For the next two months Aiden and I spend a lot more time together. He finally met my dad, and he even took a trip down to Corpus Christi with Scarlett and I. He met my mom, and we hung out on campus with Conner. I could tell that Conner was warming up to him, but before we left he still told me to be cautious of him. I'm sure Ross or Scarlett told him what happened that weekend Scarlett and I were there.
School starts next week, so Aiden and I agreed to spend a few days apart. I promised Ross I would spend a day with him, and when I told Aiden he got upset.
"I understand why you don't like him, but he's one of my best friends. I'm not going to just end a friendship of a lifetime because I got a boyfriend. I'm sorry Aiden, but this one you have to understand. Please don't make me choose." We're sitting at the lake in our spot waiting on the sun to set.
"Fine, but I'm serious Mora. I know he likes you. I just want you to be honest with me if he tries something."
"Aiden, I've been friends with him for years. He's never tried anything, and I'm sure he's not going to start now." and I roll my eyes at him. He can tell he's getting on my nerves so he drops it.
"Fine."
"Thank you." and I put my palm on his cheek and kiss the corner of his mouth.
"Mmm."
"What?" I ask. "Nothing. I just really love your kisses." and he grins at me. I'm glad he's over our conversation about Ross.
"Oh yeah?" I say, and then I kiss the other side of his mouth.
"Mmhmm." then I kiss his nose, and go down his cheek to his neck. "What about here?" and I kiss his neck again. I can feel his pulse quicken, and he ducks his head sideways until his lips find mine, and we start kissing again until we fall into the blanket, and he's on top of me.
The past couple months have been amazing. I can't get enough of Aiden.
After about thirty minutes of kissing, he pulls away taking a deep breath. "Okay, so tomorrow I'm going to hangout with the guys, and you're hanging out with Ross?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Damn it Mora. I've seen you everyday. I don't know what I'm going to do." and I laugh at him. "Aiden, it's one week. We'll survive." and he pouts his lips out at me. "Girl, you got me hooked." and he winks at me, then starts kissing me on the neck. I can't help but laugh. I have so much fun with Aiden.
Ross picks me up at one the next day. "Hey, where are we going?" I ask him as I start changing his radio station. "I thought we could drive down to Dave and Busters?"
"Sure that sounds fun." I'm excited to hangout with him for the day. He seems like he's excited too.
"How are you and Sophie doing?" I ask him on the way. "We're good. She keeps me going."
"Oh yeah? I hear she has a crazy side." I try to not be rude, but the truth is I'm just not a fan of her. It might have something to do with Aiden, but I just don't like her.
"She does have a lot of energy." Ross replies.
"How are you and Aiden?" he asks.
After he told me Aiden kissed someone, I had to tell him that we got over it and started going out. I could tell he wasn't pleased, but he chose to support it.
"We're doing good. He's hanging out with Josh, and Shawn tonight." I answer.
"Cool. What are they up to?"
"I'm not sure. I think they're going to play paint guns, and maybe go out to Zach's party."
"Oh. Are you going after we hang out?" he asks.
"No, I wasn't planning on it. Aiden and I made a pact that we were not hanging out until school starts."
"Oh yeah? Sophie would kill me if I even considered that." and we both snicker at his comment.
"Was she okay with us hanging out today?" I ask.
"Was Aiden?" he shoots back my question.
"No, no. I asked first." and I raise an eyebrow at him.
"I mean, she wasn't excited, but she's dealing with it." and he smiles big, and I mock his answer. "I mean, he wasn't excited, but he's dealing with it." and he laughs, but then I feel a little guilty like I was making fun of Aiden for a second, so I change the subject really fast.
"So do you think they have pacman here?"
"I'm sure they do." he says.
Once we get a table, we order some nachos. "So are you ready for school?" I ask him.
"No." he admits to me. "Mom said since I'm starting college it's time I get a job too. So next weekend I start a job at a parts store. I used that summer I worked at your dads on my resume. I just hope I can bluff my knowledge long enough to figure it out." and I can't help but laugh at him. Last summer dad let him work at the shop, but he messed more stuff up then he fixed. My dad had to finally sit him down and let him know he just wasn't meant to fix cars, but learning parts shouldn't be as hard. I hoped not anyway for his sake.
"So you're a senior now. Has it hit you yet?" he asks while pulling a chip off the plate.
"No, not yet. But I'm ready and I've been putting more thought into possibly going to A&M with Conner if they accept me." and Ross's head drops. "Damn it Mor you can't leave me too." and he looks serious. I pout my lip out at him. "Sorry Ross. But hey, who knows. That's a year from now, and my plans could totally change by then."
"Does Aiden want to go there?" he brings Aiden up again. We're not serious enough to be discussing future plans like that.
"I'm not sure. We haven't talked about school yet."
"Oh." I can tell that Ross is confused about my answer, but he doesn't push me, instead he wipes his face with a napkin, and jumps up dusting the crumbs off his shirt. "Well let's go get your ass kicked at some arcade" He teases, and I respond "You wish!"
We spend most of the night there until we're both out of money. "Gosh, Dave and Busters is so expensive." I complain after I hand the waiter my card. "Yeah, that's why we need jobs." Ross responds. "Thanks for bringing me Ross. I had a lot of fun tonight." and it's true. I had a blast tonight, and I missed hanging out with him. I hope we can do it again soon.
Once we leave and get to the car I check my phone, and Aiden has text me.
Are you having fun?
I text him right back.
Yes. We went to Dave and Busters to play arcade. Are you having fun?
Yeah. It's ok. I kicked ass at paintball. I guess we are about to go to Zachs, but if you want to hangout I can totally backout of that.
What about our pact?
What about it.
Aiden...
Ok. Ok. Well I'm going to Zachs. Maybe I'll run into u there... ;)
Lol. Maybe.
"Aiden?" Ross assumes right. "Yeah. He wants me to go to Zachs."
"So does Sophie. I guess we could just ride there together? If you want." he offers.
"I guess so. Do you care if I call Scarlett to see if she wants to come?" I would call Emily, but she left for school last week.
"No I don't care." he answers, so I go ahead and call Scarlett to see if she'll come.
"Hello." She answers after the third ring. "Hey, what are you doing tonight?"
"Nothing planned. What's up?"
"Want to go to Zach's party with me and Ross?"
"I can't believe he's having another party. How does he get away with it?" she's going off course.
"Who knows. I guess they are out of town a lot. But do you want to go?"
"Sure. What are you wearing?" She always asks me what I'm wearing. I guess she wants to make sure she's not under dressed.
"I'm wearing a light hoodie with my ripped skinny jeans, and converse." While I'm answering her, Ross rolls his eyes at me.
"Okay. I'm not going to dress up I don't think." she says.
"Okay. Well we'll be there in about ten minutes to pick you up."
"Ten minutes!" she yells.
"I thought you weren't dressing up?" I make her hear my annoyance over the phone.
"Well I'm really not now. That's not enough time for anything." Now I roll my eyes and ignore her. "See you in a minute." and I hang up on her.
"She can be so annoying sometimes." Ross says.
"Tell me about it."
Once we get to her house we have to wait outside for about fifteen minutes before she comes down. She has her hair up in a tight bun, and is also wearing a hoodie and skinny jeans and some Roxy shoes.
"That's a nice twenty five minute outfit." I gripe at her, but she ignores me.
"Hey Ross."
"Hey Scar. How ya been?"
"I've been good. How are you and Sophie doing?" she asks him, and he turns around to answer her "Good."
"Is Aiden going to be there tonight?" Scarlett changes her direction to me. "Yes." I answer. "I knew that pact wouldn't last for two minutes." she says sarcastically, and Ross laughs. "Say's the girl who video chats her boyfriend every other hour." and then Ross laughs louder and I join in. "Whatever!" Scarlett says back.
Once we're almost there Scarlett says "Zoe is going to be there tonight." Great. "Really?" I respond. "Yeah, I guess she is dating Zach now."
"What happened to Melrose?" I ask her because I haven't talked to Zoe since that night she left me drunk with that weird guy.
"He cheated on her." she claims, and I don't respond, but Ross does. "So now she's with Zach? That's weird." and it is weird. Zach is the captain of the football team, and Zoe is more of an intellectual. I've never seen her even look at a jock, especially someone like Zach. He's sort of an airhead.
"I think they're cute." Scarlett answers. "You think everyone is cute together." I respond, and she just ignores me.
Scarlett is a total optimist. Ross, and I are more cynics; AKA, realist, so she's alone with her opinions in this car ride.
"I guess I do. Just sue me for it." and we laugh at her again. "Why are you guys picking on me?" She's getting aggravated with us. "I'm sorry. We're just teasing you." I say. "Well it's not funny." She's being sensitive tonight. "I'm sorry Scar. I really didn't mean to upset you."
"It's okay. I'm sorry. I'm just tired I guess."
"Are you sure you want to go tonight?" I ask, and she answers "Yeah. I'm sure".
"Cool."
Once we get there we drive up the long driveway, and I see Aiden's jeep as we pull in which means he's not drinking.
We walk into the house and Sophie runs up to Ross. "Hey babe." she says and wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him, then she stares at Scarlett and I not letting him go. "Hey Scarlett, hey Mora."
"Hey girl." Scarlett say's back. She always has to be so nice. "Hey Sophie. How are you?" I try to make conversation. I still can't believe Aiden likes her. "I'm good now that this sexy guy is here." She says, and Ross just rolls his eyes at her before she kisses him again. I could vomit just looking at them, so I decide to leave them to do their thing.
I look around and Aiden's nowhere to be found. "I guess he's outside." Scarlett and I leave to go out back. Scarlett see's Aiden first. He's at the grill flipping burgers with Elliot so I decide to sneak up behind him. I put my hands around his waist, and say "What you got cookin' hot stuff?" and he jumps before he turns around. "I knew you couldn't resist me Andrews." he teases me, and then leans in to kiss my cheek. "Hey." I say to him.
"Hi." he responds with a smile.
"You two are gross." Scarlett interrupts. "Scar, I don't want to hear it." and it's true. For years I've had to watch my brother and her grovel allover each other until I was sick to my stomach. Aiden, and I could never be that bad.
"Hey Scarlett." Aiden says.
"Hey guys." She includes Elliot, and Elliot throws his arm around her neck. "Hey baby. I missed you today" he jokes with her every time she comes around. I think Elliot has always been in love with Scarlett, but it never seemed to bother my brother. "Oh whatever." she screeches and pushes his arms off of her and turns around really quickly, and we all laugh. Scarlett is easy to mess with. "Where's the keg? I can't handle you guys sobar tonight." and she stomps off without getting an answer.
Elliot throws his arm around me next, and asks "When is your brother going to find a new girl so my dreams of marrying Scarlett will finally come true?" his beer breath is hot on my face, and I pull away.
"Ew." is all I can mutter, and Aiden starts laughing at us.
"Bro, I have to take Conners' side now. It's an unspoken thing now since I'm his sister's boyfriend. My suggestion to you is to back off for now." he's still laughing and Elliot responds "Whatever." and walks away tripping over his feet.
"Wow." I fall into Aiden's chest. "With or without Conner, what makes Elliot think he could ever land Scarlett?" I joke out loud, but Aiden ignores my comment while holding me closely. "What are you thinking about?" I ask him, keeping my head in his chest.
"I'm thinking I got stuck grilling these burgers because I thought you were going to be M.I.A. tonight, but here you are." he has his nose in my hair. "And now I just want to make-out." he looks down and smiles, and I just huff at him.
"I don't do P.D.A. Remember?" I say to him, but he keeps ignoring me.
"Forget these burgers, let's go sit by the bonfire." and he grabs my hand pulling me away.
"Wait, who's going to watch the food?" I look behind me at the grill while he's still dragging me along, and Aiden laughs.
"Who cares." and this time he wraps his hands around my stomach standing behind me pushing me to the chairs around the fire. He sits down before me pulling me up on his lap. Scarlett is already sitting there next to us, and across the fire sits Zach and Zoe. Zoe gives me a small sympathetic waive, while Zach is chugging beer out of a funnel. Wow. What a classy guy. I go ahead and waive back at Zoe, but I don't approach her. I'm still really mad at her for what happened at Melrose's friends party, and she could tell because she doesn't try to say anything to me.
Aiden chimes up suddenly "Zach, I gave up my throne at the grill. I'm not sure who reigns it now, but it's not me." he laughs at his joke, and at the same time we hear Elliot scream across the crowd of kids.
"Aiden, bro we overcooked the burgers!" and everyone starts laughing. Elliot is so drunk, and Zach isn't far behind.
"I'll eat 'em' anyway!" he yells back, taking a break from the funnel, then stumbles off up the hill to the grill.
"Zoe, I still can't believe you are going out with Zach." Scarlett moves over to sit closer to Zoe, so I could get off Aidens lap.
"Sometimes I can't either, but he makes me laugh, and we're so different that it keeps it interesting. He's cute too." she smiles, and Scarlett nods at her, but widening her eyes to let her know she doesn't believe what she's saying.
"He's better than Melrose." I chime in, and quickly regret bringing Melrose up, and Zoe gives me a disapproving look, and stands up quickly.
"Mora, just so you know I broke up with him over that night. I know that I left you when I shouldn't have, but I've regretted it ever since, and I don't know what else I can say for you to forgive me. I might have not done anything that night, but i did do something about it." and I'm shocked because before I could respond she stomps off towards Zach and Elliot. She was mad at me now.
Scarlett's eyes are large. "Wow." she's responding to Zoe's reaction to me. "Mora, when are you going to let Zoe off the hook?" she asks me, and Aiden grabs my knee but keeps quiet. He knows that this is between the girls and me.
"I don't know." I answer, and look up and Zoe is sitting in a lawn chair by herself as the guys stand around the grill. "Maybe I should talk to her." I admit.
"Maybe you should." Scarlett gestures to me to leave, and I take the bait. I leave Scarlett and Aiden at the fire, and walk to Zoe with a cup in hand.
"I'm sorry Zoe. I shouldn't have brought Melrose up like that." I jump right into the conversation. "And I shouldn't have got so mad at you. I was as much to blame as anyone. I chose to get drunk like that, and you didn't know he would be like that." I sit down next to her and take a drink of my beer.
"It's okay Mora. I feel terrible that you were ever put in that position, and I promise I would have not taken you there if I knew." she grabs my hand, and I allow her to.
"Well I'm sorry if it caused any friction with you and Melrose." I say sincerely.
"Mora, you are one of my oldest friends. I didn't like what he said about you after that night, and honestly it just showed his true colors. We were not meant to be. I'm just glad I found out sooner rather than later. With or without that night happening, we were not going to last as a couple." she says quietly because Zach is a few feet away.
Even though Scarlett said he cheated on her, I choose to not bring that up. Instead I just nod and give her a hug. Soon after Zach runs up behind her picking her up including the chair.
"My queen!" he holds her up high in the air and everyone is laughing.
"Zach! Put me down." she laughs loudly, and he gently puts her down, pulling her up out of the chair and they start to dance.
I start going back down the hill to Aiden and Scarlett and I stop to Ross's voice. "Hey Andrews!" he's screaming over the music.
"Hey!" I'm yelling back.
"I'm ready to head out. Do you want me to take you home!"
"Nah!" I shout back and he points to his ear letting me know he didn't hear me, so I shake my head, but he ignores my gesture and pulls me down the hill closer to the fire where we can talk. I know without looking that Aiden is probably watching us.
"Sorry Mor, it's a madhouse up there." he's alone. Sophie must still be in the house. "I'm about to leave. Didn't know if you were needing a ride home, or if you and Scarlett were getting another ride." he asks, and I start to answer, but suddenly I feel strong hands grab my waist.
Aiden's voice comes from behind me. "Nah, bro I'll take her home." he answers Ross nicely, and Ross notices.
"Cool." he answers Aiden and sticks his hands in his jean pockets. "Scarlett, You wanna ride?" he shouts over to Scarlett, and she nods.
"Let me grab my stuff. Be out there in five!" she stands up and throws her purse over her shoulder, and grabs her jacket putting it over her arm coming up to me and Aiden giving us hugs.
"Scar, you can ride back with us if you aren't ready to leave yet." I offer.
"No it's okay. I'm tired." she starts to walk away "Bye Aiden. I'll call you tomorrow Mora. Love y'all." she says behind her as she trots up the hill to leave. Aiden and I waive at her.
"I still have a couple hours before I have to be home." I look up and say to Aiden and he suddenly looks irritated. "What?" I ask him.
"Your curfew is two tonight?" he asks me, his face doesn't change.
"Yes." I wonder why he's upset.
"So your curfew is midnight with me, but two if you're with Ross?" he's staring at me. I understand why that would be annoying for him, but that's not my fault.
"Aiden, you're my boyfriend, and my dad probably doesn't trust us to be responsible." I grab him to pull him close to me.
"So he trusts Ross more than me?" he pulls away so he can see my face, and I smile up at him still holding him tight.
"No. He trusts you, he just doesn't trust me... with you." I answer, and Aiden rolls his eyes at me, and hugs me again.
"Nice answer Andrews." I can hear his heart beating behind his chest.
"Thanks." I get up on my tiptoes so I can kiss his cheek and ask "Everyone looks like they're leaving. Do you want to go eat something, or just take me home?" Aiden looks down at me.
"You're ready to go home already?"
"No. I just don't know what we could do."
"Do you think your dad is already asleep?" Aiden asks, and I stare up at him wondering what he's getting to.
"Yes. Why?"
"Well, we could just go to your house, and I could sneak in and hangout for a bit?" I smile big because I've been asking for the last month for him to just hangout at my house, but he always says no. I think it's because he's uncomfortable around my dad.
"Okay!"