Page 63 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

“Yeah. It’s a whole situation…” She frowned. “In fact, I should probably get back in there. Arden needs me, and as happy as I am to hear you say we could go in together…”

“No, no, I get it. You’re here with someone, I understand.” I was disappointed, but it felt like we were headed in a better direction. “Okay, well… Can we see each other tomorrow maybe? We could get dinner?”

Aria nodded. “Okay. Yeah. I’d like that.”

Relief didn’t describe my feelings. I’d done it. I’d actually convinced Aria to give me another chance.

I wasn’t going to fuck this one up.

“Okay. I’d say I’ll call you, but you’re gonna have to unblock me first.”

Aria blushed a little, but chuckled. “Yeah. I’ll do that right away.”

“Okay.” I stood up, taking her by the hand and pulling her up with me. She fell a little off balance, which was fine by me, because I caught her and used the momentum to kiss her one last time for the night. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“See you tomorrow.”

We peeled ourselves apart, as difficult as it was, and Aria walked back towards the door. Just before she walked in, she turned and looked over at me and waved. I waved back and she played coy and bolted inside.

I sunk back down onto the bench in the work pod and sighed. Victory had never felt so sweet before. Starting tomorrow, everything changed, and for the better at that. I no longer had any fear that the friends I was closest with would judge me for my relationship, and the woman of my dreams was finally going to be mine.

Whatever deed I’d done to earn that night’s fortune, I was glad I’d done it.

Eventually, I made my own way back inside and returned to the table where I’d left my friends. Hannah seemed poised to start asking questions right away, but something much more important caught my attention.

The guy that Aria had spoken to right before running outside was sitting next to Hannah at our table. “Who are you?” I asked.

Hannah held out her hand. “Oh, Tris. This is Lucky, my date.”

“Wait…thisis the guy from the other school?” I asked. I’d just assumed he was a kid lower on the totem pole that I didn’t recognize. “If you don’t go here, then how do you know Aria?”

The question seemed to make Lucky immediately nervous and Hannah shifted her gaze slowly in his direction. “You know Aria?”

“No. Who’s that?” Lucky responded.

“What?” I said. “I watched her walk up to you and then you two got into what appeared to be a very heated argument. You even tried to grab her arm a few times. I was about to come over there when she suddenly ran outside and I went after her instead.”

Hannah watched him with fury in her gaze and it was clear she had no idea that Aria and Lucky had any connection to one another. “How do you know her?”

“W-we… uh…” Lucky flipped his eyes between me, Hannah, and the others sitting at the table, then finally he jumped up. “I gotta use the bathroom,” he blurted and bolted out of the auditorium.

Nijah, who was also sitting there, took a sip of her drink. “Uh, looks to me like that guy was playing you. Is he an ex of Aria’s or something?”

Hannah pulled out her phone and navigated to a few different social media sites until she was able to find one for Lucky. She flipped a bit down the page, until we started to run into selfies of Aria and Lucky together. It was obvious from the way the pictures were notated, that the two were just friends, but then what would Lucky go to such lengths to come to the dance for?

“I didn’t even think to check,” Hannah said. “He told me he didn’t do much on socials because he wasn’t a computer guy.” She slammed her phone down. “I’m so fucking dumb.”

“No,” I said, putting an arm around her. “That guy was clearly up to something. I just wish I had any idea what it was.”

26

Aria

After what had happened with Tristan and Lucky showing up out of the blue with Hannah, it became clear very quickly that it was better for Arden and I to just leave the dance. We hung around for another forty-five minutes tops, then we said goodbye to our friends and just left.

Arden was clearly out of sorts after seeing Hannah with Lucky, even more so after I told her what he’d said. At first, I believed that the situation between Arden and Hannah was just friends gone wrong, but after seeing the shattered look on her face when she thought Hannah may be dating the guy, I realized that my understanding was totally false. I felt like a shitty friend. She’d been doing so much holding me up while I was dealing with all the drama with Tristan, that I didn’t even notice the way she was feeling about Hannah.

And I was keeping her and Hannah in close quarters while I went back and forth with Tristan. I was being horrible.

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