Desperately Reaching for Something in the Dark

Alex, Charlie and I ended up staying at the park for another two hours before she bugged us about getting ice cream. Like she doesn’t already have enough sweets and junk food at the house to last us weeks… maybe months.

There was an ice cream shop not too far away, only a couple blocks, and it was a beautiful day outside, so we walked to the shop instead of wasting gas and driving. It was a good decision because of our daughter still having tons of energy even after playing at a park for almost three hours.

Alex and I were walking on the outside, and Charlie had a hold of one of our hands and was walking between the two of us. The smile Alex sent me after she took our hands made me realize that now that Rachel’s out of the picture… maybe we could be a family. A real, true family.

“What kind of ice cream do you want?” I asked her as we entered the small shop. Cold air instantly greeted us and goose bumps rose up on my skin.

“Chocolate chip!” She announced to the entire shop. They all softly laughed to themselves and then went back to what they were doing before.

“What about you?” The boy standing beside me asked. “Do you want anything?”

I looked up at him and smiled. “I’m good.”

“Seriously, Ar, get something. My treat.” He offered, the smile he knew I couldn’t resist now on his lips.

“I’m fine, Alex. Thanks for the offer, though.” I thanked him with a smile. “I’m gonna head to the bathroom real quick.”

He nodded and stepped forward, his hands on Charlie’s shoulders to guide her in front of him. It was cute seeing how Alex interacted with her. Just the way they interacted was like there was never a 3 year gap about him not knowing about her. It was like she’s always been around.

When I emerged from the single bathroom, I looked around the shop and found them sitting at a table in the corner by one of the large display windows. I sat next to Alex.

“Here you go.” He pushed a cup of chocolate ice cream in front of me.

“I told you I didn’t want anything.”

“I know, but I saw that look in your eye before you went to the restroom. I’ve known you for almost 6 years, Aria. I know when you want something.”

My eyebrow rose. “Really?”

Alex nodded. “Yes.”

“Then tell me what else you think I want right now.”

He brought his hand up and rubbed his chin as a joke. I laughed. So did Charlie; even though I knew she didn’t understand what he was doing. After a couple seconds passed, he snapped his fingers. “I got it!”

“What do you think it is?” I laughed.

He leaned towards me, putting his lips right next to my left ear. “Me.” He whispered seductively, sending shivers down my spine as the word rolled off his tongue.

I shook my head. “Nope. I want tacos, actually.”

He chuckled. “You’re a fuc— I mean you, Arianna Rose Langdon, are a little liar.”

“Maybe,” I moved my chair closer to him and looked him in the eyes, “you just want me.”

Once we finished our ice cream, we left the shop and ventured back to the park to get in our separate cars. Alex decided that he wasn’t quite ready to go back to his house yet, so he was going to be staying with me and Charlie at my parent’s house for another night.

We were currently lounging on the couch. I was snuggled up against his side, my right hand balling up some of his t-shirt as his arm was around my waist, pulling me more into him so if you just glanced at us, it looked like I was on top of him.

“Aria.”

“Yes?” I questioned, not moving my head from its spot on his chest.

“Would you like to come to dinner with me tonight?”

I smirked. “Like a date?”

“That depends on if you want it to be or not.” He replied.

“How about we just call it ‘dinner’ tonight and if it goes well we might do a date later on down the road.”

“You make it sound like we didn’t date during high school.” He joked.

“What? We dated? I had no idea.”

He chuckled, leaning down and finding my lips easily, gently pressing his against mine for a few seconds before pulling away. “You’re cute.”

“I know I am.” I replied, a smirk playing on my lips as I looked up at him again. “And so are you, Alexander.”

--

“I have a very important question to ask you.” Alex stated after we got in his Audi and he began driving.

“And what would that be?”

“Is it still the same?” He asked.

My eyebrows rose in confusion. “What?”

“Is kissing me still the same as it used to be?”

“Mmm,” I kissed him once we reached a stop light before answering, “better.”

“Looks like practicing paid off.”

“Practicing?” I laughed. “Did Jack help you with that one?”

“Fuck yes he did.” He grinned, holding his hand over the center console of his car and waiting for my hand. Once mine was in his grasp, he laced our fingers together, occasionally stroking his thumb against my hand during the drive to the restaurant.

He parked in front of my favorite Italian restaurant from when I used to live here. Back when we were in high school, we’d come here on special occasions because the place wasn’t ridiculously fancy, but it wasn’t exactly casual, either.

We walked inside and instantly were greeted by the hostess for the night. She led us to a table and we ordered wine to drink and each of us ordered a small salad to start off with before we ordered our meal. Alex ended up ordering the Penny’s Tortellini and I asked for the Fettuccini Alfredo; simple but delicious.

As we waited for our food, we brought up random topics for conversation. We talked about anything and everything, it seemed like. Alex was always the person I could talk to about the stupid things that pop up in my head.

“So,” he smirked, “have you dated anyone since you left me?”

“One.”

“Tell me about him.”

I gave him a look that said ‘Seriously?’ and he nodded. When I asked him why he wanted to know, he said that he was curious if he was like him in any way.

I gave in. “Fine. His name was Josh Hamilton. And, before you ask, no, he didn’t look like you. We met after a college soccer game Rikki dragged me to because her cousin was on the team. So instead of a musician like you, he was an athlete.”

“How long did you date him?”

“2 years.” I said. “And yes, he did get along with Charlotte.”

“Did she think he was her dad?” I shook my head. “She didn’t?”

“No. She always called him Josh and that’s it. No ‘daddy’ or anything like that. It was like she knew he wasn’t.”

Our waitress, Mandy, came to our table with the plates of the food we ordered on a circular black tray. After she sat the plates in front of us, we began eating the delicious food. Once we finished, and after I tried to bribe Alex to let me pay for my food since this wasn’t exactly a date with a kiss, we were on our way back to my parent’s house.

When he pulled up into the driveway, all the lights were turned off. He turned to face me. “Do you think you and Charlie could come over tomorrow? Rian has to take Cass back to the airport and I think he’s having a late lunch with his mom after so we’ll be alone for a few hours.”

I nodded. “Yeah, sure. I know she’ll enjoy that.”

“Awesome.” He smiled. “Do you think you could be there around 11?”

“I’ll probably be awake by 9 in the morning, to be honest with you.” I laughed. “She doesn’t sleep in.”

“Then come by when you two get up, how about that? Then we’ll have more time together… as a family.”

Family. That one word made me so happy it was ridiculous. I never thought that something like this would happen. I didn’t think that Alex would adjust to the idea of being a father as quickly as he did.

This trip to Maryland was slowly becoming the best decision I’ve ever made. The bad thing? Charlie and I are leaving in two weeks because of my job.

All good things must come to an end. At least, that's what people say. Right?