Page 75 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

She smiled at me. “Aw. I love you too.”

32

Tristan

Itook a deep breath before grabbing the bouquet of purple tulips I’d bought for Aria and climbing out of my car. The sun was shining and it was still late morning, exactly the time I’d planned to give Aria the date of her life. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but I believed the worst of it was behind us. There was no longer a jealous best friend, or evil popular kids, or my stupid insecurities standing between us. All we had to do at this point was nail the date.

This should be the easy part.

I pressed my hand against the doorbell and rang it, and then took another deep breath while I waited for someone to answer the door. I could hear some hushed tones coming from inside, then, to my surprise, Arden opened the door.

“Hello young man,” she said in a very low, bassy voice. “How are you today?”

“Um, confused mostly.”

“Well that’s not the kind of thing we’re looking for. Goodbye.” She started to seriously shut the door, so I shoved my hand out.

“No, wait. I’m sorry. I’m here to pick up… your daughter? I was going to take her out on a date.”

Arden folded her hands in front of her and reared forward on the balls of her feet and then back onto her heels. “Ah, yes. You must be thisTristanshe’s been talking non-stop about. Come in.”

“This is weird,” I murmured to myself as I passed through the doorway.

“What was that?” Arden huffed.

“Nothing… sir? Ma’am?” I replied. “You.”

“He’s right,” I heard Aria’s voice from someplace I couldn’t see. “This is weird.”

“Aria,” Arden whined, stomping her foot like a little kid. “I’m playing a role. Don’t interfere with my process.”

“Fine,” Aria said flatly. “Continue, but do it quickly.”

Arden cleared her throat, then turned to face me and started to shout, “Just what are your inten—”

“Whoa!” Aria yelped, hopping out from the kitchen doorway. “Why are you yelling all of a sudden?”

“That was my dad voice,” Arden said.

“What happened to the regular volumed one?”

“Wow,” I said breathlessly, taking in the sight of Aria. “You look beautiful.”

She turned and looked at me, then smiled, blushing a little. “Thanks.”

She was wearing a sleeveless sundress that started a deep pink at the top and faded down to a dark purple at the bottom. She appeared to be wearing roman sandals around her well-pedicured toes. Her hair was pinned back on both sides, giving me a perfect view of her magnificent eyes. It was so simple, but she wore it like she could walk it down a runway.

It was perfect.

I was glad I went simple, with black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a blue jacket over it. Whatever I wore was going to pale in comparison to how incredible she looked.

“You said dress comfy, but I still wanted to look good, so…”

I snickered at that. “You were going to look good regardless, but… Yeah. This is a good look.”

“Thanks,” she said.

I held out the flowers. “These are for you.”

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