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“Aria!” I heard my mom yell from the basement.
I sat up in bed and put my book down next to my nightstand. I went downstairs and saw my mum sitting at the dining table with her hands crossed in front of her. I thought to myself, “Important business.”
“Yes, Mother?” I sit down across from her and raise my eyebrow at her.
“Sweetheart, we have a very important dinner tonight.” My mom got up from her chair and sat down next to me.
I made a face that said, “I’m not sure what you’re feeling,” as I tried to read her face.
“Mom, what’s this really about?” I ask with a little bit of doubt. I straightened up and leaned to the right to look at her.
My mom reaches over and takes my hand. “You know I love your dad.”
“Mom,” I whisper, my voice barely audible as my nerves start to kick in.
“Meet my fiancée at this dinner,” my mother says as she looks down.
Wait, what? Did I hear you right?
“You’re kidding.” I laugh out loud, but my mom gives me a serious look. It wasn’t a joke.
“Please just do it for me. The dinner starts at 7.” My mum begged before getting up and leaving, leaving me with questions and thoughts.
I stomp up the stairs to my room, angry that my mum kept this from me. She told me that she would never get over my dad and that their love would last forever and ever.
I combed my hair while tears of salt ran down my face. I don’t mean to sound rude, but she should move on. It’s been two years, and I’m ready to.
I whisper to myself, “This isn’t helping,” as I look back and forth between my two thoughts. I held the black dress in front of me and tried it on. This one is definitely not the one.
I put on the other dress, which was red against my body, and tilted my head to the side to see which one looked better.
“How about this one?” My mom’s voice echoed through my room. When I turned around, I saw her leaning against my doorframe with a beautiful white dress in her hand.
“I’m fine,” I said, clearly still angry about all this fiancée bullshit.
I tried to hurry to my closet, but my mom was quick enough to grab my elbow and stop me. I turned my head quickly to look at her, and she was crying.
“Don’t cry,” I say quietly, relaxing my tense face. Maybe I’m being too hard on her. “I’ll put on the white dress.”
“Thank you, Pumpkin.” My mom smiles weakly at me as she hands me the beautiful white dress. “I’ll wait downstairs; please hurry,” she says, patting my shoulder before leaving.
The food better be really good.
I looked at myself in the mirror and patted down the white dress that hugged every curve of mine with a sweet shine. I put on my rosy lip gloss and let my hair down from the bun I had it in. As I walked outside to join my mom, my blonde hair started to flow all over the place.
“Why didn’t you brush your hair?” she asked before she locked the door to the house.
“I got lazy.” I shrugged my shoulders to show how relaxed I was.
As my mom pulled into the parking lot of Maison du Luxe, a very fancy restaurant, my thumbs started to fidget with each other.
My mum is giving off very happy and excited vibes as she jumps out of the car and almost flies to the doors. I, on the other hand, sat in the car and thought about what I should say or think about the whole thing.
I said to myself, “You got this, Aria.”
I got out of the car with a smile on my face. I walked up to the door and almost tripped, but I quickly stood up straight. The doorman laughed, and I smiled back. So what if I’m clumsy?
As soon as the doors opened, my mouth dropped open like an idiot.
The walls are painted a light pink colour with gold lines on top. There are diamonds everywhere, and rich people walk around like nothing new is happening.
“Pumpkin.” I heard my mom call my name, so I slowly turned around.
My mom was there in her beautiful long blue dress and perfectly styled blonde hair. My eyes went to her hand, and another hand was holding hers.
I slowly looked over this person. He was wearing a black suit that hugged his big biceps, which made me think that he worked out a lot. My green eyes turned into light blue ones, and my breathing got heavier.
His hair was light brown and curly at the ends. His jawline was perfect, and his lips were full and slightly parted. All I could think about was how much I wanted to smear my lip gloss all over them.
“Are you okay?” My mom was right next to me, looking worried, and this guy was just standing there with his eyebrow raised.
His eyebrow is even sexy as hell.
“Yeah,” I said quickly.
We start walking towards this very attractive man, and my heart starts to race.
My mom said, “This is my daughter, Aria.” I held out my shaky hand for him to take.
“Hi, I’m Sebastian, your mother’s fiancée.” Sebastian runs his finger over my hand and then shakes it, making me breathe deeply and squeeze my legs together.
Shit, he’s my mom’s fiancé.
“Do you have to pee, honey?” my mum asked.
Oh my god, mom, that’s not cool.
“I don’t think so,” I said, and then I hit myself in the head.
I didn’t notice that Sebastian was laughing, but I was still holding his hand. He looked at me strangely before I pulled my hand away from his.
“Let’s eat,” my mom says to try to get rid of all the awkward energy. I nod in agreement.
We all walked over to the table. My mom and Sebastian sat next to each other, and I sat next to my mom, trying to avoid looking into her fiancée’s cold blue eyes. I mean, he looks so young, and he’s already getting married.
“Aria, do you have any questions for us?” my mom asked.
“A few.”
“Go ahead and ask.” His deep, husky voice was music to my ears.
I blurted out, “How old are you?”
“Aria, that’s rude,” my mom said, but Sebastian cut her off.
“28.” He gives me an answer.
I thought about it for a second; that’s a big age difference.
“Mom, aren’t you a little too old for him?” I said without thinking about what I was going to say.
Oh no
“Aria Claire Callahan.” She says my full name in an angry voice that makes me cringe.
Sebastian laughed a little, but my mom gave him a look that showed she was angry, and that made him stop laughing right away.