Unending Love

by Yesenia Vargas

  Someone opened the door for her, and she turned around to smile and thank whoever it was.

  Instead, Ariana froze at the face staring back at her.

  “Ariana.”

  She moved out of the way to let other people in and out and turned back to him.

  “Lucas.”

  She swept her hair out of her eyes and quickly looked him up and down. He was in a black suit and tie.

  Damn. He looked good. Not like she remembered him. He looked happy. Rested.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked. She thought she saw him checking her out too, and she smoothed down her dress and hoped her hair looked okay. She hadn’t had that much time to get ready after getting here from Athens.

  “I’m meeting Mayra and Jimmy for dinner. We’re celebrating.”

  “Graduation?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Us too.” He indicated behind him, and she saw his family seated outside. His mom and sisters. His mom stood up and came over. His sisters followed after her.

  They looked so grown up.

  “Are they in middle school now? High school?”

  He nodded. “Middle school. Almost high school.”

  “Como estas?” his mom said, coming in for a hug.

  “Bien. Y usted?” she replied.

  “Good,” she said. His mom looked older, with more wrinkles, but less stressed.

  She smiled. His sisters looked beautiful in purple and blue dresses and their hair done. They had a little bit of makeup on.

  “Look at you two,” she said quietly at them.

  “Hi, Ariana,” one of them said. The other sister looked too shy to say anything. “Are you here to eat with us too?”

  “Oh, uh—” she began. What was she supposed to say to that?

  “We’d love it if you could,” Lucas said, looking at her. His mom smiled and nodded. “No pressure, though,” he added.

  She froze then nodded. “Um, let me get Jimmy and Mayra. They’re around here too. Yeah, I’ll be right back,” she said with a quick smile. She went inside and looked for those two.

  What were the odds, she thought. This was so awkward, but she couldn’t tell them no. She’d have to sit through this dinner with Lucas. Tomorrow, she’d be back to living life without him. She just hoped his girlfriend wasn’t gonna show up too.

  “Hey, you,” Mayra said, coming up to her. Jimmy was right behind her. The stubble covering the bottom part of his face made him look so grown up.

  “You two look hot,” she said, momentarily forgetting her run-in with Lucas and her family.

  “You too,” Mayra said.

  She went to hug Jimmy. He squeezed her hard, and it was too much. Tears flowed down her face.

  “I missed you so much,” she whispered best she could in his ear, but it was impossible to reach him.

  “I missed you too,” he said, kissing her cheek. “How are you?”

  It was a loaded question. School, herself, Lucas.

  “I’m good,” she said, convincing herself at least, and remembering what had just happened a few minutes before.

  “Um, guess what?” She turned to face them both.

  “I, uh, ran into Lucas and his family, and now we’re eating with them. If that’s okay, I mean.”

  Jimmy looked puzzled, and Mayra made a face like “whoa.”

  “We just happened to run into each other, and one of his sisters thought I was meeting them for dinner too, and I thought it was rude to say no when they invited me. So yeah. We’re eating with them. Is that okay with you guys?” Everything was coming out way too fast, and Ariana’s heart was beating erratically, and she had no idea what to even do with her hands.

  “If it’s okay with you,” Jimmy said immediately.

  She nodded. “I’ll live, I guess. I pretty much said yes, and it’d be even more awkward to go back and say no.”

  “I was about to say,” Mayra began. “That was fast.”

  Ariana shook her head. “Definitely not. And you said he had a girlfriend, remember?”

  She nodded. “I’ll go tell the hostess,” Mayra said before walking off.

  “This should be interesting,” Jimmy said.

  ###

  Ariana peeked at her phone again under the table.

  “Do you have to be somewhere?” Lucas asked quietly. He was seated right beside her.

  “Oh no. Sorry,” she replied, putting her phone back in her purse. She didn’t know what to say so she kept her mouth shut and looked down at her plate.

  Everyone was finishing up eating, so she hoped they’d get up to leave soon. Luckily, no girlfriend had ever showed up.

  It had been fun catching up with his family, but she just wanted to get home. She thought she was over Lucas, and she almost was, but there was a small part of her that still hurt for what they’d lost.

  She had no idea how Lucas felt, but she didn’t want to find out. She just wanted to get outta there.

  “Here you go,” the waitress said. “It’s been a pleasure havin’ ya.” She handed each group their checks.

  She took Jimmy and Mayra’s check. “I got this, guys.” She hadn’t made much money on her last paid internship, but she had managed to save a little pile of cash.

  Jimmy began to protest, but she stopped him. “I said I got it.”

  “Thanks, bestie,” Mayra said from the other side of Jimmy.

  “No problem.”

  A few minutes later, they were all walking out. She sighed in relief. She just wanted to go home, hang out with Jimmy and Mayra a bit, and crash. Tomorrow, she’d start job hunting and hopefully soon, apartment hunting.

  She couldn’t wait to have her own place and a decent paycheck. College life had been fun, but she was ready to move on to the next part of her life.

  “It was nice seeing you guys,” she told Lucas, his mom, and his sisters. “Take care.”

  They came in one for one last hug, and they began walking to their car on the opposite side of the parking lot. It was just Jimmy, Mayra, and her now.

  “We’re on that side too, actually,” Mayra said, nodding in the direction Lucas and his family had just walked off to.

  “Oh, I’m over here. You guys want to meet up in a few minutes?” Ariana asked.

  Jimmy and Mayra looked at each other and nodded. “My house?” Mayra asked.

  “See you there.” She turned to walk towards her car. A minute later, she was getting in when she heard footsteps approaching quickly. She turned, expecting Jimmy.

  Only it wasn’t Jimmy.

  It was Lucas.

  “Hey,” he said. “Can I…talk to you for a minute?”

  She nodded. “What do you want to talk about?”

  She wondered whether she should close her car door or leave it open. How long was this going to take?

  He came a few steps closer, until he was just two feet from her.

  Whoa, she thought. Too close. Her heart began to speed up.

  “I know it’s been almost four years,” Lucas began. “And you probably think I’m an asshole for what happened and you probably hated seeing me tonight and having to eat with us—”

  “I don’t hate you,” she interrupted.

  “What?”

  “I don’t hate you,” she repeated. “Was it awkward seeing you again? Hell yeah.” They laughed. Awkwardly. “But I don’t hate you.”

  He stayed silent for a few seconds before going on.

  “What I’m trying to say is…I’ve never been able to stop thinking about you. And the more time passes, the more I’m sure I made the biggest mistake of my life letting you go four years ago.”

  She couldn’t believe what he was saying. “Wait. Don’t you have a girlfriend or something?”

  “No,” he said. “I did. Briefly, but it didn’t work out. Wait. Do you have a boyfriend? I guess I should have asked that first, huh?”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, you should have asked. No, I don’t have one.”

&nbs
p; She tried to go back to getting into her car.

  “So can we, I don’t know, start over?” he continued. “Be friends again? Be more than friends?”

  Ariana’s breath caught, and she turned to look at him again. Her face felt hot.

  “I have to know something first,” she said quietly. She took a step towards him.

  “I know I couldn’t give you what you deserved last time. You deserved better. You still do. I can give you that now. I will do whatever it takes to make you happy. I promise.”

  “You know I love your family,” she said. “But you shouldn’t have to put them aside for me. They need you.”

  “They’ll always need me,” he said. Her heart sank a little. “Not as much as before, though. I naturalized my mom this year. She has a license now. She’s gonna go back to school. She already has a better job. I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t know I could give all of myself to you.”

  “Wow,” she said with a smile. “I’m happy for you. And I don’t know what to say. Maybe this is too fast.”

  He took her hands. “What do you want to say?”

  She met his gaze and paused to look at him a few seconds. “I’m not saying yes to being your girlfriend just yet. But yes, I want to give us another chance.”

  Lucas smiled, and it made her smile. Maybe this could work. Either way, she had to know.

  “What did you want to know?” he asked. “Earlier.”

  She paused, wondering how to say what she wanted to say. “I wanted to know for sure that I still had feelings for you.”

  Lucas’s mouth fell open a little, and she took the opportunity to take the last step towards him and kiss him. His hands went right to her hips.

  He gave a tiny groan in his throat as her lips moved against hers.

  She pulled back a couple inches, trying to focus on her breathing.

  Yep. She definitely still felt something. She stared at his mouth, his eyes.

  “So when can I take you out on a date?” Lucas whispered.

  ###

  A few minutes later, Ariana was finally buckling her seat belt and turning on her car.

  What had just happened? She had not expected things to go that way, but they had, and she realized she did not have a problem with it.

  Maybe Lucas was the one. No one else had felt like the one, like Lucas. She wasn’t sure yet, but she’d find out.

  She made herself stop smiling at least a little, but it was impossible. She was smiling like an idiot right now.

  She had Lucas’s new phone number saved in her phone, he had hers, and he was going to wine and dine her.

  Before she went to pull out of her parking space, her phone buzzed. She wondered if it was Lucas. That was fast.

  But it wasn’t Lucas this time. It was Mayra.

  Let me guess. Going out with Lucas?

  How did she know? She sent her three question marks followed by three exclamation marks.

  Saw Lucas heading back in your direction ;) BTW, Jimmy says if he breaks your heart again, he’s kicking his ass.

  A Letter to You, the Reader

  First, I just want to take a moment to say thank you. So much. For taking the time to read my book. I truly hope you enjoyed it and it impacted you in a positive way.

  I’ll be honest and say I’m still not sure if there will be another book in this series, but if you want to be the first to find out and see what else I’m working on, make sure to sign up for my mailing list at http://mad.ly/signups/97949/join. It’s completely safe, and you’ll get notified about new releases and limited time sales.

  One more thing. Whether you enjoyed the book or not, I’d really appreciate an honest review wherever you purchased this book. If you do, please send me a copy via email at yeseniavargas32@gmail.com, and I’ll send you your choice of a free review copy of another of my books.

  If you’d just like to share your thoughts about this book with me, the email above works as well.

  Again, thanks for reading!

  About the Author

  In my pretty much nonexistent free time, I love to read (preferably on my Kindle), write, edit other writers’ books, attempt to stay active, and spend time with family. I live with my fiance and daughter in Georgia.

  If you’d like to see what I’m up to or where I hang out online, check out my website: http://yeseniavargas.com/

  Acknowledgements

  A huge thanks to my family and best friend for their amazing support throughout the production of this book. My best friend, Zendy, is there with me through it all. Shoutout to my little girl for reminding me that sometimes I need to take a step back and just enjoy the little moments with her. She’s my life.

  My editor, Brenda, has continued to be amazing, especially for catching inconsistencies and typos that slipped by even when I read this book over and over again.

  Last but not least, a HUGE SHOUTOUT to my biggest fan, Kendra Ayers, who does not relent in cheering on Ariana, Mayra, and Jimmy and expressed her utmost support every step of the way. More thanks to everyone who signed up for advanced review copies and posted their honest reviews.

  I appreciate each and every person who helped me on this journey and played a part in writing and publishing Unending Love. Thanks so much.