[Complete] Ariel and the Bandits

39 - A Promise

When Ariel comes through the Gamma house, her face portrays a level of genuine surprise. Her backless golden gown, both elegant and simple, highlights her indigenous features. She looks around at the decorations and then at the people. When her eyes meet mine, whatever act she has, she drops into her sweet, soft-- and a little bit tired- smile.

This worries me to a certain degree.

Alyah rolls her eyes, but no one else seems to notice. Her sorority sisters do their chapter chant before commencing the party. Ariel strolls over to me, cups my face to plant a forward, gentle kiss. She runs her thumb over the corner of my lip before laughing and kissing me again.

I lean over to whisper in her ear. "Should I be worried?"

"About?"

"Your reaction. If that was fake, I wonder what other things you could be good at faking."

"That's the beauty of being with someone like you." She tilts her head and extends her body to plant a kiss on the bottom of my jaw. "I don't have to fake anything."

Her statement makes my jaw drop. The flash of a camera forces me to compose myself. I'm sure the photographer now has an image of Ariel's devilish smirk.

"How did it go?"

If there ever was a moment I couldn't interpret Ariel's smile, this is it. "We'll talk about it later."

I nod.

As the party goes on, I get banned from playing beer pong. I didn't plan to be a good shot and I didn't expect Maisie to want a rematch. Liam takes my place as Ariel's partner playing against Elvi and Alyah.

I walk through the rest of the house and guilt washes over me as my eyes land on Naz and Jake watching over a nearly passed out Maisie on the couch. Naz runs her hand in Maisie's hair as Jake holds her other hand.

We really should have stopped playing after the first round.

Once I am in the kitchen, I grab a red solo cup and get a good scoop of pepperoni pizza rolls from the big bowl sitting on the kitchen island. I stare out to the backyard.

"Hey," Ariel pops in. She reaches for my hand and interlaces our fingers."Where'd you go?"

I squeeze her hand. "I'm right here. Eating pizza rolls."

With my hands occupied, Ariel reaches in the cup and places a slightly cold pizza roll in my mouth. I keep a tight lipped smile as I chew my pizza roll while Ariel still holds her poker face.

"What is it?"

Ariel shakes her head. "It's nothing, really. I just have a hard time believing you're real."

"Real. And yours." My lips meet her knuckles.

"Oliver, I got it," she sighs. "You're looking at the Bandits' summer intern."

I furrow my eyebrows. "You don't seem too happy about that."

"Well in order to accept, I had to inform them of the college I'm enrolled in to get credit."

My heart freezes. Ariel mentioned grad school and showed me the acceptance letters back in March, but--

I look at the calendar pinned on the fridge. There, May 1st was circled in red. That was five days ago. "Where did you decide to go?" Ariel begins to pull away. Before she gets very far, I reel her back into my arms. "Amor, where did you decide to go?"

"Georgetown."

Before I have a chance to respond, a group rushes into the kitchen. They grab drinks and snacks and one of them announces they're doing senior goodbye gifts. The little sisters of the sorority give their big sis a goodbye gift. It's one in the morning, but there's still enough people around to gather a crowd for gifts.

Ariel's little sis gives her a Georgetown sweatshirt and baseball cap. Her eyes come up to me, but they don't linger. I stay by Liam and Elvi the rest of the night as the sorority sisters have their last drinks and bittersweet goodbyes. They've got enough drinks in my little mermaid that she's starting to think she's the actual little mermaid.

It's not until the party is over that we get a chance to be alone again. I am carrying her up to her room and laying her down in bed. She pulls off her dress and sits in her undergarments as I pull her some pajamas out of her drawer. I shuffle through the drawer and find a bandits jersey. The muscles in my face tighten with a grin as I pull and see the number 12 on the back. With a bit of a struggle, the jersey slides over her head. I tried to put shorts on Ariel, but she refused.

"I think Sebastian had a point," Ariel slurs. "Darling it's better, down where it's wetter, take it from me."

I grab the micellar water and a face towel, and remove her makeup. "He's absolutely right."

"I just... I just hate the fact that they think Ariel sold her voice for a man. Like she clearly wanted to be part of the human world before that. Eric was just the hot incentive to follow through."

"You're absolutely right babe. Fuck that guy. In both ways."

"No," she groans. She sits up and cups my face. "Only you." Her lip quivers. I bring her head against my shoulder. "I'm sorry. I should have told you about Georgetown sooner. You should have been the first person I told--"

"Ariel--"

"I know it's far and you've done the long distance thing before--"

"Ariel--"

"But I was scared--"

"Amor." I tilt her chin up. "If it wasn't you, it was going to be me. We were going to have to adjust to spending time apart during the game season anyway. The whole long distance thing? It'll be different this time because this is a different relationship. And what's two years to forever?"

"Is that a proposal, Oliver Thomas?"

"It's a promise."

She kisses me. "I think I'm going to throw up now." She hops off the bed and runs toward the bathroom. I quickly run in after her when I remember she doesn't have a hair tie. 

"I hope you still like me after this," she mutters.

I scoff. "And I thought I was oblivious."