Can You Keep A Secret? (Completed)

viii - reunion

"Holy moly ! Is that little Aria?! "Trip stands up and rushes me . Before he can get an inch closer Alex puts himself inbetween us as a buffer.

"Back up Trip, she's just reacquainting herself with everyone," he says as nicely as possible.

Trip eyes me and then flashes me a toothy grin, "Stop playing Alex , I just want give her a hug."

"Back off Trip, if Alex doesn't want you near her , it's probably because of the last time we all were around each other," Warren warns him .

Trip steps back with his hands in the air, "you know I didn't mean any harm back then Ar. I was really just trying to help," the look in his eyes says that he's sincere but Alex wasn't budging .

"Honestly, I don't remember much from that time in my life . All is forgiven," I try to say as kindly as possible .

"You don't remember the incident?" Rachel asks . I remember Rachel being a brunette like Trip and Warren , while Florence had wild dirty blonde hair like Alex.

Alex shakes his head, "more like she lost her memory from that age and before."

"Aria, I didn't know . I'm sorry , I didn't mean-" Trip starts blubbering .

"Trip, it's okay . I'm alive, I'm here and I've made a ton of amazing memories . Plus we're all together again, I'm sure we'll make more memories," I try to calm him down .

Alex's mother comes over to me and gently guides me to my seat . Her warm smile instantly made me feel at ease, "Aria, you grew up to be such a beautiful young woman . Come , sit and let's catch up."

She sits be down across from Warren and I felt my heartbeat speed up . His intense gaze heightened my senses and I tried hard to look away from him . He mumbles something to himself that was intelligible to everyone else .

"It's good to be reunited with everyone," I say , looking at everyone and giving them a smile .

Alex sat next to me and as he did he reached for my hand under the table . He rubbed the back of my hand where my thumb as reassurance that he's here with me. I gave him a smile and turned my attention back to the table, which was still quiet and staring at us.

"Aria , if I can be frank, I'm surprised to see you here . Dating my son, no less," his father finally spoke up.

"Sir, I honestly didn't know we had a connection until Alex came to brunch with me the other day," I tell him.

"Well , regardless, I'm glad that we got a chance to reunite . And hopefully we can get the families together again," he says with an honest smile . I felt pangs of guilt begin to build as I realized that our little secret will probably blow up in our faces.

"I hope we can," was the only answer I can give and I wished I could take it back. How did things get so complicated. During that small exchange I noticed Warren rarely taking his eyes off of me . There's something intense in the way he stares . Something that keeps drawing me in .

Before we begin dinner we all finally relaxed and start chatting with one another . I learned from Rachel and Florence that their husbands would be running a bit behind but will join us in the middle of the course and that Trip won't be able to stay long because he has some things he needs to prepare for (which I know exactly what it is, considering that I'll be very much a part of it).

"I ran into Penny the other day," Warren throws out , making everyone stop what they were doing.

"Are you two thinking of getting back together?" Alex asked , surprising me at his sudden interest.