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Chapter fourteen
Good with Someone Else
“Ithoughtaboutjustputting the candle in some frosting this year,” Sarah says, sliding a cupcake with a heap of frosting and a lit candle sticking out of it onto the chest next to my bed. “Make a wish.”
“Hey, that’s my line,” Aaron says with a laugh. Sarah rolls her eyes and swats at him.
“Guess I’ll have to make two wishes tonight.” I take a deep breath, stare at the candle, and as I blow out my breath, make a wish.
I wish for seventeen to be an amazing year.
Sarah claps happily. Before I can pick up the cupcake, Aaron grabs it and shoves it in my face like a couple might at a wedding. Sarah squeals with laughter.
I wipe the frosting off my nose and slug him hard in the arm. Then I make a dramatic show of licking the frosting off my lips. He stares at me with wide eyes. And I have a little flashback to Valentine’s Day last year, when he watched me eat the cupcake and admitted he found me hot. Then I admitted the same thing about him. And then… friendly kisses.
“You okay there, Beautiful?” Aaron asks, pulling me out of the memory.
“Uh, yeah. Fine. Just… fine.”
He nods, clearly not believing a word coming out of my mouth. “Right.”
“I was, uh, thinking.”
“About…”
Sarah cocks an eyebrow and yawns dramatically. “Well, I’m tired, and I’ve done my sisterly duty.” She leans over and kisses my cheek. “Happy birthday, Rae baby. Love you.”
“Love you too, baby. Goodnight.”
She waves as she walks out of the room.
Forgetting nothing, Aaron turns back to me. “Well?”
I stand up and head for my closet, grabbing my warmest sweatshirt and my fuzzy boots. “I was thinking of Valentine’s Day last year.”
“Oh,” he croaks out, eyes big.
“Yeah. Um. That night was pretty fun.”
He smiles brightly at that. “Yeah, it was.”
“The cupcake made me think of it is all.”
“Right.”
“So, uh, stars?”
Why is this so weird?
“Definitely. Stars.” He holds out his hand and grabs my sleeping bag with his other. I let him pull me up, then we both climb out the window.
He sets out the sleeping bag, and I stare down at it. Small sleeping bag. Just the two of us.
I have a boyfriend. He has a girlfriend. Even if our relationships aren’t particularly great at the moment.
Don’t get me wrong, Davey came over for dinner tonight, and it was fun. We celebrated my birthday a night early and played some games. Then we snuggled in bed for a couple of hours. We didn’t have sex, but we did some sexy things.
But we’re still disconnected. And he’s still pushing me away. He’s choosing his friends over me more regularly. Though the time we spend together is meaningful, it’s not like it used to be. I remember when he first asked me out. He said he wanted to be my boyfriend, not the guy justdatingme. But now it feels like that’s what he is. And I’m starting to get a little nervous that he might try todateother girls. I haven’t seen anything to suggest he’s cheating, but I don’t feel like he only has eyes for me anymore.
