Page 48 of Scoring with my Bestie's Ex

And I don’t want to spend the night alone.

Back at the apartment, I make a simple cheese board, and we sit in the living room, chatting about Mike and Ellen.

“Do you think they’re moving too fast?” I ask him, curious.

“I’m surprised by how quickly they’re moving,” he says slowly. “But I don’t think it’s my place to say if it’s too fast or not. I do know that they are both clear with each other about what they want.”

I lean my head back on the sofa, letting my hair fall back from my neck. “That’s true. I just hope she doesn’t rush things and move in with him as a way to give me more privacy.”

Aaron snorts. “Don’t worry about it. Ellen is great, but she’s not going to give you her apartment just for the sake of giving you her apartment. Are you having any problems?”

“No… I just worry that she might secretly be annoyed with me for not finding my own place yet,” I confess.

“I think you might worry about people having secret intentions too much,” Aaron says wisely.

A notification goes off on his phone. He grimaces at what he sees. “I hate to do this, but I’m going to have to end our chat. Coach wants us at the rink an hour earlier tomorrow.”

“That’s it?” I blurt out, surprised.

Aaron, who is standing, gives me a startled look. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… I thought you were going to make a move,” I say nervously.

“Why?”

“Because I thought you liked me.”

Aaron sinks back down, shaking his head slowly. “I do like you, Bella. But we already talked about this. We put down a boundary. Nothing more than kissing and invitations to the apartment as friends only.”

I open and close my mouth several times, trying to think of what to say.

“When we make boundaries, I want to keep those boundaries intact,” Aaron says slowly. “And changes to that must be discussed ahead of time. I’m not going to push.”

My cheeks flame and I duck my head. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll text you tomorrow,” he says. He doesn’t sound angry but nor can I tell what’s going through his head.

He leaves, and I collapse on the sofa, humiliated. What did I do that for?

The answer is clear… and unpleasant.

The truth is, if I’d made such an agreement with Steven, he would have been putting his hands all over me the moment we were inside.

Every time I asked him for something specific, he somehow managed to do the opposite.

I often had to lie about what it was that I wanted, just so that I could get it.

And this is so not fair to Aaron.

He deserves better than me playing games, and being upset when he actually respects my words.

This is exactly why I need time. I need to heal from Steven and recognize the toxic patterns of behavior I’ve picked up.

I shake my head as I pull myself up.

“Maybe I need to talk to a neutral party,” I mutter.

The thought of therapy crosses my mind, but it makes me wince. I went to couples counseling with Steven. It only made things worse.

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