Ari was the one who found me still in a puddle of feelings. Jordan had tried to calm me down but I was a wreck. I couldn't explain it but I was emotional about all of the events of the last two days. I hated the fact Tyler was pulling this on me now. His green eyes, so full of hurt, were burned into my mind.
Ari's pale blue eyes stared back quietly. He sat on the floor with me while I collected myself.
When I finally calmed down he gave me a small smirk, "What's going on Gorgeous?"
"Tyler is acting like I just stabbed him in the back and I didn't mean to do anything to him." I was nervous being that honest but I needed to be.
Ari reached his hand out and used his thumb to wipe away my tears. "Alex, that's Tyler for you. You don't know him like I do. He is pissed because Brenna bruised his ego. He's pissed because he was an idiot talking shit about this thing going on between you and me and it blew up in his face. He's alone and his ego is wounded. Don't make that your fault."
"I can't help feeling bad though."
Ari took the hand that had wiped my tears away and placed it on my neck. He leaned over and gave me a small kiss. When he leaned back he just smiled, "and that my Gorgeous girl is why you are the best thing to happen to this fucked up group of kids in years."
My smile grew. My Gorgeous girl. I like that.
Ari got up and pulled me with him. We walked hand in hand out to Jake's Jeep. The plans had changed so that we were going over to the Stones' house. It was roughly seven streets over from mine. The families even all lived close to each other it seemed. I walked in a little timidly but Ari seemed to know this house as well as his own.
Out of all the families I had only ever been in my cousin's and Ari's houses since I had been back. Reece and Ryan were sitting in an oversized loveseat in the living room. This had to be Principal Stone's house, not Mr. Stone's.
Jake headed towards the back of the house where I could hear the sounds of other kids. I wondered if Tyler was here.
Ari kept me close to him and we sat on a small couch. I pulled Elle onto my lap. She was still really upset from the incident with Aaron earlier. I traced lines on her back, trying to comfort my friend. She leaned back and cuddled into me. I held her like I would a baby.
This room was obviously designed to house a lot of company. There was a moment of awkward silence and Ryan decided to break the ice.
"So Alex you have a class with Reece right?"
I smiled. "Yep."
Reece smiled politely and said, "English Class."
And I thought I was shy around new people.
We started talking about school and one another's siblings and all the fallouts from yesterday. Elle was in the middle of telling us about how Brenna had run into Nixon at The Garage after she left the party last night when the doorbell rang.
Ryan jumped up and answered.
A few seconds later all three of my cousins, Aaron, and Tyler were coming through the door. I wanted to shrink into a hole. Instead I slightly hid behind Elle who was tensing up in my lap. Aaron looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't. Tyler looked like he wanted to punch someone. James pulled him in the direction of the back room Jake had disappeared to earlier. Tyler pulled Aaron with him. I felt Elle start to get up but pulled her back. This was not the time for that conversation.
Well this was awkward.
Laura followed the boys but Dylan stayed. My oldest cousin decided that it was up to him to put the fear of God into Ari.
"So Ari when did you finally make a real move my baby cousin?"
Ari looked a little nervous but answered with a steady voice, "Not sure what you mean by real move but we've been hanging out since that night at the Garage."
That made me smile but this was just the beginning for Dylan, "You know she is only fifteen right?"
Ari shrugged, "I'm sixteen. Not a big age difference."
Dylan got really close to Ari's face then, "Yes but it does mean that if you do anything to make my baby cousin uncomfortable or pressure her in any way I have all rights to kill you."
I motioned for Elle to get up and I hopped up too to put myself between them.
"Enough of the creepy third degree, Dill."
He looked me square in the eyes, "Just protecting you kid."
"Well we're not even official or anything yet so relax."
Dylan took my word for it and gave me a hug then headed back to hang out with his friends. I turned around and saw Ari looking upset. I sat down back next to him and Elle soon continued with her story. Ari still looked uncomfortable a few minutes later so I leaned over and whispered in his ear,
"What's wrong Ari? Is it Dylan? He was just playing."
He shook his head and tried to look relaxed but failed. I turned to face the others in the room. A question had been in the back of my mind for days. "So I know James dated Brenna before Tyler did. Does this happen a lot? I mean is it often that everyone in the family switches from one person to the next?"
Elle shook her head no, "Actually not as many as you would think. Nina had a crush on Aaron for a while like I mentioned to you before. Otherwise all the couples going on right now are about it."
Ryan chimed in, "Um what about Annie and"
"Bite me." Ari interrupted him.
I looked at Ari who was giving him a death glare. I tried to hide the surprise on my face, "You dated Annie? Swedish model looking, pom pom waving, best friends with Laura, Annie?"
He looked down at the floor, "Yeah last summer after grade nine. It lasted for the summer and she acted like I didn't exist once school started and she was back around her cheerleader friends."
"Interesting?" I said trying to process that pairing. It made my skin itch.
"Not really. Hell even Reece had a go with her. She likes artsy guys."
I literally started choking on my own spit. Reece? Wait, Annie was Ryan's sister? How in the hell did that happen?
Reece spoke up then, "Ryan is the only guy I have ever dated. Dudes are not usually my type." I looked at Ryan who shrugged bashfully. Reece leaned down and planted a small kiss on Ryan's lips. "But you are who I want."
That made me want to cry. It was too cute.
I turned to face Ari. He was grimacing.
I looked back at Elle, "What does everyone at school say about y'all?"
She laughed, "That we are an inbred cult."
Reece laughed as he said, "That Days of Our Lives has nothing on us."
Ryan added, "That we were secretly the cast of Twilight."
"And that's okay with all of you?"
Elle nodded, "Alex, when you grow up with a group like ours, there is bound to be connections and rumors. I mean there have been some crazy ones over the years. We just stopped listening. Plus most of these guys are like brothers to me. Aaron was the first one out of all of the guys to ever catch my eye like that and we've known each other since my mom moved in with Ari's dad when I was like ten."
Reece added, "Yeah Ryan and I happened after he came out to me by kissing me."
I stifled a surprised yelp. "How did that go?"
Ryan laughed, "Well he was dating Annie at the time so not very well. I just had this massive crush on him. Annie started hanging out with Nina a lot and I started tagging along. Then she started dating Reece and I was super jealous. Like I refused to talk to her for a month and she had no clue why, poor thing."
"So what happened?"
Reece continued the story, "Well Annie wanted me to figure out why he wouldn't talk to her and when I asked him why."
"I just kissed him. I couldn't explain it was because my step sister stole my crush. I hadn't told anyone I even liked boys."
"And I got up and walked out and didn't talk to him for a week." Reece kept on. These two were in sync.
"Annie finally came and tried to talk to me herself and I confessed to kissing Reece and that I liked him."
"Holy shit what did she do?" I felt like I needed popcorn for this.
Reece smiled, "She came and asked me about it. She was so mad she stormed out of the room."
"And ran into Ari in the hall." Elle chimed in.
Ari rolled his eyes, "And that was how that mistake started."
"This all makes my head spin."
"Then be smart and don't get involved in it Alex." I felt Ari stiffen next to me.
"Shut up Elle."
Elle looked at Ari, "I'm just warning her that dating guys in this group comes with drama and consequences."
"You're just pissed you found out Aaron screwed you over today."
"Yeah and most of the guys in this group have screwed over one of the girls at some point or another."
"Fuck you, Elle. I wouldn't do that to Alex and you know it. You've only dated Aaron and you have known these families for years. None of them have ever set out to hurt anyone. Stop making it seem like we're just a bunch of assholes."
I whispered, "Relax Ari, she's just upset."
Elle got up and stormed out. I started to follow her, looked back, and shook my head no when Ari started to get up too. I found Elle in the kitchen crying. I quietly texted Jake to tell Aaron to get up here. They needed to talk this out before it got too out of hand. I walked over to Elle and she melted into my arms.
"I am so sorry Alex. I didn't know Tyler was talking about you and Ari. I swear I didn't know Aaron knew."
"Sweetheart I know you didn't know. What was he supposed to do? Betray his brother? Get us all upset when he had no clue how much of it was just Tyler bullshitting? Come on you know he wouldn't hurt you on purpose."
I looked up to find Aaron at the entrance to the kitchen. Elle looked up then startled. Aaron's eyes were red like he was pushing back tears. "Elle, babe, I am so sorry I hurt you. I fucked up."
"Apology accepted." I let go of her and she walked over to hug Aaron.
One fire out. Now only about 12 million more.
I walked past them to the living room. I looked at Ari and suggested he walk me to his house for dinner. There were woods that would get us there quicker so Ari began to lead me in the right direction. When went well into the wooded area before I stopped and made him face me.
"Ari what is wrong with you?"
He didn't look at me. "Nothing Alex, I'm just confused."
"About what?"
He looked embarrassed, "I thought we were official."
I grabbed his face and made him look me in the eyes, "If you want that, ask me."
He smiled awkwardly, "Will you?"
"Will I what?"
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
I giggled, "Of course." I leaned in then and kissed him hard on the mouth. His lips seemed to form perfectly to mine. It felt so good to kiss him. We were alone again and I could kiss him without worrying about being interrupted. Ari pulled me closer to him. I felt his tongue in my mouth. This time I pushed all thoughts of this summer before I came here out of my mind before they could ruin the moment. Ari leaned me against a tree and pressed himself into me. I grabbed his waist and held him to me.
We finally both needed oxygen and pulled apart. Ari reached into his bag and pulled out his camera. He flipped the screen around so he could see and centered it on us. He gave me a small kiss and snapped the photo.
"Promise me you will remember this moment Ari? When shit hits the fan and we end up in a fight or some other shit, promise me you will come back to me in this moment? You'll remember this moment and how perfectly simple it was?"
"I promise Alex."