Our last day of school ended early, and Aiden is waiting outside in the hallway when my teacher finally releases us.
"We're adults now." he smiles, and wraps his arm around my shoulders as we walk down the hall.
"I'm not prepared." I cry, and he rolls his eyes.
"You'll do great!" he assures me, and kisses my cheek. "Hey, have you picked out your graduation outfit?" he asks.
"Yeah, I'm just going to wear a black dress that's already in my closet. What are you wearing?"
"I think a black button up, with a black tie. Do you think that's too much black?" he asks, and I would usually say yes, but Aiden is always in black. He pulls it off better than anyone I know.
"No, it's not too much." I answer, and stick my hand in his back pocket.
"Feeling frisky today huh?" he grins at me, and I wink at him, and a moment later Sophie see's us in the hallway. She comes right up to us. "Good luck next year Aiden." she says, and he smiles at her.
"Thanks." he says, and looks from her back to me. He's giving me that look to say something to her. I want to gag.
"Have a good summer Sophie." is all I could come up with.
"Whatever." she says, flipping her hair over her shoulder and struts off.
I roll my eyes. "I'm so glad I don't have to see her face everyday again." I complain, and Aiden gives me a disappointing look. "What?" I'm annoyed.
"She's been through a lot this year." he defends her.
"Don't give me that crap. She gave me hell all year long for something out of my control." I justify my words.
"She had her heart broken." he says, and I snort loudly.
"What by Ross, or you?" he's pissing me off.
"You know what I mean." but I don't.
"Whatever Aiden. Might as well drop it, and agree to disagree on this one. I will never like her, just like you'll never like Ross, or Zoe, and so on." I make a good point, and he knows it because he doesn't say anything else.
"What are you doing tonight?" he changes the subject.
"Conner is coming home tonight, and we're going to go out and eat with dad, and probably go home and watch a movie or something."
"Oh, cool."
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"I'm going to dad's tonight, and tomorrow he's taking me shopping for my graduation outfit."
"Oh cool." I repeat his words, and he just rolls his eyes at me.
"Am I going to see you before graduation?" he asks me before we leave the school.
"Probably not. I'm hanging out with Conner all day tomorrow, and then Emily and I are getting dinner after." I'm suddenly over our argument, and I miss him already. I put my arm around his waist and lay my head on his arm as we walk outside.
"Damn." he puffs out his lower lip at me.
"I know." I respond, and stand on my tiptoes to kiss him before getting in the jeep to leave.
We make-out for a few minutes before I go inside where dad is waiting on me. I'm alarmed when I see him.
"Dad, I thought you were at work." I die inside imagining him seeing Aiden and I outside.
"Wanted to be here when you got out of school." he acts like he didn't witness anything. I let out a sigh of relief. "Want to go get ice cream to celebrate?" he asks.
"Yeah. Sounds good. Hey, when does Conner get in?"
"He just left about twenty minutes ago, so in a couple hours."
"Cool."
After ice cream we came home to start cleaning so Conner doesn't think we've been living like pigs the past year.
A few hours later I hear a honk outside. "He's home!" I jump up from the sofa, and run outside. "Hey!" I wail as I skip down the steps, and dad follows waiting on the porch.
"Hey sis." he runs up picking me up in the air spinning me around. "Congratulations!" he expresses, grinning ear to ear.
"Thanks!" I respond as he walks to his trunk to get out his bags. He's home for the rest of the summer.
"Here." he hands me one of the duffel bags, and I take it inside.
"Smells good in here." he says as he follows us in.
"It's good to have you home again." Dad gives him a hug, and then takes his bags from him and takes them upstairs.
"How ya been doing?" Conner asks once dad can't hear us.
"I'm okay." I answer, and I am. Some days anyway.
"Good." he says and walks to the fridge. "Do we have to go out tonight? I'd rather get a pizza delivered or something?" he says.
"I'm sure dad would be fine with that." I admit, and I know it's true because my dad hates going out.
"Cool. I'm just so tired from driving, and I'm not in the mood to run into anyone." he says, and dad comes back downstairs.
"Dad, Conner just wants to order pizza." I say.
"That's fine. What do you guys want?" he asks.
"Supreme for me." I answer, and Conner agrees.
"So, how are you and Lucy doing?" I ask, as he throws me and bottled water, and sits down at the table.
"We're good. She's a breath of fresh air Mora. So different from any girl I've ever met." he brags on her.
"Oh yeah?" I go and sit next to him.
"Yeah, she's into art, and music. She loves animals too. She has two dogs, and lives in her own apartment." he takes a drink of his water, and beams. "I honestly can't believe she likes me." he says, and I'm shocked. He's usually so confident. I can tell Lucy intimidates him. It's crazy.
"I'm shocked too." I joke with him, and he mocks me.
"Ha ha." he sarcastically says, then looks down at his bottle. "Speaking of girls..." he says then pauses.
"What?" Spit it out already.
"How's Scarlett been?" he asks. They stopped talking all together once she made things official with Josh, and he started seeing Lucy.
"She's been good."
"So I saw on social media that she's coming to A&M too."
"Yeah. She is." I answer before dad walks back into the kitchen.
"I'm going to pick up the pizza, and grab some desserts for after." he takes his keys off the key holder by the garage door. "Be back in a few."
"What's she doing tonight?" he asks, and I stop for a minute to read his face.
I respond slowly. "Why?"
"I was just wondering really." he responds, and I can't help but be suspicious of his thoughts.
"Conner, you have a new girlfriend now."
"I know. I just have a gift for her, and I want to give it to her. I bought it a long time ago and was always going to give it to her before she graduated." he admits, and I can't help but feel like what he's about to do is a bad idea.
"What is it?" I ask, and he pulls out a charm bracelet from his pocket. It has our graduating year, a small mic, a small magazine, and a small camera on it. "It's beautiful." I say.
"Yeah. I saw it in a thrift store the summer before my senior year. I know all she's ever wanted was to be a journalist....I would feel wrong if I didn't give it to her." his voice is desperate.
"It's a good idea Conner, but what is Josh going to say?"
"It doesn't matter what Josh says about it." I know he's annoyed that I brought Josh up.
"But bub, it kind of does." I'm brutal, but honest.
"Mora, I get that they are together now, but that doesn't erase our past, and that I was a part of Scarlett's life for a long time before he was even in the picture. I owe her this gift." he tries to justify his actions. Maybe he's right. Who am I to tell him what he can and can't do with Scarlett. I wouldn't want anyone intervening with mine, and Aiden's relationship.
"Okay, okay." I waive my hands up at him giving up this argument.
"Thank you." he expresses, and gets up. "I'm going to take a shower." he says before walking upstairs.
After we all eat dinner, and play a game of dominoes, dad goes to bed and Conner and I stay up reminiscing on the past.
"Remember that time Ross tripped over the sidewalk and landed in Ms. Russo's rose bushes!" Conner and I laugh loudly.
"Yes. I felt so bad for him, and you and Scarlett wouldn't let him live it down for months. I finally had to threaten to tell on you if you didn't stop teasing him about it." I was always the grounded one in the group.
"Remember that time that you chased Scarlett around with that grass snake until she finally broke down in tears..." I bring up, and he leans back into the couch recalling the moment.
"Yep, that's when she had me. I felt so bad after. I had mom help me make her an apology cupcake."
"Yeah, those were fun times!" We both laugh until we're out of breath.
"Well, I guess I'm going to bed." I say, and before I make it around the couch he stops me.
"You think Scarlett would come by for a minute if I text her?" he asks.
I give out a loud sigh. "I'm sure she will." I answer, and feel a little guilty, and bad for Josh but at the end of the day it's not my business and they will do what they want. "Good night Conner." I leave it at that, and go upstairs.
After I'm finally ready for bed, I text Aiden goodnight, and turn out all my lights. I lay there about to fall asleep, when I see headlights pull in the driveway. I knew she couldn't say no to him.
I fall asleep feeling sad for Josh, and Lucy. They will never get what Conner and Scarlett have, and maybe they shouldn't...