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“Dad!” I say sternly.
But Aaron looks my dad in the eye and calmly says, “That’s all. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
Even that’s a little bit of a lie because I think we were about to kiss. And what exactly does that mean?
It was probably going to be a friendly kiss. A birthday kiss. A watching-the-stars-on-a-beautiful-night kiss. That’s all.I’m sure.
“And you didn’t tell your parents you were coming over?” Dad asks, eyebrows raised.
Aaron looks at him sheepishly. “I didn’t want to wake them up?”
“Uh huh,” Dad says. “Well, we’ve agreed that since it is Rae’s birthday, you can stay over if you’d like to. On the trundle bed,” Dad says pointedly, which makes me snicker.
He narrows his eyes at me and shakes his head. Then he turns back to Aaron. “That doesn’t mean your parents won’t have consequences for you. It means they’re willing to look past them for tonight. As long as you behave and get some sleep.”
“Deal,” I say quickly.
“All right then,” Dad says, looking us over.
He turns to leave, but stops in my doorway.
“Trundle bed. And no funny business,” he says firmly.
“Yes, sir,” Aaron says.
Dad nods and walks out, closing the door behind him.
Once we hear his footsteps have gotten far enough down the hall, we fall into a fit of laughter on my bed.
When we’ve collected ourselves, Aaron pulls the trundle bed out and lies down on it while I get cozy in bed.
He reaches up to turn off the light when I say, “Wait, you’re actually gonna sleep down there?”
He looks up at me and grins.
“Well, that depends. What does the birthday girl want?”
“I want to be cozy. And no one is quite as cozy as you.”
He laughs and climbs into bed with me.
“But nofunny business,” I say, pointing a finger at him.
He holds his hands up. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Beautiful.”
He flips off the light and snuggles in with me, tightly wrapping his arms around me. Then he whispers, “Rae…?”
“Yeah?”
He gives me a long, slow kiss. It’s not quite a peck like our kisses under the slide, but it’s not as open mouth as the kisses at Sarah’s party. It’s gentle and sweet, but I feel that underlying spark we always have. It’s a kiss that continues to blur the lines between friendship and something more.
When he pulls away, he says, “Happy birthday, Rae.” Then he kisses my head.
“Thanks, Ace. Night.”
“Night,” he says as I rest my head on his shoulder.
And then I fall asleep in the safest place in the world, Aaron’s arms.
