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“Your mom though. And my parents – oh my God. My mom’s face right now.”
“I take it now’s not the time to ask for a kiss then, is it?” I laughed weakly, feeling all my exhaustion hit me now that I was with her. It was like my body knew that with her, I didn’t need to fake anything. That I could just relax.
“Um, I feel like kissing now would be a big statement to everyone, which I’m not sure you want to make at an event of this caliber,” Aly giggled nervously, her big eyes flitting from the party back to me. But when she saw the look in my eyes, her own narrowed and she smirked. “You want it now, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I have to be on stage for awhile and I feel like I need the re-up on energy.”
She breathed out a laugh so sweet I wanted to taste it.
“Fine,” she murmured before leaning forward to touch her lips to mine, brushing them gently against me before kissing away the last of my worries in that moment. It was a one, maybe two-second kiss, but it was just enough to bring me back to life.
“Jesus. Was that Drew?” I snorted when I pulled away and heard a loud whoop behind us, followed by a small round of applause.
“Yeah. That was definitely Drew,” Aly said with laughter in her eyes despite the red in her cheeks. “And now a very pissy Britt is coming to collect you for your speech, I think, so you should go.”
“Fine,” I said, starting back down the steps. “But I’ll get you right after.”
“You better,” she countered, giving my hand a tight squeeze before letting it go. “Because our parents are looking at me like they need an explanation STAT, and I’m not having those talks with them all on my own.”
I knew Mom had already gotten to Aly by the end of Dr. Richards’ speech because she locked frantic eyes on me from across the room and made such a fast beeline to me that it felt like I’d blinked and she was there.
“Emmett, I feel like my heart is going to burst,” she whispered, clasping her hands over mine. I could already feel her emotions pouring over, but then Julian and Sara approached and she burst into tears.
“Mom!” Julian frowned, looking briefly at me for explanation.
“Happy tears!” Mom clarified, dabbing her eyes with her pinky and patting his arm. “They’re happy tears! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle anyone.”
I managed a smile as the three of them broke into laughter, and I gave the obligatory groan as they pulled me in for a big family hug. With all of us smashed together, I somehow still managed to peer over Julian’s shoulder and catch Aly laughing with her mom at the bar.
Her eyes crinkled when she laughed, and she looked so happy I couldn’t help but feel it myself. I was so completely fixated on how beautiful she looked that it took me a second to catch her dad standing next to them, already looking at me. When he caught my eye, he smiled big and waved excitedly, saying something to Aly and her mom before leading them over toward us.
“Oh, Charlie’s coming over with Donna and Aly,” Mom said, her bejeweled hand blinding me as she reached up to dry the last of her tears. And in a flash, she had the poise of a princess again, wearing that beautiful smile of hers while warmly bringing the Stantons into our huddle.
To my relief, the first ten minutes of conversation were devoted to Julian and Sara. Apparently, Sara knew the sex of the baby but hadn’t told Julian yet.
“It’s supposed to be a surprise because she likes having the upper hand on me,” Julian smirked, breaking into a grin when he and Sara exchanged a look. Everyone laughed, our moms talked about names if it was a boy or a girl, and for a moment, everything felt good and breezy.
But then Charlie spoke up.
“Well, you know you can’t have that, Julian,” he chuckled, rocking back and forth on his heels. “It’s gotta be the man with the upper hand. That’s why it rhymes.”
Christ. He had clearly taken a minute to come up with that dud, and somehow he still thought it was a good idea to say it.
It was quiet for a second. Mom offered a polite laugh but I could see smiles falter all around the circle.
“Anyway, can we please talk about the fact that you won my daughter’s heart?” Aly’s mom asked, giving me a teasing grin. “From what I recall, you two defined the word rivalry growing up.”
“Rivalry implies there was competition,” Charlie interjected with a fat snort. “And I don’t think it was ever a close race.”
For fuck’s sake.
This was the exact kind of comment he used to make. It was never a direct hit because that meant he could get away with saying it. It meant he got to make his point enough that Aly felt like shit, but leave it vague enough to say, “I didn’t mean anything by it!” if someone asked him to clarify. Then he’d turn it on either Mom or Dad for “ruining a good time” by “getting all serious.” It was annoying and cowardly, and as I caught Aly’s eyes hit the floor, I decided enough was enough.
“What do you mean by that, Charlie?” I asked.
The circle fell quiet as he paused for a second, caught off-guard. Then he shifted his eyes around comically, giving a belly laugh and a big shrug.
“What do you mean what do I mean about it? It was a joke.”
