Page 88 of Hunt for the Roses
“Tannerville School District. I teach Social Studies. You?” Charlie replies.
Aria points to him quickly. “Oh, I have a college friend who works there. Gina Reyes?”
“Yes! She teaches Math. I’m assuming you’re a math person too?” Charlie says with a smile.
My god, gag me.
I continue to take generous sips of my beer in hopes we can get the hell out of here soon, because my patience is wearing thin as every tortuous minute passes.
“Guilty,” Aria admits with a friendly smile.
“So Kate tells me you guys like to take it to the dance floor from time to time. I could show you a good time on the dance floor later if you’d like. I’ve got some moves of my own,” Charlie says as he throws Aria a playful smile.
Okay, we’re done here.
“Hey, Charlie?” I ask.
He looks over at me. “Yeah?”
“We both know you couldn’t show her a good time if you tried, so please stop talking,” I say and then take a sip of my beer.
Kate shouts. “Dane!”
“You know what, we appreciate meeting you guys, but it’s time for you both to go,” Trent says as he gets up from the table. After a few exchanged puzzled looks between everyone at the table, Charlie and Luke understand they’ve overstayed their welcome, and leave the table with their drinks.
Kate’s jaw is clenched tight as she points to me. “You’re going to tell me why you have such a huge stick up your ass lately, Dane!”
“Dane and I have been seeing each other,” Aria cuts in.
An umbrella of silence instantly encases the four of us, and all of our eyes go directly to Aria. Every single noise in the dive bar drowns out, and every single movement in our line of vision is blurred. Aria’s playing nervously with her hands as her eyes are averted from all of our gazes, and none of us utter a single word or move an inch.
Finally, Aria takes a nervous gulp before looking at Kate and Trent. “We’ve beenwitheach other. No one else knows.”
Kate’s jaw drops while Trent just sits there and takes it all in. I shift so my elbows are on the table and my hands are interlocked in front of my lips as I stare blankly in front of me.
“Ari, how could you?” Kate whispers.
I instantly cut my eyes to Kate, jaw tense. “That’s not fair, Kate.”
Kate lets out a fake chuckle. “Fair? How could you talk about what’s fair? Kyle was your best friend!” Kate stands up. “This is why you two left early last week, isn’t it?”
Trent wraps his hand around Kate’s wrist. “Calm down.”
“No,” Kate says as she yanks her wrist out of Trent’s grasp, and looks between Kate and me. “So the both of you have just been sneaking behind everyone’s backs, fucking each other with no regard for anything else?”
I hold Kate’s eyes. “That’s not how this is.”
Kate narrows her eyes in disdain. “I’m so disgusted with you two. I can’t even look at either of you right now.” Kate storms off, and we’re left in dreadful silence once again.
Aria has one hand over her face, and she looks like she’s trying to hold back tears as she closes her eyes tightly. My eyes are trained on Kate’s now empty chair, refusing to make eye contact with Trent, and I just lazily brush my thumbs against my bottom lip as I attempt to organize what the hell just happened.
“She’ll come around,” Trent says, and then pauses before speaking in a low voice. “But you have to understand, this is a big pill for people to swallow. You two need to start talking about what you want out of this, before both of you get really hurt.”
I inhale a deep breath and hang my head with my hands on top of it as I exhale.
“I think it’s best if we call it a night,” I say, and then lift my head back up to Trent. Trent responds by giving me an understanding nod, and then we all head out of the bar.
Once Aria and I are on the road in my Mustang, she’s the first to speak. “This is how it’s going to be with everyone, isn’t it?” she says.
