(Fr)Enemies

Chapter Twenty Three

We left for the beach at five in the morning on Friday. We were once again shoved in Darian's car and I was sitting between Kaleigh and Aiden. Our bags were squished in his trunk and I was as nervous as ever.

The conversation was loud as everybody seemed to be speaking at once. 

Aiden had his arm tossed carelessly around me as he explained to me the dynamics of two of the main characters from his favorite show.

"No," He said, tugging at the ends of my hair. "You don't understand. Holt is a father figure to Jake and since Jake is basically a man child it's like you're watching this man be raised by the father he always wished he had-"

"I wasn't disagreeing with you. I was just saying it wasn't my cup of tea. And I don't think you can plan a three-year-old's birthday party around it." I said, interrupting him before he made me listen to his whole speech again.

He narrowed his eyes. "You don't know everything, Grace."

I laughed at the tone of his voice, relaxing in my seat. I was surprisingly comfortable with Aiden's arm around me. Normally I hated being touched but I didn't mind when it was Aiden. At least not something so casual.

"I hope everyone wants pancakes," Darian said from the front seat. "Because an IHOP is coming up and I'm starving."

As if on cue my stomach growled and I smiled. 

"We're never going to get to the beach if you keep stopping every two minutes," Aria said from the third row of the car. "Some of us would like to get out of this car."

Darian simply smiled. "I feel like the words 'road trip' didn't go through your brain when you agreed to this." 

Aria tossed her hands in the air. "And there goes your chances of fucking me at the hotel later on. Maybe your pancakes can get you off."

I couldn't tell if she had been joking, but Darian didn't seem to mind. "Pancakes always get me off, sweetheart."

We pulled into the restaurant and I made sure I was squeezed between Darian and Aiden so that I wouldn't have to sit next to Emmett. I had been doing a good job of ignoring him on this trip and I was kinda starting to believe he was ignoring me as well. I wasn't going to question it.

Darian noticed my rush to sit next to him and threw an arm around my shoulder. "Calm down, Grace. At least pretend that we're not having a scorching affair."

I rolled my eyes. "You know Darian, you talk like a fifty-year-old Hollywood star. "

He didn't seem offended. "Pish posh."

Aiden handed me a menu from the pile and I barely even raked my eyes over it. I already knew what I wanted. 

"Grow up, Grace," Aiden mumbled, not even taking his eyes off of his own menu.

I smiled, pretending to be oblivious of what he was talking about. "I'm just looking at the menu," I said defensively.

"You're not getting anything from the kid's menu. The waitress already looks like she wants to kick us out."

"I could be a kid," I said, forcing the smile off of my face now.

Aiden and I had already had this argument plenty of times before. I would order chocolate chip pancakes with a happy face on them from the kids' menu. Aiden was always embarrassed. You'd think he'd get over it.

He turned to face me in the booth, his eyes full of amusement and I was as happy as I had ever been.

"Get a regular stack of chocolate chips pancakes, Grace. They're going to think you're being cheap."