I hated parties. Always have, probably always will. This particular party was my friend Elisa’s boyfriend’s party. She knew I hated parties, but she thought this party would be fun for me.

Amazing how she was right for the first time in her life.

It was while she was talking to some people, me standing quietly next to her…seething inside, that I saw someone. “Oh no,” I said aloud. He was standing with a group of people on the other side of the room.

“What’s wrong?” Elisa asked, responding immediately to the dread in my voice.

With a look on my face, I told her, “Look who’s here.”

With a frown, she started looking around. When her eyes widened, I knew she recognized the person. “Exactly,” I said.

“Do you think he’ll notice that you’re here?” She asked

“I hope not,” I said. But, as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I saw his head lift and his eyes lock on me. It was just my luck. I looked away quickly, knowing what would happen next. “I have to go to the bathroom,” I told Elisa, hastily moving towards the hallway that led to the bathroom.

I should probably explain who I was running from. It was a guy named Allen. He was part of our class at school, and he was extremely annoying. He couldn’t take a hint, no matter how many times I said no. A few weeks ago, while he had been with a group of his friends, laughing and being stupid, Elisa and I had walked passed them. If I had been by myself, I would have kept walking. But Elisa, being who she was, knew one of the guys and started chatting with him. While waiting for her to finish, I noticed that Allen was looking at me weird. He wouldn’t stop staring! After a few minutes, I couldn’t stand it any more. I told Elisa that I had to go. She waved me off, distracted by something one of the guys was saying. I left, trying to shake off that stare. The weeks that had followed after that were constant run ins and nonstop annoying encounters. For some reason, Allen had it in his head that I would become his girlfriend one way or another. Maybe it was a jock thing, but who knows? Before this party, I hadn’t seen him in two weeks, due to Christmas break. It was the best two weeks I’d had in a long time. Now, you can see, this was why I was running now. I was in no mood to deals with the likes of him.

I was almost there. Already being able to see that the bathroom was unoccupied. If my luck held out, I could slip in the bathroom and hide there for a while. I looked behind me, seeing that he was talking to Elisa. I rolled my eyes. He’s probably interrogating her, trying to find out where I am. Well, not this time.

It was while I was looking back that I bumped into someone. Well, more like collided. “Oomph!” I felt arms shoot out to catch me right when I was about to topple over.

“Are you okay?” I heard a voice ask.

“Yea, I’m fine,” I said looking into a pair of dark brown eyes. I froze. I’m not gonna lie, he was very, very attractive. He was tall, with hair even darker than his eyes. He was the kind of guy that girls fake faint over. I am not going to faint.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, definitely,” I said quickly, snapping out of it.

He looked amused at my quick response. “Okay, if you say so.” He smiled. “I’m Aaron,” he said, holding his hand out.

“Rose,” I responded, shaking his hand.

It while this embarrassing encounter was happening that Allen had apparently caught up to me.

“Rose, there you are,” Allen said.

Darn it!! “Hey Allen,” I said glumly.

Allen noticed Aaron then, and that our hands were still holding. I took my hand back quickly, face going red. “Who’s this?” Allen asked.

“This is Aaron,” I told him. “Aaron, this is Allen.”

“Nice to meet you,” Aaron said.

Noticing how close we were standing together, and Allen, being the person he is, said, “Elisa didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend.”

I turned tomato red. I was about to correct him, when an idea came to my head. It was a stupid, mortifying idea. But, if I could pull it off, I may have found a way to get Allen off my back.

“Oh, well you know Elisa” I said, laughing. “She probably just forgot to mention it.” I put the biggest smile on my face, contrasting with the butterflies in my stomach. “Right Aaron?”

I could see he was astonished. He was about to deny it, but I think he noticed the desperation on my face. “Uh, yea,” he said.

Not the response I wanted exactly, but it’ll have to do, considering how he was even agreeing. It was crazy, he didn’t even know me. I guess sympathy won out over wariness.

Grabbing Aaron's arm, I explained to Allen, “We met over Christmas break, we’ve been inseparable ever since.”

“Oh, well, that’s great.” The way he said didn't make it sound so great. After a few moments of awkward silence, He finally said, “Well, I guess I’ll see you around then.”

“Okay, see you,” I said.

Relieved, I turned to Aaron with a sheepish grin, “Sorry, he’s been kinda bugging me for a few weeks. I thought maybe that would be the only thing to stop him.”

“Well since it worked, I guess it was worth it,” He said smiling.

“Exactly,” I said laughing. Turning to leave, I told him, “Thanks for the help.”

“Wait a minute.” He grabbed my arm stopping me. “Don’t you think if he sees you alone, he’ll think something’s up?”

Eyes wide, I said “Oh man, I never thought of that.” I really hadn't thought of that. Looking at him, I saw his eyes were narrowed in thought. “What do you suggest?” I asked.

“Well since you’re my “girlfriend” shouldn’t we get to know each other a little better?” He said, grinning at this point.

With an equally big grin, I responded, “That seems fair.”

We spent the whole night talking. It was amazing. He was like a modern Hans Solo. He was charming and funny, he was like nobody I’d ever met before. While we were talking, I saw Elisa approaching us, signaling that it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, exchanging numbers. We made plans to see each other again.

On the drive back home, Elisa asked me, “So did you have fun?”

“Yea, I did actually,” I told her.

“See, I told you.” She responded smiling broadly.

Yes, she did tell me. For once Elisa was right.