Elegantly Bound

Aerie rapidly racked her brain for reasons why he would be there. How did he even find out about this? Her parents surely didn’t invite them; they had despised him ever since he broke their daughter’s heart. Aerie’s next guess was a mutual friend, but for the life of her she couldn’t think of anyone here who knew both of them. While Aerie was still frustrated about his being here, she found solace in the fact that she couldn’t think of anyone who knew both of them. Since the horrendous break-up, she had tried with all her might to get rid of every tie she had to him. And it seemed as if she had succeeded.

But here he was, standing approximately thirty feet away from her, his sister’s arm draped across his shoulder and a bright smile adorning his face.

Aerie tried to hide her surprise, forcing herself not to freak out, and instead turned to John. “Hey, baby? Can we go get something to drink?”

John smiled at his fiancée. “Sure.” John grabbed her hand and the two lovebirds started walking across the lawn to the drink table, but they didn’t get very far.

“Aerie!” a voice called out. Aerie stopped in her tracks, her heart suddenly beating a million miles a minute.

The couple had totally different reactions to this voice. While John turned around and smiled at the boy, Aerie turned around, but refused to look at him. It would be bring back too many memories, she countered.

John noticed Aerie’s reluctance to greet the person and frowned. “Aerie, honey? Don’t you want to greet this person?”

Aerie slowly looked up, and was met with his vibrant green eyes. All at once the memories came flashing back. Aerie squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block them out, but they still continued, almost haunting her as they swirled around in her head. “Aerie?” John called out. He shook her and she quickly snapped her eyes open. “Hey, are you alright?”

Aerie nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” John replied. He turned to face him. “So, what is your name?”

“Conner,” he said. “Conner Ellsworth. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“And you as well, Conner. May I ask how you know Aerie?”

Aerie gulped and her eyes focused on the green grass again. She vaguely heard Conner say, “We used to date. In high school.”

“Oh,” John said, sounding a bit surprised. “She never mentioned you.”

Conner coughed. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Why is that?” John asked.

“Nothing,” Conner said, shaking his head. “It’s just that we didn’t really end on very good terms.”

“Well that would explain Aerie’s behavior right now.” Aerie was still staring intently at the grass, and much to her dismay, the only thing she could think of was how the grass was almost the same color as Conner’s eyes. John shook her and she straightened up. “Hey. How come you never told me about Conner?”

Aerie blinked a few times before replying, “We, uh…we didn’t end very well.” She shifted her feet back and forth, hoping John would get that she was uncomfortable with this conversation.

Aerie didn’t get the chance to see if John did or not, for Garrett blurted out, “Is that girl you’re with your date?” A blush appeared on his cheeks almost instantly, and he tried to cough to cover it up. Kennedy not-s0-subtly nudged Garrett in his side and Garrett glared at him.

Conner, seeing all of this, laughed and shook his head. Even Aerie cracked a small smile, knowing what was coming next. “No. That’s my sister, actually.”

Garrett blushed again, and no amount of coughing could hide this one. It was brighter and stayed longer than the last one. Conner laughed again. “Look…what’s your name?”

“Garrett.”

“Okay, Garrett. I think you should go talk to her.”

Garrett looked flabbergasted. “What?!”

Conner laughed…again. Aerie sighed, already not wanting to be around Conner anymore. John sensed this and carefully pulled Aerie away from the group of guys. Conner didn’t even notice. “Yeah,” he replied. “I totally think you should go talk to her.”

“Seriously?” Garrett asked.

Conner shook his head in disbelief. “YES! Gosh, just go over there and hit on her for God’s sakes!”

The whole group broke out in laughter and Garrett mocked them before sticking his tongue out.

“Just…don’t do that,” Conner said.

The group broke out in laughter again. Garrett shrugged and began his way over to Conner’s sister.

Meanwhile, John and Aerie had finally made it to the drink table. John carefully poured a cup of punch for Aerie and handed it to her before pouring himself a cup. After they both had gotten their drinks, John said, “So, Conner seems nice.”

Aerie shrugged her shoulders. “He was nice, until he broke my heart.”

John smiled. “Well, that is something I will never do. You’re too special to lose, Aerie.”

Aerie smiled up at John and leaned in for a kiss. A snap went off and the two swiftly broke away. “Paaaaat,” Aerie groaned.

Pat was smirking. “What? I thought it was cute.”

“Who even gave you a camera anyway?” Aerie asked.

“Your mom,” Pat replied, still smirking.

“Of course she did.” Aerie rolled her eyes and turned back to John. John leaned down, but before they could kiss again, Aerie pulled away and turned to Pat. “And don’t take a picture this time.” Pat smiled and walked off, leaving Aerie and John to kiss, right there next to the drink table, punches still in hand, and more people than they probably thought were watching, watching.