Chapter 30
Astrid
The kiss replayed on loop like a song I discovered on Spotify and had zero intentions of stopping anytime soon. My face burned hotter each time. Any warmer and I’d be bright enough to replace the lamp on my bedside table.
After we got down from the Ferris wheel, Aeron still wouldn't let go of my hand—not even to let me go find Kelly, who was blowing up my phone with calls, and definitely not to let me go home. I had to shove him into his car, shout out a bye, and make a run.
I grabbed the frog plushie lying next to me, hugging it close and fiddling with its tiny squishy hands.
One day, I was absolutely going to roast him for this.
First, he mocked my phone’s ribbit-ribbit notification tone, then said I croaked like a frog.
Later, he'd flirted his way into admitting my frog phone case was kinda cute and now he's gifted me a frog plushie himself.
Karma was team frog.
Kelly’s name lit up my screen. It was twelve past midnight. Why was she still awake? I'd called her on my way home, but she hadn't picked up. I answered, expecting her usual rapid-fire chatter, but she was silent.
“Kel?”
Still silence.
“If you've sleep-called me, snore once for yes .”
“Mmmmm,” she mumbled miserably.
“What’s wrong?”
More silence.
“Did something happen at the festival?”
She'd called me a bunch of times, probably needing to tell me something, and I'd ignored every single one. Friend of the year award went straight to me.
“Azzie.” Her voice was utterly grave, as if she was confessing murder. “I need you to be brutally honest.”
“Zero filter honesty. Now spill.”
“Do I have small boobs?”
I’d thought it was an emergency when she’d called, yet here we were, midnight boob crisis.
“I hate to break it to you, but you've never arranged a meet and greet between me and your boobs,” I pointed out.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “I’m not asking you to whip out a measuring tape. You see me every day—just make a guess!”
“Okay, fine. Yes. No. Maybe.”
“Astrid, pick one!”
I sighed. “Did someone bully you into this midnight boob interrogation?”
Ayden's name popped into my head immediately. Kelly never took petty comments to heart, but I had a sneaking suspicion she might if they came from him. Though honestly, Ayden didn’t look like a person who insulted people based on appearance.
“No,” she said firmly. “I just need validation. Now spill.”
“Fine. They’re flat,” I admitted, ignoring that I’m pretty much sailing in the same boat.
She let out a wounded sigh. “How flat?”
I bit back a laugh, deciding to twist the knife a little deeper. “Like pancake flat. Like, you could pour maple syrup and it wouldn’t drip off flat.”
“Argh! I hate you.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” I laughed, tracing the froggy’s goofy smile, “We’re both breakfast material.” Which made me wonder, did Aeron prefer pancakes or waffles? Either way, he had a terrible taste in girls. He's into me.
“Wow. Breakfast material? With friends like you, who needs enemies?”
“Come on, Kel,” I said. “Enemies don't go around telling you how beautiful your face is or how ridiculously cute that little nose is or how unfairly adorable those almond eyes are.”
I was sure that’d sent her straight to cloud nine because she immediately snorted. “If I'd known you were gonna drop Shakespeare-level poetry, I would've asked you to save it for my funeral.”
“Correction,” I said loftily, “Shakespeare wishes he had my level of talent.”
“They totally missed out by not throwing you on stage at the festival,” Kelly said. “Way more entertaining than that band. And speaking of that, where the hell did you disappear to instead of watching the fireworks with me? I only called you about a thousand times.”
In the middle of a deep kiss , I almost blurted out, but I didn't need Kelly fainting on me tonight.
“I…I was with a kid. She's afraid of loud noises. Her mom wanted ten minutes of romantic firework time with her husband and threw me the babysitter tag,” I lied.
“Anyway, Kel, there's something really important I need to tell you.” Before Aunt Dee or anyone else spilled it to Kelly, I needed to tell her first. My best friend deserved to hear it straight from me.
“What’s that?” Her tone perked up with interest.
“Not now, tomorrow. I want to tell you in person.” I want to see Kelly’s reaction. Would she squeal, pull me into one of her bone-crushing hugs, and declare Aeron her favorite human?
“Oh no, tomorrow’s no good,” she cried. “I’m going to Pine Heights. The cranky nursery guy finally agreed to show me some advanced greenhouse tricks, or at least how to keep my rare plants alive. I can't miss my chance.”
“Fine, then the day after tomorrow,” I bargained. One more day wasn’t going to trigger the zombie apocalypse.
“Can’t happen,” she said stubbornly. “Day after tomorrow, I’m picking up lemon verbena and chamomile plants. Customers have been demanding my herbal teas, and I'm running out of believable excuses. Spill it now.”
“Absolutely not. Trust me. The longer you wait, the juicier it gets.” My phone vibrated with another call waiting.
“You’re sounding suspiciously shady right now. Fine, I'll hold my curiosity.”
I tilted my phone slightly away from my ear to sneak a glance at the screen.
My heartbeat went from zero to sixty at the name flashing there.
Already rehearsing my best sleepy half-yawned excuse to tell Kelly we’d catch up tomorrow, I opened my mouth—but her next words made the lie die right on my tongue.
“Did you hear those elderly ladies at the bonfire talking about Aeron being so handsome? They’re actually calling him boyfriend material.” She let out a dry, mocking laugh.
“Isn’t he?” The words slipped out before I could stop them. Guilt prickled at me for making Aeron wait, but one more minute wouldn’t hurt. I had to hear the unfiltered version of Aeron that Kelly had painted in her mind.
“Of course not. Those women need glasses to see clearly.” She cackled. “Sure, he has got a charming face, but imagine his girlfriend having to learn telepathy to figure out what’s going on in his head.”
I clenched my phone tighter, wishing it could transport my hand through to give Kelly a smack on her head.
Funny how I’d happily sat through Kelly’s roasts for years, right until they landed on him .
Yes, she was my best friend, my partner in crime, and co-owner of my snack stash, but hearing her mock Aeron stirred something oddly possessive in me.
If anyone was going to scold, mock, or annoy him, it was going to be me. Only me.
“Enough bashing innocent people, Kelly Jones,” I snapped. “It’s way past midnight. You attacked the eyesight of those sweet ladies, and stripped Aeron of his dignity—he wasn’t even here to defend himself. Now go to sleep. You’ve committed enough crimes for tonight.”
“Hold on. Since when am I the villain in this story?”
“Since about two minutes ago. Good night,” I tapped the red button.
I straightened my spine, stared down at Aeron’s number, sucked in a breath, and tapped call.
Four rings passed, and my anxiety started kicking in.
Maybe I should've hung up on Kelly the second I saw his name pop up on call waiting.
On the fifth ring, his voice filled the line, deep and warm, and my anxiety tripled.
“Took you long enough.”
“I was talking to Kelly,” I clarified way too fast considering he hadn’t asked. It was past midnight, and we'd just confessed our feelings. I couldn’t bear the thought of him jumping to the wrong conclusion.
He laughed softly, the sound low and rich, brushing warmly against my ear even through the phone. “Relax, Astrid. You don’t have to explain yourself. I figured it was her anyway.”
“How?” My heart warmed a little at how easily he trusted me.
“Because if it wasn’t her, I’d already be at your door,” he drawled.
I bit my lip, smiling foolishly. “Then I’ll have another midnight call tomorrow,” I teased, pressing his buttons.
“Even better. Leave the window open.”
“My neighbor wakes up if someone sneezes two streets away,” I said. “She won’t appreciate you jumping in the bushes.”
“Yet, Motormouth’s midnight call doesn’t trigger her superhuman hearing?” he scoffed.
I burst out laughing, pressing my palm to my mouth to muffle it. “Why are you always picking on her?” Though, to be fair, Kelly wasn't exactly innocent. She took just as much pleasure picking on him.
“Because she clings to you like a needy boyfriend,” Aeron said.
Jealousy colored his voice so vividly I could practically see it. “Are you seriously jealous of Kelly?”
“Like I said, you haven’t seen my jealousy yet.”
Aeron stubbornly insisting he wasn't jealous, even while his voice gave him completely away was becoming my new favorite entertainment.
“Aeron.”
“Yes, sweetheart.” His voice was velvety and warm.
I covered my eyes with my free hand, hiding from absolutely no one. “Stop calling me that.” I wasn’t even pretending to mean it. I was blushing like an idiot.
“If you want me to stop,” he said, voice teasing gently, “then stop sounding so damn cute.”
“I sound totally normal,” I grumbled, sheepishly doodling nonsense patterns on the blanket.
“It sounded pretty cute from here,” he said.
And I’m becoming toast.
“Why did you say my name?” he asked, steering us back to earlier.
“Hmm…” I pretended to consider. “Because I felt like calling you.”
“Astrid.”
I bit my lip. “Hmm?”
“Felt like saying your name, too.”
“You’re such a copycat,” I accused.
“It’s called inspiration, Dizzytrid.”
I didn't remember when I'd started yawning, when I’d switched my phone to speaker, or exactly when Aeron’s voice had transformed into the softest lullaby I'd ever heard.
I definitely didn’t remember when I drifted off, but when I woke up the next morning, I yawned and groggily fumbled for my phone, eyes barely open.
I froze.
I shot straight up in bed, eyes going wide as I stared at the screen.
5 hours, 36 minutes.
Last night came rushing back.
I'd fallen asleep on Aeron.
“Oh my god!” I tugged at my hair, ruining my already messy bun. “How could I be such an ass?”
“You’ve got ‘ass’ built into your name, Dizzytrid,” Aeron muttered, voice raspy with sleep. “Now stop shouting and let me sleep in peace.”
“Aeron!” My eyes snapped wide open. “You’re awake? Why didn’t you hang up?”
Silence.
Then a soft rustle, like maybe he'd rolled onto his back.
My imagination filled in the blanks a little too vividly: Shirtless Aeron, hair deliciously messy, face soaking up the morning sunlight.
His breathing was slow, and when he finally spoke, voice thick and sleep rough, it felt like he was close enough for me to feel his lips brush my ear. “Never crossed my mind.” A pause. “I liked hearing you breathe. It made you feel close—”
I liked hearing you breathe.
I pressed my hand to my chest. I felt butterflies—hell I felt an entire zoo.
“Until you started snoring like the cutest baby dinosaur I've ever heard,” he added, humor creeping into his tone.
My cheeks burned hotter. How cruel of him to give me butterflies, then ruthlessly stomp on them.
“I do not snore!” I shot back defensively. I really didn’t. Kelly always marveled at how quietly I slept, like I wasn’t even there, but one sleepy mumble from Aeron, and I was having second thoughts.
“You do, sweetheart,” he said. “But I don’t mind it. I like you anyway, even when you snore.”
He mumbled he was going back to sleep.
I collapsed into my pillow, eyes squeezed shut and legs kicking in midair. This topped my list of most humiliating mornings ever, and that included the day Aeron showed up at my door to witness my bedhead, drool marks, and crusty eyes.