Chapter 5: Chocolate Chip Pancakes
“I had fun.”Caroline said as Tyler drove her to her apartment. “Nice Naviagtor.”he said noticing her car. “Yea it’s…it was a gift.”Caroline said smiling. “So…”Caroline said as she opened the door to his car. “So…”he said putting his hand on top of hers. He put his other hand on the side of her face and kissed her. She pulled away from him slowly and looked at him. “I had a good time with you.”he said. Caroline looked over at the steps to her apartment building and saw a blonde kid sitting there. “No way.”Caroline said looking back at Tyler as they both realized who it was. “I’ll walk you to the door.”Tyler said shutting the car off walking beside her. “What are you doing here?”Caroline asked as they approached Aaron. “I came by to see you.”he said looking back over at Tyler. Tyler gave him a nod. “Look man maybe you should leave.”Tyler said to Aaron. “You wanna tell me what to do man…I have been with her way longer than you have buddy.”Aaron said walking closer to him. “Chill out man.”Tyler said putting his hands up in surrender. “You want me to chill out while you are taking MY fiancé out and making out with her.”Aaron yelled at him. “Aaron calm down it wasn’t like that.”Caroline said putting her hand on his shoulder. “It wasn’t like that…IT WASN”T LIKE THAT?…I fucking saw him kiss you.”Aaron said and punched Tyler in the face. “AARON STOP IT!”Caroline said pulling Aaron off of Tyler as they were wrestling on the ground. “GO HOME!”Caroline yelled as Aaron got up off of Tyler and wiped the blood from the side of his mouth. “You’re drunk…you came here DRUNK Aaron.”Caroline said as she now noticed his slurred speech. “Why do you care?”he yelled. She squatted down next to Tyler who was infuriated because his face was bleeding. “Aaron you drove here drunk you could have killed yourself!”Caroline yelled at Aaron. “I am so sorry.”she said as she turned back to Tyler. “GO INSIDE AARON…just go inside.”Caroline said as Aaron stumbled inside her apartment. “Jesus Christ I don’t even know what to say.”Caroline said sitting down on the pavement next to Tyler. “It’s not your fault.”Tyler said breathing out heavily. “Do you wanna come in? I can get you some ice or something.”Caroline said looking at his face. “It’s fine…I didn’t want to hit him I guess I just let him take out his anger on me.”Tyler said wincing with pain. “Look…this is all such a mess…I am so embarrassed.”Caroline said scratching her head. “Don’t worry about it okay…I really like you.”he said trying to smile at her without it hurting. “I’ll let you make it up to me.”he said putting his hand on the side of her face. She smiled at him as he leaned in to kiss her. “Come inside and let me give you some ice for the road.”Caroline said helping him stand up. He leaned up against the kitchen counter not making eye contact with Aaron who was seated on the couch. She pressed the ice wrapped in some paper towels to his lip and he touched his hand to hers, kissing her on her fingers. “Your eyes.”she said and he gave her a side smile. He leaned his head down and kissed her. “OH GOD!”Aaron yelled from the living room as he put his head in his hands. “I guess he can hear us.”Tyler said quietly rubbing his hand down her arm. “I should go.”Tyler said letting her go. “I’ll call you.”he said smiling at her as she followed him out onto the porch. She smiled at him as he held her hand until he couldn’t reach her anymore and then walked over to his car, waving as he drove out of the driveway. Caroline walked into her house and slammed the door. Aaron was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. “WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!?”Caroline yelled walking into the room he was in. He said nothing. “TALK TO ME! THAT’S WHAT YOU CAME HERE FOR RIGHT?”she yelled at him. He stood up fast and pushed her against the wall pressing his lips to hers. “Tell me you don’t feel anything!”he said holding her hands against the wall. She said nothing, only cried. He pressed his lips to hers again, surprised that she was kissing him back. She fell back on the couch with him on top of her still kissing him. “Get off me.”she said a few minutes later as his hand went up her shirt. “What?”he asked as she pushed him off. “I’m not doing this.”she said looking away from him as she stood up too. “Why are you being like this?”he asked quietly. “BECAUSE AARON I TRUSTED YOU! AND YOU WENT AWAY TO LA AND IT WASN”T LIKE YOU JUST KISSED SOMEBODY OKAY! WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING MARRIED!”she said yelling at him. “I HAVE SAID I AM SORRY A MILLION TIMES. I WAS DRUNK!”he yelled back. “Aaron you’re mad at me because I went on a date with Tyler Hilton right?...while you can go out on as many dates with Lindsey Lohan or whichever skank you choose any time you want. The thing is Aaron is you think I’m yours, but you don’t act like you’re mine. You know what I mean? Its like you want me back so bad and you’re so focused on talking to me that you haven’t done anything to prove to me that its going to be different. This is the first date I have been on since we broke up and you know what I like him. He plays and listens to the same music I do. He respects me and I am not going to let you ruin that.”Caroline said shrugging her shoulders and for once he was quiet. “Stay here so you are safe. I’m going to bed.”she said throwing a pillow and blanket at him. “I love you…”he said giving her sad eyes. “I don’t think that I feel that way anymore.”she said and walked away into her bedroom.
Caroline rubbed her puffy eyes the next morning as she woke up pretty early to her phone ringing to let her know she had a text message. “Free around 12?-Tyler” she smiled as she looked over at the clock reading 7AM. “Early riser huh?” she texted back. “Is that a yes?”she received a few minutes later. “I suppose ”she typed back and threw her phone on the bed. She walked out of her room into the living room where Aaron was awake watching TV. He looked at her then put his head down. “Don’t.”she said to him and kept walking into the kitchen seeing a plate full of pancakes on the counter. “I’m sorry.”Aaron said walking up behind her. “Making pancakes does not fix things.”she said looking back at him while putting some syrup on top of them. “Well it must help because you are eating them.”he said making her slightly smile. She couldn’t help it. He looked cute with his dishevled blonde hair and long red pajama pants on. “First time I have seen you smile in a while.”he said as she suddenly stopped and looked down at the floor. “First time you haven’t been an ass in a while.”Caroline said looking up at him. “Look if we can’t be together can we at least be friends?”Aaron asked giving her a hopeful look. “Well…you did make me pancakes.”she said smiling. “With chocolate chips.”he added for her pointing to the plate of food she was eating. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist giving her a hug. “I’m sorry. I was a drunk fool last night.”he said burying his head in her shoulder. She put her hand on the back of his head and rubbed it through his hair. “So am I.”she said sadly. “I still love you you know.”Aaron said as he pulled his head up and there faces were inches apart. “I know you do.”she said unable to say it back, afraid it would complicate things. His nose graised past hers and she pulled away quickly. “I thought you said you wanted to be friends.”she said raising her eyebrows. “I should go.”Aaron said and walked out the door. “Aaron..”Caroline said but he was already out the door.
“Late”Tyler said pointing to her as she walked into the coffee shop she was supposed to meet him at twenty minutes before. “I know forgive me. Class went over.”she said as he stood up to greet her. “It’s all fine because you look so damn good in that dress.”he said in his country accent giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Your hair looks awesome.”Caroline said noticing her had cut it into a mohawk. “I got a part in this movie…it’s what my character is supposed to look like I guess.”Tyler said and she shook her head that she understood. “So how did last night go after I left?”Tyler asked. Caroline was embarrassed that he had even asked. “Interesting…he had to stay the night last night and he tried to make up for everything by making me pancakes.”Caroline said rolling her eyes, even though she really thought it was sweet. “Hmm.”Tyler said shrugging his shoulders taking a sip of his coffee. “So what’s the plan for today?”Caroline asked changing the subject. “That is up to you. Whatever you want we’ll do it.”Tyler said leaning into the table to be closer to her. “So we can fly to France take a trip around the Eiffel Tower and come back then?”she asked making him laugh. “Try to keep it in LA.”he said making her smile. “You know what I really wanna do…is just play some music with you that’s all.”she said putting her hand on top of his. “That may just be the best answer I’ve ever heard.”he said smiling. She gave him a side smile as he stood up from the table and held his hand out to her.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Pancakes apparently make up for everything
