My Life In Pieces (Book #1)

Chapter 13

"Alex?" I heard outside of Ari's room. It was Elle's voice. She was looking for me.

Ari pulled out of my embrace and shrugged. "Unless you want to be trapped in here while I develop all my film you might want to go to Elle's room. Come see me later if you want."

I smiled shyly, then opened Ari's door to find Elle with her hand raised about to knock.

"Hey Alex? I thought I had heard the doorbell a few minutes ago."

"Hey Elle. I knocked on Ari's door by accident."

"I was showing her what my room looked like when I have it set up for my dark room," Ari added.

Elle looked like she wasn't buying it but turned and I followed her to her room.

"Thanks for letting me come over," I said as I sat down on the floor with her on a couple of bean bag chairs.

"No sweat. Glad you found me."

"Yeah sorry about that, Ari kind of pulled me into his room when I knocked."

"Ha that's funny."

"Why?"

"It's just so not Ari. He is so shy with people usually."

"He doesn't seem shy at all to me."

That made her laugh harder. "You don't know how stupid he felt because he forgot to ask for your number that night at the club. He was beating himself up about it because he didn't know when he'd see you again and you were the first girl he's like ever danced with."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Ari doesn't really do socializing. Oh man when you magically showed up at that practice. You should have heard him when he saw you. He asked me for almost half an hour what would be a good reason for him to get up and go talk to you. He started asking if he looked okay and if I thought he had a shot. He usually doesn't really get excited about anything other than video games and photography."

That made me smile. Hard. It was nice to know he felt the same way I had.

"Well I was nervous too."

"Don't be. That boy has it bad for you girl. On the opposite spectrum of conversation, can I ask you about Tyler?"

That was a change of topic for sure. "What about him?"

"You said he was trying to get out of dating Brenna?"

Crap.

I'd hoped she wouldn't ask about that. "Before English he pulled me aside to apologize for lunch. I asked him why he'd been so weird and he said he'd hoped it'd get back to Brenna and that she'd get mad and dump him."

Elle threw her hands up in exasperation. "Typical Tyler. He and Brenna are like two passengers on the Titanic who refuse to admit that they have hit an iceberg. Typical Ty. He acts like a total jerk towards his current girlfriend while searching for his next one. I would stay away unless you enjoy that kind of drama."

"I think I will stick to Ari thanks."

She laughed. "Just promise that I am the first to know if you start to date him. I so do not want to be the last one to know that piece of news."

"Oh I promise."

Elle's mom called upstairs for us to come to wash up for dinner.

We headed out into the hall. Ari was headed out too. He just smiled a little and stepped aside to let us pass. Elle was ahead of me, so I purposely still brushed my arm across his as I passed, letting our hands mingle for a moment. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I smirked and stood there for a moment. We walked downstairs together.

They had a large dining room table with enough places for all of us. Brenna pulled Tyler to the opposite end of the table when they walked in. I sat in between Ari and Elle. Mrs. Munro had already set out all of the food. Once Jake and Mr. Munro joined us, we ate family style. The conversation started with Mrs. Munro asking all about me but I quickly shifted it with Elle's help to everyone else's first day of school. I held my hand out under the table and felt it instantly intertwine with Ari's. He squeezed it gently and we both ate one handed.

Ari walked me out after dinner and we stopped at the mailbox as I got my bike unlocked. I turned and hugged his neck.

He whispered in my ear. "Come back anytime."

"I will definitely take you up on that."

"I'll see you tomorrow Gorgeous."

"See you." I got on my bike and started to ride away. I stopped after a few feet and turned my head back around. "Text me already, so I have your number." I headed home and felt a buzz in my pocket a few seconds later.

Good.

My eyes were heavy before the sun even finished setting. I finished rereading a couple of chapters of Lord of the Flies and then crawled into bed. I had just about made it to dream land when my phone buzzed. It was Ari. I quickly answered and tried to make myself sound like he wasn't waking me up.

"Hello?"

"Sorry Gorgeous. Did I wake you up?"

"Not really. I was just falling asleep."

"Sorry, I can let you sleep."

"No, I can talk for a few minutes. What are you up to?"

"I just got done editing some of my photos."

"Sweet, any of me?"

"Several of you actually. You are really photogenic."

I blushed and was happy he could not see my red cheeks. "Thanks. I want to see your work sometime."

"I think that can be arranged."

"Awesome."

We talked for another few minutes then I hung up and passed out. The next morning I picked out my outfit with extreme focus. I decided on a pair of skinny jeans with a girl's oversized Oxford shirt. I wrapped a gold belt around my waist to give myself a form with the shirt and completed the look with gold ballet flats. I then skillfully collected my golden locks and formed a messy bun. There was a knock at my door right as I was finishing my makeup. Tim had already gone to work so I ran downstairs to see who it was.

Ari was standing on my porch. I looked behind him and saw Elle's face sticking out of Jake's truck. "Good morning." He said. "We were seeing if you wanted a ride."

"I was going to ride my bike but that would be great. Let me get my bag." I ran to the kitchen and shoveled all my stuff quickly into my messenger bag. I had done my homework at the kitchen table every day since kindergarten. Jordan would be proud to see the trend continued even when she wasn't around. I made my way back to Ari. He walked me to the Jeep and opened the door for me.

Elle waved from the front seat. "Good morning Sunshine."

"Good morning Elle, Jake."

Jake smiled in his mirror so I could see him. "How was your first day Alex?"

"It was fine. I had fun." I felt Ari's hand on mine then.

Yeah this hand holding thing was becoming a habit.

"That's good. What was your favorite class?" Jake added.

"It was a tie between Gym and English."

"Yeah I like Dershem too. Did you read the book chapters?"

"I reread them. We read it in middle school in Texas."

I watched him get the 'well aren't we special' teasing look. We made it to school in time for Jake to make it to early morning practice. That gave me an hour to spend with Ari before school even started. Elle quickly left us to find Aaron. We walked over to the stadium and sat in the visitors section. The band was practicing in the home section and the football team and cheer squad were on the field and sidelines. I held Ari's hand and we sat in silence for a few moments. This was such a sweet and innocent thing I had going with him and I liked it.