To Claim His Girl

“Anyone tell you, you’ve got a weird way of talking with people?” Chris asked.

“I need to see Aria, and she needs to understand that I’m not going anywhere.”

“What about college?” Branson asked.

“We’ve been looking at those together.”

“Wow, you really do want to make this work with her, don’t you?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, I do.” He loved her, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it either. “How do you feel about Rachel?”

“I love her.”

“You’d do anything for her?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Branson, you the same about Mary?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s how I feel about Aria. It took me longer to figure out than you guys, but I got there in the end.” He wasn’t going to let Aria get away, nor was he going to have her believe that he was going to get bored with her.

This was their life, no one else’s, and they were going to live it how they wanted.

“How are we going to get past Mary’s parents?” Chris asked.

“They’re not there.”

“What?” Eli and Chris both said in unison.

“Mary knew that Aria wanted to be alone. She’s been under a lot of stress at school, and home. Tonight was about being girls, and she didn’t want us to be there.”

Eli pushed his foot down on the accelerator.

Aria had been different with him ever since he’d told her what he wanted. Their relationship hadn’t changed from friendship, and she was holding back.

He didn’t like it, and it was time they brought those issues out into the open. What he loved about the lake was that they didn’t live too far away from it.

Parking inside Mary’s gates, he was out of the car and at her door within seconds. Pressing the button, he listened to the bell, and continued to press it. He didn’t stop until the door actually opened.

“Eli, what the hell?”

“Sorry, Mary, but I’ve got to talk to Aria, and now.” He pushed past her, and entered Mary’s home. Going down the long corridor, he took the third door on the right, and entered the sitting room. Rachel and Aria were sitting there, painting each other’s toenails.

“What are you doing here?” Rachel asked.

“I really need to talk to Aria, like now.”

Moving toward his girl, he wrapped his arms around her, and tugged her up.

“Mary, I’m heading to your room,” he said, shouting out toward the others.

“Eli, put me down, you big brute, before you hurt yourself.”

“I should be hurting you. Spanking your ass.”

“Oh please, you wouldn’t dare.”