Finding Me (Love's Not Easy Series Book 1) (17 page)

Aimee felt her heart pounding; she knew it was wrong, but oh how she wanted him to kiss her right now. He moved closer, moving his hand behind the back of her head, their lips was almost touching. Aimee closed her eyes as Aiden closed the distance, just before their lips touched, they heard Lexi call their names.

Aimee jumped back. She stared at Aiden. What in this world had she done?

“Sorry.” Aiden stepped back. Aimee looked so pale and confused he wanted to wrap her in his arms and tell her everything was ok. But he couldn’t because Lexi turned the corner.

“Did you two hear me calling? We need to go, they are closing and we have to be back before midnight to make curfew.”

“Ok. We are ready, but we don’t have a curfew.” Aiden grinned.

“Oh, I know, come on.”

Aimee sat in the backseat of the convertible. She was quiet; whenever Lexi or Sophia tried to ask her what was wrong, she told them she was tired and had a lot on her mind.

She did not sleep well that night. She kept reliving the scene on the balcony. She had almost kissed Aiden. When she did fall, asleep she dreamed of kissing him over and over again.

During church, she prayed for God to help her control these thoughts. She could not be thinking of him that way. He was still dating Ava and, even if he wasn’t, they are going to be roommates again in the fall. She prayed for God to help her with all of her thoughts and mixed feelings. God, help me to follow Your direction. Help me to do the right thing and have the right thoughts. Until she could get her feelings under control, she was going to keep a safe distance between her and Aiden; she could not be alone with him. Not until her heart settled back down.

Chapter Tw
enty

The fact that finals were quickly approaching, helped Aimee to avoid Aiden. She called Ruby and Wendy to walk with them to school in the mornings. She made sure they had a large group at lunch. She hosted more study groups at the flat. If she was not in class or having a study group, she studied in her room or at the library.

She had made it to the Saturday before finals, except for meeting Lexi, Colin, Piper, and Aiden to look at a new flat available for next year, her day was cleared for studying. She had the flat to herself right now.

The flat was quiet for two hours as she studied for the first final on Monday. Then, her dad called to make sure she received the plane reservations for her flight home in six days. As she hung up her cell; she turned to the foyer and saw Aiden standing there, grinning from ear to ear.

“You have done such a great job avoiding me, until now.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She turned back to her laptop.

Aiden came over, sit in front of her, and gracefully took her laptop and placed it on the table behind him. “I must be confused; because, all of a sudden, we are walking to class with Ruby and Wendy. We have hosted more study groups than most of the campus put together.” He sounded annoyed.

Aimee closed her eyes and laid her head back against the chair.

“I was trying to branch out. Make more friends.”

“That is a lie and you know it.” Aiden sounded more annoyed.

“I…” she was interrupted when the door opened and Sophia came in.

Sophia took one look at them and immediately stepped back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Aiden laughed and threw his arms up in the air. “Just as well if, Aimee is not going to tell me the…”

“Aiden.” Aimee was aggravated now. “Please don’t say that.”

Sophia continued to back out. “Sounds like you two need to talk.”

Aiden looked away from Aimee for one second. “Thanks, we have a small misunderstanding we need to settle.”

Aimee watched Sophia go up the steps. “A small misunderstanding!” She yelled at him louder than she meant to.

“What do you call it, Aimee?”

She sat quietly. “I don’t know what to call it, Aiden. All I know, is we have to get pass this if we can continue to be roommates and friends.”

“I…” Lexi came through the door now.

“Answer your phones.” She yelled as she stomped into the living area.

“If they would ring, we would answer them.” Aiden commented back.

Aimee reached behind Aiden and grabbed hers. “I must have put mine on vibrate when my dad called.”

Aiden took his from his pocket. “Well, would you look at that, I had mine turned off.”

“Well, they moved up our appointment. Colin and Piper are waiting at the café. We may get an ocean side flat, if we hurry.”

Aimee stood up. “Let’s go.”

The walk to the cafe was quiet, until Lexi started talking nonstop about being moved up on the list and the room they are going to look at.

Aiden ordered himself and Aimee a latte. The line for purchase was long enough that it allowed them to walk a few feet behind the others.

“Aimee, I am sorry.” He looked at her concerned.

“I am sorry, too.” She sipped her latte. “I think we just got caught up in the atmosphere around us.”

“So then, why have you been avoiding me?”

Aimee looked at him. “To make sure. I mean. I am sorry you are still with Ava. We are going to be roommates again.”

“Hurry up, guys.” Lexi yelled.

They picked up their pace. “Aimee, it is like you said, we just got caught up in the magic of the atmosphere. Can we please go back to friends?”

“I would love nothing more, Aiden. It has been so hard keeping my distance from you.”

“I am so glad you feel that way. Because it was hard letting you avoid me.”

The flat was awesome; it was five bedrooms so they each would have their own. Another plus was that two of the bedrooms were downstairs and three upstairs. The living and kitchen areas was much larger. They had a large deck on the back equipped with grill, fire pit, and furniture. The beach was closer than the other place. Security was tighter as well.

One feature that Aimee really liked was the access to the bedrooms was locked and you had to use a key to get to them. The lady showing the room explained to them if the guys roomed downstairs, only their key would unlock the door that lead to their rooms, and the same for the girls and upstairs.

They loved the area and signed the lease and made the down payment that day. It would be ready to move into the middle of August. Lexi was already commenting on how to decorate the place and when she could move in. A lot of stuff they already had was going to work great.

Aimee and Aiden walked back to the flat, while Colin and Lexi stopped to get Pizza. James picked up Piper to take her to dinner. When they approached the security booth, the guard was waiting on them. “Mr. Josiah is here, he wants to talk to you.”

Aimee looked around. “Where is he?”

“Right here.” Josiah stepped out from the booth. Aimee stepped back. His black and green hair was now the sandy blonde it should have been. He was dressed in khaki shorts and a white top. All of his piercings gone.

“Wow, Josiah. You changed.” Aimee grinned at him.

“Hey, dude, you really look like your old self.” Aiden was staring too.

“Thanks, but I don’t feel like the old me. Can we go in and talk?”

“Sure, let’s go back to the flat.” Aimee followed the guys back to the house.

Josiah sat in one of the chairs and began explaining how, the last couple of weeks, he had made a lot of changes in his life. “I really thought about all those verses you left out for Aiden. I would write them down and read them later. Any way, they got me thinking about my drinking. Guys, I am a nineteen year old alcoholic.”

Aimee and Aiden sat quietly. Aimee looked at him. “Are you ok now?”

“Yes and no. I haven’t had a drink in three weeks. I called the Pastor at your church, Aimee. He met with me on several occasions. He found a place I could go to be detoxed. It is not a cure, but I am sober now.”

“When did you get out?” Aiden was sitting on the edge of the couch now.

“A week ago. I moved back in with Colin’s parents for now.”

Aimee was about to tell him how proud she was of him when everyone walked through the door. Surprisingly, when they saw Josiah, they all set and listened to him repeat what he told Aimee and Aiden.

“I leave in July for a treatment center that has a one year program. Until then, I am staying with Colin and his parents.”

Colin apologized to him about the misunderstanding with the drugs. He should have been calmer and listened to him. Josiah told him it was ok because it was that day that made him realize he had a problem.

“There is one more thing I need to tell you guys. Tomorrow, after worship service at Wise Chapel, Pastor Mark will be baptizing me.”

Aimee, Piper, and Lexi hugged him and told him they could not wait to be there for him. Then, they managed to talk him into spending the night at the flat and they stayed up eating junk food and watching movies. Aimee looked at Aiden half way through the second movie and pointed at Josiah. “God brings good out of bad situations.”

He hugged her. “I was wondering when you were going to say that.”

“Are you psychic again?”

“Nah. I just know how Aimee Pittman thinks.”

The next morning the whole group came to church with the three girls. After the baptism, Tessa and Mark invited the group to their house for one last Sunday Dinner before they all left Ancaster for Summer Holiday. Aimee sat at the table, looking at her friends. She had a lot to be thankful for. She had the pleasure of watching two new friends give their lives to the Lord.

When they arrived back to the flat, Colin sat back on the couch to relax. “Who would have thought we would spend the last Sunday of our first year in college watching Josiah get baptized?”

Aimee, Piper, Lexi, and James all smiled as the answered him in unison.  “God.”

♥
♥

Thursday afternoon was the last final. So, everyone decided it would be a great time to go dancing at the club. Sophia opted out and went to move in with her new roommates at NCS. Aimee called and had LJ meet her there. Colin surprised everyone by bringing Kelli, the girl he had been dating since the beginning of the semester.

The girls danced to all the fast songs and Aimee danced a few slow with LJ and a couple with Aiden. LJ told Aimee he wanted to take her to lunch tomorrow. She told him he could pick her up at the Anderson’s. She was leaving her car with them until she returned in August.

They stayed at the club until eleven. James came back to the flat with them, but LJ said he had to go back to his flat. He needed to finish packing his stuff and say bye to his roommates.

When they got back to the flat, Aimee went to the freezer and took the last carton of the ice cream. “We need to finish this up.”

“Sounds great. I talked to Tessa about us donating any of our nonperishables to the church kitchen, they said they would love it.” Piper dipped her spoon in the ice cream.

Colin pulled out a bottle of soda. “Let’s make a toast.”

Aiden took out some plastic cups. “What are we toasting to?”

Aimee sat in a chair staring out the window. She was thinking about the past nine months of her life. She stepped off the plane a young, naive eighteen year old girl. Even though she had only turned nineteen, she already felt older and a little wiser.  At least when it came to finding herself in this big world.

“Earth to Aimee.” Aiden was waving a hand in front of her face.

“Sorry.”

“Where were you?”

“Thinking about how much I have changed in nine months.”

“We all have changed since that first day we walked through that door.” Piper grinned

“That is what we can toast to, change.” Lexi sat down.

Aimee looked at Aiden. “How about to finding me? I think that is how we have changed, we have found ourselves.”

Piper and James sat at the table. “Like Sophia finding herself in NCS. She found the place she belongs.” Piper took a chip from the bowl.

“And how Josiah figured out he was an alcoholic.” Colin sat at the table.

Aimee shook her head. “It took Josiah figuring that out to find himself. When he figured out that wasn’t the real him, he changed it. He found God and then himself. I have to say, I really admire him for changing his life the way he has. I pray for him every day.”

Lexi came to the table. “I know that, for me, I had to find God to find me. Once I started going to church with you guys, I slowly began realizing how much value I placed on superficial things in life. I realized how superficial I was as well. I was far from where God wanted me to be and I thank God He showed me that. Now, I find I like myself better. I also learned you need to find yourself in order to find love. Which, lead me to the realization, that Drew is not the guy for me.”

“I am saying this to benefit both of you girls. Any guy who says he would call back and then doesn’t, is not the guy for you.” Piper leaned back.

James took Piper’s hand. “I think you do need to learn how to love God to love yourself, Lexi. I think you found that out this year. I found out how much love He actually had stored in me when I met Piper. Also I found out the kind of man I need to be.”

Piper kissed James. “I agree with you. I think we have to learn to love God to be able to love yourself and others. I found out that I was placing values on the wrong things in life. When I met James, God showed me so many things. But He really helped me find myself in working with the youth.
Those kids have showed me so much.”

Colin was sitting next to Piper. “I guess it is my turn. I am not sure if I have truly found myself or not. What I did find out about me, is how quick I was to judge. I figured that out when Josiah moved out. I also found that the reason I kept going from girl to girl is because I am not happy with where I am in life. Dating Kelli has showed me that. This Summer Holiday, I am going to work on being happy with myself.”

Aiden sat back in his chair. “My turn, I found out so much about me these past nine months. But, I didn’t like what I found.” He glanced at Aimee. “The last two weeks, I have really searched on how to change the things I don’t like. When they are fixed, that is when I will find me. It’s just going to be a much wiser and more reliable me. The real me, not the one I have hid behind.”

Aimee glanced around the table, pausing more at Aiden. “I have found a greater relationship with God that has helped me grow. In that growing relationship, I found out how important it is to be Christ like and how much I fail in that aspect, no matter how I tried to pretend I didn’t. In finding myself, I learned that every day we find more out about ourselves. God is always teaching me knew things about me. So, I am still finding me every day and I have found the best group of friends to share it with.”