AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay,” I drawled, tapping my chin as I thought of something easy. Nothing came to mind, so I winged it. “You seem like a pretty open guy. How about your most embarrassing moment?”
“Well, thatiseasy to answer,” he said with a laugh. “My friends and I went to Europe when we graduated, planning to spend a month traveling around by bus or train and sleeping in cheap hostels, stuff like that. Well, we pooled our money at the end and rented a yacht for two days in the Adriatic. So there we are, on a certain electric car maker’s yacht, and the captain is shouting from the dock that we’ve just stolen his boat. I swear, we had no idea! It was docked right next to the one we had rented. Anyway, the captain is yelling so hard that he turns red. Finally, someone turned the music down enough to hear him threatening to call thepolizia!”
I laughed, picturing Aaron at the helm, wearing a captain’s hat, having the time of his life as he unintentionally stole a boat.
“Please tell me they didn’t arrest you,” I said from behind my hand as I tried to conceal my ridiculously wide smile.
He reached up and gently pulled my hand away from my face. “You have a beautiful smile. Don’t hide it.”
I stopped chuckling then, gazing at his suddenly serious face and tracing his freckles with my eyes. He brought that damned pout back. “No, we didn’t get arrested, thank God. The policemen looked at the boats next to each other after we docked again and agreed they were quite similar. Plus, we didn’t break anything and turned right around when we understood what was happening, so that probably helped,” he said, crowing with laughter.
“What about you, Sophie girl? Embarrassing moments to share with the group?”
“Oh, God. Okay, let me think.” I thought back over the clothing mishaps, childhood foibles, and finally landed on an event in high school that still made me blush to this day. “Okay, so when I was in high school, my parents and I were driving to LA so I could tour a couple of colleges. Well, we’d been driving for most of the day, and we were at a rest stop to put more gas in the car and grab drinks or whatever.” My cheeks were already heating, and I knew I wouldn’t last much longer without laughing. “So, I’m coming back from the shop, my eyes still half closed and my arms full of magazines, Gatorade, and more snacks than necessary. I was so focused on getting the door open, I wasn’t looking around, and I collapsed into the back seat, spilling my haul everywhere.”
Aaron was perched on the edge of his seat as I told the story, having no idea what was coming next, but invested all the same.
“This, like, seventy-year-old guy turns around in the driver’s seat and goes, ‘Baby cakes, I can take you as far as Salt Lake City, but after that, I have to go home to my wife. But there’s a lot of miles between here and there.’”
Aaron’s laugh reverberates around our little patio area, and I shake my head with mirth.
“I looked over, and my parents were at the next gas pump, laughing their asses off intheirblack SUV. I scrambled out of there so fast that I left all the stuff I bought, hopped into the correct car and told them to haul ass.”
Not my finest moment, I’ll admit. My parents were amused as hell, and when we pulled over at the next gas station, I made my mom come with me to replace what I’d lost and make sure I didn’t end up in the wrong car again.
“They still tell the story at family gatherings, and I swear, most of my cousins know it by heart at this point.”
“That’s amazing!” Aaron says, rubbing his cheeks and stretching his jaw. “Fuck, I haven’t laughed like that in a while.”
I shrugged. “I’m here all month,” I said, taking a half-bow from my seat.
“Looking forward to it.” He stuck his hand out for a high five, and when they connected, he held on, resting our hands on his knee as we talked. It was nice to sit and laugh, talking through a few more embarrassing stories as we soaked in the Caribbean sunshine.
He was incredibly easy to talk to, especially about the non-serious stuff, which was why I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. Zander walked toward us, his sunglasses perched on his nose and his steps unhurried.
“Hey, man, time to switch.”
He and Aaron did a handshake, and Zander pulled him to his feet. Before he left, he kissed my cheek and said, “It’s been fun, Sophie girl. See ya later!”
I watched him walk away, his flag swim trunks waving in the breeze around his thighs.
“Hey, Sophie,” Zander said, lowering himself into an armchair.
“Hi! How’s the round robin chat thing going for you?”
“Good,” he said, leaning back in the rattan chair and making it squeak. Dude was huge. At least four inches taller and wider than the other guys. “But please don’t ask me what my biggest fear is. I’ve answered that one twice already. The short answer is spiders. The long answer involves a story about my sisters collecting them and depositing them in my shoes.”
I laughed. “Sisters as in more than one?”
“Three. All younger, all hellions.”
“Oof. That sounds like it was fun for an older brother to deal with. I don’t have siblings, but my childhood best friend is one of five kids, so I got the fun parts without too much of the chaos.” Deciding to throw him a bone, I tried something new. “Okay, then let’s talk about simple things. What’s your favorite sport to watch?” I asked.
Both he and Aaron were clearly feeling drained from talking about the heavy stuff.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he said, “Football.” He grinned, hearts in his eyes over the sport. I bet he was one of thosewepeople when it came to sports.Wewon.Weneed to do better next season. “What about you?”
“I’m not big on watching sports on TV, but I love going to baseball games. The atmosphere is great! The food is definitely overpriced, but the people you meet in the nosebleed seats become your best friends for an afternoon. There’s camaraderie when you’ve climbed six bazillion stairs together.”
