"You're hesitating," he stated.
"I'm not hesitating—I don't care if you delete it," she stated spontaneously.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
No.
"Yes."
"I'm not going to tell you what it says," he said. "I know what it says, but I'm going to erase the message and not even tell you what it says since you claim you don't care. Are you saying I can do that?"
It was hard, but she forced herself to shrug and say, "Go for it."
He "tsk tsked" her and said, "You're being a bad little mistress, letting the brother interfere. Matt won't be pleased."
Feeling a little rebellious with Aaron eggin
g her on, Julie stated, "I am not his mistress."
"Does he know you're here with me?" Aaron asked, although she didn't know quite how that was relevant, nor did she understand why he said "here with me" as if they had come to the party together.
"I…don't know," she said a little awkwardly.
He stared at her for a couple long seconds, then he narrowed his eyes and said, "Why are you letting me delete this message? I know you want to read it, I can see it in your face."
"I'm a curious person by nature, in case you haven't noticed," she defended. "I've never deleted a message without opening it. But it doesn't matter, if it's not important…"
"It's only important if you care who it's from," Aaron said. "It's from Matt, are you sure you want to let me delete it? Once I push this button it's gone forever."
She smiled slightly. "It's just a text message, Aaron."
With that, his finger found the button and he pushed it, smiling a little as he handed the phone back to her.
"Thank you," she said, sliding the phone back into her purse.
He nodded slightly, his eyes trained on her face, and he smiled a little. "You surprised me."
"Did I?" she asked, secretly feeling rather pleased with herself.
He nodded. "I didn't think you would let me delete a message from him, especially not before you read it. That message could have said anything. He could have proposed marriage for all you know."
She just hoped it didn't say anything about the dress, because then she would have to hide it away in shame like the poor earrings.
"It required a response," he informed her, not letting it rest. "He's going to wonder why you don't text back."
"Oh well," she said, shrugging her shoulders a little.
A little smile played around his lips as he leaned back into the couch, still looking at her. "Julie, why aren't you wearing your earrings?"
Hadn't he already asked that?
"I already told you," she said, raising her eyebrows. "You are officially drunk."
"No, I just want you to tell me again."
That surprised her, and she tried to dissect his tone, the soft look in his eyes as he gazed at her sleepily, an almost hooded look to his beautiful brown eyes.
She felt uncomfortable, but a pleasant kind of uncomfortable that she wasn’t prepared to identify.