CHAPTER 26
*PAST*
“Afterglow”
Maya
The rays of the sun came through the window and woke me up. I recognized instantly where I was. The cabin. With Aaron by my side, hugging me to him after we spent the night kissing and touching each other.
I turned slowly to my side to see Aaron’s face. He was deep in sleep, a tiny smile on his lips and peace across his face. It was so different from what he looked like when I got in yesterday. I had no idea how I was going to forget the sadness on his face. He was devastated and anxious, but now he was fine. I repeated that in my mind a couple of times.
We fell asleep here last night, and now it was morning. Were the Willows worried about us? Did they come to check and find us like this? That would be mortifying. Aaron and I haven't talked about what this means for us. If it was a one-time thing or more. I mean, we both said that we had been thinking about and wanting this for a while.
I was scared. Usually, I didn’t have happy moments or shiny things, or at least they didn’t tend to last. I felt like that. Like something bad was going to happen and destroy the fragile thing that Aaron and I were creating. I was a pessimist.
The last time Aaron and I had a connection, he casted me to the side like I was nothing. It hurt me immensely, but I needed to remember that we were kids.
Aaron stirred next to me, hugging me closer to him, making a sound of satisfaction. He was so warm. I felt so much peace. I decided to forget about the future and enjoy the now. If things ended up badly, I could still keep the memories. I dozed again, feeling like I was where I was supposed to be.
I woke up with Aaron touching my shoulder. I opened my eyes and he was watching me smiling. He caressed my hair and my cheek. “I made breakfast.”
I raised from the couch and followed him to the table. It was less than ten steps, but I leaned into Aaron. He grabbed me by the hips so I didn’t stumble. I sat, and he appeared with a plate with pancakes. They even had chocolate chips.
“Do you want some coffee?”
I shook my head. “Some juice.” I nodded.
He came back with a glass of orange juice. I tried to grab it, but he was not giving it to me. I looked up. He was looking amused.
“This is how you wake up? All sweet and compliant?”
I rolled my eyes then shook my head.
“Normally, I am awake at 4:30 am to finish homework and study. I wake myself up with a big cup of coffee, but today I want a slow morning.”
“That’s a good idea. You are a morning person, then?”
“No. It’s just that it’s the only time that I have to study, and everything is quiet at that time. Well, if there are no drunk people coming home.”
He looked at me angrily.
“You told me that it was a safe space. Multiple times.”
“It is. Most of the time. It has a bad reputation, but there are a lot of families that live there with small kids. They are a couple that cause more fuss, but they wouldn’t hurt me. I grew up there. I’m like royalty. The princess of the trailer park, they call me.”
“Now you are being a brat. I should bite your smart mouth for that.”
I was speechless. Aaron Willow just said that. To me. He started to blush. I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. I bit him. “Maya,”
he said against my lips. He bit me back. I stopped before things could get out of hand again. Even though I was dying for more, I needed to eat. The last time I’d eaten something was for a quick earlier lunch yesterday.
The pancakes were delicious, and sharing the moment with Aaron made it even sweeter. We didn’t talk much, both in the afterglow still of what we had done last night. Aaron’s cheeks were in a constant state of redness; that was the cutest thing I had ever seen. Would he be mad if I called him cute? Probably.
“You’re cute.”
He almost choked on the pancakes.
He drank some water and said, “I know. I’m also smart, kind, sweet, gorgeous, frustrating at times, and competitive—or at least, that’s what someone told me recently.”
“You didn’t just quote me, Willow. How can you remember all that?”
“I have been training my brain for this moment. You really thought that I wanted to memorize all the elements of the periodic table? It was just some exercise to help me remember word by word how incredible you think I am.”
I laughed while he was smirking and moving his eyebrows.
We finished our pancakes and I told him that I would clean the dishes. I ended up drying them after he cleaned them. Stubborn man. I loved the familiarity of it. Cleaning dishes was something that I didn’t like, but with Aaron, it was nice—both touching hands while passing the plates, and me being way too enamored with his forearms, and hands, and the efficiency that he had. I had a suspicion that Aaron could do whatever he wanted and I would be turned on by it.
I didn’t know how he got to have such a pull on me. I should have been mad or worried by it, but I was simply amused. Of course, Aaron ‘Golden Boy’ Willow would be my soft spot. I wanted to fault his dimples and blue eyes, his dark hair and his hot body, but it wasn’t just that. It was all that made him him. His flaws, too. The way he didn’t know how to say no, the way that he had a competitive streak that he tried to hide, the way he could get me frustrated and lose my patience with only a sentence.
“We should get back to the house soon. I want to visit my grandpa at the hospital.”
We got out of the house and we returned to the main house. The lake by morning was beautiful, too, but it didn’t have the same otherworldly feeling. We were side by side, holding hands until the house was in sight. It wasn’t that I felt embarrassed, but I didn’t want them to know what had happened between us. Yet. I didn’t even know what had happened.
After entering the house, the chaos came back. The Willow clan was everywhere. Jumping, playing, singing, baking. There were also kids that I didn’t know there.
“Just in time. We are about to go visit grandpa,”
Carlo said.
We all went to the cars and went to the hospital. They were going to go up in small groups, the rest will wait in the car. I didn’t know if it was something normal that happened in hospitals, or maybe they were doing an exception for this family.
Aaron asked me if I wanted to go with him. I declined. I’d met his grandpa before and he was a kind man, but I didn’t want to intrude. I told him to give him my best regards. Aaron was the last to go up. He went with Niko.
When he came back, he had an adorable smile and unshed tears in his eyes. We hugged and came back home. No one had asked us if we were friends or more. Just curious looks from his siblings. They were the ones that knew best our type of dynamic, and maybe they were surprised by our truce.
The Willows were staying for at least the weekend, and I knew that I had to go back home. The danger was gone, and I needed to return to my responsibilities. I borrowed a phone to call the bus station and asked for the next bus.
Aaron heard the call and appeared sad, but didn’t say anything. I was grateful for it. I didn’t know what I would have done if he had asked me to stay. He told me that he could take me home in his car, but I declined. He would have come back at night. The road was too dark.
I lied and told him that my mom would pick me up after talking with her and my boss. The truth was that I would get the bike that I had left at the bus station. I didn’t lie when I said that the next morning I would do the first shift.
The older siblings brought me to the bus station after saying goodbye to the rest of the Willows. I hugged the girls and patted Carlo’s shoulder.
“Next time, we will show you more of the town. You can come whenever you want,”
said Evelyn.
“We can do a sleepover too,”
Cassie said.
“That sounds amazing. Next time I will come with more time.”
The bus was about to leave. I needed to say goodbye to Aaron, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to leave, either. I wanted to stay. It felt like something bad was going to happen during our time apart.
He got closer and hugged me tightly. I put my head on his shoulder and he kissed my hair. “We are going to see each other when I come back.”
I nodded. “You are going to call me when you get home.”
I nodded again. “It means so much that you have come, Maya.”
“I am happy that I came.”
He kissed my hair again. I looked into his eyes and got onto the bus. If I stayed longer, I wouldn’t have left.
The way back home, I spent sleeping or daydreaming about Aaron. I felt an ominous feeling that couldn’t let me settle fully. Something bad was going to happen.