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

Aria slipped through the crowd, and she of course had Tristan attached to her. “Hi!”

There were hugs all around as Aria and Tristan greeted her family members and in a matter of minutes, Tristan’s family had found their way over as well. They swirled up into a torrent, taking pictures, exchanging hugs and congratulations, and discussing dinner plans for the evening. Aria and Tristan’s families decided to celebrate together making a reservation at an Italian restaurant not far from school, but I bowed out. There was only so much watching other families celebrate and be happy that I could take for one day.

“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” Aria asked as we were all walking into the parking lot after the graduation festivities had officially died down.

“I promise. I’m gonna go catch up with my sisters and then Suli’s dinner thing that she planned is this evening. It’s supposed to be a surprise, so she’s gonna pick me up.”

“And no—”

“Drinking or drugs,” I cut her off. “Nothing illegal, I promise.”

“Okay.” She pet the side of my face, reminding me of her mom. “I love you so much. Call me when you get home tonight, okay? I don’t care how late it is.”

“I can do this.” It was me who initiated that hug, dragging her in and squeezing her tightly. “Aria, thank you so much for everything. I’m so proud of everything you’ve accomplished this year and I feel so lucky I get to call you my friend.”

As Aria pulled back, she wiped some tears from her eyes. “Come on, you’re gonna make my makeup run.” She smiled at me. “I love you so much, and I’m so happy that I found you. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.” I gave her one more squeeze before letting her go back to her family and waving them all off as they drove away, then I climbed into my car and called Suli. “Hello?”

“Hey graduate!” she said. “I am soooo sorry we couldn’t be there for your actual graduation. That sucks that you weren’t able to get tickets.”

“Yeah. They were all gone by the time you brought it up. It’s okay though. Aria’s family was wonderful to me, and now I get to come and see you guys,” I said. “When are you picking me up?”

“When can I?” Suli asked. “I’ll come as soon as you’re ready.”

“I”m gonna go home and change and check in with my sisters. Shouldn’t take longer than an hour?” I said.

“I will be there in an hour and a half then. Text me when you’re ready, just in case. If you need more time with your sisters, just let me know. We’ve got all night.”

“Sounds good. Thank you, Suli.”

I could hear her smiling on the other side of the phone. “No problem. I’ll see you soon. Bye.”

“Bye.”

As expected, my parents didn’t even acknowledge me when I walked into the house. They were sitting in the living room and didn’t look up as I passed by. It was fine with me though, because if they were committed to ignoring me, then it would make it easier to come and go. I walked up the stairs and opened the door to my room and stopped short.

The entire room was decorated with balloons, a congrats grad banner, and a cake. My sisters were standing in the center of the room, both dressed really formally and each had gift bags in their hands. “Congratulations!” they screamed.

“Wow!” I smiled so large that my cheeks hurt. “This is amazing!”

“Arden, we’re so sorry we couldn’t make it to your graduation,” Willow said. “We tried, honest.”

“I know, it’s okay.” I opened my arms and they both walked into my embrace.

“Pictures!” Whitney said.

They doted over me as if they actually had been at the graduation. Taking pictures and hugging me, giving me their gifts, and telling me how proud they were of me. It actually made me feel like I hadn’t missed out on much. It wasn’t long before my mom came up to break up the festivities, using the excuse that we were being too loud. Willow tried to argue, but I stopped her, not wanting her to catch any heat on my account. I had to get to my dinner with Suli and my other friends anyway, so it was okay.

I sent my mom off before hugging my sisters and then sending Suli a text to confirm that I was ready to leave. My sisters left my room and I changed into something better to wear to dinner. I gave the most effort I’d put into my appearance in a while and then made my way back downstairs to wait outside for Suli to come. It was only about fifteen minutes before she was pulling up outside and I squawked out laughter at the sight of her car.

It was decorated with all sorts of car paint and a message on the back windshield that said, “CLASS OF 2021.”

Suli hopped out of the driver’s seat and ran over to me before popping a mini-confetti cannon and sending a rain of colorful pieces down over me. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you!” I said.

She leaned in and whispered, “I’d kiss you, but I’m sure your parents are watching and I don’t wanna freak them out.”

I looked over my shoulder, imagining my parents peeping out the window, and turned around and flung my arm around Suli’s waist and pulled her in. She didn’t fight me when I pressed my lips against hers, hoping that my parents were seeing the gay and wondering if it was contagious.

“Ooh,” Suli said. “Okay.”

“Let’s go. They’re Christian, but that doesn’t mean they won’t shoot us.”

She laughed. “Okay, let’s go.”

We loaded into her car and drove off, and when I looked over I could have sworn I saw someone peeking through the window on the door. When I blinked they were gone.

“I hope you haven’t been too bummed today,” Suli said as she pulled off.

I shook my head, remembering all of the ways I’d been pampered that day. “No, actually,