Agony Aunt

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tonight was not only bonfire night but it was Aria's sweet sixteenth. A party was not what she wanted after her peers found out that she had been knocked up by the school's golden boy, which resulted in mum agreeing for Aria to be privately tutored for the rest of the school year. 

Instead, mum organised this bonfire in our back garden, accompanied by sparklers, fireworks, toffee apples and homemade treacle toffee which wouldn't be complete without the whole entourage of a family here. I was, however, surprised to see that Aria did have a couple of guests.

The father of her baby stood facing her, intimately closer than the platonic relationship Aria proclaimed they had. They announced that in the best interests of prioritising the pregnancy, they were going to remain co-parents rather than being romantically involved with each other. 

Except, they weren't going to co-parent at all because Aria had decided to give the baby up for adoption. Maybe that was why they had chosen to terminate the relationship because, at the end of it all, things might be just too painful for them. 

I know they thought that was the mature approach to this situation, to put the needs of Aria and the pregnancy first but it was obvious to everyone that although they were mere teenagers, they were teenagers in love. In aid of trying to make this situation as painless as possible, somewhere along the line these wounds would be dug up.

Denver nervously shuffled from one foot to the other, uncertain of how to act around Aria. I noticed how he kept pulling his hands out of the pockets of his hoodie, he wanted to reach out to her, he wanted to touch her, to be able to show her affection but he couldn't do that because that was above the lines of the agreement.  

After a couple of minutes of watching them, I finally saw Denver place his hands on Aria's shoulder, he first wanted to test the waters to see if she would pull away. When she didn't, he then proceeded to rub his hands up and down her arms in a loving motion. When a smile graced her lips, Denver kissed the top of her head. 

The wood continued to crackle and flame, much like Aria and Denver's relationship. The bonfire saturated the atmosphere with a smoky ambience and the smell of burning wood stuck in the back of my throat. Crisp nights and wind-chilled air reverberated a romantic atmosphere and it made me long to share the warmth of the fire with a special someone. The thought of the flames rising up and spicing up our first bitten cheeks awakened all my senses. 

When it came to Jacob, rousing all my perceptions at once was a knack he so easily had. Even if I was visualising what we would be doing together in this situation, it still only took one imaginary smell, one ghostly touch, and one sensation of his deep voice vibration against my skin to bring to life all my other senses. 

Clearly, the charming fire with its persuasive dance of flames had set the mood for me because my senses were being assaulted with the imaginary aroma of Jacob's homely scent. The feel of the chilly breeze on my face was tinged with the familiar fragrance of cardamom and orange. I could smell it as though it had been freshly doused onto his skin and I could taste it as though Jacob was my splayed fruit platter.