Beautiful Mistakes

She refused to meet his gaze, even though Julie knew she had to have felt Aaron's eyes on her.

Strange.

"I haven't seen Matt in a while. I saw pictures of Anna though, she's getting so big!" Rebecca cooed.

"She looks just like Emma," Denise contributed.

"Oh, she's a beauty," Becca said with a nod, agreeing.

Aaron smiled again, still looking at Shannon, and Shannon still refused to look up, taking a moment to look at her nails as if suddenly they held the secret to life.

Finally it was Josh who tore his gaze from Aaron long enough to say lowly, "Becca."

Becca looked up obliviously. "Yeah?"

He merely shook his head slightly, flicking a glance toward Shannon and Aaron.

"Oh," Becca said stupidly. "I forgot," she said under her breath.

"Oh please, don't shut up on my account," Aaron said brightly. "Let's keep talking about Matt and Emma, we can all share a favorite memory. Anyone want to guess which one I'm thinking about?"

That was all Shannon could take.

Mysteriously, her bladder needed to be released again, and she said, "Excuse me," standing up and walking back toward the bathrooms.

Aaron smiled. "Damn, we should have started talking about him a while ago."

"You're being so mean to her," Becca accused.

Aaron's eyebrows shot up and he could only stare at his little sister.

"Aaron," Denise said, her tone scolding. "I thought we already discussed this."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mom, am I not being nice enough?" he asked mockingly.

"You're being a prick," Denise stated. "You're making everybody uncomfortable."

His gaze darkened, and he said, "Sorry, Mom. You're right. I shouldn't have made my girlfriend fuck my brother. I should have thought about how terribly uncomfortable that would make everyone else."

With that, he stood up, glancing at Julie long enough to say, "Come on."

Sighing, Denise said, "Aaron."

Shaking his head, he said, "Have a nice dinner."

Julie hopped up, offering a half-hearted smile in the general vicinity of his family members, then without a word she followed after Aaron, digging his keys out of her purse.

"You okay?" she asked, hazarding a glance at him.

He nodded wordlessly, but his brown eyes were still especially dark.

She didn't want to irritate him, so she said nothing, just walked next to him quietly to his car.

As they approached the car, he said, "I shouldn't have come to this wedding."

"'Cause of Shannon?"

Shrugging a little, he said, "Just 'cause of everything. I shouldn't have. My mom asked if I could… leave it alone for the weekend, and I thought that I could, but… I should have just stayed home and sent a card."