Mason’s standing in the kitchen, and my stomach instantly starts hurting when he waves at me. I avert my gaze, but before he can comment on my rudeness, Annalisa and Charlotte appear at the top of the stairs, which are to the right of the foyer.
“Amelia! Finally! Come look at the view from our room!” Charlotte exclaims, and I don’t waste any time following her up the stairs—anything to avoid Mason, even if it’s putting off the inevitable. You’d think I’d be better at hiding secrets, but this is different—it’s not about me, and it’s really going to hurt him, destroy him even. I don’t know if I’ll be able to face him at all over these next two weeks.
Noah follows us with my bag since he refused to let me carry it when I offered, and Aiden stays behind to say hi to his brothers.
“There are three rooms downstairs. Noah is in one, Aiden is in the other, and Julian and I are in the bigger one,” Annalisa explains when we get to the top of the stairs. “This room here is Mason and Chase’s, the one down at the end of the hall is Jackson and Jason’s, and this one is yours and Char’s.”
“How did Noah and Aiden score rooms by themselves and everyone else has to share?” I ask, more out of curiosity than anything.
“We figured Aiden should get a room to himself since he just got out of jail and deserves a nice room. You know, since the bunks in prison are terrible,” Noah jokes and I laugh despite knowing I probably shouldn’t.
“And how did you get a room?” I reply with a smile.
“We put Mason’s, Noah’s, and Chase’s names in a hat and the name we pulled out is who got the room to himself,” Charlotte answers.
“And I didn’t rig it, despite what Mason says!” Noah defends himself loudly enough that Mason can hear from the kitchen.
“You sit on a throne of lies!” Mason calls back.
“He’s just jealous he’s not incredibly good looking, funny, smart, talented, and lucky like I am,” Noah rationalizes, opening the door to the room Charlotte and I will be sharing.
My eyes are immediately drawn to the queen-sized bed, for no other reason than because Chase is lying down on it, flipping through one of Charlotte’s magazines like he has all the time in the world.
“Oh, hey, Amelia,” he says casually. Annalisa and Charlotte just shrug.
The room is nothing luxurious, but apparently we got the nicest one because we got the balcony. Noah puts my bag on top of the dresser and sits down beside Chase, while Annalisa, Charlotte, and I cross the room and head for the balcony. I slide open the balcony door and see the grass of the backyard, which eventually turns into sand, then ocean. It’s so peaceful.
“Char, did you end up knocking people out for this room after all?” I tease her, wondering how we landed the balcony and gorgeous view.
“They let us have it since you’re paying for all our food and stuff,” Charlotte answers as we step back into the room and close the door.
“Plus, we figured that you two would be least likely to jump off the balcony in a drunken stupor,” Annalisa says, giving Chase a sharp look.
“Once! It happened once and I landed in the pool!” Chase defends himself, adding in a mumble, “They never let me live that down.”
I’ve only ever seen Chase drunk once, when he showed up at Charlotte’s resolved to declare his love for her before I stopped him, but clearly this guy does some pretty dumb things when he’s had too much to drink. Drunk Chase stories just get weirder and weirder every time I hear them.
“Technically, it’s Aiden’s money,” I clarify. “He should get first choice of rooms.”
Annalisa scoffs. “Please, have you met the man? He wouldn’t let us give him the better room instead of you.”
I hide my blush behind my hair.
“Speaking of,” Charlotte continues for Annalisa, “you promised us details. You and Aiden. Kissing. For who knows how long now?! Spill.”
“Yas, give us all the deets!” Noah squeals, trying his best to imitate Charlotte. All that does is earn him three glares; only Chase finds it hilarious.
“Okay, out now you two. Go make us some hamburgers or something if you’re bored,” Annalisa commands, opening the door wider and pointing into the hallway.
They don’t move, but Chase looks at Noah. “You hungry?”
Noah smiles. “I could eat.”
They get up and head out the door, arguing about which type of meat to barbeque.
“I want cheese on my burger!” I call after them as Annalisa shuts the door.
She and Charlotte turn on me, their eyes focused on me like they’re stranded on a desert island and I’m the last ounce of life saving water. Suddenly, I wish Noah and Chase were still here.
“Are you going to tell us the details or are we going to have to force them out of you?” Annalisa threatens.
“Put your throwing knives away. Sit down and I’ll tell you.” I sigh, mentally preparing myself for Charlotte’s squeals of delight and Annalisa’s line of interrogation.
We get comfy on the bed, sitting in a circle facing each other with our legs crossed.
“When did you guys become official?” Charlotte asks, eyes lighting up with excitement.
“We’re not official. We haven’t officially had that awkward what are we conversation. We technically haven’t even been on a real date.”
I know that Aiden and I have a deep connection—I know all his dark secrets and he knows mine—but I can’t really tell them that. Plus, we really didn’t have that what are we conversation that no one ever looks forward to, and I’d rather we didn’t. I still haven’t figured out how to tell him I’m leaving in a few weeks. I’ve been trying not to think about it but he has to understand. Right?
“When was your first kiss? It looks to me like he has a full access pass to kiss you whenever he wants.” Charlotte smiles, genuinely happy for me.
I tell them about our first kiss. I tell them how I avoided him for weeks after that because I was scared. I don’t tell them about my confession to Aiden about my past, but I tell them that after he got arrested, we cleared the air and since then we’ve just had a connection.
“I’m so happy you and Aiden found each other! If there’s anyone who can put him in his place, it’s you. We’ve seen it multiple times.” Annalisa laughs.
“I’m happy for you too! Totally not trying to think about how you two can go on supercute double dates and I’ll get ditched and sit at home like a single loser,” Charlotte says, I think only half joking.
“It’s okay, Char. I don’t see Aiden and me going on a date and ditching you anytime soon,” I reply.
Really though, I won’t be able to ditch Charlotte to go on a date, since I’ll be leaving town before that can happen. But I guess that means that I technically am ditching Charlotte, except for forever instead of one night.
“That just means Char is next on the boyfriend list,” Annalisa jokes. “You got your choice of Mason, Noah, or Chase. Slim pickings, I know. But I’m sure you can turn any of them into respectable boyfriends in no time.”
We laugh along with Annalisa, even though I know Chase would love nothing more than to be Charlotte’s boyfriend.
“Maybe I’ll try my luck with some locals here.” Charlotte laughs, twirling a piece of hair with her finger. “A nice winter-break fling.”
“There’s actually supposed to be some kind of carnival going on here in a few days. The cleaning lady was telling us when we got the key. It’s supposed to be a big deal, even the mayor is going! We have to go! It sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun,” Annalisa declares, adding that the twins would love it too.
Before we can agree, Chase and Noah holler to us from downstairs, telling us that ‘Their meat is ready,’ and laughing at the dirty double meaning. We roll our eyes, thinking about how we have two weeks of this. Lucky us.
12
Even though we’re at a beach house, it’s not the warmest weather. It’s a lot nicer than back home, but it’s not really swimming weather. Plus, it’s
a bit drizzly. But despite that, we decide to explore the town the next day.
“So who’s coming into town with us?” Annalisa asks from the kitchen, which is open to the living room.
“I’m coming,” I answer, pulling on a sweater and grabbing an umbrella.
“I don’t feel too good today, guys. I think I’ll just stay here,” Charlotte says, plopping down on the couch beside the twins, who are playing a video game against Julian and Noah.
“Are you sure, Charlie?” Chase asks with concern. “Do you want me to stay here with you?”
“No, go have fun. I’ll just sleep it off,” she replies, pulling her sweater closer around herself and leaning back on the couch, getting comfortable.
“Mason and I are coming. Boys, go get ready,” Aiden says, looking at his brothers and waiting for them to get up.
“I want to stay here and keep playing,” Jason says, Jackson nodding in agreement as neither boy takes their eyes off the action on the television screen.
Aiden sighs. “I just got you that game a couple of days ago. You guys are going to finish it already.”
“But we can’t go! We’ve almost beat Julian and Noah for the first time. If we leave now we won’t have this kind of lead again!” Jackson argues.
“Plus,” Jason adds, “it’s way too cold outside.”
“As a responsible, intellectual adult, I have to agree with the monkeys. Way too cold outside for my liking,” Noah states matter-of-factly, still not taking his eyes off the screen.
“It’s not too cold. But I’d rather stay here,” Jackson says, sitting up a bit taller and shooting a quick sideways glance at Charlotte.
“It’s, like, negative gazillion degrees outside,” Noah counters.
“Hey, at least it’s not negative pertrillion degrees,” Jackson replies.
“Gazillion is a bigger number than pertrillion, so your argument isn’t even valid,” Noah, the responsible, intellectual adult, scoffs.
Jackson sticks his tongue out at Noah, who returns the gesture with just as much ferocity.
“Why don’t we let the children stay and argue and we’ll go?” Mason suggests. “I think Jason and Jackson are responsible enough to babysit Noah while we’re gone.”
Noah sticks his tongue out at Mason in reply, clearly favoring the insult.
“Now we can finish the video game!” Jason exclaims, happy the situation worked out in his favor.
“Sorry, boys, but Julian’s coming with us,” Annalisa states with finality.
They pause the game on the screen for the first time.
“Really, dude?” Jason asks in disbelief.
“Sorry, guys.” Julian shrugs, puts down his controller, and stands up.
“You’re picking a girl over us?” Jason asks bewildered. “What happened to ‘bros before hoes’? ‘Dicks before chicks’? ‘Misters before sisters’? ‘Balls before d—’”
“Jason!” Aiden interrupts, not amused. “You just called Anna a ho.”
Annalisa raises an amused eyebrow at Jason, not the slightest bit offended.
“I-I didn’t mean it like that,” Jason stutters, probably a little scared of Annalisa, like everyone is. “I just meant—”
“We know what you meant.” Julian laughs as he pulls on a sweater. “But when you get older, you’ll understand.”
Noah makes a whip noise in response, and Annalisa lobs a pillow at his head. “Return of the Zombie Aliens Part Three and a Half will just have to wait, guys.”
“Charlotte can take Julian’s place since she’s staying here anyway! Right, Charlotte?”
Three sets of hopeful eyes turn to Charlotte at Jason’s suggestion.
She sits up and shrugs. “I don’t know how good I’d be. I’ve never played Alien Vampires Comeback or whatever, before.”
“It’s Return of the Zombie Aliens Part Three and a Half,” Jason emphasizes, trying to play it cool since he knows she’ll be on Noah’s team, increasing his own chance of winning.
“It’s easy, I’ll teach you,” Noah says, moving so that he’s sitting beside Charlotte on the couch, and going over what each control means.
Barely a few seconds pass before Jason looks over his shoulder at us. “You guys can go now.”
We look at each other, astonished at being so curtly dismissed.
“Well, then, no ice cream for you,” Annalisa says as we turn to leave.
We all silently laugh at the shock and regret that fills his face as his eyes widen, realizing his grave miscalculation in choosing to stay at the house.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay here with you, Charlie?” Chase asks again, warily eyeing the shrinking space between Noah and Charlotte.
“I’m fine here. Go have fun!”
She doesn’t even turn back to look at him when she responds, busy listening to Noah’s instructions, and I can almost hear Chase’s heart deflating a bit.
After Aiden tells his brothers to be good and to listen to Charlotte, we take two cars into the heart of the town, where all the activity is. I waited to see which car Mason was getting in, then immediately ran to the other one. It’s so hard to be in such a small space with him without feeling like I’m breaking out in hives. After parking, we walk through the little downtown area filled with cute, well-maintained storefronts. The majority of the stores have an overhang covering the sidewalk, which shelters us from the drizzle. I smile like a love-struck schoolgirl when Aiden intertwines his fingers with the fingers on my good hand.
He smiles at me, looking genuinely happy. It’s a good look on him, much better than being constantly closed off and all stoic.
Looking up at his chiseled face when he’s not paying attention to me, I smile when he laughs at something Chase says. I clench my teeth to stop my chin from quivering. He deserves to be happy more than anyone; I just wish he’d found it with someone more reliable. Someone who isn’t planning on jumping ship in a few weeks.
I pretend to be interested in something Annalisa points out, but I’m just counting the bricks on the wall behind her to forget about the stinging in my eyes. I know I have to tell Aiden I’m leaving. I just don’t know when or how. I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want him to be mad at me, or disappointed, or feel like I was just playing with his emotions this whole time, especially since I knew full well I was leaving before we kissed for the first time. Between what I know about Mason and what I know I have to tell Aiden, I’m surprised my body hasn’t turned into one giant hive.
The feeling of my hand in his is ever-present in my mind, and something instinctive and primal in my gut tells me that I know I don’t want to give this up. I’m brought out of my thoughts when Aiden’s grip tightens painfully.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him as we walk a bit behind the others.
I follow his gaze to one of many campaign posters plastered all over the town. Vote Mayor Kessler for Governor, they all read.
The others notice what we’re looking at and stop to look at the posters too.
“Guess this guy must really want it,” Julian comments. “His commercial has been running so much I practically have it memorized. ‘I’m a family man, fighting for the rights of your children, our future,’ yada, yada, yada.”
Annalisa shakes her head. “All politicians are full of shit. He says he cares about low income families, single mothers, etcetera, but he’s probably never even stepped foot in a house that cost less than seven figures.”
“Who cares? Why are we staring at his campaign posters anyway? Let’s eat,” Mason says, leading the group onward.
“Is everything okay?” I ask Aiden softly.
He looks at the poster with his eyebrows drawn together, as if trying to put pieces of a puzzle together in his head. He finally shakes it, as if to clear it.
“Yeah. Let’s go,” he says, back to his old, confident self.
“Aiden! K-bear! What do you think?” Mason calls to us as we reach the group.
“About what?” I reply, not
meeting his eyes for fear I’ll see his dad’s face.
“About going roller skating in that place over there?” He points at a building advertising indoor Rollerblading, laser tag, and an arcade.
Roller skating means lots of activity and moving around, not sitting in a small room and sweating when I feel Mason’s presence right there, and thinking about how I’m going to ruin his home life. It also means I can keep holding Aiden’s hand—if I concentrate on the now, and not the later, I can convince myself it’s okay to let go and have some fun.
“I say let’s go.”
When we walk to the old building, I pay for everyone with the cash Aiden won, and everyone suits up. Aiden and I are the last people to get our roller skates, so everyone is already on the rink. Multicolored lights are flashing and the whole place smells like old shoes—it’s both comforting and nauseating at the same time.
“I don’t want this to count as our first official date,” Aiden says out of nowhere as we’re putting our skates on.
“Oh, we’re dating?” I tease him.
He smirks up at me as he ties his laces. “I certainly hope so.”
My smile probably takes up half my face, and I focus on tying my skates so he doesn’t see me blush. He knows exactly what buttons to push to make me react how he wants. Asshole.
“Why don’t you want this to count as our first official date? It’s like a triple date. We’ve got three couples,” I joke, looking over at Mason and Chase who are arguing over something dumb with Julian and Annalisa.
Aiden sits up and laughs, a sound that I will never, ever get tired of hearing.
“We both know Chase only has eyes for one particular girl. And Mason isn’t nearly as pretty as her,” he jokes, referring to Charlotte, who’s still oblivious to Chase’s feelings.
Stay With Me (A Wattpad Novel) Page 12
