Chapter 11 #2
I stare at the quilt until it finally dawns on me.
Barbies. Gilmore Girls. Bridgerton. The quilt.
Aiden has a sister . Aiden grew up around Charlotte.
.. and me. I used to get Aiden to do girly stuff with me all the time, now that I think about it.
He painted my nails. He participated in more than one tea party.
And he even let me borrow his GI Joe dolls to date my Barbie.
Of course, that was before high school, back when we used to hang out together all the time.
The year I began high school was when it all started to change.
I joined several after-school groups and started hanging with a big group of girls my age.
And Aiden, well, he was Aiden. Quiet. Reserved.
Not into crowds, so he never went to pep rallies or football games or even the homecoming dance.
I was a little sad that we grew apart, but after a while we just sort of fell into a friendly wave or two when we passed each other on the orchard.
I mean, kids grow up and grow apart, right?
I glance back to see Aiden arranging a smaller quilt for Argos in the back seat.
Aww. In addition to not being a testosterone-fueled jerk, Aiden is a caretaker.
A grumpy caretaker at times, but still. It’s pretty cute to see him wrap his dog in a blanket.
And frankly, now that I know what was in the bag, I’m duly impressed that Argos didn’t try to eat the popcorn on the way here.
Pumpkin would have had his whole sausage-shape body in the popcorn bag by now, chomping it by the mouthful.
“You take drive-in night pretty seriously, huh?” I say, trying to squelch my smile.
“What?” He shrugs. “The town hasn’t changed much, okay? This is basically where everyone is on Friday night.” He tosses a piece of popcorn to Argos, who catches it in his mouth. It is clear they have done this before, many times. I smile to myself before glancing at Aiden.
Despite it not being a date, the ingredients are here.
Aiden picked me up, packed snacks and a blanket for us, and we’re surrounded by couples.
In this exact moment, I’m aware that I should be missing Geoff.
I should have been missing him this whole time.
But he wouldn’t do anything like this for me.
So, honestly, what is there to miss? And Geoff wouldn’t be caught dead at a drive-in on a Friday night.
He always wanted to go have drinks at uptown bars he thought some of the GMJ partners would be at, to pretend we just ran into them and talk shop all night.
It was super annoying, actually. I’d much rather be watching Gilmore Girls and eating popcorn with Aiden and Argos.
“You didn’t want to park in the back row, did you?” Aiden asks, the hint of a smile on his lips. I have to glance away from him because my thighs heat at his words. Whoa. Talk about unexpected. What would he do if I said yes? Part of me wants to, if only to see his reaction.
“You never parked in the back row?” I ask instead, shaking my head as if it’s a shame.
“Not in high school,” he says. “Once as an adult. With a girlfriend. But we ended up on Mrs. L’s blog, so we never did it again.”
My heart stops. I’m so intrigued. “A girlfriend? Do tell.”
Aiden sets the popcorn bag on the quilt between us and hands me a few napkins. “There’s nothing to tell, really. We went out for two years. We wanted different things. We broke up.”
I roll my eyes. That’s such a dating story from a man’s point of view. No juicy details. “How long ago was this?” I ask. I am not trying to be nosy, but I am my mother’s daughter and a resident of Harvest Hollow, so there’s a certain amount of information I’m gonna need here.
Aiden scoops up a handful of popcorn and shrugs. “Maybe two years ago.” He tosses another piece to Argos.
“You’ve been single since then?” This question is for research purposes only.
“Yep.”
Of course, the next question on the tip of my tongue is whether I know her, but that seems too nosy.
So instead, I make a mental note to check the Hot Sheet archives for news of Aiden Parker and his girlfriend making out in the last row of the drive-in two years ago. Because I am not above such a thing.
I am still trying to picture what his ex-girlfriend looks like when a knock on the driver’s-side window startles me.
Aiden rolls it down to reveal Mrs. Lawrence grinning at us. “Hi there, kids.”
And now I really feel like I’m sixteen again, because we’ve clearly been caught parking together at the drive-in after showing up in town together today. There will be gossip. ’Tis inevitable.
“I see you have your own popcorn, Aiden,” Mrs. Lawrence says, arching an overly plucked brow.
Aiden reaches behind him, pulls out his wallet, and gives Mrs. Lawrence a twenty-dollar bill. “Here. This is for the popcorn I’m not buying from you.”
“Thank you.” Mrs. Lawrence tucks the money into her shirt like she’s a stripper. “Enjoy the show.”
“What was that about?” I ask after Aiden rolls up the window. He’s tuning the radio to whatever station gets the feed from the drive-in.
“I like my own popcorn. She likes to make money. It’s win-win.”
I shake my head. Only another business owner would do that. But it’s just the sort of quirky arrangement that makes me miss this town. Where else would there be a twenty-dollar exchange over not buying popcorn with a very civil “thank you”?
The giant screen we’re parked in front of starts flashing, and I keep my mouth shut. No more talking. Gilmore Girls is sacred. The theme song comes on. It’s probably my favorite part of the whole experience. I begin to sing along like Maria and I always do when we watch it.
Aiden arches a brow at me. “Really?” he says.
“Sing with me,” I say in between verses.
“Nope.” He shakes his head.
“Ah, come on. It’s a fantastic song. You know you want to!”
I serenade him, poking his arm, and then suddenly, to my delighted surprise, Aiden joins in on the chorus.
“You know the words!” I shout, laughing as I continue to sing. To his credit, Aiden keeps singing too. By the time it’s over I’m smiling so big my mouth hurts. “You sang!”
He shrugs. His face gives nothing away. “Yeah, well, it’s a catchy song, and I’ve heard it a lot.”
“It’s fun to sing, isn’t it?” I say, nodding at him. I’m fully determined to make him admit it.
“If you say so.” He shakes popcorn into his mouth.
“Admit it!” I push his shoulder lightly, and honestly, I want to touch it again immediately. It made my fingers tingle.
“It’s not a bad song,” he allows.
Whatever. That was cute. I turn back toward the screen.
I’m suddenly glad there is a giant popcorn bag between us.
It’s a clear delineation. We won’t climb over the popcorn bag and make out.
That would be awkward. And potentially messy.
Not that I want to. Of course, we could move the bag to the back seat, but—no.
Not helpful. The popcorn is the boundary.
The show begins, and it’s halfway through the first episode when I stick my hand in the popcorn bag and accidentally brush against Aiden’s hand. A jolt of awareness shoots up my arm. I snatch my hand away without any popcorn. “Sorry,” I mumble.
“No worries,” he says. He goes back to watching, but now I’m daring glances at him.
Did he just feel what I felt? Heat? A shudder?
Now it’s all I can think about, and it feels wrong because Gilmore Girls is not exactly steamy material.
And there’s a dog in the back seat watching us.
Though honestly, Argos may be sleeping. It’s dark back there.
I am completely distracted. I try to keep watching, but all I can do is wonder if Aiden is as aware of me as I am of him right now.
He smells really good. Like soap and tightly stretched cotton T-shirts.
We both already admitted we are attracted to each other.
He might feel something . I shake my head and blow out a breath. I need to get it together.
I am being ridiculous. And unprofessional. Ridiculously unprofessional. Eat your popcorn and cool your pants, Ellie.
I pause at the realization: I’m calling myself Ellie in my head now. Distracted by that revelation, it takes me a minute to notice that Aiden is watching me. I can see it in my peripheral vision.
I turn to look at him, and my breath catches in my throat. The bright lights from the screen are playing across his face, and our gazes are locked.
He looks at me intently. It’s sexy as hell. He leans closer. I can’t breathe. He’s across the popcorn bag. He’s beyond it. He’s breached the popcorn.
Oh my God.
He’s going to kiss me.
And I want him to. I really want him to! His face is inches from mine, I’m breathing heavy, and I’m just about to close my eyes and lean into his kiss when he reaches out and grabs something near the window by my ear. “Got ya,” he exclaims.
The next thing I know he’s back on his side of the truck, where he opens his door and leans out.
“What was that?” I ask, completely discombobulated. One minute I’m about to get kissed in the third row of the drive-in, and the next I have no idea what just happened.
“I didn’t want to scare you,” Aiden explains. “It was a... a...”
He clearly doesn’t want to say, which immediately frightens me because there’s only one thing it could be if he’s acting this way. “A spider?” I ask with a nervous squeak. I am already glancing around the truck to make sure the insect hadn’t brought any of its friends.
“Yeah,” he says reluctantly. “I just let it out in the grass.”
“Did it head off in another direction?” I ask, my voice a little too high.
“It did. I remember how much you hate spiders. And your rule about making sure they’re gone.”