This is the prequel to my story "Trial for Love" and it takes place four years before the current story, when Alexa and Aaron have just met... it tells the story of how they fall in love. This is also co-written by my fanfiction buddy, Arialas. A link to her page can be found on my profile!

Four years ago

A clock rang out in the distance, its musical chimes penetrating the book-laden walls of the library. Silently, I counted the reverberating bongs. Noon. Excellent; I had an hour before my next class, and plenty of time to eat lunch. I closed my textbook with a snap and shoved it into my black and purple backpack. It was a struggle to get it to fit, as I had far more textbooks, binders, and notebooks than I could easily carry.

I glanced out the glass wall of the school library and discovered, to my discontent, that it was still snowing. Of course it was – this was Minneapolis in December.

I was just about to slip on my heavy winter parka, the one I had always worn when I went skiing in high school, when I saw him. “He” was the young man I had secretly been watching for the last few weeks. He was the one who always made my heart speed up and my face feel hot when I saw him; the one who made me furious with myself for having such a childish crush. But I couldn’t help it, he was very cute. He had curly brown hair, not too long, but long enough that he could run his fingers through it every once and a while, making it stick up a bit, something I found adorable. It was all I could do to keep myself from imagining running my own fingers through that hair. He had naturally tanned skin and, as far as I could tell, beautiful green eyes. He was at least half a foot taller than I, and must have worked out often, because his muscles were well defined.

Luckily, he was sitting at one of the tables provided for us college students with his back to me. I tried to look busy as I rearranged my backpack, not wishing for him to see me. I would probably melt with embarrassment if he caught me starring at him. I had first seen him in this very library, about a month ago, when the weather had become too cold for me to study outside. Ever since, I made it a point of choosing a table where I could discreetly sneak glances at him over the top of my book. I knew it was childish and immature, something I should have left behind me in high school, but he was too darn cute to go unnoticed. At least I didn’t wait for him to finish at the library and follow him to his class, something I definitely would have done four or five years ago. The funny thing was that, although I knew the brand of his black winter coat and the names of all the textbooks he carted around in his dirty red backpack, I didn’t even know his name.

I watched him shuffling papers and books one last time before I swung my heavy backpack onto my back and made my way through the rows of books that trapped my way out of the library. Seriously, the place was like a maze. The bookshelves weren’t arranged in any kind of logical order; they just seemed placed here and there. The weirdest part was, every day, it seemed as though the layout of the shelves changed. I had my suspicions that the group of rowdy jocks who hung out in the corner found it amusing to turn the shelves around and rearrange the furniture every so often. I thought it was a little funny, but it would have been much funnier if I didn’t have to pick a new path to the door every day.

“Hey, wait!” someone called after me. I froze. It was him. I’d spent the last month secretly watching him; I would know his voice anywhere. I felt my heart racing and my skin flush. My thoughts jumbled, and the only coherent thing I could think was, he’s talking to me!

I slowly turned around. “Yes?” I asked politely, trying to sound casual. My voice still came out as an excited squeak. I immediately cursed myself. Why did I have to sound like an ignorant little kid whenever something exciting happened?

“You forgot your book,” he said, flashing me a dazzling grin.

“Oh,” I said, taking the proffered book. In my haste to pack up, I must have forgotten it. “Thanks.” I mentally kicked myself. Was that all I could say? One-syllable words? He must think I’m an idiot. “Thanks,” I squeaked again, and continued my way through the maze of books.

I expected him to go on his merry way, but he didn’t. “I haven’t seen you around here – are you new?” he asked. I stopped, not sure if I should be offended that he’s never noticed me, or thankful that he hadn’t caught me watching him.

“Not really,” I said, finally sounding a bit more like myself. “This is my first year here, but I’ve been studying in here every day for a few weeks.” I left out the part that he was the reason I’d chosen to study in this particular spot.

“Really?” he said. “I study here every day too. I guess I just haven’t seen you.” He held out his hand. “Aaron Callaghan.”

I nearly died. I finally knew his name! Doing my best not to squeal with delight, I shook his hand. “I’m Alexa Turner,” I said. And then for some unknown reason I added, “Lexie to my friends.”

“Can I call you Lexie?” he asked. I looked up (he was taller than I originally thought!) and caught the little smile playing around his lips. He watched me intently, waiting for my response.

“Well,” I said, deciding to play hard-to-get. “I said that only my friends call me Lexie, so we’d have to be friends if you want to call me that.”

“Oh. I see,” he said austerely. “So… are you busy right now?”

“My next class is at one,” I replied, absolutely thrilled that we were carrying on a conversation. It was a little flirtier than I imagined our first conversation would be (and I had imagined it, of course), but I couldn’t help but feel flattered that he wanted to be friends.

“There’s an awesome diner just around the block,” he said. “Lunch is on me.”

I grinned. “Sure! Lead on, Aaron Callaghan.” I loved saying his name. I followed him through the library and out onto the snowy streets. I shivered and zipped my jacket all the way up. I was freezing.

“Cold?” Aaron asked. He was wearing the same black jacket he had worn every day I had seen him, but it was hanging open in front, exposing his thin, blue t-shirt. He didn’t look affected by the weather at all.

“Well, excuse me, Mr. Polar Bear,” I chattered. “but I didn’t grow up in the North Pole. I prefer the sun.”

He laughed, as I hoped he would. Oh God, I loved his laugh. “Where are you from?” he asked. “I grew up around here. I was practically born in the snow.”

“I’m from California.” I said. “Southern California. Where the temperature is never below sixty degrees.”

“I’d probably melt,” he said. “Come on, Lexie, we’re almost there. Am I allowed to call you ‘Lexie’ yet?”

“I suppose,” I said. I tried to sound as nonchalant as I could, but he could call me whatever he wanted. I wouldn’t care. And he probably knew it too.

We walked in silence for a moment. “So,” I said, racking my head for something intelligent to say. “What’s your major?”

I expected him to say something typically guy-ish, like computer engineering or architecture, but he surprised me. “I’m in med school.” He answered, his voice taking on an excited note. “I’ve always wanted to be a doctor.”

“Really?” I said. “I’m going into the medical field too. I’ll be a pediatrician.”

“Sweet,” he said, and he actually did look interested. “I really love the stuff I’m learning – all these gross body things. I can’t wait to actually start doing intern work somewhere, next year.” I giggled to myself a little bit. I knew that some sort of guy-thing would pop up in his reasons for his dream job. But at the same time, I also added that this was his last year of school to my internal stash of Aaron – I relished in knowing his name again – facts.

“So you majored in pre-med?” I asked.

“Yup. Minored in biochemistry… oh, I guess my professional title is going to be ‘general surgeon’ but I’ve always wanted to work in the emergency room. What about you?” he responded.

“I majored in biomedical sciences and minored in human development, because, like I said, I’ll be a pediatrician… except this is only my first year in real med school!”

“Do you like it?” Aaron asked, for the first time gazing down at me. I nodded. “Then you’ll enjoy the next few years – just wait ‘till you get to dissect the human body! It’s the most amazing thing, seeing everything up close like that!”

I laughed again at his love for things I found gross. “Well, that was one thing I wasn’t looking too forward to,” I said. “I’ve never really liked dead people.”

“Oh, don’t worry. It gets kind of fun. People start making jokes like ‘I see dead people,’ and everyone names their cadaver.”

“What did you name yours?”

“Clara,” he answered. “after the cadaver in ‘The Cider House Rules.’”

Something must have shown in my face that I still wasn’t thrilled about getting up close and personal with dead bodies, because he laughed again.

“You don’t actually have to touch anything unless you want to. Once you get over that it was actually a human and think of it as science it’s incredibly cool,” he reassured. “And… here we are!”

Aaron opened the door and ushered me into an old-fashioned fifties diner. He was such a gentleman, holding the door for me. To my delight, it was warm and cozy inside. I collapsed into a booth and shrugged out of my jacket, spreading half-melted snowflakes across the floor.

By the time we ordered our food and began to eat, we had both run out of things to say. It was silent for a while, both of us focusing on devouring our food. I squirmed in my seat a bit. I was so nervous around him! I felt like I should say something to break the silence hanging between us.

Aaron must have felt my discomfort, for he said, “Have you ever been here before?”

“Nope. I usually eat in the cafeteria… but they have really good food here.” I waved my fork at my plate. “Where do you eat?” My voice was strained, as it usually was when I struggled to make small talk.

“I like this place a lot, but I’m like you – I like the cafeteria, too.”

“Which one?” I asked, still anxious to get more facts about the mysterious Aaron.

“Eh, just the big main one over by the math buildings… I don’t know what it’s called,” Aaron said, shrugging. I nodded. I knew that place; I had eaten there before, but it was a little out of the way after coming from my midday classes. “So… where do you live?” Aaron asked.

“In the apartments right… there,” I pointed out the window to the red-bricked buildings that I had always thought looked like mansions, not apartment buildings. It had taken me and three girlfriends months to save up enough money to rent one. “What about you?” I asked.

“I live in an apartment, too, but it’s back that way.” He pointed to the opposite side of the restaurant. “But I’ll probably have to move out soon, since my roommate’s ditching me to live with his girlfriend.” Aarons shrugged again. I twirled a long strand of hair around my ring finger, a habit I had picked up in middle school. As I twisted my fingers, I glanced at my watch. It was almost one o’clock.

“Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed. “I need to go!” I wolfed down a few more bites of my chicken sandwich and put on my coat. Before I left, I turned back to Aaron. “Hey,” I said. “Thanks so much for lunch. It was great talking to you!” I swiftly turned back around and started to exit through the round-a-bout door.

“Hey, Lexie!” he called. I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Will you be at the library tomorrow?” he asked.

“I always am!” I replied.

“Meet me there at… eleven thirty?”

“Sure,” I said, feeling warm and giddy with anticipation. “I’ll be there.”

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