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“Thanks, Will,” my roomie’s fiancée said with a smile as she headed for the kitchen. “Are you leaving?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna go grab my hoodie from Aria. I gave it to her when you were in the hospital.”
“And she still has it?”
“Yep. I guess we both kept forgetting about it or something.” My lies were really piling up now. I’d better get out of here before I’m forced to keep doing it. “I’ll see you lovebirds later.”
“Tell Aria I’m sorry her date sucked,” Paul said.
Shelby’s head tilted, her face sympathetic. “Aw, it was bad? I had high hopes for that guy. He seemed like a catch. And he actually wanted to settle down, which is rare.”
“Sounds like there are too many guys out there like you, Will,” Paul joked. “Dating them and dropping them before they get too attached.”
My shoulders straightened slightly, reminded yet again why Paul would freak if he knew how I felt about his sister. He’d never been shy about his disapproval of my dating habits. He was a long-term monogamy fan before finally getting together with Shelby, who’d been his other best friend since high school.
But he knew about my dad. He knew about the drinking and the violence that went on in the house next door to his and how I escaped to his house every chance I got. So I never understood why he didn’t get that I wouldn’t want to settle down and risk turning out like my dad. Who was also a lawyer, coincidentally. Maybe they really were all nuts.
“Tell Aria I said I’m sorry, too,” Shelby said, taking a seat next to Paul with her sparkling water.
“Will do,” I replied, heading for the door before I could talk myself out of it. Suddenly, I didn’t think seeing her was a good idea. But I didn’t want to stay here, either.
* * *
With the windows down, I pulled onto the B&B grounds on the outskirts of town, the tires of my truck crunching the gravel of the long driveway. The old mansion that Paul and Aria’s parents owned sat at the end, its huge white pillars and wraparound balconies made me feel like I’d gone back in time. Spanish moss hung off the trees that surrounded the house, and I could see the yellow flashes of lightning bugs hovering in the air above the grass.
The sun was down, but it was still light enough that I could clearly see Aria’s small white cottage toward the back of the grounds. My heartbeat picked up knowing she was inside. Knowing that as soon as I pulled up to the cottage and went to the door, I’d be alone with her for the first time since that night at the hospital. The grocery store and other run-ins didn’t count. Those were in public, and if I knew anything, I knew mistakes were made when Aria and I found ourselves alone.
My mind went back to that night in high school. I wished it wouldn’t, but I still remembered it so vividly. Paul had been grounded for sneaking out with me and going to a football party, so when another party came up, he’d chosen not to risk it. But since Aria was also going—it was expected since she was a cheerleader—he’d asked me to go with her and keep an eye on her.
Unfortunately, that turned into me not being able to keep my eyesoffher. She’d worn a short red dress that night (man, she looked good in red) and had done her hair in a style I had never seen on her before. It was straight as a pin and so shiny I swore there was gold in those silky strands.
Without her protective big brother there to glare at any dude who came near her, Aria had flirted like it was going out of style. And that had royally ticked me off. So much so that when a group of cheerleaders started pulling away the guys on my team for a throwback game of spin the bottle, I’d pushed myself into the group thinking I could somehow make sure she kept her lips to herself.
But then, the unthinkable happened. Instead of sitting next to her, which would have been the smart thing to do, I’d accidentally taken a seat on the flooracrossfrom her. When that freaking bottle stopped spinning with one end on me and the other on her, I’d thought I was going to throw up right there in the middle of the circle. And it wasn’t because I didn’t want to kiss her. It was because I did.
“Oh, what?” Jonesy, our star tight end, hollered above the pop music blaring over the speakers. “Bro, Paul’s gonna flip.”
I’d shot him a death glare, and his smile faltered. “He’s not going to flip, because I’m not doing it. Aria, spin again.”
“Spin again?” Jonesy had parroted. “That’s not how it works, Paxton. She spun the bottle, and it landed on you. Pucker up.”
“I’m not going to kiss her, Jonesy. She’s Paul’s little sister.”
“You worried he’s gonna deck you?” he’d asked, laughing.
They were all laughing then, and my skin was on fire. “No. I’m not worried he’s going to deck me. I just don’t look at her like that. She’s practically family. It would be weird.”
Everyone in the circle laughed, but Aria had flinched like I’d reached across the floor and smacked her. But then just as quickly as it had appeared, the expression vanished, replaced with a blinding smile and a laugh that suggested the whole thing was ridiculous. “Ew, yeah. I can’t kiss him. And actually this game is lame. I’m out.”
Ew? Heat had shot up the back of my neck as I’d watched her walk away. I mean, come on. I knew I’d been the one who’d refused to kiss her, but… ew? I’d done everything in my power to keep myself in check while she tore me apart in that red dress, and her reaction to kissing me had been to say…ew?
I shuddered in my truck as I killed the engine outside her cottage, still hating the way I’d felt at that moment. But I’d take that feeling any day compared to how I felt later that night when I’d walked her home.
She’d been silent the whole way. Then, when we’d reached the door and she’d put her hand on the knob to sneak in while her parents slept upstairs, she turned on me. “What was that tonight, Will?”
“What was what?”
“You know what. Spin the bottle.”
