Page 81 of Eight Weeks
Everyone watches them, actually. Listening to the god-awful cheesy words Leon has to say.
And then he takes out the ring box, opens it and continues to say cheesy words until my ears fall off. Looking around, I first see how everyone else isn’t exactly fazed by Leon’s proposal. In fact, they look quite annoyed, kind of like they already knew—
“You told them,” I accuse a little shocked. Aaron nods. “Why?”
“Because it’s disrespectful. They all agreed. Plus, nobody should be proposed to on the holidays, how unoriginal.” I want to believe him, I do believe him, but there’s still this tiny grin on his face that tells me there is something else to come. And honestly, I am not sure if that should scare me.
When my sister says yes to the proposal, everyone is quiet, still just watching. Except for my parents, they’re both kind of looking happy for my sister, although still a little too pissed to be one hundred percent happy about that. Then, Leon takes the ring out of the box, ready to put it on Julia’s finger, only that he doesn’t get that far.
The second he takes the ring out, the part that held it up jumps out of the box, followed by what seems to be blue ink, exploding and dripping not only over his hands, but also hitting his, and my sister’s, chin, and their clothes.
As far as I can tell, every single person present gasps out loud, except for four. Aaron, Colin, Lily, and Lukas. All four of them start to laugh like little kids that just pulled off the best April fools prank of their lives. Only that it’s not April fools and they just ruined Leon’s proposal to Julia.
It’s hilarious, so much I can admit. Mean, but hilarious. They deserve it though.
So finally, I join my laughing friends, and brother. I lean my head against Aaron’s shoulder as I laugh to the point of my stomach hurting, but it’s the best laugh I’ve had in a very long time, so I don’t care much about it.
“Why did you do this?” I ask Aaron, whispering so nobody else would hear. Though, it wouldn’t matter because everyone most definitely knows this is his doing.
“Figured having people remember your birthday as the day when a proposal got ruined would be better than having them remember it as your sister’s something-good,” Aaron says, sneaking one arm around my shoulders. “Besides, this was Colin’s idea, and his execution. I don’t know how the chemistry and physics behind all this works.”
“I hate you.”
Just as the words leave my mouth, I can feel Aaron gently press his lips to the top of my head, whispering, “I hate you, too.”
44
Aaron
“but even superwoman / sometimes needed superman’s soul”—Helium by Sia
Sofia cuts into the cake,swatting my hands away when I’m ready to serve it for her.
“Aaron, this is Germany,” she says like it’s an explanation to me. “Here, the guests are just that,guests. They don’t serve or help, that’s all on the hosts, or rather the person whose birthday it is.”
“That’s stupid. It’s your birthday, you should be served.”
Still, instead of letting me help her, Sofia insists on doing the work all by herself, she won’t even let me give her a helping hand.
“You already planned all this, Nix. You’ve helped enough.” She gives me a gentle smile, trying to push me away.
Only that I won’t let her get rid of me that easily, so instead, I lay my hands on her waist, pull her close to me, give her the tiniest and quickest kiss in my entire life and swing her over my shoulder.
“Aaron!” she shrieks at the same time as her hands slap against my lower back.
I pull on the end on her dress, keeping the fabric in my hand to cover up her ass, at least until I have her carried over to her seat and put her down to sit. “Let me do it,” I say, quiet enough for only her to hear. She sighs a little defeated but isn’t arguing back, that’s a win on my part.
So I spend the next ten minutes cutting more cake and handing it over to every single person—even Leon, though I don’t think he’s much of a person—in this barn.
After the ruined proposal, I figured Julia and Leon would leave and not return, but they didn’t, much to my dismay. I still don’t understand how an older sister can be this cruel, wanting to see their younger sibling suffer and get embarrassed.
I admit, ruining a proposal is a shitty move, but it was about time someone showed them what embarrassment felt like because, clearly, they haven’t experienced it nearly enough. It’s obvious they’re a little embarrassed by what happened, the ashamed looks and the lack of the sounds of their voices making it very obvious. But I just can’t feel bad for them.
Good thing tonight is about Sofia and not them.
As my eyes fall beneath the table for a split second, I notice Sofia’s leg shaking. I look at her shaking leg suspiciously, my hand then instantly finding to her thigh.
Ever since I’ve known her, Sofia would fidget with her fingers, bracelets, necklaces, even her hair if she couldn’t find anything else when she was nervous. Whenever we sat somewhere on the benches in the arena, I would notice her legs shake to the point that it would annoy me. Back then I thought it was because of the cold, but nowadays I know it isn’t.
