Young Queen

THIRTY SIX

"Aria, brake! Brake!"

"I am braking, don't yell!"

The car slammed to a stop again, and Leo was sure his lunch was going to make its grand appearance again if Aria didn't get the hang of how the breaks in her car worked. The snow on the ground didn't make her driving anymore graceful either.

He sighed, "I wasn't yelling, I was just notifying you that if you didn't break, we were going to crash into the bushes. Again."

She shrugged, "Those bushes were in my way, so I hit them."

"What happens if a person is in your way?" He asked, his eyes wide.

"You don't want to know," she muttered. "So how am I doing?"

"I think you might need a new car after all this learning," he told her and she frowned.

"That's not funny. I told you I didn't know how to drive."

She did tell him, and yet he insisted on the two of them practicing her driving in the large driveway of the house. He figured that when she meant she didn't know how to drive, she had some understanding of how a car worked. He was proven wrong.

"I should've believed you, that was my mistake entirely," he laughed.

Her frown deepened, "I'm gonna crash again."

"No, no need to crash. Let's just call it a day and why don't we hop in the backseat to make out a little bit," he said, his brows moving suggestively.

"Leo! Our parents are sitting on the balcony right there watching us," she said.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget about our parents, when we haven't had any alone time in two weeks," he rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it, I miss the apartment. The whole point of us moving out was so we wouldn't live with our parents, but here we are," she growled. "My mom and Dominic are making me feel sick."

"This is like the first time we've spent time together. Alone. I shouldn't have to wait to spend quality time with my girlfriend," he complained, frustrated at the prospect of having his parents, and Aria's parents around all the time. Even more annoying was how both couples seemed to be in the honeymoon stage, and the nights were spent hearing moans and the bed pounding against the wall.

"Leo we haven't done anything in two weeks. Two weeks! I can feel myself drying up over here!" she threw her hands up in the air. "Let's go back to the apartment. I'd rather have more naked pictures taken of me than have my mom talk to me about 'libidos when you get older'."

"We could still be living there if my dad hadn't sold it. I'm the Don, and yet he's still doing things against my permission. It makes no sense. But believe me, I've been looking for houses for us."

"Houses? Are we ready for our own house?" she asked him, turning her body so she could stare at him now.

"I don't see why not. It could be a temporary house until we start designing our forever house," he said.

"Are we sure we should be spending that much money? I guess what I mean to say is: should you be spending that much money? I can't contribute anything since I'm officially broke," she sighed.

All of the money David had was taken by the Russians, including the money from Aria and Lauren's accounts. They were broke.

He grabbed her hands, "You're not broke. My money is your money, you know that."

"I guess, but I still feel bad. It feels like I'm officially living off of you," she frowned.

"Aria, you've gone through hell these past couple of weeks. Don't overthink these things. Give yourself a break, you deserve it," he smiled, leaning over and pressing his lips against hers. She smiled into the kiss, enjoying the way his lips molded with hers.