you are.” She lifts her palm to my cheek stopping me when I lean down to kiss her. “Even if we didn’t get together, I would have still been lucky to count you as a friend.”
“We could never have been friends, Aria.” I tell her honestly, and her brows dart together.
“Why not?”
“Because I would have been constantly trying to come up with ways to get in your pants.”
“You’re an idiot.” She laughs.
“It’s the truth.” I burry my face between her neck and shoulder, nibbling her skin, making her laugh, then lean back to look at her smiling face.
“Now, we really need to shower. You have plans with Gia, and I gotta meet my mom to help her drag out all the Halloween shit from the attic.”
“Your mom still decorates the house for Halloween?” She smiles.
“My mom decorates for every fucking holiday, but she loves Halloween. She is always the most popular house on her block, because she hands out full-size candy bars to all the kids.”
“I love that. Back in San Francisco, I used to do the same thing. I’m going to miss not seeing all the kids in their cute little costumes this year.”
“I’ve got Olivia on Halloween. We’ll hang at Mom’s, then take her around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. So you won’t miss out.”
“Really?” Her beautiful eyes light up. “Do you dress up?”
“The last time I had her for Halloween, I went as Pascal, and Olivia went as Rapunzel from Tangled.”
“Oh my God, please tell me you have pictures.” She giggles.
“I’ll show them to you tonight.” I kiss her swiftly, then haul her out of bed and straight into the shower.
________________
Standing in my mom’s kitchen I pull my cell out of my pocket when it rings, and smile when I see Aria is calling.
“Hey, babe,” I answer, ignoring my mom when she smirks at me from across the room.
“Hey,” she says softly. “I talked to Gia about everything, and she thinks we should go to my parents’ party; that way I can say I tried, and if anything goes wrong, we can leave early and go get dinner.” She drops her voice. “Really, I think she just wants a reason to wear the dress she found.”
“I do not!” Gia shouts in the background, making me laugh.
“Are you sure you’re okay with going?” she asks me, sounding unsure.
“Like I told you, baby, I’m good with whatever you want to do.”
“Thank you.” She sounds relieved. “Will I see you at my house in a couple of hours?”
“Yeah, and I’ll pick up dinner on my way just let me know what you’re in the mood for.”
“Why don’t you two have dinner here tonight?” Mom asks, proving that she’s eavesdropping, and I raise a brow. “Don’t look at me like that. I want to finally meet her.”
“Did your mom just say she wants me to come for dinner?” Aria asks, sounding nervous, which is surprising, since she’s spoken to my mom more than once on the phone and the two of them tend to chat about everything under the sun.
“She did.”
“Okay, so I’ll meet you at your parents’.”
“Baby, you don’t gotta do that,” I say, and my mom glares at me from across the room.
“I want to. I’ll meet you at your parents’ house in a couple of hours.”
Sighing, I shake my head. “I’ll meet you at your place, and then we’ll come here together.”
“Are you sure? You’re already there?”
“I’m not driving home separate from you after dinner.”
“Right.” I hear the smile in her voice. “In that case I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Later, babe.”
“Bye.” She hangs up, and I tuck my cell into my back pocket.
“You love her, don’t you?”
I frown, focusing on my mom when she asks that question.
“What?” I start to shake my head.
“You get the same look on your face whenever you’re talking to Olivia,” she cuts me off, holding up her hand with her face softening. “It’s sweet.” She picks up one of the totes that we brought down from the attic. “Anyway,” she starts, carrying it toward the front of the house and yelling over her shoulder, “grab the box with the bats. There’s lots to do before you need to leave to pick up Aria.”
With a shake of my head, I scan the boxes, searching for the one she wants, with my mind replaying her statement over and over. I try to tell myself she’s wrong, that I care about Aria, and enjoy every minute I spend with her, but I don’t love her. But