I could’ve shrieked. Or melted into a puddle. I had no idea which.
A picnic was the most romantic kind of date in existence, and I couldn’t believe Aaron was taking me on one.
It was official. He was the best.
And this way, we wouldn’t run into anybody. We could just be us.
I took his hand, hardly containing my glee.
He grinned. “Ready?”
Butterflies.
Butterflies everywhere. “Definitely ready,” I replied.
I’d been ready for this for as long as I could remember.
I gave his hand a squeeze, and he squeezed back.
Several minutes later, we arrived at an empty field. Good thing I’d opted for my favorite jeans and tee with sneakers instead of the dress and pumps I’d been eyeing in my closet.
Aaron grabbed the basket, and I took the blanket. The sun had just gone down, so it was getting dark but we had plenty of light to work with.
We found a good spot near an old and large tree. “Doesn’t this property belong to old Mr. McGuire?”
He nodded and sat down next to me. “It does. I help him with his horses sometimes, mostly in the summer.”
I looked around. Aaron led me up a hill. He lay out the blanket, and I sat down. “This is an amazing view,” I told him.
The grass was light and soft. In the distance, I could see a couple of horses roaming about. And the sky bled several shades of red and orange, the sun no longer visible.
He didn’t say anything, just put his arm around me.
Everything was perfect. “It’s so beautiful out here,” I murmured.
He moved a little closer and wrapped his arm around me. A cool breeze had me shivering, but Aaron was warm and cozy. He felt like home. “It is, huh? I’d love to have a property like this someday,” he said, his voice full of hope.
I turned to him. He was just a few inches away. I could smell his familiar cologne. “Just as long as it’s near the beach.”
Before I could think too much about it, I put my hand on his jaw, brushed my thumb against his skin, and pulled him toward me.
We kissed as the stars came out and peeked down at us, and other than that, we were alone.
And free.
After that amazing kiss, I lay my head against his chest and we stared out like that for a while, just laying still and taking in the view.
Aaron’s quiet voice roused me from the silence. “We should eat. I wish we could stay out here forever, but at some point, I gotta get you home.”
I didn’t want to think about going home. Not yet.
My stomach growled, and I watched as he pulled out the food along with a small lamp, the kind my Dad used in his shop, so we could see. “I can’t wait to see what you made.”
He chuckled. “It’s nothing special. I promise.”
It could’ve been peanut butter and jelly, and I wouldn’t have cared at that point.
He pulled out some wrapped up sandwiches. “My mom makes the best roast beef, and it just so happens we had some left over from last night.”
“Yum,” I said in response as he handed me one.
He also pulled out a couple small bags of chips and two cold sodas.
“Orange,” I told him. “My favorite.”
He winked at me. “I hope I’m scoring lots of boyfriend points, I won’t lie,” he quipped.
I grinned and took a sip of soda. “Oh, you just scored a three-pointer.”
We ate and joked, and at one point, he brushed a crumb off of my lip. It was the hottest thing ever.
Just as we finished eating, my phone buzzed. I went to pull it out of my pocket. “That sandwich was amazing, by the way.”
“I’ll let my Mom know,” he replied, kissing me on the cheek. I closed my eyes and let him stay close.
But then my phone buzzed again.
I looked. “It’s David,” I told him.
Two messages. He was ready for me to pick him up so we could go home.
We put everything away, and Aaron drove me back to Scarlett’s house.
He kissed me good night, and I could hardly let him go.
I finally did. I got into David’s car, thanked Scarlett, and went to pick up David.
The whole way, I felt like I was floating on water.
I’d just had the most amazing date with Aaron.
Maybe we could make this work.
Maybe the next two months would be hard at times, but there could also be more nights like this.
I pulled into David’s friend’s house, and he came outside. After putting his one crutch in the back seat, he opened the front passenger door and got in.
Right away, he gave me this look. “You alright?” he asked.
Uh oh. Had I done something weird? “Yeah,” I replied right away.
He stared at me another second. “Okay. You just seem off or something.”
I backed out of his friend’s driveway. “Nope. I’m good.”
We didn’t say anything the rest of the way home.
Maybe I’d been smiling too much or something.
I had to act normal, I reminded myself.
If this was going to work, David couldn’t get the slightest hint of something going on.
There was a lot on the line.
18
The bromance was real.
That’s all I had to say.
It had been a couple of weeks since my date with Aaron, and I’d hardly been able to see him since.
He was best friends with my brother for a reason.
Apparently, they hung out a lot, which meant there wasn’t much time left for me, no matter how hard we tried to sneak in some together time.
I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry at the fact that my brother got more time with my boyfriend than me.
Sometimes, we snuck in a walk together after dinner, but if either of us was swamped with homework, that was a no go.
Every single day, Aaron texted me good morning and good night, and I loved it, but some days, that was all I got from him.
Somehow, I was around him a lot. In the mornings, on the way to school, on the way back home, in our classes together, and at basketball games.
But he was always out of reach.
We couldn’t sit together at lunch.
We couldn’t walk together to class.
I couldn’t hold his hand or kiss him and tell him good job after a tough basketball game.
I could tell it was hard for him too.
He’d glance at me, and I’d see my own disappointment reflected back in his eyes before he turned around and followed David into the locker room or the cafeteria.
One afternoon, Ben came up to me as I watched Aaron walk off with David. “Are you guys ever planning on coming clean and maybe getting to be an actual couple?” he asked, his tone of voice light but serious.
I sighed. “I don’t know.” Then I walked off.
It wasn’t his fault.
It wasn’t David’s fault either.
We had chosen this. It wasn’t rainbows and daisies and unicorns.
If we were going to get through the next couple of months, then we had to figure this out.
Or go back to being friends.
But I didn’t want that, and neither did Aaron.
David already thought Aaron was up to something, due to all of our texting.
Maybe there was a way we could make this work.
After practice that afternoon, I drove all of us home.
David had joined the team at practice, although I wasn’t sure how much he was able to do. It seemed like he was bored more than anything.
I pulled into the driveway, and I took my time grabbing my cheer bag and book bag.
David sauntered off into the house with his crutches, giving Aaron a quick wave. “Text me when you hop on later, bro.”
He was talking about the video game they liked to play at night.
“Sure thing, man” Aaron replied, grabbing his bag. “G
et ready to be demolished, though.”
David turned with a chuckle. “In your dreams,” he said before heading inside and shutting the door behind him.
Aaron turned to me then. From where we stood, anyone would have trouble seeing us from inside the house.
He seemed to be thinking the same thing. He gave me a smile as he came up to me and then pushed a strand of hair out of my face. Then he squeezed my hand. “Talk to you later?” he asked.
I nodded. “Definitely.” I loved it whenever he did things like that, like touch my hair.
Just as I worked up the courage to get on my tip toes so I could reach up and kiss him, I heard a familiar sound.
The sound of my dad’s truck coming down the road. He’d had it for years. I could’ve recognized the sounds it made anywhere.
In just a second, he’d come around the corner. And he would have the perfect view of us standing here way too close for two people who were hardly supposed to be friends.
I pushed Aaron away harder than I intended and took several steps toward the front door.
At first, Aaron looked at me confused, like he was wondering if he’d done something wrong.
There was no time to explain, though.
And then he heard my Dad. He spun around and began making his way to his house without another glance at me.
I was already halfway to the front door. I turned like I hadn’t just heard Dad’s truck a second ago.
Aaron gave him a wave and kept walking.
I stuck around like I hadn’t just avoided getting into some serious trouble and waited for Dad to get out of his truck. “Hey, Dad. How was work?” Why did my voice sound so nervous?
He grunted in response. AKA hungry and tired.
All the better he hadn’t seen me with Aaron or picked up on something. That would not have been pretty.
If there was anything worse than David finding out about me and Aaron, it was Dad.
Even though he’d courted Mom around my age, he just didn’t believe in love or boyfriends when it came to his only daughter.
I followed him inside, quietly exhaling with relief at escaping another close call.
After a cool shower, I took my book bag down to the kitchen table. I liked to do my homework there. Usually, Mom made dinner, and if I didn’t have anything to do, I’d help her. She liked to teach me traditional Puerto Rican recipes, things she’d learned as a girl and that had been passed down from her grandmother.
But tonight, I had a big pile of assignments waiting for me, and she always told me that school came first. Like my Dad, she’d never had the opportunity to study beyond high school, and she was determined that her kids excel and go to college.
While I got to work, David yelled from the living room. He had his headset on, and he sat in his favorite chair in front of our flat screen TV as he played.
Apparently, he didn’t have any homework.
Dad looked up disapprovingly from his notebook. It looked like he was calculating business expenses and all that.
I smiled to myself and went back to math.
My phone buzzed. It was Aaron.
I glanced up and made sure Dad hadn’t noticed. Or Mom.
We had been talking back and forth all afternoon, even though he was also supposed to be playing video games with David. I didn’t know how he did both things at once.
David yelled again. “Dude! How’d you let him sneak up on you like that? That should’ve been an easy kill!”
Dad got up, grabbed his stuff, and left the room.
Meanwhile, Mom told David to quiet down or he could find something else to do.
He quieted down, although I could still hear him talking to Aaron.
I couldn’t hear what Aaron was saying back to him, but I held back a smile. I knew how Aaron had missed that easy kill.
David’s next comment had me almost freaking out, though. “Say what you want, man. It’s obvious there’s something or should I say someone distracting you. You don’t fool me.” He chuckled, and all of a sudden I couldn’t focus on the math problem in front of me. Aaron must have said something else because David said, “Whatever, dude. You don’t gotta lie about it. I can hear you typing out texts. What’s her name? She go to our school?”
But apparently, Aaron hadn’t cracked under the pressure because eventually, David let it go. “I’m sure we’ll all find out who she is sooner or later, man,” he said with another laugh.
Let’s hope not, I thought to myself.
As I finished another math problem, it hit me.
But maybe it would be wise for David to think that Aaron did like some other girl.
I could practically hear the gears in my brain starting to turn.
Maybe it was just the cover we needed.
19
Nora snapped her fingers as we stood at her locker before the morning bell. “That’s the perfect idea,” she said. “Make your brother think that he does have a girlfriend, but without letting him realize that it’s you.”
I nodded, remembering that one cheerleader from the away game. “And if she goes to another school, then David never has to meet her.”
Nora grinned, a hint of evil in it. “Genius. Then this summer, when David moves away, they ‘break up.’ And he falls in love with you.”
I smiled too. “That would be perfect.”
All Aaron had to do was tell David that he had asked that girl out. We could hang out sometimes, just like the evening of the picnic.
This could work.
The warning bell rang, and Nora shut her locker. “Just watch. Before you know it, you two will be out and about with no problem. No more hiding.”
She and I began walking to class. “I have a feeling David still won’t like it,” I told her.
She shrugged. “Yeah, but he’ll have to accept it sooner or later, and even if he doesn’t, he won’t be around to stop it.” She paused, sensing my hesitation. “Listen, you can’t people please forever. At some point, you have to do what makes you happy. Don’t you think?”
Nora had a good point. It just wish it wasn’t easier said than done.
I felt kind of bad for David because I knew he would hate the both of us whenever that happened, but at the same time, I was excited that we had figured out a plan to make this work until then. Besides, it would be much easier for David to find out about Aaron and me if he was a couple hundred miles away.
That afternoon, I told Scarlett all about the plan after cheer practice.
She walked beside me, quirking a brow. “That’s actually a really good idea! Why didn’t I think of it?” We crossed the street with the rest of the squad. “So what are we going to call this girlfriend?” she asked.
“Ooh,” I replied. “I hadn’t thought of that. I guess we do need to come up with some details. Her name, what she’s like…”
Scarlett laughed. “Just don’t go crazy with it.”
Too late, though. “Her name will be… Jessica,” I said. “That cheerleader he was talking to looked like a Jessica. And she doesn’t eat carbs. She only dates football players, but she’s making an exception this once. Oh, and her favorite color is pink but only millennial pink. She hates any other shade of pink.”
Scarlett laughed and shook her head. “You are too much. At this rate, David won’t even want to meet Jessica.”
I winked at her. “Exactly. And since I’m a cheerleader, I know all about Aaron’s new girlfriend. Maybe I’ve talked to her a couple of times on Insta.”
Yep, this could work.
We said goodbye at the school parking lot. Scarlett’s Mom was waiting. I headed to David’s car. His foot was doing better than ever, but I was still driving so he could rest it in the back seat.
I dug his keys out of my bag and spotted Aaron and David heading my way.
Just then, I got an idea. I typed out a text message to Aaron.
Rachel: Just go with it ;)
Just as I reached them, I hit send.
His phone
buzzed, and he took it out. He froze and glanced at me.
David put his bag in the back of his car and turned back towards Aaron. “Is it your girlfriend again? Just tell me her name already, dude. It’s so obvious you’re crushing hard.” He took Aaron’s bag and stuck it in the back of the car too before shutting the door again. “I mean, she texts you all the time.” He shimmied up to him playfully. “She got a friend?”
I held back a giggle and put my own stuff in the car. “Oh, hasn’t he told you?” I asked casually. “He’s dating a cheerleader from Brookhaven High. She’s cute.”
David’s mouth fell open. He punched Aaron lightly in the arm. “I knew it!”
Aaron was a terrible actor. Not that I’d given him much notice, but still. He was lucky David hadn’t caught on to it.
Instead, David peppered him with questions the whole ride home. I glanced at Aaron in the rearview mirror, who gave me this look like he had no idea what he was supposed to say. “Yeah, she, uh, we’ve been talking,” he said lamely.
I smiled before coming to the rescue. “More than talking, I hear,” I added. “I heard you took her out on a date.”
David looked at him in disbelief. “Good for you, man. I wondered when you’d get the courage to ask a girl out. Every time I ask you if you’re interested in someone you say no one, and I knew that couldn’t be true.”
Aaron glanced out the window and didn’t say much else.
I had to make sure David didn’t get suspicious so I stepped back in. “Yeah, she’s totally sweet. Her name is Jessica, right, Aaron?”
Aaron turned back to us. “Yeah, she’s nice.”
“You gonna introduce me the next time we play Brookhaven?” David asked.
Aaron opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but he stayed silent.
Uh oh. I had not considered that…
“Of course,” I said.
Luckily, by then, David’s phone had dinged with a notification, and he was too busy checking it out to see Aaron and me all frazzled.
“Can’t wait to meet her, man,” David said, scrolling through his phone.
When we got home, David grabbed his stuff and went inside. I grabbed my stuff too, while Aaron stood there, his backpack already on his shoulders and his gym bag on the ground next to him.
Dating Aaron & Other Forbidden Things (Garcia Brothers Book 2) Page 8
