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Eli moved toward her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, and pulling her close to kiss her temple. Even though she was excited about being with Eli, and it was a dream come true, to her it was still pretty surreal.
“What’s that?”
“The kissing. The hugging, knowing that you’re wanting it to lead to something else.”
He held her close, and tilted her head back. “You don’t have to worry about me pressuring you.”
“I don’t want to have this talk right about now. I’m still a little … confused.”
“Well, well, well, how are you two lovebirds this morning?” Chris asked.
“Doing better than you,” Eli said. He leaned against Chris’s car, and held onto her hips, pulling her back against him.
She was finding it a little difficult. They had been friends for so long, and that allowed for a certain level of touching. This went beyond touching. They were exploring, and his touch was awakening a need inside her that was so strong, she struggled to fight it. Rachel and Mary knew what she was going through. She’d talked to them last night, and had explained it was the same with them when they let go of their feelings for Chris and Branson.
“What are we doing this weekend?” Branson asked.
“I’ve got to study,” Eli said. “I promised my dad I’d stay ahead of the game, and in doing so, it means putting the hours in to study. You coming to my place, or would you like me to go to yours?”
“I’ll come to yours. Anything I can do to get out of the house.”
“Your dad got you on some kind of watch again?” Chris asked.
“Not really. I just don’t want to be around right now.”
Her father had gone ballistic at her last night for cutting school. He told her she needed to either take her education seriously, or he was going to make sure he found a suitable husband for her.
Glancing around the parking lot, she saw they were attracting a lot of attention, and she really didn’t like it.
“Hey, Eli, looking good,” Becky said. She was another girl on the cheerleading squad, and she looked right past Aria, straight to Eli.
She didn’t let it bother her. His hands were on her, no one else.
“Go away,” he said.
“Is that any way to talk to me? We did date for a little while.”
Chris and Branson started laughing. “You called hooking up ‘dating’?”
Aria hated it. She could pretend that she didn’t, but she really did. Eli had slept with everyone who would give him the time of day.
“Still, I know how special I was to him,” Becky said. “I can make him feel so good.”
Eli leaned down, kissing Aria’s neck. “Guess again, Becky. I’m taken, and there’s only one girl who can make me feel good, and she’s in my arms right now.”
The look of shock on Becky’s face would have made her laugh any other day of the week, only it no longer seemed funny to her. This was her life.
“I’m going to head on in. I’ve got to get some things out of my locker.” Aria left her friends, heading inside without waiting around to talk. One day they had been an official couple, and already she felt like shit. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, and she didn’t understand what the hell was wrong with her. Eli meant everything to her, and even though she’d never thought their relationship would take the next stop, it had. She loved it when he touched her, put his arms around her, and the way he looked at her, she was growing addicted to that alone.
Going to her locker, she unlocked it with the right number code, and dumped her large bag inside. There, she changed the books that she would need for that day.
“What’s wrong, Aria?” Eli asked, moving in behind her.
People were starting to filter through the halls, and she really didn’t want to have this conversation where others could hear.
“It’s nothing. Forget about it.”
He closed the distance, and in the mirror she had in her locker, she stared into his troubled blue eyes. “Talk to me. You could before. What’s the difference now?”
