33. Audra
Chapter 33
Audra
The past month has been a dream.
So many times, I’ve daydreamed about what it could be like for everyone to know about us. Those daydreams felt a whole lot like life in the last months or so. It used to feel far off, like it was nothing but a fantasy. These days, real life is better than those fantasies.
We’ve spent so many evenings with all of our friends in one place. Bonfires, pool days, game nights, we’ve done it all. Ares was a little weird about things at first, making comments about being grossed out when we’d show any sign of being together. He’s gotten better now over the weeks. Although he still rolls his eyes about it from time to time.
“Audi, I love you, but for the love of God, turn it off,” Ares groans, looking over at me from the driver’s seat. So, he doesn’t have quite the same tolerance for Taylor Swift that his brother does.
“Someday, you’ll come around to Taylor Swift.” I sigh dramatically.
“Doubt it.” He shrugs.
“Can you tell me where we’re going yet?” I ask.
“I told you, we’re just going for a drive.”
“Right, I might believe you if the drive hadn’t been mandatory.” I laugh.
“Mandatory seems a little dramatic, don’t you think?” He scoffs.
“Ares, you told me if I didn’t get in the car, you’d—and I quote—set my bitch ass on fire,” I say, trying to keep a straight face, which is nearly impossible.
“God, you threaten arson once.” He scoffs. We look at each other and burst into laughter.
“Ares, where are you taking me?” I ask again.
“We’re just going for a drive.” He huffs like I’m annoying him.
As if he didn’t force me into this car and drive me around for thirty minutes. From end to end, Doves Harbor is hardly even thirty minutes. Have we been going in circles this whole time? I guess I hadn’t been fully paying attention because I was just enjoying the time with Ares.
“Didn’t we already pass the library like ten minutes ago?” I ask, tapping him on the shoulder. He just keeps his eyes on the road, ignoring me with a smirk on his face. I huff and throw myself back in my seat.
I watch out the window and realize we have, in fact, just been doing big squares around town. This is fucking weird. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks. He wouldn’t propose, would he?
I try to run the scenario through my head. If he asked, I would definitely say yes… But it’s so soon. I’ve always thought you should live with someone before you get engaged, what if we hate living together? Shit.
“He’s not proposing, is he?” I ask, heart thudding against my chest. Ares’ brows pinch together, and he laughs.
“Proposing?” He laughs. “No. Bit early for that, don’t you think?” he asks. Yes, yes, I do.
“Thank God. I got nervous, you were being so weird.” I exhale out of relief. Ares’ phone chimes, and a smile creeps up on his face when he reads it. Katrina, I’m assuming. Then he finally puts me out of the misery of another circle around the same five blocks.
We drive for maybe another five minutes before Ares pulls into the driveway of one of the most beautiful houses I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s Katrina’s? It’s a pastel green-colored house on stilts. Just on the other side of the stilts is the beach. Wide window panes with baby pink hurricane shutters sit on either side of the front door.
“Come on,” Ares says, getting out of the car. I get out and follow closely behind him as he walks up the driveway and the stairs leading up to the front door.
“Is this where Katrina lives?” I ask. He does a small laugh.
“No.” He says simply like he isn’t leading me into someone’s house I’ve never been to. We reach the top of the stairs, and there’s a porch swing hanging a few feet from the front door. The front door swings open, and it’s Roman on the other side.
“Roman? What are you doing here? Where the hell are we?” I ask.
“What am I doing here? We live here,” he says like it’s common knowledge. Like I should know that already. Like he didn’t just tell me we own this fucking house.
“What? How did you—when did you—This is ours?” I ask, walking past Ares and Roman and into the house. I look around, and off to the side is the kitchen.
“Yes, it’s ours.” I don’t say a word. I don’t even think I can. I’m fucking speechless. I walk to the kitchen, and it’s everything I could dream of. It’s big, it’s open, there’s an island. Tears well in my eyes as I make my way through this house.
I walk out the sliding glass door that leads to a large wooden deck. One with stairs up to a second-story deck and stairs down to a pool on the lower level. I look around, and ceiling fans hang at either end. I turn back to face the house and find them both standing in the doorway.
“You knew,” I choke out as happy tears—fucking ecstatic tears—fall from my eyes. “How did you know?” I ask.
“You told me.” He shrugs.
“What? When?” I ask, wiping at the tears under my eyes.
* * *
7 years ago… (Ages 16 it’s also the number associated with love.” No sooner do the words leave my mouth my cheeks burn red. That definitely seems like I’m suggesting something, right? He’s going to think I’m coming on to him.
“Have you found it to be lucky?” he asks.
“No, not particularly,” I admit. The more I think about it, when I’ve tried to implement sevens for luck, I might have had even less.
“Do you believe in luck?” he asks.
“That’s a big one.” I hesitate, thinking for a moment. “I guess not. I believe in things feeling unlucky or lucky, but no, I guess I don’t believe in luck, just being on your side or not.” I shrug. I never really gave it much thought, but I guess I don’t believe in luck. Believing in luck feels an awful lot like believing in coincidences, which I don’t.
“Fate?” he asks with a popped eyebrow.
“Yeah, I think so. Not in any crazy way where we don’t have free will, though.” I nod to myself.
“Ghosts?”
“Maybe. Open to the idea,” I say simply.
“Aliens?”
“Of course.”
“Atlantis?” I burst out laughing.
“Like the lost city?” I ask, doubled over in laughter.
“What’s funny about Atlantis?” he asks with a pouty frown on his face. If I was laughing a little less hard, I might lose my focus on his full bottom lip stuck out.
“There’s no way it’s real. How do we go from such real things to Atlantis of all things? No more conspiracy theory videos for you.” I gasp for air between laughs.
“Fine, fine. No more conspiracy theories,” he says, thinking.
“Dream car?” he asks. I just shrug. One that drives has always been good enough for me. I don’t particularly care about cars.
“Don’t really have one. No big car opinions.” I shrug. He hums out loud as he thinks.
“Dream house… What’s it got?” he asks. This one, though, I’ve daydreamed about. I have answers for days about my dream house.
“How much time do you have?” I say with a giggle. He checks an invisible watch on his wrist.
“All night, approximately.”
“A skylight over the bathtub, an en suite bathroom for the master, a big open kitchen, and one of those outdoor kitchen spaces. I’d love somewhere I can have friends and family over, you know, just a good hosting space.”
“Those are good,” Roman replies.
“Oh, I’m not done. Oceanfront, like this house, would be a dream, one with one of those pastel colors for siding, maybe palm trees, fans on the deck…” I pause. “Oh! More than one deck would be lovely. And a pool!” I exclaim.
“You really know what you want,” he points out.
“Yeah, I guess I do.”
* * *
Present day
“How the hell did you remember that?” I ask as soon as he’s done telling me about the night I told him all the things I’d want in my dream house. Years later, he bought it for me, for us.
“When you talk, I have this bad habit of hanging on to every word,” he admits. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ares open his mouth and act out making himself puke.
“You guys are gross, I’m going home,” he says, holding up a hand as a stiff wave.
“Thank you for bringing me and being a part of this,” I say, running over and throwing my arms around him. He wraps one single arm around me.
“You’re welcome.” He smiles, letting me go. Roman pulls him into a hug.
“Thanks for staging a kidnapping for me,” Roman says.
“No problem, just had to threaten to light her on fire.” Ares shrugs and heads out of what’s now our front door.
I walk back over to Roman and wrap my arms around him, tipping my chin up, waiting for him to kiss me. He cranes his neck down to kiss me. The world comes to a dead halt, and it’s like everyone has been thrown off of it, except the two of us. Just us, in our house.
This is it; this is the feeling I’ve been chasing my entire life. The moment that you remember forever. Pure bliss, nothing but joy, is in this room with us.
“I love you so much,” Roman says in between kisses.
“Do you get the feeling that everything before this was just leading up to this moment? Everything that happened just feels like it matters less now because it got me here,” I admit
“Yeah, I get that feeling,” he says, planting another kiss on my lips.