I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2) by Rebel Hart (the first e reader .txt) 📕

the blink of an eye with the promise of a celebration on the horizon. We went directly to Aria’s after school, and I was surprised and delighted to see that Aria’s mom took the rest of the day off of work in order to decorate their backyard in celebration of me. When I walked in, she jumped up and fanned out a huge “Congrats” banner, an action only dwarfed by the sudden appearance of a man I didn’t recognize at all popping out with a bouquet of balloons.

“Hey! Congratulations, Arden!” he said.

“Th-thanks… sir?” I said.

“Taylor?” Tristan said. “What are you doing here?”

“Arden, this is Taylor, Tristan’s older brother. Taylor, this is my best friend Arden,” Aria introduced.

Taylor handed the balloons over to me with a smile, and it was then that I realized the striking resemblance he did bear to Tristan. “Thanks.”

“Mom, I think Arden would have been okay without strangers at dinner?” Aria said.

Aria’s mom giggled. “He’s not here for dinner. I’m loaning him some stuff for his presentation at work, then he saw the stuff I’m piling up for your graduation party and we lost track of time.”

“Tristan, look at this,” Taylor said. He grabbed his brother’s arm and dragged him into the living room. Aria, her mother and I followed them into the living room as Taylor showed Tristan the display board Aria’s mom was working on. “Look at little baby Aria!”

Tristan nodded with a smile “I know. Isn’t it disgustingly cute?”

“I wanna do one like this for yours!” Taylor said.

Tristan shook his head violently. “No. I already made Dad and Andrea promise no baby pictures.”

“But you were such a cuuuute baby,” Taylor whined. “Come on! Just one!”

“No!” Tristan said.

Taylor grabbed Aria’s arm. “Come on, Aria. He does everything you tell him to. Help me out.”

The conversation quickly developed into a full discussion about graduation party stuff, and I started to feel out of place. As quietly as I could I slipped outside into the backyard and took a seat at the table that Aria’s mom had decorated with a checkered tablecloth and flowers. I had a few missed texts from Suli, so I decided to take the opportunity to text her back.

Yes, I’m still on hiatus, but

man, it’s killing me right now.

Uh oh. Is little miss perfect

not giving you the exciting

life she promised?

Be nice. She’s trying but

with all the graduation stuff

right now, I’m just feeling

a little left out.

Well sure. Not being able to

have all that stuff has got to

be frustrating.

Hey! You know what?

We’re your family!

We’ll throw you a party!

Really?

Yeah! No booze or drugs.

Nothing you’re abstaining

from, but we’ll have dinner.

I’ll even convince Codie to

calm tf down.

That actually sounds

really awesome. Just us?

Just us.

“Hey.” I looked up from my phone and Aria was walking over. She had a wince on her face and sank down into a chair next to me. “I’m sorry. We got all carried away in grad party stuff. That was totally insensitive.”

“No it wasn’t. You’re allowed to discuss your graduation parties,” I said.

She nodded at my phone. “Who ya chatting with?”

“Suli,” I admitted.

Aria looked visibly uncomfortable, but forced her way through it. “Ah… Anything I should be concerned about?”

“No, nothing. She was just talking about throwing me a graduation dinner. Just us and our little group of friends. No liquor or drugs or anything, just dinner.”

“Oh,” Aria said. “That sounds nice.” It sounded like she meant it.

“Really?”

“Yeah. If there’s nothing problematic or anything like that, just dinner. I think that’d be okay. It wouldn’t be at The Undersound, right?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No. I assume maybe her apartment or something.”

“Would that make you feel a little better about all of this?” Aria asked.

“Yeah, it really would. You know, I love you guys so much and I can’t wait to celebrate with you, but they’re like a little group of people that are just mine, ya know? I really feel like they’re my family. It’ll be nice to have a thing with just them.”

Understanding registered warmly across Aria’s face. “Then I think you should do it. It’ll be nice.”

I hugged my arms around her. “I love you so much.”

Aria returned the hug. “I love you too, just behave yourself okay?”

“I will. I promise.”

16

Arden

Sifting my way through the sea of blue gowns and hats, I kept a lookout for Aria or Tristan. Families were already collapsing on their graduates, flashing pictures, handing over flowers, and squeezing in hugs. I didn’t even bother looking for my family because I knew they wouldn’t be there. My sisters had told me that they’d make some attempt to come, but given that neither of them were old enough to drive yet, and my parents staunchly supervised anything they did when they left the house, I wasn’t holding my breath.

I was just about to pick a spot on the wall and stand off to the side when someone grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the crowd. I let out a little yelp and turned to see Aria’s mom hanging onto me. She had a huge smile on her face as she shoved a bouquet of yellow roses into my arms.

“Hi honey!” she sang, dragging me into a hug. “Congratulations! I am so proud of you.”

“Thank you!” I said, returning the hug.

She pulled back and rubbed her hands along the side of my face sweetly. “You worked so hard this year and overcame so much.” Tears started to fill her eyes. “I’m so happy you came into our lives. I always wanted another daughter, and now I have one.”

My heart swelled up with happiness at the statement. “Aw, mama!” I squeezed her tightly. “You’ve made me feel so special and loved these past eight months. Thank you so much!”

She leaned back, but kissed my cheek. “I will never understand how someone couldn’t love every part of you. You are truly wonderful.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“There’s Aria!” Aria’s grandmother on her father’s side had a hand in the air and was waving Aria down. “Baby! Over