Let Life Happen

by Jaqueline Snowe

  Just after seven, Maya and Kennedy waltzed in like they owned the place, waving at everyone and flirting with the bouncer.

  “Sluts! I have your drinks ready for you,” I catcalled.

  “Thanks, baby cakes. Good, no one’s started yet. I like to nest before it gets crowded.” Maya swaggered in the only way she could—exaggerated hip movements and hair flipping. She eyed the bar, looking for competition to take down.

  “You are so weird. Go sit. I’ll bring your pitchers in a second.”

  She blew me a kiss and winked at Joel. He made a way too sexual face for me to witness, and I audibly gagged. “Knock that shit off, Joel. Not my roommates. I couldn’t stand the thought of seeing you the next morning.”

  He scoffed. “Like you’d be there in the morning. Heard you’ve been shacking up with Aiden lately.”

  “People actually talk about what we do?” My blood chilled at the thought.

  “It’s what happens when the campus king isn’t at parties anymore. You’ve tamed the wild stallion.”

  “Wild stallion.” I laughed. “That’s ridiculous.”

  He punched me in the arm playfully and motioned with his head toward the door. “Your stallion is headed this way right now. Yee-haw.”

  “You’re such a shit.” I flicked water at him before turning around to see Aiden and his friends approaching the bar.

  “What’s up, guys?” I nodded at all of them, but Aiden’s eyes never left my face. He looked good. It was sad how happy I was to see him. I didn’t stay the night with him last night, and it was the first time I’d seen him since yesterday. I was a schmuck.

  “Heard it was karaoke night, and you know I can’t pass up some good karaoke. Hey, are those your friends up there?” Zeke asked as soon as he plopped down on a barstool.

  “Yeah, they had their own table reserved. Perks of knowing the bartender. And living with her. Can I grab you guys something to drink?”

  They gave me their orders. Then Maya noticed them. She joined them at the bar and offered them a place at their table. It was weird to see Zeke, Nate, Jon, and Kam sitting with my friends. I was just overanalyzing, though, because we’d all hung out numerous times.

  “You going to continue to stare at me or order a drink?” I teased Aiden, as he was still standing on the other side of the bar, not saying anything.

  “I might just stare at you. You look good.” He eyed me up and down, and I shivered in response. “Any chance you’ll get a free moment tonight to come hang out with us?”

  “Probably. Cyn’s coming back tonight, so I’m just your average bartender again. Not bartender slash manager slash juggler.”

  He smiled at my joke and reached over the bar to pull at my hair. “Good. It’s hard as hell to not touch you right now.”

  I bit my bottom lip in response and shrugged. “You know my rules. No groping the workers.”

  He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “Such a tease. Well, if you get any time, stop by our table. I know it’s hard for you to leave the bar’s protection, but it worked out pretty well last time.”

  He walked away, and I only checked out his ass in those jeans twice before taking a new drink order.

  “Checking out a frat guy. Definitely a new one for you, J.”

  “Cyn!” I turned around to see her standing there with her arms crossed and a radiant smile on her face. “You look fucking great.”

  “Thanks, J. Don’t think we’re going to ignore what I just witnessed. We still need to talk about what happened at Thanksgiving.”

  I shook my head. “Hard pass. We don’t need to talk about anything.”

  She nodded slowly. “Uh-huh. You and Aiden Chad.”

  “Yeah.” I tucked my chin, sheepish.

  “You look happy. And his attention has wandered over here every couple seconds since I’ve been here. You, my lady, are in trouble.” One eyebrow quirked.

  “You know me. Trouble’s my middle name.”

  “You have a customer, but sometime this week we are catching up.” Cyn sighed, speaking quietly. “This makes me sound like a terrible mother, and I love Ainsley to death, but it feels good to leave the house for more than a walk in the park.”

  “We’ll definitely grab lunch or something. And, Cyn, no one would ever call you a terrible mother, so you better hope Gage doesn’t hear you say those words aloud.”

  She laughed and walked into the back office. I had no orders to take, food to run, or glasses to clean, so I left the bar to join my friends at the table.

  “J! Zeke and I signed up to do a Run DMC song. We’re up next!” Maya shrieked. She was clearly feeling her drinks, and it made me smile to see her so carefree.

  “Thanks for the warning. I’ll make sure to be out back.”

  “Ha-ha-ha. So funny.” She smirked.

  Aiden pulled me down so I fell into his lap. “I missed your face today.”

  “Wow. Such a romantic.” I tried to get up, but his arms came around me. With a knowing smile, Kennedy watched us the whole time.

  “Guess who just asked me to the winter formal?” Maya squealed, pointing her thumb to Jon sitting next to her.

  “That’s awesome news. Way to go, Jon!” I cheered at them.

  Jon blushed a little and shrugged at the attention. Zeke broke the moment by asking a question I never would have thought I’d care about.

  “So, Jenna, what are yours and Aiden’s plans for Saturday?”

  “Uh, I don’t know. We usually don’t plan anything too far ahead. I’m a day-at-a-time gal.”

  Zeke frowned, and I felt Aiden stiffen beneath me. “You’re not going to our winter formal?”

  “Uh, I don’t think so.” My stomach dropped and filled with trepidation. It had been a long time since I felt the icy claws of dread grip my emotions. The feeling you got when you had fifteen missed calls from a loved one but no voicemails. I avoided situations that had me feeling this way, and I was pissed I let myself get to this point. I immediately stood and excused myself, ignoring both Kennedy’s and Maya’s stares.

  “Jenna. Hey. Wait up.” Aiden, of course, followed me, but I didn’t want to deal with whatever was happening at the moment.

  “What? I have shit I have to do. Sorry,” I snapped, giving away emotions I wanted to hide. I kept walking and hopped under the bar, closing the partition so he couldn’t follow me. Even though patrons weren’t allowed behind the bar, I didn’t think Aiden would abide by the rules. I was right. He tried lifting it. “Nope. No patrons behind the bar.”

  “Jenna. Please.” He was blinking fast and continuously running his hands through his hair. A habit I knew came out when he was stressed, but I wasn’t worried about him.

  “Just give me a minute, okay.” I took a deep breath, poured myself a glass of Sprite, and walked into the back cooler.

  “Pull yourself together. Jesus.” I kicked a bag of mayo packets on the floor just as Joel walked in.

  “Having a pity party of one? You should’ve invited me.”

  “No. I’m overreacting to something. It is incredibly stupid. Nothing, really.” I fisted my hands, hoping it would help. It didn’t at all.

  “Whatever’s happening, Aiden looks upset. He’s impatiently tapping his hands on the bar and eyeing this door like it’s a ticking bomb. What did he do?”

  I groaned, frustrated. “He didn’t do anything. I’m pissed at myself.”

  “Then why are you hiding back here?”

  “Because, Joel, I’m acting like a dumbass girl.”

  “Hate to break it to you, but you are a girl and sometimes you’re a dumbass, too. It’s okay to act like both at the same time. Even though you probably have bigger balls than me.” He grinned.

  His joke got a smile out of me, but I shook my head. “Promise not to laugh?”

  “No, but try me. We’re family, Jenna. I may laugh at you, but only after I know you’re okay first.” He gripped my shoulder.

&
nbsp; “It was something so simple. Zeke, one of Aiden’s friends, asked me what our plans were for Saturday and why I wasn’t preparing for the winter formal. Maya was asked to go. I wasn’t. My, uh, person—I don’t know what to call Aiden—he never asked me. He’s the president of his frat. He has to go. I never thought about going until now.”

  “You’re upset he didn’t ask you?”

  “Yes. Ugh. I hate admitting it out loud.” I punched a box to make myself feel better. “Ten more seconds, then I’m going back out there.”

  “J. You need to tell him you’re upset. Be honest. You aren’t helping anyone by bottling it all in. You don’t do this shit in a relationship.”

  I shrugged. “We aren’t in one.”

  “You are. But you’ll admit it when you’re ready. Now go out there.” He pushed me out of the cooler, and I was greeted by pained charcoal eyes.

  I sighed and motioned for him to follow me toward the back alley.

  He put his hand on my back out of habit and grabbed the back of my shirt. “Babe. Please let me explain everything. It all makes sense. I promise.” He pleaded with me.

  I put my hand on his shoulder, somehow comforting him, and shook my head. “You can explain, but I’m sorry for how I reacted. That wasn’t normal for me.”

  “No. You’re totally fine. I was the one who messed up. This might sound crazy, but I forgot about asking you. I just…I don’t know. I assumed we were going together. I’ve been so focused on school and not sleeping with you that I forgot to ask you to the biggest dance of the year. God, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” I realized I didn’t need to be asked. He was right. We hung out almost every day before we ever began this “thing” between us, and we would’ve hung out Saturday anyway. I laughed to myself, causing him to raise his eyebrows at me. He was still anxious. I saw the worry lines around his eyes. “What were you hoping to happen? Call me up Saturday and tell me to wear a dress or something?”

  “Would it be weird to say yes or I just thought you already knew?”

  I chuckled. “I understand. Thank you for explaining. It just threw me off guard. That’s all.”

  “So we’re good?” he asked softly.

  “Yes.”

  “And alone?”

  “Yes…why?”

  He picked me up so my legs were straddling him and kissed me so deeply and passionately I forgot where I was. We were the only people in existence in the universe. His touch and taste were magnetic, pulling me deeper into this unknown void.

  “Wow. Okay. Wow.” I shook my head to bring myself back down to Earth. “I should, uh, get back in there.”

  “Yeah.” He had to adjust himself to hide the evidence of our little make-out session. “I might just wait out here a couple minutes to, ah, cool down.” He flashed me a sheepish smile.

  “Good call.” I opened the door to the bar and turned around to catch him looking at my ass. “For the record, Aiden, I still don’t have plans Saturday.”

  I went back to work. No one treated me any differently because of my freak-out.

  I hip bumped Joel a little while later, after the bar was in full swing. “Thank you, Joel.”

  “You’re welcome.” He pulled me in for a half hug.

  Despite my aversion to feelings or hugs or emotion in general, I’d been having more moments in my life lately. Fuck it. I was beginning to see the love that flowed from the people who surrounded me. Maybe I was PMS-ing or something, but I just felt like one of the luckiest people in the world.

  “You see your man candy signed up to sing a song?” Joel asked.

  “No. He’s a terrible singer.” I shot him a look.

  “Yup. He’s up next. Maya and Zeke did a great job. She can really sing.”

  “I know. It’s why I let her live with me. It’s like waking up to Cinderella every morning.”

  He chuckled, and I saw my table of friends all look over at me with sketchy smiles. I narrowed my eyes and tilted my chin up at them. I didn’t like the way they were looking at me or the fact Aiden was nowhere in sight.

  I ignored them and went back to cleaning shit, when I heard a voice pour out through the bar. It was an awful, off-pitch voice singing two octaves too high. I whipped my head up to see Aiden on the pseudo stage, singing “Perfect” by Pink.

  “Oh God. No way.” I stood there frozen, watching him sing—terribly, by the way—until it got to the chorus. Then he changed the lyrics. Holy. Shit.

  “Pretty, pretty please, would you go to winter formal with me? You’re nothing less than fucking perfect.”

  The crowd burst into cheers and hollers, but it wasn’t over yet. “Jenna, pretty please, if you say no to me, I’ll keep singing and asking.”

  He finished the chorus, but it was drowned out by the crowd chanting, “Say yes! Say yes!”

  He stepped away from the mic and stalked toward the bar. Then, like a scene from a movie, he hopped over the counter and stood directly in front of me. He grabbed my hand and got down on one knee. “Jenna, would you please do me the honor of attending the winter formal with me this Saturday?”

  I was so overwhelmed. “Get up. Come on.”

  “Yes or no, Jenna?”

  “Jesus. Fine.” I tugged on his hand.

  “She said yes!” he shouted, causing the entire bar to burst into applause. Even Cyn was clapping like a loon with her phone out, videoing the whole thing. He picked me up and swirled me around, kissing me in front of everyone.

  “Aiden! Put me down!”

  He squeezed tighter. “Nope. I’m not done feeling you up yet.”

  “I’m, uh, still at work, and people are watching us with creepy smiles on their faces.”

  “Let ’em watch us. We are really good-looking.”

  I growled. “Still a cocky punk.”

  “I may be cocky, but I have the hottest, most badass date for Saturday, so I reserve the right to be.”

  His smile was infectious, and I grinned into his shoulder. “God, you’re laying it on thick tonight, but I’m eating it up. Now get out from behind my bar before I change my mind.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He complied as I shooed him away.

  He exited the bar in a more mannered way and accepted high-fives from various patrons. Once he sat down, Joel came over and put his hand on my shoulder. “Oh. My. God. Guess who’s going to prom with the coolest kid in school?”

  Chapter 32

  What Happens In the Photo Booth Stays In the Booth-Aiden

  PICK up the corsage and flowers. Pick up food. Lay out suit. Call limo service to double-check reservations. Call DJ. Stop by the hall with liquor for approval.

  I mentally went through the list of shit I needed to do before we went to pick up Jenna and her friends. I had eight hours to get everything done, and I needed to book it.

  “Jon! Nate! Get your asses in here.” I sat at my desk with a mission to complete. I needed their help to get everything done.

  “What’s up?” Nate came in with a stupid grin on his face.

  “Why are you smiling like a bitch?”

  He shrugged, hands in his pockets. “Ah, nothing. Pumped for tonight actually. Glad Kennedy said yes.”

  “Good for you, man. I need you to stop by the hall and drop off the booze. I’m swamped with everything and could really use the help.” I hoped it didn’t sound like a demand.

  “No problem. You ready for tonight?”

  “Hell titties.” I cringed when I realized I stole one of Jenna’s sayings.

  “Jenna?”

  “Yeah. Embarrassing. Shit.” I rubbed a hand down my face.

  “No worries. Hey, your little proposal hit the net. You’re trending right now.”

  “No fucking way.”

  “Yup. Search hashtag Jaiden. That’s your couple name.” He chuckled.

  “We aren’t officially a couple or anything, man. We aren’t labeling it.”

  “You take like
ten steps forward and eleven back. Whatever. I’ll go drop the drinks off now and catch ya later. Deuces.”

  “Deuces? What a douchebag,” Jon mumbled when Nate ran out the door. “You need something? I was in the middle of watching Family Guy, so this better be important.”

  “Can you help me for thirty minutes or so?”

  He nodded once. “You got it. What you need?”

  “Preapprove a list of songs for tonight. I don’t trust our DJ. And call a couple of the alumni to see if they’re coming. If they are, we need to be sure to tone it down until they leave.”

  “Will do. I’ll let you know what I find out.” He saluted and headed out.

  “Awesome.”

  Seven hours later, I was dressed to the nines, as were Jon and Nate, and we were on our way to pick up the girls in the party limo we’d rented for the night. I wiped my palms on my pants because I couldn’t stop sweating.

  “You nervous?” Nate goaded.

  “Fuck off. Nah. I ain’t nervous,” I lied.

  “Dude. You’re sweating.”

  “Is it obvious?”

  “You look like a whore in church,” Nate said in such a somber tone I burst out laughing.

  “Okay, thanks for that. I needed it.”

  “It’s what I’m good for: well-timed one-liners and an insane ability to chug beer.”

  Jon remained quiet throughout the ride, but I didn’t get to ask him about it before we arrived. “Here goes, boys.”

  I walked toward their door, flowers in hand, and knocked.

  Jenna opened the door, and my breath caught in my throat. Her hair hung in curls around her strong shoulders. The dress—holy shit, her dress—was dark green and clung to her every curve. She smiled shyly, and I felt it throughout my entire body. Her smile became something I lived to see. It made my world better. My happiness depended on making her smile.

  “You okay, Aiden?” Her eyes grew concerned at my silence, and she stepped forward to put her hand on my face. I couldn’t talk yet, so I just nodded.

  “You look so handsome. I’m going to have a hard time taking my eyes off you.” She searched my eyes for something.