𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 • Tristan Pravong

VIII: GIRLS NIGHT

Aria looked at her phone. Tatum had sent her a message, inviting her to a 'girls night'. She was seventeen, but she'd never been to a girls night before. Everyone thought she was weird for it, and insisted on her coming. Obviously, she accepted.

She packed up all of her stuff and headed out, walking to Tatum's house since it was close. It was already eight pm, and the sun was starting to set.

She made it to Tatum's house, knocking on the door which was opened instantly. Tatum's mom wasn't home, as usual, so they had the house to themselves.

"Change into your pyjamas," Tatum said as Aria walked into the house.

"Already?" Aria asked. Tatum nodded. "Okay."

She went into the bathroom and changed into her pyjamas, then walked into the living room where she was greeted by Maddy and Becca.

"Okay, face masks or pizza first?" Becca asked.

"We're ordering pizza?" Tatum said.

"No," Maddy replied, "We're making it. Heart shaped, too."

"Oh my God! I've never actually made pizza before," Aria said.

"Why have you never done, like, anything. You've never had a girls night, you've never played laser tag and you've never made pizza?" Becca honestly seemed offended by how boring Aria's life was.

"My life was shit before I met you guys. I mainly just hung around in random people's houses drinking whatever people would give me as a thirteen to fifteen year old."

"Shit. Are you okay?"

"Not really," Aria shrugged. "Let's bake!"

Aria stood up from where she was and headed to the kitchen, followed by Becca, Maddy and Tatum. Tatum got out all of the ingredients, and Aria looked at it all, confused.

"This is what goes into pizza?" She asked.

"Aria, it's really nothing crazy. It's literally dough, sauce and cheese," Maddy said.

"I just thought they like, came as they are."

"Did you think they grew from trees or something?"

Aria shrugged as they began to make the pizza, shaping the dough into hearts. "Oh my God!" Aria suddenly yelled out.

Tatum rushed over to her. "What's up, are you okay?"

"We should cut the pepperoni into hearts," she suggested. She looked over at Becca. She's already done it. "Oh. Well, I'm taking credit for that idea."

"Fine by me," Becca said, placing the pepperonis on the pizza.

The girls sat and talked while the pizza cooked in the oven, turning on the TV when it was ready. "Oh my God, that looks so good. Next time we wanna eat it, we should just cook ourselves instead," Aria said.

"And cook for the boys? No way. Unless there's... a specific boy you wanna cook for..." Tatum said, batting her eyelashes.

Aria lightly flicked Tatum's cheek. "Ew, no. Come on, let's watch a film."

They put on Mean Girls. Sure, it was a basic choice, but all four of them were sick of watching horror movies whenever they had a sleepover.

"This is so nice, we should do this more often," Tatum said.

"Oh, totally," Aria said.

Becca and Maddie never said anything, and Aris looked at the couch to see they'd both fallen asleep. Her and Tatum were lying on the floor. "So... Aria, it's just me and you now. Any gossip you wanna catch me up on."

"What? No, I don't think so. Unless you're suggesting something."

"I don't know, I guess you never talk about yourself, or anything, really. This is girls night, we need to talk about something that you talk about on girls night."

"Go on."

"Are there any boys in your life right now? Or girls?"

"Tay, I feel like you're getting at soemthing."

"I am. I'll wait for you to catch on."

"I have caught on. Me and Tristan are just friends."

"I didn't ask if you were friends, Ari. I asked if you liked him."

Aria thought for a minute. She thought back to how upset she was to find out he liked someone else, and how, in her drunken state, she'd almost confessed something to him. Tatum smiled at Aria's face of realisation.

"Holy shit, I do. It doesn't matter, though. He doesn't like me back."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do. I know he flirts and stuff, but they're obviously jokes. Tristan would never be that forward with a girl he actually likes."

Tatum didn't say anything, turning back to watch the movie.

Eventually, Aria fell asleep, and Tatum got out her phone to text Miguel.

private messages

TATUM🪷
mission accomplished
she likes him

MIGUEL🌷
omg fr???
we are too good

TATUM🪷
the shipped become the shippers

author speaks
another short-ish chapter but i feel like this is a good place to end it lol