“He said that he’s had a thing for me for a while.” I grinned. “Just like me. He said he didn’t want to rush anything or pressure me into getting into a relationship because he wanted to be sure that this wasn’t just a crush for me. He wanted to know that it was an adult Alice making the decision and not an immature Alice.”
“He did not say that.” She rolled her eyes.
“I know. I couldn’t believe it when he said that either.” I laughed. “I wanted to say, what do you mean ‘an immature Alice?’ but I kept my mouth shut.” I grinned at her. “I didn’t want to ruin the bath.”
“The bath? Don’t you mean the moment?”
“The moment happened in a bath after we’d had birthday cake.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet. He got you a cake?”
“Kinda.” I licked my lips.
“What do you mean kinda?”
“Well, he got me the toppings: whipped cream, strawberries, chocolate sauce and then put it on the base.”
“What base?” Liv said and then made a face. “Oh my God, he was the base, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, he was.” I nodded and opened the fridge. “Best birthday cake I’ve ever had.”
“Oh, Alice.” She giggled. “I cannot believe my brother had the audacity to make himself the birthday cake.”
“You can’t?” I asked her with a questioningly look.
“Okay, I really can believe he had the audacity to do that.” She opened the cupboard. “Want some cookies?”
“Do we have shortbread?”
“All the way from Scotland, baby.” She nodded as she pulled out the box of Walkers Shortbread cookies.
“Yay!” I took out two cups from the cupboard and heaped the hot chocolate powder into them. “I’ve never been so excited, Liv. I guess I know what you feel like when you’re with Xander.”
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” She smiled as she thought of her handsome fiancé. “Sometimes I just can’t believe how lucky I am.”
“I know,” I said as I waited for the water to boil. “You know when you and Xander got engaged, I was a little jealous for myself. I felt so bad about it, but I was thinking to myself, will I ever have that? Will I ever have someone love me back so much that they would want to marry me?”
“Oh, Alice.” Liv made a sad face. “I’m sorry you felt that way.”
“Don’t you dare feel sorry for me.” I took the milk out of the fridge and turned to her. “It was selfish of me to even let myself think that in your moment. But I did, and it worried me. All I could think was that I didn’t even know what I was going to do if it ended up that Aiden didn’t really like me. I know I’ve dated other guys, but he’s always been the one in my heart.”
“Alice, you know how special you are. If it wasn’t Aiden, it would have been some other fantastic guy.”
“Some other fantastic guy wouldn’t have been Aiden.”
“And any other girl he would have ended up with wouldn’t have been you.”
“How did I get so lucky to have you as a best friend?” I asked Liv as I stirred the milk into the hot chocolate mix.
“I think it was fate,” she said seriously. “I think we were meant to be best friends so that you could meet my brother and then we could end up as sisters.”
“That’s if Aiden and I get married.”
“Oh, you’ll get married.” She laughed. “I’m positive of it, sis.”
“Oh God, that means I gain Gabby as a sister, too.”
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, Alice.” She laughed and picked up a cup. “Let’s go through to the living room and watch some TV while we chat.”
