This isn't edited, but it's been over a year since I posted, I'm so sorry adgfkv. I'm starting college later this month so uH 💀wish me luck. And I'll try to post more... this year lmao.
17. Banging
"Those are some pretty roses."
I looked at Frankie, Ariana's brother and then back at the red roses sitting in a vase on a stand in the living room.
At his statement, I remembered the moment I gave her the roses, right outside my house...
When I held the door open for Ariana, I smiled innocently as she walked through. Sneakily, I reached back and grabbed the roses off the counter. I'm sure my cheeks were flushing as I followed her and cleared my throat, because my stupor considered that to be the most romantic way to get her attention.
She whirled around and her eyes looked down at the roses I held in front of me. With a gasp she covered her mouth and looked down at them, a smile developing. Twinkling eyes looked up at me and she laughed. "Are these... for me?"
I chuckled. "No, sorry, wrong person." Jokingly, I turned around and headed back to the door, but I stopped and turned back towards her. She had her bottom lip jutted out adorably, with a drawn sad face. "I'm kidding. Of course they're for you."
She was back to grinning quickly and she took them from my grasp, gently, when I held them out to her. "There's no wrapping around it," she said softly.
Laughing awkwardly, I informed her, "Well-I picked them myself. From our front yard." My eyes flicked to where roses lined up next to our porch. I didn't take enough roses that just anyone could notice the roses were missing, but my mom who'd been handling them for the past few months definitely noticed and took offense.
Ariana's expression softened even more as she shook her head. "You didn't hurt yourself, right?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side at me.
"What? On the thorns? No," I answered, looking down at my thumb that had lightly grazed one of them. It hurt only a little, but it wasn't painful. I didn't even get cut by it.
Soft hands took my own and she placed a tender kiss on the thumb, making me grow heated. She looked up at me from under her lashes and said, "Good. I don't want you hurting yourself." Those brown eyes fell and her voice softly added, "Especially for me."
My embarrassment dwindled as I frowned at her. "I don't mind."
The three words were simple but they made her flinch and lock her gaze with mine. After a few moments she looked away, releasing my hand; and it grew cold without her touch. She forced a smile and shook her head.
"Well," she started, before she backed away from me, distance growing between us. "I promise I have the perfect place to put them," she dimpled as she put sunglasses on, shielding her eyes from me.
I only swallowed as she walked towards my car and got inside. She was being so... guarded today. And I had no clue why.
Biting my lip nervously, I followed her and got into the car. The car ride was quiet, but I didn't mind it. I thought maybe she was still feeling distant and I didn't want to force her to return to me; I knew she would once she was comfortable.
When we reached her house, a switch flipped in her and she was beaming, carrying my roses to the door in excitement.
"These are going to look so pretty by the living room," she told me.
She was right. When she got inside she removed a pair of fake flowers from a black vase with white intricate curls designed on it, filled it with water, and set it back in place. The house was mostly bright with a soft beige color, so the clash of the dark black and white vase with the bright red roses was surprisingly pleasing to look at.
Ariana had smiled brightly at the roses, then at me and her brother, whom she boasted to. Frankie, in turn, handed her Andy because she needed to be changed "with motherly tenderness" and then she bounded upstairs with the baby.
That's how I got here next to Frankie, who was commenting on the flowers I gave her.
I smiled and nodded. "Yeah," I agreed to his comment about how pretty the flowers were. "They came with the house, but my mum's been caring for them."
Frankie had his arms crossed over his chest and was watching me with shrewd eyes. Most of the family resemblance between them, was in the big brown eyes. I don't know why his were looking at me so... meticulously.
"You like my sister?" his voice sounded half questioning, half factual, as if it was both a question and a statement.
I sucked on my lip and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I do," I admitted. "She's..." I searched for the right word. "She's lovely," I settled on with a sigh , looking up the stairs she'd gone up.
My face flustered because of how wistful I sounded... I sound like a fairytale princess gushing after a prince.
Ariana's brother laughed. "Yeah, I guess it makes sense you'd think that." I frowned at him, but his laughter abruptly stopped and he was back to watching me warily. "I hope you know that if you hurt my sister, I will kick your ass."
My eyes widened at this.
"Don't underestimate me because I'm a fluttery gay," he warned.
I began stammering. "Wh-What? No, no, I-"
"Fucking Frankie, stop terrifying my boyfriend," Ariana interrupted, cutting me off.
Boyfriend. My face flamed as I realized she'd just called me her boyfriend. I could see her coming downstairs, with more makeup than before, carrying baby Andy.
Frankie smiled innocently, batting those doe-like brown eyes he shared with his sister. "I'm just being honest," he chirped.
Ariana released a heavy sigh while rolling her eyes. Andy was babbling in her own baby language making Ariana look down at her. "Frankie, I know I've been handing her off to you a lot-"
"But you want me to babysit again while you two lovebirds bang, I got it."
I choked on air as I gasped at his words. My wide eyes looked at Ariana who was as mortified as I was.
"Frankie!" she practically shouted, but he only laughed at our embarrassment.
"I'm not judging you," he grinned, cheekily.
Ariana threw a blanket she had wrapped around Andy, aiming for Frankie, but he caught it easily, still cracking up.
"You're disgusting," she said. "You shouldn't be saying that around Andy."
He shrugged. "I'm sure you shouldn't be saying 'fucking' around her," he rebutted.
"Hey, I make the rules around here."
This time, Frankie rolled his eyes. Ariana turned to me, her face apologetic. "Excuse my brother, his main goal in life is to humiliate me in any way possible," she emphasized as she glared in his direction.
Frankie snickered as he took Andy from her arms. "I consider it a side goal."
I released a shaky breath, still blushing at that early comment. Me... and Ariana...
Not a good time to think of that, I told myself, trying to come back to this moment. Ariana wrapped her arm around mine.
"Now, Harry. I hope you're ready to dazzle me on our first official date," she smirked.
I blinked dumbly and nodded. "Of course, of course." Sort of, I thought to myself. It felt as if it'd been forever since I'd taken a girl on a date. For a second I felt a tumble of second thoughts hit me, but I pushed them away and gave her an easy going smile as we headed to my car.
-
"I see that Liam's been whispering in your ear," Ariana commented as we pulled up in front of a vegan restaurant (that may or may not have been the recommendation of her best friend).
With a sheepish grin I shrugged. "Maybe so."
She only chuckled in response as we headed inside. "You didn't have to take me here. What if there's nothing you like?" she asked, sounding concerned.
I waved my hand and said, "I'll be fine. My goal is to impress you for the time being and I doubt the hardest part will be eating eco-friendly."
Upon pushing open the restaurant door, I was immediately greeted by the sounds of cutlery on plates and voices chattering. The aroma of food was just as good as in non-vegan restaurants; just wasn't the smell meat. White walls and white table covers filled the room, but oddly enough was pleasing simply because it made the people sitting down and the food on their plate stand out like pops of color.
"Hmm," I hummed to myself. "I like it."
"I'm worried about whether you'll like the food," she said in a whisper as we stepped towards a counter with a waitress behind it.
"Relax, love, its all good," I whispered back. Once we stood in front of the employee, I put on a polite smile and said, "Table for two, please."
The girl put on a smile much more broad than mine. "Of course, sir, right this way." She nodded at the two of us and we followed. After introducing herself handing us menus, she disappeared to leave us to figure out what we wanted.
"What is it that you like?" I asked, stating down at the menu. How many variations of protein are there? he wondered.
She shrugged. "I like the sweet and savory stuff even though there's a lot that's spicy. Do you like spicy food?" she inquired.
I shook my head with wide eyes, thinking of all the times I overestimated my durability with hot foods. My expression must've been hilarious, because she started giggling.
"I'm getting the Orange Delight with a side of glazed carrots, but I think for appetizers we should get vegetarian lumpia," she suggested.
I raised an eyebrow. "Lumpia?" I repeated the word, hoping I'd heard it right.
She nodded her head as she closed up her menu. "It's a Filipino food. We don't need to get any tofu or proteins in it, just vegetables. The sweet chili sauce is great, and is more sweet than chili, so stop looking intimidated," she smiled at my slightest reaction to the word chili.
I nodded slowly. "Of course, of course, I trust your tastes. You've been here more than me." My eyes kept searching the menu and I started to panic on the inside. What is it Liam said that he got? Shit, I don't remember... "Ah," I said quietly, seeing something I might like. "I think I'll just go with a classic veggie burger." Dumpling, I closed up my own menu and Ari rolled her eyes.
"Softy. Don't worry, one day I'll cook up some of this stuff for you - for free - and we'll figure out what you like," she smiled.
There was a swirl of warmth in my stomach at the allusion to us spending more time together in the future. "I like the sound of that," I said softly.
Eventually, our waitress, Yva, returned and we got drinks I forgot ordering and we told her what she wanted. Ariana had gotten some iced raspberry peach tea and I got hot mint tea.
"You know, I bet that would taste good with raspberry. Raspberry mint is always good," Ariana told me.
I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
She nodded her head taking a sip from her drink. "Raspberry tastes good with most things actually if you ask me. At least herbal things and chocolate. Can I just say it's so British of you to go for the hot tea, i mean do you guys-? Wait, I'm so sorry, does that sound racist? Ah, shit, I'm rambling, Harry, shut me-"
Her words cut off when I reached across the table and placed my hand over hers. Nervous brown eyes looked up at me beneath crinkled eyebrows and I smiled at her endearingly.
"Yes, we have iced tea in England," I answered. "Some of us drink it, some don't. I'd say it depends on the weather, but it's so cold in England, it most likely depends on the person or the mood. Really, I like coffee more than tea, but I try not to drink it past a certain time and I wouldn't want to have coffee breath if I try to kiss you later."
When I finished speaking and she heard the last part, her face blossomed with a blush rose as she pinched her lips together and looked down. She pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and said, "I wouldn't've cared." Her mouth opened and stayed that way until she finally got out the words, "I really... really like you, Harry. I think you're one of the nicest guys I've ever met."
I noticed her smile had gone away and if anything she looked... anxious now. With a frown, I squeezed her hand to get her eyes off the ground and up at me. "I know you're the most incredible woman I've ever met." Just like that morning, the words seemed to make her shrivel up and she wasn't at all comforted.
"No, Harry, I-"
"Here's your lumpia, we'll have the rest of your food done in ten minutes or less, I hope this will tide you two over," Yve said kindly as she set down a plate of what looked to me like egg rolls with the sweet chili sauce Ari told me about.
Ari had shut her mouth up upon Yve's arrival and then put on a huge smile as she nodded, "Thanks. Yve."
Once Yve had turned around and left, Ari started to take food and dip it in the sauce. "Try it, Harry, it's really good," she encouraged, still smiling as if that last moment hadn't happened.
"Ari..."
"Some people like it better with meat, but whatever. I swear it's yummy," she continued to evade.
Instead of pushing her on our first date, I told myself I'll ask another time down the road, but I knew the suspicion would bite hard. The rest of the dinner, I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't stop wondering what had given her that haunted, look of guilt.
