Run, Girl (If You Can)

Chapter 382: Torturously Slow

They really couldn't do anything about it, at least not until they were adults and Nova was done with college. She had already talked about how she was trying to get a scholarship to a prestigious design school. That was so far away there wasn't even a point in thinking about it.

Aiden supposed for the time being they could simply continue as they always had since there was nothing else to be done. He told her so and she looked at him like he was stupid.

"You really think I don't know that? It's why I never said anything until now. Liking you is pointless but I can't exactly help my feelings. You're the coolest guy I know, Aiden."

He felt more than a little flattered to be described that way by the girl he liked. Most people thought he was a loser who didn't try hard enough. The only reason he wasn't a complete outcast at school was because he was considered the class clown. Cool kids thought he was funny and would be friendly to him in the hallways.

"What a coincidence. I think the same thing about you," he replied. He placed a hand on the back of his neck in embarrassment from saying that out loud.

"Stop avoiding me then," Nova said as if it were the obvious thing to do.

So he did. Their relationship continued as usual after that. The only thing that changed was that instead of chatting in game all the time, they sometimes switched to video calls through their email service. It was really nice seeing her face.

They carried on as friends with mutual feelings for each other until the end of Aiden's senior year of high school when a girl in his science class asked him to prom. He would have felt bad about turning her down even though he didn't have any feelings for her so he agreed to it.

Nova was so upset when he told her he couldn't meet up with her in game like usual the night of the prom that she refused to speak to him for weeks. She accused him of not caring about her feelings at all.

What was he supposed to do? He always spent time with her on the weekends; it wasn't like he had ever asked a girl out on a date. But Aiden didn't want to hurt his classmate's feelings. When he explained that, she got even madder because she thought some random classmate's feelings mattered more to him than hers did.

He hadn't been particularly looking forward to the dance but it was even more miserable knowing Nova wasn't speaking to him. When he finally managed to catch her online again she was very curt with him. It wasn't until he promised he wouldn't go on anymore dates with other girls that she finally responded.

"You can't go on dates with other girls," she said haughtily. "You have to promise me, Aiden."

"Okay, I promise." He wasn't interested in anyone else anyway. The majority of his free time was spent on her.

Aiden completely forgot about that conversation until a few months before Aaron met up with Keeley again. Somebody in one of Nova's college courses asked her out and she said no because she had a boyfriend.

He had been a bit startled because he hadn't realized she thought of him that way. They hadn't really talked about their feelings all that much since the original confession; they carried on as the gaming buddies they always had been for the most part.

He figured putting a label on it or not wouldn't really change the dynamic of their relationship so he agreed to make it Facebook official.

It had been awkward explaining that he was dating someone he met online long distance to his mother but it was better than dealing with Nova being pouty. Over the next few months they started talking about their feelings more and having silly little 'dates' over video call.

The more time he spent dating her from a distance the more he wanted out of the relationship. So when Aaron asked the most horrible favor ever from him in exchange for sending him to Sweden all expenses paid he jumped at the chance. The rest was history.

Aiden sighed as he checked the clock. Six more hours until he could go home and meet up with Nova in the latest game they were playing together. The next couple months were going to be torturously slow until he could see her again.

===

Aiden's mom hadn't been thrilled her oldest son wouldn't be home for Christmas (neither had Sophie) but they both liked Nova so they didn't complain too much. At least to his face.

Getting off of the plane after eight and a half hours he felt like walking death. The child sitting behind him had kicked his seat for most of it and he was exhausted from not getting any sleep even though it was a red-eye flight.

All of his exhaustion melted away though when Nova charged at him and ended up clinging to him as if he was a tree branch and she was a koala. He stumbled back slightly from the weight since her legs were wrapped around his waist.

"?lskling, I missed you so much!" she cried as she peppered his face with kisses.

She used a Swedish term of endearment somewhat equivalent to 'darling' or 'honey' in English. Nova had been calling him that ever since they got married in Final Fantasy XI all those years ago as a joke (or so she claimed).

When they started dating officially he looked up more Swedish words and found out that '?lskling' came from the word '?lska', meaning 'to love.' Once he actually visited Sweden he found out that people normally didn't call their significant others by that term unless things were pretty serious.

Aiden had to laugh a little bit at his own stupidity for not realizing how much she cared sooner. Nova had essentially laid a claim on him when she was fourteen years old and now she was twenty-two.

"I missed you too," he told her sincerely. "Can you get off me though? People are staring and I need to get my luggage."

She pouted but did as she was told, climbing off and taking his hand instead. She chatted with him excitedly about all of the fun things they were going to do while he was here and he responded with equal enthusiasm. Ah, he really had missed her. It would be great having her with him all the time.