Aria

"He's going to call you, Aria," Benn says. "Sit down and have a drink with me and Colson."

I tear my gaze away from the window and glare at the two of them. Colson Waters plays on the same line as Benn; both of them are excellent on the ice and usually wrack up an average of 50 points a season. It's impressive, but right now they're just lounging around like a couple of teenage boys and it's pissing me off. "How dare you tell me to calm down. Leo could be behind bars right now and it makes me feel terrible. I trespassed too!"

"Someone really needs a drink," Colson mutters.

I give Colson my best death stare and I keep my eyes locked with his until he clears his throat and tugs at the collar of his muscle shirt. He looks at Benn. "Your cousin is scary."

Benn takes a sip of his beer. "I told you not to screw with her." He sets his beer down and looks at me. "Leo's gonna be fine, cuz. You guys didn't do anything wrong."

I cock an eyebrow at him. "Except climb a fence with visible signs telling us to not climb the fence and walk on private property."

My cousin and his hockey buddy raise their cans of beer to me. "Except that," they reply in unison.

"Don't you kids have somewhere to be?" I snap, turning back to the window. I slip my hand in the pocket of my sweater and begin to tap my finger against the case of my phone, wishing it would give me a sign. A text. A Facebook message. A message on Instagram. Something. Anything. If Leo has ended up in jail for the night, I'm going to feel extremely awful for not going through it with him.

"She's right," I hear Colson say. "We've got reservations for that bar. The boys will probably kick our asses if we're late."

"You're right." I hear Benn get to his feet and begin to walk in a random direction. Although, I'm beginning to rethink my "random" direction theory when the footsteps get louder and louder. I completely boycott it when I feel Benn's hand rest on my shoulder. "But I don't know if we can leave my cousin here alone. She's an emotional disaster."

I shove my cousin away, playfully, of course. "Go out and celebrate all your little bromances," I say. "I'll be fine."

"Meaning," Benn laughs, clapping me on the shoulder. "You're going to drive over to Leo's place and wait around for him."

I bite my lip. I had originally been planning on doing that when I arrived back at his place from the sprint home, but Tenille assured me that everything would be okay and convinced me to return home. I would have been a lot happier with the decision if Mom and Dad would have been here to comfort me a little, but I quickly learned from Benn that they, along with Aunty Emyln and Uncle Hainsey, had gone out for dinner tonight and wouldn't be back until later. So, here I am, stuck with Benn and Colson while I wait for news on Leo's situation.

"I already tried that," I mutter. "Just go, Benn. Go have fun and don't worry about me. This is the price I have to pay for deciding to protect my reputation instead of taking an equal amount of the fall."

Benn sighs but doesn't say anything to me aside from goodbye. It doesn't take long for Benn and Colson to gather their stuff and head to the car. When I'm watching the taillights vanish down the driveway and then the side road, I breathe a sigh of relief. It's better for me to be alone right now. Until I hear something from Leo. This way, I can let the guilt consume me and not be embarrassed. It's not like I start crying or anything, but I become agitated, unable to sit still.

I begin to pace the width of the window, playing with my wavy, lakewater hair.

I should have never agreed to saving my own skin, and I'm disappointed that I never thought about how this could affect Leo's scholarship. Universities always do criminal background checks, along with GPA checks and shit like that. God knows what this is going to do to him if it leaves a permanent stain on his record. Maybe...maybe if I had gone with him and the conservation officer, I could have somehow bribed the officer to let us off with a warning. I could have gotten him tickets for the Olympics or even signed some merchandise for him to sell for a hefty price.

A stressed groan escapes my lips as I run my hand through my hair. Damn it. I am such an idiot. There are so many things I could have done differently with this situation. And, if I had, Leo and I could potentially be spending the evening together.

All of a sudden, I'm jarred back into reality by the theme song from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. It's something that always earns me strange glances in public, but I blame that entirely on my dad. He's a Lord of the Rings freak and he raised me to be one as well. Jax avoided that completely, but it's his loss. Star Wars and all those other fandoms don't compare to Lord of the Rings.

I nearly drop my phone as I extract it from my pocket. Not because the sudden interruption of silence has scared me, but because I catch a peek of the caller ID on the screen. It's Leo!

"Hello?" I answer.

"Hey," he replies. I can hear the smile in his voice, and it foreshadows an upcoming story that I desperately want to hear. "Want to hear something crazy?"

I sit down on the windowsill. "That depends. You're not behind bars are you?"

"No, Aria," he laughs. "It's much, much crazier than that." He pauses. "Are you busy right now? Could I come over and tell you the story? I think it needs to be told in person rather than over the phone."

A plan quickly formulates in my head. While I do want to hear this insane story, I also want to spend some one-on-one time with Leo since ours was so unfortunately interrupted earlier. "Actually," I reply, glancing around the vacant area. "That would be perfect. I was just thinking about ordering pizza. Any requests?"

"Hawaiian," he replies. "With extra mushrooms."

I wrinkle my nose in disgust. "Pineapple, ham, and mushrooms?"

"Don't knock it until you try it," he says. "I'll see you in fifteen, okay? Need me to bring anything?"

"Nope," I reply softly. "Just yourself and this crazy story."

I don't need to see his face to know he's smiling. "Okay, well I'll see you in fifteen."

After Leo and I have temporarily parted ways, I quickly order the pizza and then toss my phone onto the coffee table. For a brief moment, I contemplate whether or not I should shower before Leo arrives. In the end, I decide against it. I don't care if I smell like sunkissed skin and musky lakewater. Leo is my boyfriend because he likes me for who I am, and I don't want to be one of those girls that become self-conscious about the way she looks around her boyfriend. Love is supposed to be fundamentally based on seeing past the bad and ugly, and being able to see and pick out everything that is good in your significant other. Besides, I don't have time to shower.

So, instead of showering, I head for the kitchen and begin to fill up a pitcher with ice and sliced lemons.

*  *  *

Leo arrives fifteen minutes later. By then, the pizza has arrived and I've set the pitcher of ice-cold lemon water on the coffee table. I've also cleared away the empty beer cans that Benn and Colson left behind. 

"So," I say when we've sat down and each had a couple of bites of pizza. "Tell me this crazy story."

Leo sets his greasy paper plate down and licks his fingers free of any tomato sauce. "Okay, so you remember the conservation officer, obviously."

I nod.

"Well, as it turns out," he continues. "That man's name is James Adams. He was the man my mom had been planning on marrying before my dad stepped back into the picture. James is my mom's ex-fiancé. Can you believe that?"

A small gasp escapes my mouth as my eyes widen. "How...How did he handle that?"

Leo runs a hand through his hair. "Better than I would have expected. He let me off with a warning after hours of throwing questions at me. Honestly, I think he just did that to make himself look like he was doing his job. What he really wanted was to see my mom. I think he still...likes her, despite their rickety past."

"How did your mom react?" I ask.

"Fine," Leo shrugs. "They made plans to catch up."

"And are you okay with that?"

Leo frowns at me. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Leo," I laugh, giving him a little shove. "When old lovers make plans, it usually means something else. Could your mom possibly have some underlying feelings for James? They obviously loved each other at some point."

Leo stares blankly at me for several seconds, looking like a confused, lost puppy. "I mean," he finally says. "Maybe. I guess that could happen." He pauses, gnawing on his bottom lip. "I'm not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. I want Mom to be happy, but it's always been me and her, y'know? It would be weird to have someone else in the picture."

I reach out and take his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Don't overthink it. I could be wrong, too. Maybe they do just want to catch up."

Leo nods in agreement, but I can tell his thoughts are elsewhere. I wish I hadn't said anything about the possibility of a romance re-budding between Eliza and James because it's probably going to bother him for the rest of the evening.

"Hey," I say, resting my hand on his cheek. Leo flicks his unique gaze to mine. "Save that issue for another time. You and I are here to have some fun. Maybe we can plan out the next event on the bucket list?"

"Yeah," Leo nods, giving me a weak smile. He grabs his pizza from the table and takes a couple of bites. "That would be a good idea. I didn't bring it with me, but I have it memorized."

"Of course you do," I tease.

Leo rolls his eyes but continues on. "Apparently, Lost Lake freezes over in the winter because Dad always wanted to go skating on it. I know it's impossible to do that one right now, though."

I frown in confusion. When I read over that list, I don't recall anything about skating atop Lost Lake. I thought it had just said something along the lines of going skating in Whistler. "Are you sure that's what it said?" I ask, keeping my voice light and airy. "I don't recall Lost Lake being on the list."

Leo and I keep our gazes locked for what feels to be five minutes before he breaks eye contact and gazes out the window with a look of defeat on his face. "Fine," he sighs. "Guilty. It does just say go skating in Whistler, but I don't know how to skate."

I drop my pizza down to my plate and gape at him. "Shut the fuck up."

Leo shrugs. "We don't do a lot of skating on the East Coast."

"That's where Sidney Crosby is from!"

"So?"

"So," I say, setting my pizza down and turning to him. I'm sitting cross-legged on the leather couch, my palms resting on his knees. "That only contributes to the fact that every Canadian should know how to ice skate, Leo. You have no excuse." I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and shake my head. I can't believe he doesn't know how to skate. "That's it! I'm teaching you how to skate. I can call in a favour at the rink and also get my hands on a pair of Benn's old hockey skates for you."

Leo's face wavers a little. "Aria...I don't think that's a very good idea. I have no balance on the ice. Mom tried to teach me when I was seven and it didn't go very well."

I reach out and tap him on the nose. "Well, no offense to your mom, but she's not a professional. I, on the other hand, am. By the time we're through with your skating lesson, you're going to be exceptional."

Leo groans through another mouthful of pizza. "Aria..."

"Nope," I laugh. "We've officially committed. Skating is the next event we're completing. End of story."

He stares at me, a pleading look in his eyes. I suppress a snort. I really hope he doesn't think that type of look can change my mind because it can't, nor will it ever be able to. Once my mind is set on something, it happens.

I point at him, a playful smile on my face. "Stop trying to worm your way out of this one. You're learning how to skate, Leo."

He doesn't respond, but I can see the defeat in his posture as he sloppily takes the final bite of his pizza. It leaves a splotch of tomato sauce on the corner of his mouth. He tosses the empty plate to the table. "Fine, but if I bruise my ass beyond the point of recovery, I'm holding you accountable for it."

"Deal," I shrug, biting back a grin.

Leo cocks his head and frowns at me. "What? Why are you fighting a grin off?"

"Because," I say, reaching out and brushing my thumb against the corner of his mouth. "You have pizza sauce right here."

Out of nowhere, Leo grabs my wrist and holds it there, right next to his mouth. I can feel his hot breath on my knuckles as he stares at me, gently pressing his teeth into his bottom lip. I can't even begin to fathom what's running through his mind, but I can hazard a guess. I think, just by the look in his eyes, he wants to kiss me. He's probably going over different ways to tell me exactly that, but his eyes speak the truth.

So, rather than leaving him to sort it all out, I initiate the kiss, pressing my lips to his.

Leo instantly latches onto my other wrist, holding both of them as he kisses me back. His touch burns like fire through my veins. There's a firm press of longing in his kiss, one that fills me with similar feelings to the ones I experienced earlier today. When I told him to join me on the rock, I had wanted to take things a step further than we've gone. Maybe not dive right in to having sex, but at least something a little more intimate than kissing.

Leo's low groan follows as I sweep my tongue across the seam of his lips; a soft and silent plea to touch my tongue to his, to explore his mouth. When his lips part, I swear I'm falling and floating at the same time, spinning out of control and caught in an entanglement of longing emotions. Wrestling free of his grip, I slide my hands up his body until I'm able to cup his face. I angle his head, deepening the kiss. Desire blossoms and migrates to the forefront of my mind. I want it. Him. And I'm not worried about us potentially going too far. The desire, the want, the need. My emotions are too powerful at the moment.

Everything about Leo is overpowering, and I give in to the ache of yearning. My senses heighten, becoming more aware of his scent, his taste, the warmth that grows hotter and hotter with each passing second.

One of his hands drops to the waistband of my khaki shorts and he begins to toy with the buttons. The motion causes a bolt of lust to rush through my veins and a rush of heat between my thighs. However, despite the extreme level of control my emotions have taken over me, I can still sense something is off with Leo. He's acting...hesitant.

Forcing myself away from his lips, which is extremely hard to do, I break the kiss and stare into his eyes. "What's wrong?" I ask, my voice breathless.

A light blush spreads through Leo's cheeks as he squeezes his eyes shut. "Aria..." he murmurs. "I have, uh, no experience when it comes to stuff like this. I don't know the first thing about what I'm supposed to do aside from kiss you."

My heart melts a little. I love that he can share this with me. It means he trusts me. That, despite being embarrassed, he can be honest with me. "I...I can show you what I want," I say.

Leo's eyes snap open. "What?"

I shrug, reaching down to unbutton my shorts. I'm about ready to proceed with sliding them off when I remember where we are. I pause. "Uh, maybe we should take this upstairs."

Leo glances around the room, a small chuckle escaping his chest. "Agreed. I'll put the pizza away quickly."

It only takes a few minutes for Leo and I to clean up our mess. It only takes a few seconds for me to lead him up the stairs to my bedroom. We've got nothing but a twin bed to do this on, but the closer we are, the better. I fall back onto my bed and stare up at Leo, the room illuminated by the stars and moon shining through the window. He lays down beside me, watching intently as I remove my shorts and toss them to the floor.

As I'm laying there, in nothing but my thong and my baggy T-shirt, I tilt my head to the side, looking at Leo. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to."

He gulps audibly but shakes his head. "I want to," he replies shakily. "I've been wanting to for a while. I just...I don't what to screw up."

In all honesty, I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about this, too. I'm not a virgin, but...no. I mentally shake my head. Although I sometimes succumb to the rumours and falsely claim I'm not a virgin, I still am. I've never done this with someone I have such strong feelings for. And, for the first time in my life, I'm worried about what Leo might think of my body.

But I swallow my fears and take his hand in mine. "Ready?" I ask.

Nervously, Leo nods.

Before I can chicken out, I guide his hand beneath the lace of my thong and position his fingers where I want them. His hand is a tad cold, but it doesn't bother me too much. Without speaking, I begin to move his fingers, rotating them in a persistent circle with a small amount of pressure applied. And when I think he knows what he's doing, I remove my own hand and lay there, allowing Leo to do it himself.

He's hesitant on his own at first, but after several seconds, he begins to develop a rhythm that ultimately causes a deliciously warm knot to begin to build in the pit of my stomach. A small moan even manages to break free from between my lip as Leo continues to bring me closer to the brink of losing control.

I close my eyes, sweat beginning to build along my hairline and my muscles beginning to tense. "Leo," I moan, pressing my face against his chest.

"Is this okay?" he murmurs in my hair.

"P-perfect," I stutter. Never, in a million years, did I ever think a man could make me feel this good. Okay, let me rephrase that. The fact that a man is touching me doesn't make this feel any better than I do when I do it to myself. What makes this experience so much better is the fact that I don't have to do any work. That I can officially succumb to the pleasureful bliss I know is on the horizon.

"Good," he replies, dipping his head down and encapturing me in a kiss.

As Leo continues to pleasure me and kiss me, I quickly begin to spiral out of control; the knot in my stomach spreads through each and every nerve and muscle in my body. And once my muscles are filled with tension, I fall over the edge, moaning Leo's name as a wave of pleasure engulfs me. As heat rushes to my cheeks and my back arches.

For a split second, I worry that Leo is going to continue on with this, but, thankfully, he stops. He stops and he pulls me flush against him while I completely succumb to the pleasure, my body shuddering as I slowly begin to regain control.

When I've finally come back to my senses, I snuggle against Leo and sigh contently. "That," I whisper, "was amazing. God, Leo."

He lets out a shaky laugh. "Uh, that's good to know."

"It is," I agree, smiling against his chest. "Now you know for next time."

Silence fills the atmosphere surrounding us for several seconds before Leo breaks the silence. "Aria?"

"Yeah?" I murmur, feeling slightly sleepy.

I feel him shift beside me, which in turn causes curiosity to take over. I prop myself up on my elbow and watch as he pulls out his wallet and extracts a condom from it. My lips part in surprise.

He takes a deep breath. "If...if you want to do this, I'm all in. I love you. I love that you don't care how inexperienced I am, that you're not afraid to tell me what you like and dislike. You're...you're someone I want to have in my life for a long time, Aria. So, uh, if you want to do this, then, uh, yeah...we can."

Shooting him a devilish grin, I slide my hand down his body until I can feel his hardness beneath the palm of my hand. I watch in satisfaction as he flinches and squeezes his eyes shut, clearly biting back a groan. "I love you, too, Leo," I whisper.

I then shift my hand to the button and zipper of his jean shorts, expertly undoing both.