A Surreptitious Relationship

:A Surreptitious Relationship: Chapter Thirty-One

"How many pickles did you get on that thing?" Aaron asked, peering down at my sandwich in disgust. 

I followed his gaze to my sandwich, lying on my wooden kitchen island. "Just the normal amount..." 

"Disgusting." 

"Do you want a half?" 

Aaron was silent for a moment. Sighing, I pushed half of my foot long toward him. "You can give me the pickles if you don't want them." 

He tried to push the sandwich back. "I don't want your pity." 

"It's not pity. It's food." 

"I don't want it." 

"You keep staring at it!" 

"Because it looks disgusting!" 

"You look disgusting!" 

He scoffed. "Clever response. Can I leave now?" 

"No!" 

A sigh left his lips and he flipped his shaggy pecan colored hair out of his face. "And why not? I don't want to be here just as much as you don't." 

A frown flitted onto my mouth and I set down my sandwich. Sure, I didn't want him to be here, but where else could we talk? It was raining. My kitchen seemed like a safe enough place... Sheepishness seeped through me when my gaze landed on the knife block in the corner of the room on the black counters, by my fridge. 

Okay, maybe it was a little dangerous. But Aaron wouldn't stab me... 

"I'm leaving," he stated, pushing himself up from the table. 

"No! Sit back down!" 

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "Don't tell me what to do, stupid girl." 

I gaped at him. Stupid? He headed for the exit of the kitchen, ignoring my orders. After a moment I scurried after him, stopping him in the hallway by grabbing his arm. He quickly wrenched it out of my grasp. "Don't touch me!" 

"Aaron, I want to talk to you." 

"I don't want to talk to you!" 

"You owe me!" 

His eyes narrowed. "I don't owe you shit." 

My hand reached out to grasp his forearm again. "No. You owe me a lot, not get into my living room and sit. Now." 

"Five minutes," he growled softly, pushing me out of the way and heading toward my living room. "No longer." 

I sighed in relief inwardly, following him into the room. Maybe I sounded more threatening than I thought I did. If I kept it up, maybe I could browbeat him into telling me what Shawn put him up to. However I wasn't too confident in my threatening skills... People usually only threatened me. 

Aaron sat down on the red love seat by the door and I took a seat on the far right side of the couch, sitting as close to him as possible. His stance was tense, his shoulders squared. I swallowed nervously. How was I supposed to start? I didn't want to jump right into it in case I upset him. Maybe I should have told someone I was bringing him here. 

"Four minutes, Holly." 

"Why did you show the pictures to the school?" I blurted quickly without thinking. 

"To get you in trouble." 

"Why?" 

"I hate you." 

I made a face. How could he say that so easily? "Did Shawn really tell you Jeremy and I were dating?" 

Aaron clenched his jaw. "Yes."