Page 24 of Friends Like This

Ace

The fourth was on my window that afternoon and read…

Love note #4

Beautiful,

There’s no one I’d rather go on silly adventures with than you.

Xo Ace

Every single one made me swoon. None of them were overtly romantic, just sweet, and exactly the way we normally talk to each other. It’s nice to feel special even if it’s not arealrelationship.

Today is Valentine’s Day, so I’m guessing he’s gonna have some fun with it. I’m excited to see what he does. I’m also excited to see Sarah’s reaction to Trevor’s scavenger hunt.

Aaron sits with me on the bus, and I swear his hand doesn’t leave my back until he drops me off at my first class. I can’t lie, I love it. His hands and arms always make me feel safe and protected.

As I’m sitting in first period, the students delivering roses and bouquets of flowers stop by our class. A beautiful bouquet filled with light pink roses, white snapdragons, and baby’s breath is set on my desk.

Miles, Trevor, and Nick all raise their eyebrows. But I don’t care because I see a note nestled in the center of the bouquet and I pull it out.

Love note #5

Rae,

I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have you as my best friend, my person, and my (fake) girlfriend. I love you, Beautiful.

Ace

I smile happily as I read it.

Nick peeks up over my shoulder at it, but I don’t even care. I’m too busy swooning over the sweetness of that note.

Aaron has surprised me this week, and I can’t wait to surprise him back tonight.

We decided not to do any kind of fancy Valentine’s dinner since we aren’t actually dating, but we are gonna grab some dinner together and hang out tonight. I told him I was planning all of it because he has done so much for me this week.

I know it’s not a real date, but I’m still excited for tonight. It should be a lot of fun and hopefully will make him happy.

“Rae baby, come on!” Sarah yells, dragging me toward the baseball field.

Okay, I’m putting on a little bit of a show. I don’t want to seem too eager. But I’m super excited to see Trevor ask Sarah to the Formal. I know they’ve been dating for almost three years, but still, it’ll be super cute. Plus, I helped him pull this whole love note scavenger hunt off. Then I followed Sarah all around the school to where the clues led. The last one is leading us to the baseball field where Sarah and Trev laid under the stars after his last middle school game and he asked her to be his girlfriend. They’d been casually dating until then and crushing on each other before that.

As we get to the field, I look around, surprised I don’t see signs of anyone. I know all of our friends are hiding behind the dugout with Trevor, waiting for Sarah.

She looks around too, surprised not to see Trevor. But then she sees the bouquet of flowers in the middle of centerfield. I trail behind her, off to the side, and start recording a video as she gets to the bouquet. She picks it up and pulls out the last note. I helped Trevor plan the notes, so I know it says something sweet about how much he loves her with a note at the end to turn around.

When she finishes reading it, she slowly turns and sees him standing in his jeans and a suit jacket, under which he has on a white T-shirt with a large candy heart printed on it that reads:Be Mine for Winter Formal?

She beams at him, then runs over and jumps into his arms.

I hear her say, “Hell yes! Babe, this was so sweet. I love you.” They share a sweet kiss as everyone claps. They came out from behind the dugout at the same time Trevor did, so they could watch.

Their kiss gets way more intense than I want to see, so I stop recording and trot over to Aaron, who pulls me into a hug.

“What do you think, Ace? Ready for our Valentine’s date?” I ask with a smile.

He kisses my cheek. “I’ve been waiting all day.”

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