Beautiful Mistakes

Another one.

After all, hadn't she done something similar when she wanted to get away from Jack? Matt had seemed

like Mr. Wonderful when she had Jack to compare him to, and she had apparently overlooked all the small things—like his wedding ring, and the fact that despite claiming not to be happy with his marriage, he was making no move to leave it.

Was she doing that again?

The good news was that she was actually asking herself that question, so that must mean she had at least learned from those erroneous decision-making processes she had previously utilized.

All she had to do was make sure she wasn't overlooking anything. If she examined everything very critically, perhaps she would be able to detect a note of falseness. After all, if she would have done that with Matt—and even Jack, and the Mr. Not-So-Wonderful before him—she was sure looking back that there would have been signs that she missed, things that would have warned her that something was off.

She hadn't been looking for them.

If she just kept her eyes wide open and she watched carefully, perhaps she would be able to avoid falling into a similar situation with Aaron or anyone else.

But despite what Matt said, she still felt strangely reluctant to distrust Aaron.

She didn't know why.

Trusting Aaron just kind of felt like second-nature.

Strange.

"Are you coming to bed now or later?" she heard Aaron ask, pulling her from her thoughts.

Glancing up at him, she felt a little twinge of guilt that she was considering doubting him—he had really done nothing to deserve it—but at the same time she was learning that she had to look out for herself in the world—no one else was going to.

She really didn't think Aaron was the kind of guy who would use an innocent person to "settle a score," but at the same time she had also believed Matt when he claimed he had never cheated on Emma before.

Obviously her built in lie-detector must be defective, so she had to be careful and question everything.

The good news was, he wasn't actually settling a score even if that would have been his intention, because while he may be inviting Julie into his bed, it was strictly a platonic thing.

Shrugging Matt off for the night, Julie got up and followed Aaron back toward the bedroom, but she stopped off in the bathroom to brush her teeth and put on pajamas.

When she climbed into bed, Aaron already had his back to her, so she felt slightly disappointed even though she knew she shouldn't.

By turning his back to her he was giving Matt's accusation even less credibility.

But she really didn't care about that, she just wanted to be cuddled with.

Boy, she was no good at cautiously examining.

"Hey Aaron?" she said, figuring he couldn't be asleep that fast.

"Yes?" he responded.

"I have a question."

"I figured as much," he said with a sigh, rolling over onto his back. "Go for it."

"Do you remember what you do when you're drunk, or are you one of those people who conveniently forgets everything the next day?"

He paused, his eyebrows shooting upward and he glanced over at her as if expecting more. "That's your question?"

Julie nodded, waiting for an answer.

He cracked a smile and rolled his eyes, but then he just said, "Yes, I remember everything I do when I'm drunk."