I wasn't supposed to have to deal with stupid things like this. My only drama should be if I failed my Physics test or not.

That fight had been our first major one. The fights we had before that seemed so insignificant compared to it. Never, had we had a fight where one of us walked off ending the relationship and while I hadn't done that entirely, I did something pretty damn close to that.

It didn't take long at all for Aiden to come to me, holding me close to him as he apologized over and over again. He kissed me over and over again as well, repeatedly telling me that he loved me.

"Baby," he started softly, "baby, you know I love you. You know that Noelle is nothing compared to you. But I just... you know I can't. Baseball is all I have. I don't have the money you have and I want to get into a good college, I have to get a baseball scholarship."

We broke up that night. It was hard to go through and it was even harder to leave his house. Over a year together and we ended, just like that. Things were difficult in the beginning and the first couple of weeks were definitely hard. They were the hardest weeks of my life, actually.

But eventually, the pain lessened. I still sat with them at lunch, but at an opposite side from Aiden and I rarely spoke to him. Always, I found him looking at me and begging to reach my eyes. But I never did. I hated reaching his eyes. They were always so sad and lonely.

When I thought the pain would completely stop, that was when Noelle began to sit at lunch with us. That infuriated me. She wasn't supposed to be there. I was supposed to be the only girl and she knew that. She intentionally did that and we all knew it. None of the guys liked her, nor did they talk to her. But Noelle didn't care. She spoke to Aiden the whole time and I tried not to pay attention to know if he replied or not.

"You know that he misses you," Austin told me, looking right at me right after Noelle had gotten up to get her lunch. I shrugged. "You should talk to him. Tell him to still love him to ease his mind."

At that moment, I did reach his eyes. He was looking right at me already. "He knows I love him. He knows I'll always love him."

For a moment, a glimmer of hope was apparent in his bright eyes, but when I didn't smile at him or say anything, the glimmer dimmed. "So be with him, Al."

I shrugged and looked down. "He has Noelle now. He has Noelle and he has baseball. Apparently, that's all he needs."

"C'mon, Allie," Aiden finally said, catching not just my attention, but the attention of all the guys at the table, who usually just ignored our angst. "Baby, you know that she means nothing to me."

My eyes narrowed at him. "Then tell her to leave, Aiden. Tell her to sit somewhere else and to leave you alone."

He sighed. "You know that I can't."

"Frankly, I don't give a fuck anymore, because if you really loved me, then you'd at least try. But did you? No. You let her follow you around like a lost puppy, you let her come between us, and it doesn't just piss me off, it pisses of all the guys, too. So just... just leave me alone or get rid of her, alright?"

His attempt at replying was halted when Matt, another baseball guy, told us that Noelle was walking back over there. She sat down next to Aiden and began to tell him something about her Algebra class that no one cared about. After a few moments, Aiden looked away from her and I could tell that he began to ignore her.

"Aiden," her annoying voice whined, "Aiden, are you listening to me?" Again, he ignored her. "Aiden, listen to me!"

A bored look was shot to her from his face. "Just stop talking, Noelle. Obviously if I'm not listening, I don't care what you're saying."

Instantly, everyone at the table began to laugh. Noelle's face turned bright red and she sputtered her words out. "Aiden, you better watch how you talk to me. Are you forgetting that my mom is your dad's wife's sister? I can ruin your life easily."

A bitter, cold laugh fell from Aiden's lips. "You think you haven't already? Noelle, Alex broke up with me because of you. And if you hadn't realized this yet, I'm in love with her. Do you know how much it literally, kills me to look at her everyday and not be able to kiss her or touch her? I hate it and you've already ruined my life by doing what you've done. So just... just stay out of my life, alright? Leave me alone and leave Alex alone."

While everyone was laughing and while Noelle turned as red as a lobster, I just looked over at Aiden. I could tell that he was angry, I could see it on his face. Finally, Noelle stood up and walked away. I couldn't help but smile at Aiden and he smiled back. I looked over and smiled at Ben, who was laughing so hard, he nearly fell off of his seat.

Part of me felt bad for Noelle. She had just been a young sophomore, as I once was, in love with Aiden Parkson. But the other half of me was glad that finally, I had Aiden back.