Page 106 of Overtime
I keep my attention on my folded arms as I ask, “What are you doing here?”
“I figured you may need a friend.” If he notices my flinch, he ignores it and keeps going. “And friends are there for friends in need, right?”
“Is that what you think we are now?”
That gets me no response. Slowly, I take in his frame, pausing at the tie and the handkerchief neatly tucked into the breast pocket of his suit jacket, then continuing on until I finally reach those piercing eyes of his. And by the look of them, he’s trying to read my mind.
“And who is this tall drink of water?”
Oh, great. It’s my cousin Stacey, the Lori of the family, along with my cousin Leah, her lackey. I forgot that getting Mom to give us some privacy didn’t extend to the rest of the family.
She slides next to us, closer to Aran. Funny enough, he slides right up to me.
“I’m Maddie’s plus-one” is all he says, the fabric of his jacket brushing my arm. So close and yet so far.
Stacey’s eyes ping-pong between us. “Really. Maddie, did you really have to hire an escort service to impress us?”
Leah snorts a laugh.
I check in on Aran. He doesn’t seem insulted, but even so, I tell him, “I assure you not everyone in my family is as disgusting. Just about half of them.”
“What did you just call me?”
Aran’s lips twitch. He leans down to whisper in my ear. “I’m game if you want to give them a show.”
Of course he is. As long as it’s for fun only.
Well, no more. I can’t go ahead with our fake dating scheme. Or the kisses that make me want more. I’m done. I don’t care if my relatives think I had to hire some hot guy so I wouldn’t look pathetic. I don’t give a crap about what anyone else thinks anymore.
I offer a saccharine smile to my cousins. “You guys go find someone else to belittle. Heaven knows that’s the only thing that makes your miserable lives keep going. My plus-one and I are leaving.”
As if on cue, Aran circles my waist with his arm and leads me away. I keep going even when he stops, and he has no choice but to follow me out. At the front of the converted barn, a teenage boy asks for my coat ticket and makes a face when I fish it from my bustier. Aran doesn’t give him a ticket, though, and we wait in silence until I get my coat.
Outside, his steps echo in the quiet night, the party noise well behind us.
“Why are you here, Aran?” I finally break the calm, keeping my attention ahead while crossing the expanse of grass toward the parking lot.
“I told you.”
I stop and turn around, catching him in the middle of rubbing his head like he does when he’s stressed out. There’s a crease between his eyebrows. This is the expression I wanted to see earlier, but now it brings no satisfaction. I feel…
Empty.
“We’re not friends,” I say, my voice soft but surprisingly firm. “I don’t know what we were, but it wasn’t exactly that.”
His shoulders sag when he drops his arm. “Maddie, we are friends. We’ve been friends all along. We can keep being friends.”
“Maybe that’s what you think, but I can’t.” I shake my head several times, my eyes lowering progressively until they fall into the abyss between us. “I can’t keep seeing you if I want to have any hope of getting over you.”
Aran swallows so thickly even I hear it. His voice comes out like gravel when he says, “So, what? Are we supposed to be strangers now? Is that… Is it really what you want?”
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to contain the tears pooling in them. Bundling into my fluffy coat, I turn my back on him and say, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” And with an even more quiet voice, I add, “Sorry you came all this way for this.”
And again, like that night at the Bolt House, Aran doesn’t follow.
CHAPTER 31
ARAN
