He seemed to have gathered he had said more than he was allowed to, and looked guilty and nervous. If the situation hadn’t been so bizarre and ridiculous, I would kiss him for how adorable he looked.
Quietly, he followed me into my room, leaving Nick and Stacey to themselves.
As soon as he shut the door behind him, I snapped. “What the hell, Zayden? I told you it was supposed to be a secret! He is not proposing to her until next week.”
Covering my face with my hands, completely horrified about having ruined Nick’s surprise, I threw myself onto my bed. “You can sit, you know,” I said when he continued to stand awkwardly by the door.
Carefully, he walked closer and closer to me until he was right next to me. He ran his palms through my face and sighed deeply. “I am sorry. I had completely forgotten you mentioned it was a surprise. I didn’t mean to ruin it for your friends. You know I wouldn’t do that.”
“I know,” I said, pulling him towards me to cuddle. “But, what are we going to do now?”
“We are going to sit here for a few more minutes and let your friends figure things out. Then we are going to go out, I’m going to apologize for my blunder, and we are all going to have a nice evening. How does that sound?” He stroked my hair, pulling me towards his chest.
“It sounds like all we can do for now.”
“It will be okay. Don’t think about what’s happening outside. Let’s talk about something else. Did you get your paper back?”
I removed myself from his embrace, and lying by my elbow, looked at him and said, “Yes, I got an A and the teacher said it was one of the best papers he had encountered on the subject.”
“If only he knew how we got to the idea.” Zayden snickered.
“I want to write all my papers with you exactly like that from now on,” I said, getting slightly cheerful again.
“I don’t know how much writing will actually get done, but I am not going to protest, baby.”
His use of endearment made me feel the ground beneath me disappear.
“I love you,” I said, looking him straight in the eyes this time. He didn’t say anything, but I was sure I saw a twinkle in his eyes. He leaned in and kissed me softly and passionately. Then I understood. He was not able to say it just yet, but he loved me too.
We just lay there holding each other for a long time before going back out. When we finally made it back to the living room, Nick and Stacey seemed engaged. They were beaming with joy. It wasn’t so bad after all.
Chapter Nine
Zayden
Aria had somehow convinced me to redo the dinner with her mother, but go about things a little differently this time. For one, she had picked me up in her car, a blue Ford Taurus that she managed to drive pretty well but kept me on my toes the whole time nonetheless. I wasn’t sure I had sat in a car quite like it before. It was incredibly small, the seats felt like they were made of plastic, and my legs were hurting from the little room in her front seat.
“You okay, there?” she asked, eyeing me quizzically.
“Yeah.” I smiled, trying hard to ignore the discomfort. “I’m great. I’m with you.”
That had the desired effect of making her blush, to my relief, and she didn’t ask me any more questions regarding my comfort for the rest of the ride.
We pulled into her mom’s driveway, and I was met once more with the foreclosure notice.
“How long does your mom have the house?” I asked Aria as we walked in.
She shrugged nervously. “I am not sure. She’s had the notice for a while, but my mom doesn’t like to discuss it with me very much. She feels guilty, so I don’t ask her questions.”
“Hmm,” I said, thinking I would figure out how to help them out of this situation soon.
Molly received us with a huge smile, despite the way I had walked out of here the last time.
“Thank you so much for coming over again,” she said joyfully.
“Of course! I am sorry I had to run out the other night. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. It was just…” I looked at the floor, afraid to accidentally catch Aria’s eyes. “Stuff came up at work, you know how it goes.”
“Absolutely!” Molly exclaimed. “Don’t worry about it. You must be busy running the bank. I am grateful that you could make some time to come over again. Aria, why don’t you take Zayden into the living room and you guys hang out while I prepare dinner?”