He laughs. “Now you know how I felt when your mum came in with cut fruit.”
“Yeah, but there’s a difference between someone’s parent knowing you were kissing and knowing you were having sex,” I counter. “I doubt my mum would let you sleep over. Not that I’d want to if she knew what we were up to.”
Aaron groans. “I can’t wait to move out.”
“I don’t want to go back to hooking up somewhere random,” I say. “After doing it an actual bed, I can’t go back.”
Aaron chuckles softly. “Same.”
“I guess there’s your car, but it’s small. No offence.”
“Nah, none taken. I am too tall for my car.”
“Hey, I’m the same height as you.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
If he were here right now, I’d slap his arm. He’d laugh, then lean in and kiss me, an apology and a way to shut me up all at once.
“I guess there’s always a cheap motel,” Aaron muses.
“Like some sketchy place where we’ll get murdered?”
“We won’t get murdered. I’ll protect you.”
I know he’s joking, but Aaron is pretty strong. Stronger than me, which was a little annoying when we were working together at his parent’s shop, but now it’s another thing to love about him.
Maybe staying at a motel isn’t a bad idea. We’ll be able to be as loud as we like without worrying about family members in another room. “I’ll do some research,” I say. “Surely there’ll be somewhere that isn’t too expensive.”
Aaron hummed in agreement. “I don’t mind spending some money.”
“Neither.” I’ve been saving as much as I can all year. I can shell out some money for a night with Aaron.
The week flashes by, and each day, I’m excited to go to school to see Aaron. On Wednesday, Mimi and Lily come to find me atmy locker and say they’ve made a reservation for Friday night at a new Vietnamese place that’s opened up. I smile and thank them, wanting to be as nice as I can. They’re Aaron’s friends, so I need to do my best.
Each night, I call Winona. We talk about school and work and start making a rough plan for me to visit her during the next holidays. She wants to spend a whole week doing nostalgic things like playing our old games and watching childhood movies. She keeps insisting on spoiling me with fun activities and good food, and part of me suspects she’s motivated by lingering guilt, but I don’t let that sour our discussions. It will be nice to hang out.
As I promised Aaron, I research motels. There are a few scattered around Easton and after discounting the ones with reviews mentioning cockroaches and thin walls, I settle on one that looks okay and costs $90 for a night. I send the link to Aaron who gives it the okay.
The only issue left is figuring out how to stay there for a night with my Mum’s permission. I really, really don’t want to lie to her, but at the same time, while she’s been nicer to me recently, she won’t be that lenient. She only let me stay at Aaron’s, where his parents would supervise us after I spent a weekend distraught.
In the end, I tell a half-truth: On Friday, I’m invited to a dinner with friends from school (true), and I’ll crash at one of their places for the night (lie), but I’ll definitely be back early in the morning (true).
Mum doesn’t say anything, her expression piercing, so I add details, promising I won’t drink, and it won’t be a party or anything, just a hang out with five other people.
“You went to a party last Friday,” Mum says.
“I know. But this isn’t a party. Aaron’s friends invited me to dinner so they can get to know me better and, you know, maybe be friends.”
Mum relents and I feel bad but promise myself that I won’t make a habit of lying. It’s already term three, so Aaron and I won’t have to sneak around for long. Exams aren’t far away, and afterwards, we’ll move to the city.
The city. Moving away. He’ll still be my boyfriend when that happens. Right?
It’s late by the time Aaron and I leave the Vietnamese restaurant where we had dinner with Mimi, Lily, Ethan and Ricky. We stayed there for longer than I expected, but they had a bar and a menu of cocktails, so there was no need to move to another place when the others fancied a drink. Aaron and I didn’t want to drink, so we stuck to having three-colour desserts, which is somewhere between a drink and solid, made with shaved ice, green jelly, yellow and red beans and milky coconut sauce.
Now, Aaron drives through almost empty roads while above us, tiny white stars glitter in the sky like sugar on a deep navy tablecloth.
“Did you have fun?” Aaron asks.
