My Perfect Soulmate

Chapter 15 (Part 2)

"I look like Mrs. Claus." She laughs as she twirls. "Daddy says he's Mr. Claus. You look pretty too." She reaches up and touches my hair.

"Thank you sweetie."

"Can you come to dinner with us? We're going to Daddy's favorite restaurant. It's just down the street. Can you, can you, can you?" Before I can answer, she takes hold of my hand and pulls me towards her parents. "Can Vicky come with us to dinner?" Sophie asks them with a large smile, clearly trying to charm them into saying yes.

"Of course she can." Grace answers as she fixes a stray piece of Sophie's hair. "If you're free, you're more than welcome to join us." She says to me with a smile. "It'd be great to catch up a little."

"Please, please, please." Sophie bounces up and down, shaking my arm in the process. "I never see you." She pouts.

"Of course I'll go." I smile at her cuteness. "It's the least I could do for you after your great performance."

"Yay!" She exclaims as she hugs me. "Let's go, let's go."

"The princess has spoken." Aaron says. "Let's go."

*Aaron*

We walk to the restaurant not far from the school. Grace and Sophie walk ahead as they talk excitedly about something and I match my pace with Victoria's. I've been debating all day whether I should make my move tonight or not. She and Colton have been broken up for three weeks now, and though I know it's not nearly enough time to move on, I can't wait forever and risk missing my chance.

"Grace has changed since the last time I saw her." Victoria suddenly says. "She really turned out to be a great mom."

"Yeah she did. I admit I was unsure the first year. I was prepared for her to up and leave at any moment, but she's proven herself. She hasn't let me down yet."

"I'm sure she won't. The two of you seem really close, like good friends. Sofie deserves to have both her parents in her life. It makes it even better that she sees you getting along. I think you're setting a great example for Sophie."

"We set a good example for Sophie too, don't you think?" She looks at me with a raised brow. "Well, in the past we were both there for Sophie. You were her mother figure before Grace showed up, which is probably part of the reason she's still so attached to you. She has as much love for you as she has for us." She nervously tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. "She even asks whether you and I will be together again." I can't help the smile that appears at the thought. "Not once has she asked about Grace and me. To her, it's always been about you and me."

"You're exaggerating, right?" She asks with a nervous laugh. "There's no way I made an impact like that in Sophie's life. I was in no way a mother to her. If anything, I was a friend."

"No." I stop my pace and Victoria follows. "You were so much more. Most girls would have left me on the spot when they found out about Sophie. You stuck with me through all of the drama. You were there for Sophie in a ways I couldn't be. You were everything to both of us. You're still everything to both of us." She stares at me with wide eyes for a moment before clearing her throat and breaking her trance.

"We should hurry and get to the restaurant." She changes the subject. "It's getting colder by the minute." She tries to walk off but I take her hand. Just as quickly as I take it, she pulls away. "Aaron, please don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't ruin this. Don't mess up the good relationship we have."

"I'm not trying to ruin anything."

"Yes, you are. Nadine brought to my attention that you may still have feelings for me. I didn't believe her, but this just confirmed it. You're bringing up the past as if we were separated by something minor rather than heart shattering. We said we'd leave our past behind us and start fresh as friends. Why can't you let it stay this way?"

"Because it would kill me if I don't try. I can't spend my life wondering what would have happened. During these past two years there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't think about you. I wondered what my life would be like if I hadn't been such an idiot. When I saw you in the café that morning, it was like the universe was finally giving me a second chance."

"I can't, Aaron." Her voice cracks a little. I see the tears forming in her eyes and suddenly I feel guilty. "Why isn't this friendship enough for you? Have you been waiting to make your move all this time?"

"No. Of course not. I really just wanted to be friends in the beginning. You were with Colton, and as much as I hated that, I respected it. But now that he's out of the picture, we can try again."

"So now that I'm single, you automatically think you stand a chance?" I flinch at her words. She looks at me with wide eyes, obviously shocked by her own words. "I'm sorry." She apologizes. "That came out much harsher than I wanted it to."

This night isn't going how I planned at all. I hoped to work my way into finally asking her out. Sure it would take some persuading, but I was confident everything would work out fine. Obviously I was wrong. I got in over my head. I should have waited longer and timed this out better.

"Let's go." I say. "Sophie and Grace are probably waiting inside for us."

"Aaron." She reaches for my arm, but I move out of her reach as I ignore her and continue towards the restaurant.

I shouldn't have said anything. I should've read that I didn't stand a chance with her. I broke her too much in the past. I'll never have her the way that I want. She'll always be just out of my reach. And if I want to at least keep our friendship, I'll have to live with any guy that comes into her life. I'm not sure I can put myself through that type of pain again just to be in her life? I love her, but at some point I have to make myself move on. For both my sake and Sophie's.

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Hey guys. Sorry this wasn't up sooner. I've been visiting home for the past two weeks and am heading back this weekend. This second part didn't turn out quite as good as I wanted to, but I hope you like it anyway. 

I'm curious, why are you team Colton or team Aaron? And who do you truly want Victoria to end up with in the end? ;)