Page 55 of Hunt for the Roses
When I re-adjust myself and get up from the bed, I lean a shoulder on the doorframe of the closed bathroom door and talk through it. “I’m not enough of an asshole to let you walk home alone, so do you need me to take you home?”
I hear her laugh out loud. “No thanks. I’m setting up an Uber right now.”
I run a hand through my hair and then turn to grab my jeans and shirt from the floor to dress myself. I sit down at the foot of the bed to tie my shoelaces, and then just wait for Lisa to come out of my bathroom. I lick my lips as my elbows rest on my knees and I look down at the floor.
How did I get here?
I stare at the carpet of my bedroom, just trying to pinpoint when my life became a soap opera. Trying to target how my mind suddenly became occupied with one person. Let alone, the last person who should ever consume it.
When I hear the door to my bathroom open and see a fully clothed Lisa, I sigh and stand up. She doesn’t even acknowledge my presence as she beelines it to my bedroom door, storming out to make her exit. Luckily, I can keep up with her and follow Lisa down the stairs and through the foyer. When I reach the front door just as Lisa’s walked through it, I’m standing halfway out when I see Aria stepping out of a car. Lisa’s Uber is parked in front of my house, and as my luck would have it, Aria and Blake are exiting his car in front of her house. Aria looks over to Lisa entering her Uber and then looks back to my porch to see me standing halfway out my door. It takes a second for her to put two and two together, and she rolls her eyes as she turns around and regards her date instead.
I watch intently as Blake and Aria seem to be exchanging a few smiles and laughs before hugging each other goodnight. Before my mind can catch up with my legs, I walk through the door, making sure it slams hard enough to get their attention. I smile inwardly as they break their hug to turn their heads in my direction, and I walk down my pathway to my mailbox.
“Didn’t mean to disturb,” I say as I open the small door to my mailbox, making a show of looking for the mail I know I already picked up today.
“No worries. Dane, right?” My jaw tightens when I hear Blake speak.
Why the fuck does he have to be a good guy?
I close the door to the mailbox and lean myself with a forearm propped over the top of it. “Yeah,” I say, and then I tilt my head to the side. “Thought I missed the mail today. Guess I forgot I picked it up before.”
I’m looking at Aria who’s not in the least bit humored, and then she turns to Blake. “Thank you for a great night. We’ll talk later?”
He nods with a grin that I wish I was wearing, now that I know the reason behind his smile. “Of course,” Blake says, and then gestures his chin upward over Aria’s shoulder. “I’ll wait ‘til you get inside.”
“I’ll be out here,” I interject, and then I point to Aria. “I needed to talk to you anyway. Remember?”
I can visibly see Aria’s jaw clench as she turns her attention to Blake again. “I’ll text you in a little bit. Get home safe.”
Blake smiles at her with a nod, and then turns his attention to me as he rounds his car to the driver’s side. “Have a good night,” Blake says with a small wave.
I throw him a tight-lipped smile and a small wave back. “Good night.”
When Blake starts the engine, Aria waves him off, and as soon as his car is all the way down the block, I notice Aria immediately turn around to power walk up the pathway to her porch.
“Hey!” I call after her as my legs take me across my lawn to hers. Aria pays me no mind and doesn’t even spare a glance my way as she picks up the pace to her front porch. “Aria,” I say as I lightly jog up her porch steps to catch up to her. When Aria goes to open the storm door, I reach from behind her and lay my palm against it. Aria stills as she feels my presence hover over her, and I make sure to keep my voice low and calm. “When I’m speaking to you, I expect you to answer me,” I say.
“Get off the door.” I can hear Aria speak the words through gritted teeth.
I continue to keep my voice controlled. “Before we make a scene for our neighbors, I suggest you open the door so we can talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
I dip my head lower so my lips linger over the back of her ear. “Well this isn’t a one-way street, and I’d like to speak to youinside,” I say in a low voice.
I hear Aria sigh frustratingly, and she purposely pulls back the storm door harshly to knock into me. Fortunately my reflexes are fast enough that I catch the door frame in my palm, and once Aria turns the key in the lock and opens her door, I follow right behind her.
When Aria enters her house, she slams her keys and crossbody on the foyer table, and just continues to walk straight ahead. I close the front door, then follow behind Aria as she makes her way into the kitchen, and I lean my shoulder on the wall of the entryway of the room. I shove my hands in the pockets of my jeans as she purposely keeps herself busy by putting a few plates and glasses away from the drainboard.
“I can wait all night, so if you think ignoring me is going to force me to leave, it won’t,” I say from behind her.
Aria closes her cabinet a little harder than necessary and turns to face me as she scrunches her face. “My god you have the biggest ego on the planet.” Then Aria sighs as she runs one hand through her hair before throwing her arm in front of her. “Why do you think you even have the right to barge inmyhome, after fucking some girl, nonetheless?”
Now that she’s faced toward me, I notice her slim body in her low-cut, short-sleeved black romper. Between the short hem of her romper and her beige wedge sandals, her tan legs look longer than usual, and I can see the slight contours of her thigh muscles that show her dedication to staying fit. Her long brown hair is down in beach waves, framing her beautiful face, and I’m suddenly unashamedly overcome with jealousy. Jealousy over the fact that Aria dressed like this for another guy, and he got to lay his eyes on her like this all night long. Maybe he even got to touch her.
“For the record, I didn’t fuck her,” I say.
“Good for you,” Aria responds as she walks to the kitchen island to grab a clementine in her fruit bowl.
