He helped her into her car and watched her drive off.
Alex drove home in silence just as he had done on the drive there.
The night before had been a mostly sleepless night, and he was pretty sure tonight would be a repeat. The only thing that made it better was the phone call he needed to make to Aria about the photoshoot plans.
He had decided to wait until that evening to reach out to her, but fought the urge to call her sooner.
He stopped into a local market for a few items he needed. The few groceries Sofia had left were gone and he needed something for dinner that evening.
Once home, he grabbed the canvas bags and headed inside, closing the door with his foot. He put some chicken in a fresh orange and sage marinade for later and settled onto the sofa with a book. But the words ran into each other, and he found himself reading the same paragraph over and over.
Admitting defeat, he laid his head on the back of his sofa and closed his eyes.
He cringed when he thought about how mortified he was at the gallery when he stupidly blurted out the name of the project Aria was talking about. Of course, he knew the name. She had said that Pride and Prejudice was her favorite book and movie many times while at his house with Sofia.
He let the memory of that day play back in his mind.
“Okay, Sofia. We have everything we need now for our play,” Aria said. “Thanks again for bringing us to the store, Alex.”
“Yeah, thanks, Alex,” Sofia said sarcastically, making Alex mouth “shut up” frantically behind Aria’s back.
“No big deal,” he answered.
He dawdled in the living room as the girls spread out the supplies for their project on the floor. He grabbed a book from the side table, sat on the sofa, and pretended to read it while stealing glances at Aria.
“So, which book are you doing for your play?” he asked nonchalantly when Sofia went to the kitchen to get them something to drink.
“Pride and Prejudice,” Aria cooed. “It’s my absolute favorite. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy—ah, their love story is so romantic.”
Fumbling to flip the book right side up quickly, he asked, “What’s so romantic about it?”
Sofia yelled from the kitchen, “Alex, you wouldn’t understand anything about romance.”
“Oh, Alex, you’ve got to watch it,” Aria said excitedly, glancing his way for a moment and then returning her attention to the project pieces.
He smiled at her enthusiasm and let his gaze linger a little too long while she busied herself on the floor. When her eyes drifted upwards, they met his again. He willed himself not to look away.
Her hands stilled, her eyes surveying him, her expression one of surprise. Alex thought this was the moment he’d been waiting for to ask her on a date.
Still caught in the moment, he opened his mouth but was interrupted when Sofia walked in with lemonade and some cookies.
“My mom made her cookies before she had to leave. She said to say ‘hi’,” Sofia said as she plopped down next to Aria, causing her to look away from Alex. She blinked several times, cleared her throat, and went back to her work.
Tomorrow, he thought.Tomorrow, I’ll ask her...
Coming back to the present, Alex rubbed his eyes and put his legs up on the sofa to stretch out, still reminiscing.
Sofia had made fun of him mercilessly about his infatuation with her schoolmate.
Alex remembered bribing his opportunistic sister, an arrangement that kept him broke that whole last year of school. The payments stopped only after he caught her sneaking out of the house to go to some pop star’s concert with her friends.
He got up and made himself a cup of coffee, rubbing his temples as it brewed. Looking out at the ocean from his kitchen window, he grimaced at the memory he hated the most.
Bringing his cup with him to the seaside, he sat there and listened to the seagulls overhead, letting the familiar sounds ease the ache that always came with the next part of that memory.
The reason he ended up in Athens for college was to avoid Nicholas. They were set to go to the same college in Rome, both majoring in business.
Taking a deep breath in, Alex relaxed and set the cup down on the sand. All in all, it worked out the way it was supposed to. He fell in love with photography and Aria and Nicholas fell in love with each other, married and started a business that she now ran.
