Page 14 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

No, she wasmorebeautiful.

Hannah was good looking, but as far as I was concerned, Aria was my dream girl. It wasn’t just the history that we had or the fact that our personalities gelled like we were born to be together.

She was fucking hot.

How anyone couldn’t see that simply because she wasn’t a twig, was beyond me.

Turning the corner onto my block, I noticed a familiar maroon Impala parked in the driveway next to my step-mom’s car and smiled. It belonged to my older brother, Taylor, whom I never turned down a chance to spend some time with. Despite him being about eight years older than me, we’d always been incredibly close. I pulled up and parked along the sidewalk, given that Taylor had taken my driveway spot, then grabbed my backpack and hopped out.

I wasn’t even to the sidewalk leading up to the door when the front door opened.

“Hey!” Taylor threw his hands in the air. “There he is! The big senior!”

I waved. “What’s going on?”

Taylor looked like a taller, bulkier version of me. He had my same short brown hair and resting face dimples, though he had my mom’s green eyes instead of the hazel one’s I had inherited from my dad. Though he’d never been big into sports, and was more of a band and music guy, he’d always run muscular, and developed a love for the gym when I started dragging him there daily to help me beef up myself. He was also unbearably tall, standing well over 6’6”.

Making my way up the sidewalk, I walked right into his open embrace. He squeezed his arms around me, dwarfing me with how much larger he was than me in every way.

“You know I had to come see how your first day of senior year went,” Taylor asked.

“Are you staying for dinner?” I asked as I pulled back.

“You know it,” Taylor replied. “Andrea’s making tater tot hotdish, so I’m obviously not missing out on that.”

I grumbled. “It’s pretty good I suppose.”

Taylor looped an arm around my neck and dragged me through the front door. “Don’t be like that. I know it’s one of your favorites, and you always flip when Molly makes it. I love the woman, but hers isnotas good as Andrea’s. Don’t be such a Cinderella.”

“Youdorealize that Cinderella had every right to hate her step-mom, right?” I asked.

Taylor stopped and looked up towards the ceiling as he processed the statement. “You’re right. That was a bad example. Andrea’s a good woman, and she loves Dad. Don’t be so rude.”

I didn’t respond. We’d gotten into the argument about my step-mom more than once. It always felt to me like my dad got remarried really fast, and while I was still trying to get over everything that had happened with my mom, I was suddenly being shoved before this random person, telling me that she was going to be my new mom and take care of me the way my mom couldn’t. My dad never understood why that upset me so much, and instead of cooling his jets, he charged forward, full-steam ahead, including moving away from Aria and my old life and throwing me into an entirely different type of lifestyle that I wasn’t prepared for.

It was terrifying.

“Anyway, my first day was… interesting.” I looked at Taylor to see how he was taking my sudden shift in subject, but he was just nodding and smiling. “I got Coach Hammerskill as my homeroom teacher.”

“No kidding? That’s pretty cool. Gotta be nice to have a teacher you’re already really comfortable with,” Taylor said. “Is that it, though? No offense, baby bro, but that’s not all that interesting.”

“No, that’s not it. I, um… well, I think I might be going down in history for the fastest crush ever developed.”

Taylor looked at me with wide eyes as we sat down on the couch in the living room. “Yes! Tell me all about her. What’s her name?”

“Aria,” I replied.

In response to the name, Taylor furrowed his brow. “Wow. How strange is that? You foundanotherAria. That’s not all that common of a name.”

I side-eyed him. “No… it’s not.”

He read my expression for a few seconds, then he leapt up from the couch, turning around to look down at me. “Wait! It’sthatAria? From the old neighborhood?” I nodded and he started to clap his hands. “Oh my god, I amsoexcited. She goes to your school? Has she always?”

“No. She just started this year. Her mom relocated and she had to transfer. I probably came off as a creep at first. I was walking up to my locker and saw her and recognized her right away. She looks mostly the same.” A heat started to rise through my chest and into my face. “Although, she’swaymore beautiful. The years have been amazing to her.”

Taylor was damn near buzzing with excitement. “I can’t contain myself. This isincredible.I always loved Aria. She brings out something in you. Well, I mean, this,” he motioned to me. “You’re sitting there grinning like you have a banana stuck in your mouth.”

“Yeah. I’m excited too.”

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