“From what?”
He sighs. “From a letdown. All our lives, you’ve been by our sides, doing what we do, and you never complain, but what about outside of us, Ari?”
“I tried that in Florida and got shit for it.”
“That’s not what I mean.” He shakes his head. “Maybe I overreacted a little, and that’s because I was caught off guard, but I’m talking about friendships… experiences you haven’t had yet.” My cheeks grow a little pink, but I don’t look away. “There’s more out there outside of us.”
“Maybe I don’t need more.”
His smile is small. “How do you know?”
I pull my knees up, wrapping my arms around them with a shrug. I guess I don’t, but they’ve always been enough. I don’t see that changing.
I understand what he’s saying and he’s not wrong. The five of us, we literally do everything together.
Vacations, holidays, and all the small things in-between.
We shop together, throw birthdays together, and rode to school together every single day since forever. First, we all sat in the same rows on the school bus, and then we piled into Brady’s mom’s van when he got his permit. Mase was the first to pass his driver’s test, so from that day forward, we rode with him. Every. Single. Day.
The five of us, we were inseparable. A unit.
And we loved it. Still do. It’s why we’re all headed to the same school for yet another four years.
Does he want that to change?
“Getting away at Avix, it’s going to be good for you.” He speaks gently. “And I’ll still be right there when you need me. And when you don’t.”
Unease settles over me. “You’re talking like it’s going to be the end of this. Of the five of us.”
“We’re family, and family doesn’t end.” He shakes his head, easing into his next words. “But that’s exactly why it’s important for all of us to stay friends, so things don’t get weird.” Mason faces forward, kicking his leg out. “So things don’t get ruined.”
“Right.”
He points his frown at the TV and mine falls to the lint on my socks.
See, the day before junior high, Mason asked Chase and Brady to help look out for us girls, which meant we were friend-zoned all around in order to avoid the extra drama our teenage years were sure to bring. And they did, here and there, but that line was clear, and we all knew it.
Me more than anyone, but we’re not in junior high anymore.
And that line?
I’d say it’s as good as gone.
There’s just one problem.
And he’s sitting right beside me.
Chapter 7
Arianna
* * *
As we pull out of the restaurant parking lot, Payton in the back seat beside me, her hands fall to her stomach and I shift in my seat to face her a little better.
“Have you felt the baby kick yet?”
“I think, but it’s hard to tell,” she shares. “It sort of feels like I’m a bowl of water and every time I move, it splashes around.”
Mason and I chuckle and look to her tiny belly, just beginning to show through her clothes.
“You want to feel, don’t you?” She lifts a perfectly manicured blonde brow.
My smile is instant, and I laugh. “I don’t want it to be weird, but yeah.”
She shakes her head. “You guys are too much,” she muses with a grin, and my eyes narrow, but then she grabs my hand, placing it on the highest point of her stomach.
Warmth spreads through me instantly, my skin pricking as I gently cup her belly over her shirt. I glide my palm forward and backward, and then down the bubbled slope a tiny bit.
“It’s so hard,” I whisper. “Perfectly round and tiny.” I lift my gaze to hers.
She nods, moisture building in her eyes as she tries to smile, but I imagine she’s all over the place. Happy she has a piece of the man who won’t be here to see their child come into the world, and sad for the very same reason.
I can’t imagine.
“My mom and Aunt Sarah,” I mention Nate’s mom. “Are going to have a heyday. Seriously, he—”
“Or she,” Mason pipes up.
“Is going to be so spoiled. You’ll basically have a babysitter anytime you could possibly want one.”
That makes Payton chuckle, and her head falls to the headrest. “Yeah, your mom literally calls or texts every day to see how I’m feeling and all that.”
“She’s been talking about grandbabies for like four years now. As soon as Nate got engaged, I swear she flew out to see Aunt Sarah, just so they could go celebrate the fact that a baby was in the near future.”
“Have they met Lolli?” she teases. “‘Cause that girl won’t even share Nate’s hoodies. His baby? Forget about it.”
We chuckle and then Mason pulling up in front of the driveway of Payton’s place.
Her brother meets us in the driveway, opening Payton’s door before she has a chance.