Grown ish: Zoey and Aaron, The Future (BOOK 2)

Part 56: Keep It Together

Zoey narrates.

Aaron takes my hand in his and grips it tightly, as I rest my head on his shoulder. AJ points at the stage, his eyes glistening with pride for his sister, as we sit beside each other watching Zara perform in her ballet recital. She was incredible.

I look at Aaron whose eyes are beaming, as he watches his daughter, and I can't help but feel emotional. I lean up and kiss his cheek, as he looks at me and smiles.

'That's our daughter.' He says.

_____

Zara's performance was amazing and some of my friends came to watch too. They'd sat in the row in front of us and the theatre was dark, so fortunately no one had seen my intimate moment with Aaron. We all head back home for a takeout dinner at the penthouse.

'Zara, you were amazing!' Sky says, hugging her.

'Oh, my little girl, she's all grown up.' Ana says, showering her with kisses.

'Aunty Ana, you're smothering me again!' Zara says, laughing, as she finally frees herself and comes over to Aaron and I.

'Baby girl, you are a star.' Aaron says, giving her a hug.

'Thank you for coming.' She says to us both.

'Of course, sweetie.' I say.

'I'm going to go and get changed.' She says, and I nod.

'Wine?' I suggest.

'Hell yeah!' Jazz says.

Aaron talks away with Jazz, Sky and Doug, as Ana follows me into the kitchen.

'Hey, Zoey?' She says, sitting at the breakfast bar.

'Yeah?'

'Is everything okay?' She asks, as I get out a few glasses and a bottle.

'What do you mean?' I reply.

'With you and Aaron?' She adds.

'I don't get it.' I say.

'You guys would never normally go to something like this together. Normally you pick one parent each time. And I don't mean to bring up the past, but you guys always end up arguing. Like, what's going on?' She asks, concerned.

'Nothing.' I say, a little high pitched.

She narrows her eyes suspiciously.

'We're just...trying something new. Trying to be more together for the kids, that's all. A new method of co-parenting.' I say, shrugging my shoulders, trying to be casual.

'If you say so. But you know you can always talk to me, right?' She says, and I smile.

'I know. Now help me carry these out, please?' I say, pointing to the glasses.

We go into the living room as I pour everyone a glass, and hand them out. As I hand one to Aaron, he purposely takes the glass and brushes his hand against mine, leaving it there for a few seconds, as I glare at him, and he smiles.

'Thanks.' He says, and I nod.

Keep it together, Zoey.

As I'm about to sit, I see an empty seat beside Doug and another beside Aaron. When we've all been chilling together, I've been keeping away from Aaron. He gestures his head for me to sit beside him, but I quickly sit beside Doug, to avoid anymore suspicion from Ana.

He shakes his head, and I laugh.

_____

A few days later, I'm working in my office, and I've asked Aaron to meet me during his lunch break as I have some important news.

I'm typing away at my computer, when he enters.

'Hey!' He says, sitting in the chair by my desk.

'Oh, hey! Give me one second.' I say, finishing my email and then turning to face him so he has my undivided attention.

'What's the news?' He asks.

'Well, it's not really news, more of a proposition or you could say like a work thing...' I say, awkwardly, like when I'm trying to avoid something.

'Come on, Zoey, just tell me.' He says, laughing.

'I have to go to Paris next week. We've been working on an important shoot and the location has just been changed, so I'll be flying out on Sunday. It's Luca's project so he's coming along and Ana is also coming, I suspect for a free trip.' I say.

'Oh, okay.' He says, nodding.

'I'm sorry to spring this on you so suddenly. I know that you'll need to have the kids for a week.' I say, placing my hand on his, on top of the desk.

He smiles.

'Zoey, you know I love having extra time with the kids. And this is exciting. I'm proud of you. And this is a good way to show that I support you.' He says, as I breathe a sigh of relief.

'Plus, it'll give the kids a chance to get used to having me around more often. So that when we move back in together, it'll be like normal for them.' He says, taking his fingers and tracing them up my bare arm, and giving me goosebumps.

'You're really holding out hope.' I say, smiling.

'It's all I have.' He says.

'I'm going to miss you for a week.' He adds.

'You've been waiting 7 months, what's one more week?' I say.

Suddenly, he gets up and pulls down the blinds over the huge glass windows. Then, he goes over to the door and locks it, as I stand up confused.

He slowly comes back over to me, grinning.

'What are you doing?' I ask, confused.

'Enjoying every second I have with you. If you think about it, it kind of feels like we're in college again, right? No one knows about us, when we're together the kids aren't here...it's just us two.' He replies, as he holds my waist, and kisses my lips.

I reciprocate, holding his face and deepening the kiss.

He starts to unbutton my shirt and quickly pulls it off, as I fiddle with the belt on his jeans. I lift his top off, in between kisses, as he pushes the files off of my desk and lifts me on to it, pushing himself between my legs as I wrap them around him.

His kisses move further down, trailing around my neck and then down to my breasts, as he un-clasps my bra and pulls me closer to him, our bare chests together.

He continues kissing the back of my neck, as I do the same to his, sucking at the one spot I've always known he likes, as his free hand slowly moves under my skirt.

Suddenly, I moan, and he moves his head away, still keeping our bodies close.

He looks at my neck, as do I, and when we both see the hickey, we burst out laughing.

He shakes his head.

'I need you.' I say, as his eyes widen, and he buries his head back in my chest, his hand continuing under my skirt, as we share another passionate afternoon in my office.

_____