Instead, she just asked, "Did you want me to correct him? I can; there was really no specific reason I didn’t, I guess I just didn’t want him to think…"
Shaking his head, Aaron said, "Nope, you don't have to."
"Are you sure?" she asked, watching him carefully to see how disturbed he was by the idea that his brother thought he was dating her.
He smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile, and he said, "I'm positive. Let him waste Emma's money, I don't give a shit," he muttered as he walked to the bedroom.
Julie frowned, not really understanding his mood, but Aaron didn’t seem to be feeling very talkative, and he only stopped in the bedroom to grab clothes before going to take a shower.
While he showered Julie waited patiently, thinking about the flowers and the text messages.
Thinking about Aaron a little bit, but not so much as to become inappropriate and force her to shove something else in the mental box.
She did wonder why she felt the insuppressible need to explain herself to him, but that made her a little uncomfortable, so she went back to thinking about the flowers.
Even though she didn't even get to smell them, they were pretty. She didn't realize she was still holding the card until that moment, and she looked down to find it clutched tightly in her hand. Reading it one last time with a little sigh, she carefully tore the card in half, then she took it in the kitchen and threw it in the garbage.
Why had he sent those flowers? It was so confusing. The man really wasn't very good at cheating on his wife, she decided, because he shouldn't send proof like flowers and a card that she could have easily taken to Emma.
Once Aaron got out of the shower he went straight to bed, so Julie grabbed some clothes and took a quick shower, then she changed into her comfy college sweater and her Eeyore pajama pants. Not glamorous, but it hardly mattered if she looked like a dork when no one was around to see her—Aaron excluded, but he never really looked at her. She could wear a paper bag around the house and he wouldn't notice.
Sighing as she slipped into bed and got under the covers, she wondered what kind of damage had been done to their peace treaty that night.
The flowers had been bad. The card had been worse. Aaron hadn't been pleased by the display
, and he had gone to the shower grumbling.
They weren't really good signs, but she was going to stay optimistic.
Aaron rolled over then, and she grimaced, hoping she didn't wake him when she was trying to get settled.
It took her eyes a second to adjust to the darkness, but she realized once they did that Aaron was awake—and he was looking right at her.
"Did I wake you?" she asked apologetically.
"No," he said simply.
"Okay… good," she said, offering a little smile.
He stared at her for a long moment, and just when Julie began to feel uncomfortable he started moving again, getting comfortable.
Then, without a word, he very slowly—giving her every opportunity to object, she imagined—wrapped his arm around Julie.
At first she could only stare at him in shock, but he looked like he was very unsure of what he had just done, so she replaced the look of surprise with a warm smile.
Next: elation. It was absolutely ridiculous to be so happy about just having a man wrap his arms around her, but that’s how she felt.
"That's better," she remarked, still smiling.
"And I'm not even drunk," he said, sounding like he might even be trying to restore some of their light mood.
Her grin widened and she pushed her luck, snuggling into his embrace and wrapping her arm around his back, too.
He stiffened, so she asked, "Is that okay? I can move it…"
It seemed like he had to force himself to relax, but he slowly nodded and said, "That's fine."
"You sure?" she asked. "I don't want you to think I'm trying to get fresh with you or anything."