The next day was Saturday-- the beginning of the weekend. Aiden had plans to hang out with Ria that night but he didn't think he wanted to. After what happened between him and Ria the night before, he couldn't bring himself to face her.

A knock on his door jerked him out of his daydreams. He yanked the ear buds from his ears, cutting off Nine Inch Nails. Glancing over, his heart automatically clenched in his chest as his eyes fell on his roommate. "What's up?" His voice sounded flat as he tried to keep the contempt out of it.

"I have a game later," Chris started. "I wanted to know if you and Ria were coming by." Try as he might, Aiden couldn't mask his anger. Turning to face his friend, his eyes narrowed.

"Why do you think I have plans with Ria?"

Chris looked as if he'd been slapped across the face. "I dunno..." He replied, shrugging. "I just assumed."

"Well, don't assume." Aiden snapped, returning his attention to his lit computer screen. Chris stood in the doorway, eyeing his friend in suspicion. After a moment of shared silence, Chris muttered, "Dude. What's wrong with you?" before he left.

Following Chris' departure, the anger dispersed from Aiden and he collapsed his face into his hand. Sighing heavily, he cursed himself out for being such an idiot. He felt like a fool. He hadn't meant to snap like that.

Sighing heavily, Aiden raised his head and his eyes danced across the screen in front of him. Deciding he would wait until later to apologize, he reaquainted himself with his music. Aah. The greatness of music so loud you can't think. Such a thing is entirely underrated.

(Later...)

By the time Aiden decided to apologize to his roommate, Chris had already left for the pre-game practice. Sighing heavily in defeat, Aiden leaned against the wall in her their shared small livingroom. Closing his eyes, he was jerked out of his thoughts moments later when he heard his cell phone ring a familiar tune. Heart jolting in his throat, he couldn't hide the instinctive anxious excitement he felt in knowing he'd gotten a message from Ria. Picking up his phone from the arm of the couch, he opened his black Motorola RZR phone. The message read: Hey. I dunno if we were still on for later, but Rach wanted to go to the mall. I told her I'd go with her if we weren't doing n e thing. Txt me bk. Hitting the reply button, Aiden began to text that he wanted to see Ria... but halfway through he stopped himself. Letting out a sigh, he sent her a short message instead.

No. We cool. Go with Rach. We'll hook up later.

Sending the message, he snapped his phone shut. He held it in the palm of his hand for several more seconds before tossing it back on the couch. On his way out of the dorm, he grabbed his keys and jacket. Maybe if he was lucky, he could still catch Chris before the game.

(At the gym...)

As Aiden entered, he could already see some students and local fans lining the benches. This wasn't their school's normal scheduled game-- it was a scrimmage between the varsity girls and guys' teams; something the coaching department did in way of gaining more campus morale. Neither teams had broken from their practice to the locker rooms, and Aiden saw Chris standing near the sidelines. He rushed over to him. "Yo, Chris."

Chris' blue eyes landed on Aiden and he nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Yo." He didn't seem upset with Aiden like before; Chris had just assumed Aiden was acting weird because of all the stress of homework. It wasn't unusual.

"Can I talk to you a sec?" Aiden asked. Chris glanced back towards the court.

"Uh... I guess. We're gonna need to get ready for the game soon." At that point, Chris seemed to notice the absence of someone at Aiden's side. "Where's Ria?"

"She's not coming." Aiden replied. "That's what I kinda wanted to talk to you about. She went out with Rachael."

"Oh," Chris shrugged. He opened his mouth to say something else, but at that moment, the coach blew his whistle.

"Alright, guys! Time to suit up!" Clapping his hands twice for attention, all the teammates finished up their final shots and headed for the locker room. "Travors!" The coach called over to Chris. "Hurry it up!"

"OK, coach." Chris called back. Hastily turning back to his roommate, he said, "You stayin' for the game?"

"Sure." Aiden agreed.

"Great." Chris smiled before bolting for the locker room door to avoid another out lash from his impatient coach.

(After the game...)

It was nearly midnight when laughter echoed down the hallways leading to Aiden's and Chris' room. "That was AWESOME." Aiden laughed.

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "Even though it was just a scrimmage, everyone was so into it."

"Especially when you started screaming at Kate Blanchard." Aiden laughed again, thinking back on the memory. "You tried to take her down, man."

"Ha-ha! And then everyone in the crowd started yelling CAT FIGHT! CAT FIGHT!"

"That was the best!" The two roommates reached their room and Aiden reached into his jacket pocket to fetch his keys. Opening the door, the two stumbled in, still laughing aloud. When each made their way inside, Chris' eye caught something as they entered. Leaning down to pick it up, he studied it for a second before passing it to Aiden.

"Something for you. I think it's from Ria. Looks like her handwriting, anyway." Aiden froze at the mention of Ria's name. As Chris shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it lazily onto the couch, Aiden slowly turned the envelope from Ria over. Ripping it open, he pulled the letter out as Chris noisily made a trail from the livingroom to the bathroom to shower. Aiden's hand shook slightly as his eyes scanned the page.

Aiden-- I think we should talk. Don't worry; it's not anything serious. I just wanna clear something with you. Call me when you get this. I should be back in my room by then.

He read the note several times before the message made any sense to him. Glancing over at the cushion of the couch, he saw his cell phone where he'd left it. Flipping it open, he speed dialed number 4 and Ria's phone started ringing on the other end. Aiden sat on the edge of his seat until he waited for an answer. Drumming his fingers nervously on his knee, the time that passed between each ring felt infinite. Finally, after the fourth echoing ring, he heard a soft click and then a raspy, "Hello...?

Aiden's heart jumped into his throat, followed by mild embarrassment. "Hi, Ria."

The voice on the other end still sounded parched and, in a way, listless. "Oh... Aiden. Hi. What... what time is it?"

Aiden couldn't help but laugh. "You fell asleep?"

Ria returned the laugh, igniting joy through Aiden's body. "I... guess I did. Last I remember, I was looking at an essay of Faulkner and... snooze."

"What happened with Rach?" Aiden asked. "I thought you said you were going to the mall with her." Another laughed echoed from Ria's end, and she was soon wide awake once more.

"Oh, we went. I think it was her fault I fell asleep, too. She wore me out. Dude, I am telling you. That girl can shop."

"But look at all the cute things we found!" Aiden could hear Rachael's hyper voice in the background. She had always denied it, but he was convinced she was a cheerleader in another life back home in Missouri. When they had been drinking one night, Aiden even playfully threatened he would track down the photographic evidence to prove it. "And they had so many sales! Consider yourself lucky you have a friend like me, Ria!"

Ria laughed. "Why should I be lucky?" She teased back to her roommate. "I didn't buy anything. I followed your ass around for two hours." Aiden smiled, listening to the two girls talking. When they had all met over a year ago, Aiden had first had a crush on Rachael. But it didn't take long before his affections were persuaded away. "Anyway," Ria continued, her tone overly obvious towards Rachael she was busy. "So where have you been?" She asked Aiden. "I left the note a couple hours ago."

"Oh, I was down watching Chris' scrimmage game."

"That was tonight?" Ria sounded disappointed. "Aw, man. I wanted to go to that, too." Aiden felt his heart constrict at the confession. He didn't like the idea of Ria wanting to go to something to see Chris.

But, of course, Aiden kept his mouth shut. He strained a smile on his lips; even though Ria couldn't see him.

"So how was it?" Ria asked curiously. "Did they win? Or did the girls wipe the floors with them?"

"The guys won." Aiden reported. "And Chris got in a cat fight with Kate. They were really going at it, for a while. But I think it was for show."

"Too bad," Ria sighed. "I woulda paid good money to see Kate take it."

Aiden chuckled. "I think a lot of people would pay good money for that. So... what did you wanna talk to me about?"

"...oh." Aiden gulped. That didn't sound un-serious to him. Awkward and bordering uncomfortable atmosphere leaked between the two after his question was vocalized. "Well... I think it would be easier to talk to you in person... do you want me to go there, or you wanna come over here?"

"What about Rachael?"

"I think she's spending the night with Matt. James went home for the weekend for his little bro's birthday. You wanna come here, then?"

"Sure. I think Chris is in one of his moods to walk around the room naked."

"Ooh la la." Ria replied back. Even though Aiden knew she was joking, he still felt the clench in his stomach. "So I'll see you in say... ten? Twenty?"

"How about we break even: fifteen."

"Deal. Over and out." And Ria hung up.

(Fifteen minutes later... outside Ria's room...)

Hands shoved inside his pockets, brown hair shoved underneath his black beanie hat, Aiden shifted nervously from one foot to the other as he waited. He always hated waiting outside someone's dorm room. He felt foolish just standing there. He always felt like he was playing the role of a pitiful little stray puppy, hoping for just a moment of affection. Just as he was about to knock on the door again, the knob turned and the door flew open. Ria stood before him, dressed in a white cotton Little Mermaid tank top with a baby blue crocheted sweater over it; wearing a pair of red teddy bear fleece pajama pants and her Spider-man slippers. Her bleached sandy blond hair fell down to reach her shoulders. Aiden swore he felt his cheeks flush as his eyes fell on her. She looked so adorable, he just wanted to hug her. He resisted the urge as she smiled and stepped aside to invite him entry. "C'mon in." He accepted her invite and entered the room before she closed the door behind him. The awkwardness didn't settle in until after Aiden was hit with the realization they were both alone.

"So..." he fought against the temptation to twiddle his thumbs. "What's up?"

"I... wanted to talk to you about last night." She said, walking past him and over to her bed. The room she shared with Rachael was considerably smaller than Aiden's room. Aiden and Chris had their own separate bedrooms; like a small apartment. But since Rachael and Ria weren't upperclassmen, they got the one-bedroom set up. It was a good thing they got along and shared everything, though. It would have been a nightmare if they ended up hating each other. Sitting on the corner of her bed, Ria looked up at her friend. Instead of joining her on the bed, Aiden pulled up her desk chair and sat in front of her. There were several minutes of silence between them as Ria decided on what she wanted to say. Finally a sigh escaped her lips and she just came out with it. "I don't want things to get awkward between us." She admitted. "I mean, after last night."

"Why would things get awkward?" Aiden asked, trying to play oblivious; but one matter-of-fact look from Ria shut him up.

"You wouldn't even look at me last night." Ria stated. "And today we had plans, and you didn't wanna hang out."

"Hey," Aiden came to his own defense. "You were the one who said you wanted to go to the mall with your roommate."

"Yeah, but only if you didn't wanna do anything." Ria countered. "If you said we had plans, I woulda told Rachael to go with Melanie."

"But you knew we had plans anyway. Why couldn't you just tell her that from the start?" Aiden asked, annoyed with the whole set up. He would never understand what women referred to as their "logic". Ria opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but quickly shut it again. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her head for a moment to cool off.

"Okay, okay." She surrendered, her hands up in the air. "I don't wanna start a fight with you. And, you're right, I should've just told Rach off. But I admit... I was a little worried about this too. I mean, I didn't know how to react to it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aiden asked, offended; although he wasn't sure why. It just seemed a justified emotion.

"Did it mean anything?" Ria asked. "Or was it one of those spur of the moment things? I mean, we always flirt, Aiden. I never think anything of it. Just like when I flirt with Sean. But Sean and I have never... well... never done anything like that before." Aiden felt his heart (along with his ego) deflate like a punctured hole on a birthday balloon. She never thought anything of their flirting? Aiden had always played it off like it was nothing, but it had always meant something to him. After all, he was crazy about her. He just couldn't bring himself to tell her. And obviously she thought nothing much of his attempted hints.

It took a hand on his forearm to rip Aiden from his distressed thoughts. Jerking his attention back to Ria, Ria pressed on. "Is everything going to be okay between us?"

No. Aiden wanted to say. Everything won't be fine. I'm crazy about you and it's never crossed your mind to like me back. I don't think that's 'fine'. He opened his mouth to dramatically confess his feelings for her, but he was halfway through his response before he knew what he was saying. Nodding his head softly, he sighed. "Yeah. We're okay."

A smile of relief and happiness broke out across Ria's lips. It was almost-- almost-- a good enough perk to make Aiden feel better about (once again) hiding his emotions from her. So overjoyed with his response she was, that she leapt from her seat and hugged him. He was shocked by the action, but soon raised his arms to embrace her back. When she drew away, she was beaming from ear to ear. "So now that we have that taken care of, you wanna do something? We could watch a movie. Or you could help me with my essay..." She was pressing the last one and he knew it. Laughing, he got up from her chair.

"You really want help on it?"

"I don't need help. I need someone to do it for me. And you have the perfect qualifications, Aiden. You've already taken the class..."

Aiden chuckled, but couldn't help play along as he asked, "What would you give me if I help you?"

"Respect." She replied. He barked with laughter before turning away from her.

"No can do." He replied, heading towards the door. She tried to stop him by hugging him from behind and clinging to him as he tried to get out of her room.

"Whyyyy?" She asked, softly whining as she did so.

"Because..." he mocked her tone in his response. "I have to go back to my roooom."

"It's still early." Ria tried to bribe him.

"It's almost 2am!"

"See? Almost morning! It's perfect!" Aiden laughed at his friends persistence, but he pushed her from him before turning to face her.

"No." He replied. "Sorry, Ria, but I have enough homework to do on my own. Good luck with yours." He smiled down at her just before he ruffled her hair and kissed her forehead goodnight. Opening the door to venture into the hallway, he said, "Goodnight, Ria."

In response, Ria stuck out her tongue defiantly and flipped him off. The two of them laughed, however, before Aiden shut the door. As he walked down the hallway, he could hear Ria call after him: "YOU BIG MEANIE!" Aiden only chuckled and lightly shook his head. With a smile painted on his face, he walked back to his own dorm building; a spring in his step. He knew there was a reason he cared so much about Ria. And jealousy of his roommate aside, he knew nothing would stop him from caring about her.

(again) To be continued!