//------------------------------//
// Aria and Me 
// Story: Aria Ignite 
// by Third Brony 
//------------------------------//

Mom came in with two steaming cups of tea and placed them in front of us. We thanked her but didn't touch them.
"Well?" I asked. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Aria blushed and looked away.
"I... uh... I wanted to talk to you," she said. "About what happened on Saturday."
"With Silver?" I wanted to make sure. "Listen, I don't think of you any-"
"I like you!" she blurted out.
Wow!
I had thought that she was trying to make sure that I wasn't afraid of her after seeing that her powers were back (and that was largely true) but this left me speechless. I couldn't think of what to say so I took a long drawn out sip of my tea.
Aria coughed and tried to compose herself.
"When I... when I was angry at Silver, I couldn't think of anything better than to kill him," she said. "I really was going to. No matter anyone said. Even if my powers hadn't come back was going to-"
"Does!" I interrupted. "This story have a point?"
She chuckled nervously and pushed her hair behind her ear.
"When Sunset called out to me and she reminded me about the wolves, it didn't mean much to be honest," she continued. "It was when she said that you knew I was better that I felt something."
I sipped my tea again.
"I don't remember a lot of what happened before I woke up in the nurse's office, but I remember that you were there for me," she said. "Even before that. I don't really remember being here but I knew the way. I... also remember you offering to be my friend. Obviously, I accepted but I should have asked for more."
I was busy sipping my tea and trying to stave off the feelings of guilt but I stopped to speak.
"What are you saying?" I asked.
She grabbed my hands so suddenly that, were it not for my embarrassingly impressive ability to hold Starswirl's Demons cards steady for hours at a time, I would have spilled the tea. She patiently waited for me to put down the cup before speaking again.
"I want to be your girlfriend," she said.
That was it. I had won the game. This was what it had all been about, getting Aria to be mine and now I had her. One word was all it would take and she would be Mrs. Lost Legacy. Common Sense was giving me high fives in my mind.
Hey guys 
Who are you? Common Sense asked.
New guy: Guilt
Aw, damn it!
"Are you sure?" I asked. "I mean, you literally just got out of a bad break up. Maybe you need some cooldown time."
"I know," she said. "But I'm still new to this whole 'being normal' thing and I need someone who is willing to go the extra mile to help me out."
"Like a really good friend?"
She seemed to notice that I wasn't immediately on board with being with her. "Don't you like me?" she asked.
I gripped her hands. "Of course I do!" I asserted. "From the moment I saw you, I've been trying to impress you. I've always wanted to be your boyfriend."
She was still wary and I kicked myself to think that I might have just lost my surefire shot at Aria.
"So what's the matter?" she asked.
"I'm just looking out for you, is all," I told her. "I don't want you to just rush into another relationship so quickly while you're still emotionally fragile."
She reeled backwards. "I am not fragile," she scoffed. "I have feelings for you Lost, I always have. I just... You were so cool and athletic and stuff that I never thought you'd be interested in me."
"I'm plenty interested," I said. 
"Then...?" she looked at me quizzically.
Common Sense managed to hold down Guilt while I answered, "Yeah, I'll be your boyfriend."
Mom came around the corner trying to look as if she hadn't been listening on our conversation. She was carrying two bowls of ice-cream and placed them in front of us.
"For you two lovebi- friends!" she cut herself off. "Friends until Lost decides tells me otherwise." She winked at me and left.
I really couldn't get myself to feel mad at her for snooping. Aria was my girlfriend now, what was there to get angry about?
I looked at Aria and she smiled back. It had never struck me more than at that moment how different she looked than how she was before the concussion. Even thinking back to the battle of the bands, her only smiles have been devilish and secretive. After that, she didn't smile at all. Now, here she was, sitting on my couch, smiling sweetly. It was sort of unnatural and I immediately began to question myself. This wasn't the version of Aria I'd fallen for. Granted, this one was a lot nicer and actually wanted to be around me, but it wasn't really Aria.
"Want to watch a movie?" she asked spying my collection of DVDs under the television stand.
"Sure," I answered.
I didn't really matter though. 
She got up and went to rifle through my collection. 
"How comes you aren't at home?" I asked. "It's almost six."
"Sunset is over at my place talking to my sisters about something or the other," she answered with her back still turned. "She said she'd text me when she was done."
"About a month back you'd said you couldn't be out at night," I said. "Was that just a curfew or does something happen to you?"
She looked over her shoulder with a playful smile. "Don't tell me you're scared of me now," she mused.
"O... of course not!" I let her know.
"Good." the put in the DVD and came back to the couch with me. 
She kicked her feet up across my lap and gave me a questioning look to make sure it was okay. I didn't respond as I was contrasting how relaxed she was now to how stiff and uncomfortable she had been when she'd first visited. 
She seemed to take this as my not being on board and tried to move her feet. I held them in place and gave her the 'okay' smile. I did not intend on messing up so soon. I had just broken the fruitless cycle and I intended to keep it that way. We were going to enjoy that movie in peace, Guilt and Common Sense were going to keep quiet and I was going to hold Aria like a good boyfriend!
And that's exactly what happened.