by Sam Crescent
“I don’t know. I was thinking some jewelry or something,” Eli said, grabbing a stone and skipping it across the surface of the lake.
“Are we even talking about the same girl here?” Branson asked.
“Yeah, it’s Aria.”
“How have you guys been getting on, anyway?”
“Good.” He stared at the stone, and wished he could put the right words to what was going on between them. “I don’t know. It’s different now.”
“Do you still want to be with her?” Branson asked.
“Of course. We’re not different, but Aria is, you know? She’s … I don’t know. It’s complicated.”
“I heard Joanne and Tiffany cornered her on the way out of school. Went into some pretty graphic shit about what you’re like in bed.”
Eli cursed, and threw the stone too hard.
“I take it when you were planning on staking a claim on Aria, you didn’t think about the past loves of your life.”
“They’re screws. It’s different. They’re meaningless. Aria never cared before.”
“Aria wasn’t being compared to them. Look, Rachel was telling me that Aria’s worried,” Chris said.
“What about? I wouldn’t hurt her, and I’m certainly not pressuring her.” He made sure she had her space when she needed it.
“Aria’s never been with anyone. She’s new at everything, and dude, I think you kind of scare her,” Chris said.
Eli looked toward his friends, tossed the stone into the lake, and headed back to his car. It was late Saturday, and he needed to clear up some things.
“Where the fuck are we going now?” Branson asked.
“Mary’s!” Eli shouted the word, and got into his car. He started up the engine, and was about to pull out when Chris and Branson climbed in.
“Anyone tell you, you’ve got a weird way of talking with people?” Chris asked.
“I need to see Aria, and she needs to understand that I’m not going anywhere.”
“What about college?” Branson asked.
“We’ve been looking at those together.”
“Wow, you really do want to make this work with her, don’t you?” Chris asked.
“Yeah, I do.” He loved her, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it either. “How do you feel about Rachel?”
“I love her.”
“You’d do anything for her?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Branson, you the same about Mary?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s how I feel about Aria. It took me longer to figure out than you guys, but I got there in the end.” He wasn’t going to let Aria get away, nor was he going to have her believe that he was going to get bored with her.
This was their life, no one else’s, and they were going to live it how they wanted.
“How are we going to get past Mary’s parents?” Chris asked.
“They’re not there.”
“What?” Eli and Chris both said in unison.
“Mary knew that Aria wanted to be alone. She’s been under a lot of stress at school, and home. Tonight was about being girls, and she didn’t want us to be there.”
Eli pushed his foot down on the accelerator.
Aria had been different with him ever since he’d told her what he wanted. Their relationship hadn’t changed from friendship, and she was holding back.
He didn’t like it, and it was time they brought those issues out into the open. What he loved about the lake was that they didn’t live too far away from it.
Parking inside Mary’s gates, he was out of the car and at her door within seconds. Pressing the button, he listened to the bell, and continued to press it. He didn’t stop until the door actually opened.
“Eli, what the hell?”
“Sorry, Mary, but I’ve got to talk to Aria, and now.” He pushed past her, and entered Mary’s home. Going down the long corridor, he took the third door on the right, and entered the sitting room. Rachel and Aria were sitting there, painting each other’s toenails.
“What are you doing here?” Rachel asked.
“I really need to talk to Aria, like now.”
Moving toward his girl, he wrapped his arms around her, and tugged her up.
“Mary, I’m heading to your room,” he said, shouting out toward the others.
“Eli, put me down, you big brute, before you hurt yourself.”
“I should be hurting you. Spanking your ass.”
“Oh please, you wouldn’t dare.”
“I might.”
“You’re eighteen.”
“So? Nothing states I can’t spank a girl.”
Once inside Mary’s bedroom, he closed the door, flicking on the lock.
“This was supposed to be girls only night.”
“Yeah? Well, guess what, I can’t deal with this,” he said.
“Deal with what?”
“This thing that is happening to us.”
“Oh, so now you want to break up?” she asked, casually. She didn’t lose her temper, or start shouting.
He frowned. “No, I don’t.”
“You sure you haven’t gotten bored, and want to play with someone else?” She winked at him, smiling.
“What the hell is this?” he asked.
“You always move on when you decide that it’s too much, or you’re not getting what you want. This is no different.”
“I’m not here to move on, and I’m not here because I’m bored. I want to settle this problem between us. We both know you’re different with me, Aria. What changed?”
She stopped, and stared at him. “We’re not just friends anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Because you changed that when you admitted you had feelings for me. You wanted us to be more than just friends.”
“You don’t think we can be both.”
“I know what you were like with other girls. I even know your chat up lines, and your rejection lines. I helped you tell them to fuck off!”
“They mean nothing to me,” he said. “They never did. I went for them because I didn’t realize what I really wanted.”
“What did you really want?”
“You!”
She paused, and he watched as she took a deep breath.
“That’s right, Aria. All this time. You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted. Even before I went away, I’d wake up and I’d wonder if you had a good night’s sleep. Just seeing you smile, made me happy. I was fucking crazy about you, and because that scared me, I went looking for something elsewhere.”
“Why were you scared?” she asked.
“You’re one of my best friends. The one constant that has always been there.”
“What about Chris and Branson—”
“And Mary and Rachel. They’re all my friends, but they’re not like you. They don’t make me want to be a better person, and they certainly don’t make me want to smash a guy’s face in for name calling. It has always, and will always be, about you, Aria.” With each word he spoke, he took a step toward her. “This isn’t about boredom. This is about facing your problems head on, and telling me how you feel. We can make this work. We’re going to make it work, and at the end of it, you’re going to look me in the eye, and tell me I was right all along.”
She laughed. “You’re very sure of yourself.”
“I know you, Aria. You can admit defeat.”
She shot him a glare. “You don’t know me that well.” She stared down at her hands. “You’re not wrong. The past three weeks, I’ve been … waiting. I didn’t think you’d want to wait around all that long, and well, I’m me, and you’re you. You can have anyone you want. I never really understood why you’d want to pick someone like me.”
“When we were kids at kindergarten, you came and played in the sandpit with me, even though you’d get it in your socks, and you hate it rubbing between your toes. You took the peas from my plate, and gave me your fries so I didn’t have to eat them, and you hate pe
as.”
Tears filled her eyes, and he wiped away each drop as it fell from her eyes. He held her face in both of her hands, staring down at the girl who had meant so much to him.
“I didn’t think you’d remember all that.”
“When I forgot my gloves, you shared yours. You’ve been part of my life for so long, Aria, I can’t imagine you out of it. I hate that I was away from you for one year, yet I’m grateful. That one year made me realize everything I’d been too blind to see.” He leaned down, and pressed a kiss to her lips. “It made me see that the girl I’ve been running from is the right girl for me.”
She wrapped her arms around him, pressing her body against him. When she made to move him toward the bed, he stopped her.
“What? Don’t you want to?” she asked.
“I want to more than anything but not until you’re ready, and not until I know I don’t have to stop with you.” He pressed another kiss to her lips.
“I’m sorry for being a bitch,” she said. “And for doubting you.”
“You’re a woman. You can be wrong every now and again.”
She tapped his chest. “No fair.”
He silenced her with a kiss.
****
“I don’t want to play in the sandpit. I’ve got one at home,” Chris said. “Tag, you’re it.”
“Hey, no fair,” Rachel said.
While Rachel, Mary, and Branson went to play tag, Aria stared at Eli. He was pouring sand into the bucket, and getting a lot of it in his hair.
Glancing back at her friends, who were running around the playground, she hated leaving someone behind. She was wearing her pretty red dress with the black bow at the side, and if she got it dirty her mom was going to kill her. Still, Eli looked so lonely.
Ew, she was going to get sand into her socks, and that was going to be gross. She walked toward the sandpit, to Eli.
“Hey, Eli, can I play with you?”
He looked up, frowning. “You can play chase with the others.”
“And leave you all alone? Nope.” She climbed into the sandpit, hating as the sand got into her socks. Sitting down, she smiled at him, grabbing a spade. “We building a princess castle?”
“No. We’re building a prince’s castle, and don’t worry, Aria, I’ll protect you from the deadly dragon.”
“Sweetie, isn’t that right?” Lisa said.
Aria pulled out of the memory as her mother gave her arm a shake. “I’m sorry. What?”
“Your father was just talking about your college applications.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve applied to three.” She hadn’t thought about the time in the sandpit in such a long time. Eli had looked so sad being all alone. She hadn’t been able to leave him alone. Picking up her glass of water, she took a sip.
It was another dinner with Wayne and his father, and she was trying to deal with the sickness that was threatening to claim her at being stuck by Wayne once again.
She hated peas. Did Eli know that? She had traded in her fries for his peas to make him feel better. During a class, he’d gotten told off for something, and she had wanted to see him smile again.
“What colleges have you applied to?” Wayne asked.
Her father told them the three that she had applied to, and she went back to staring at her horrid peas. The potatoes were a little undercooked as well.
“How come you’ve chosen them?” Wayne’s father asked.
“They’re the ones I want to go to, and also my boyfriend has applied there as well.”
Her father choked on his wine, and Wayne kept staring at her.
“Boyfriend? You’ve not told us you were seeing anyone?” Lisa asked.
“You’ve never asked, and never cared before. We’re waiting to see which one will accept us both, and we’re going there.”
“Ah, I see,” Wayne’s father said. “I wasn’t aware you were with anyone.”
“Aria, why don’t you take Wayne out into the gardens?”
“It’s getting cold,” she said.
“Now!”
Pushing away from the table, she slapped Wayne on the head. “Let’s go.”
She didn’t offer any kind of words to her father, so she got her jacket, and headed outside. “This is so lame.”
With her cell phone in hand, she sent a quick text to Eli.
Aria: Told Dad about colleges. He’s making me walk the gardens with asshole.
“I think you’ve upset your dad with that little mention.”
“Whatever. He doesn’t consult me on anything, and it’s not like this matters.” She pocketed her cell phone, and finally stared at him. “Why are you guys even here, again? Don’t you have someone to cook you food?”
“We do. Mom’s cooking is much better than yours, and she’s a lot nicer.”
“I don’t have to be nice to you, Wayne. You’ve never been nice to me, and I’ve done everything I can to avoid you.”
The chill was in the air, and her birthday was tomorrow.
“Can we agree to let our past slide?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not really. Why is your father here again, and why the hell are you here?”
“I wanted to be here.”
“You wanted to have dinner with the Dean family?” she asked, not really believing it.
“Why not? Your father is a legend in our house.”
She laughed. “You can have him, believe me.”
“You have no idea what our parents have planned, do you? They didn’t even know you’re with Eli either.”
Pushing her hair away from her face, she forced herself to stare at him. “Then why don’t you enlighten me? After all, you’re clearly in with the big secret.”
Wayne looked toward the house, and then back at her.
“Our families have been doing business together for a long time. Our fathers are hoping for our respected companies to be united.”
“So? What does that have to do with dinner?”
“You’re not stupid, Aria. Your dad threw those old bastards at you for a reason.”
“To marry me off.”
“He never intended for you to be with anyone else. It was agreed on our births.”
Her stomach started to knot. “What was?”
“Our marriage, Aria.”
Unable to control herself, she stared at him, and started to laugh.
Wayne did nothing more than wait. Even as she kept laughing, she saw that he hadn’t joined her.
“This isn’t a joke?”
“No joke. Our families agreed.”
“When we were kids?”
“Babies. Our birthdays are days apart. I had mine yesterday, and yours is tomorrow. Our family had an agreement.”
“This can’t be happening right now.” She walked away from Wayne, and made her way toward the garden. “You’ve known this whole time?”
“Only for the past year. My dad decided I should know seeing as we hadn’t gotten close.”
“You hate me.”
“We can make this work. We don’t have a choice.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, we have a choice.” She stopped, and stared around the garden. This was the last place she wanted to be right now.
“Wayne! Aria!”
Their names being shouted was the perfect distraction she needed. “You go. I’m just going to catch my breath.”
“I could stay with you.”
“I don’t want to be around anyone right now.” She watched him walk away, and when she was sure he wouldn’t hear her, she started walking in the opposite direction.
Out of the gardens, and the house, she made her way along the street. She didn’t get far before Eli’s car was coming toward her.
Aria would recognize it anywhere, and lifting her arms up in the air to signal him, she waited.
“I was just coming to make sure you’re all right.”
“Can I stay with you tonight, please? I don’t want to go home.”
“I don
’t mind.”
“I’ll call Rachel and Mary, ask them to cover for me.”
“It’s fine with me.”
“Come on.”
Once inside his car, the heat was a welcome relief. “Guess what I just found out?”
“I have no idea.”
Aria filled him in on everything that Wayne had told her.
By the time she finished, they were pulling up outside of his house. “Where are your parents?”
“It’s date night, and I was waiting for your call or text. Come on.”
They walked into the house, and neither of them lingered, going straight up to his room. She was wearing a black dress as her mother had asked her to wear it for dinner. Removing her jacket, she held out her arms. “What do you think?”
“I think your parents, and Wayne’s, are a piece of work. It’s not unusual in our families though.”
“I know. It’s just surreal that before I was much more than a few days old, it was decided that I was going to be with Wayne. It’s not happening,” she said.
“Do you really think I’d let something like that happen?”
She watched as he went to his drawers, and pulled out a long shirt, and a pair of sweatpants.
“Go and get cleaned up. I’ll call our back up, and let them know what is going on.”
“Thank you.” Before she left, she went toward him, placing a hand on his chest, and going up to her toes, she pressed a kiss against his lips. “You’re too good for me.”
“We’re perfect for each other.”
Licking her lips, she entered his bathroom, and took a quick glance in the mirror. This was her last day as a seventeen year old, and right now, she felt like her world was crashing down around her. An arranged marriage. Weren’t they illegal?
After a quick shower, and changing into Eli’s clothes, she entered his bedroom to find him flicking through the channels.
“You look so cute,” he said, patting the bed beside him.
“What did the others say?” she asked.
“They’re pissed, obviously. It explains why Wayne has been acting so smug. He knew what was going to happen long before you.”