Chapter3:
The first time I wore Aiden's hoodie, it wasn't because I was cold.
It was a Thursday. The kind of day that drags on and makes you wonder why you even showed up. Math test in the morning, group project disaster at lunch, and rain that wouldn't let up even after the bell rang.
I stood under the school's awning, backpack heavy and no umbrella in sight. Everyone had already left. I was scrolling through my phone, pretending not to care, when he showed up beside me, hoodie half-zipped, hair damp from the drizzle.
He didn't say hi. He just stood there, shoulder to shoulder, like he always did.
Then, without looking at me, he pulled off his hoodie and handed it over. No explanation.
I hesitated. "You'll get soaked."
"You'll get sick," he said.
So I took it.
It smelled like laundry detergent and faint cologne. A little like his house, a little like comfort. I didn't give it back for three days.
The next morning, people started noticing.
"Is that Aiden's?" one of my friends asked, raising an eyebrow.
I shrugged. "I guess."
But I couldn't stop smiling.
We still weren't anything—not officially. But things had shifted. He waited for me after class. I saved him a seat at lunch. We'd text late at night, sometimes about nothing, sometimes about everything.
He told me he hated his middle name. I told him about the scar on my knee from falling off a bike when I was eight.
They weren't big confessions. Just... pieces.
And for the first time, I wasn't scared to be seen with someone. With him.
But part of me still wondered if I was just a chapter in his story...
While he was slowly becoming my favorite plot twist.