Untimely Love (Book 3)

♠Chapter 37♠

TW//: SA

♤♠♤

We headed across the lawn toward the coolers so she could get another bottle of water.

Both of us had been taking in all of what's been said—from the unnecessary scene with Sonorah to what I'd told her after. I was still processing all of what Cane said and I was relieved, but a part of me still wouldn't settle.

Ariana was the first to break the silence. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have walked away like that."

I frowned at her. She didn't look at me. "What?"

"I got up when she was talking to you all crazy," she elaborated. I still didn't get it. "I don't want you to feel like you have to explain things like that to me, that's all. With, like, girls and stuff."

"Oh, yeah, I know that." I buried my hands in my pocket. "It's that we haven't talked in person for a long time. I didn't want that to ruin the rest of the night, so... And we were getting along great before she-" I shook my head.

"She likes you."

I didn't say anything to that. If it was that obvious, she didn't need my confirmation.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ari asked suddenly. "You were pretty mad back there."

It took a moment for me to respond. "Worried about me?"

Ariana nodded slowly, dragging out a, "Yeah..." It seemed like she wanted to say more but decided against it.

"Honestly, Ari, you caught me on the worst week of the semester," I tried to explain. "This has never happened before. So yeah, I was mad. Kinda still am 'cause she was being petty."

She tossed the empty water bottle in the trash close by and sat her cup down on the table next to all the food, then gave me her full attention. She craned her head back to meet my gaze.

I tilted my head, eyeing her as she watched me. She was looking for some indication that I wasn't okay. "C'mon, you know I have control issues," I said.

Her mouth fell open and she said softly, "Now, why would you say that?"

My lips twitched, but it wasn't until she sputtered a laugh and tried to cover it that a grin split across my face. "I lost my mind last night and it's still bothering me," I told her truthfully. "Last thing I need is people throwing it in my face."

"I'm sorry." She sobered up pretty quickly at that. "It's just- you've never really admitted to having control issues. Not that I remember."

"We've both been admitting quite a lot tonight so why not," I said nonchalantly.

She pressed a palm against her cheek. "Did you really do all that because you saw me?" she asked softly.

Looking away, I ran a hand through my hair. My ears felt hot. "Honestly, I don't know." Then I shook my head. "I'm assuming. Cause I've never done that, I know when to stop and I always do. Last night... I'm not really sure what I was feeling after you left. It was mostly because I was kind of already high-"

"Kind of," she retorted. I gave her a look. "But as long as you're okay."

"I'm good. Promise." Especially now that I know what didn't happen.

She pressed her lips together, an expression I'm becoming more and more familiar with. Instead of saying what was on her mind, she reached for a water out of the cooler at the foot of the table.

I leaned against the table, waving a hand incessantly. "Go on, get it out of your system."

She smiled shyly as she poured the water into her purple cup. "I just have a question I didn't ask you before." She closed the lid and tossed the empty bottle. "But unless you wanna talk about-"