FIRE [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 27: The Pizza and the Present

Stefan pulled his signature New Beetle into the Griffiths' driveway. The course there seemed shorter then, somehow lighter, Aimee would agree. Halfway through the front door, Stefan stopped and turned to give her a swift kiss while she rubbed her arms for warmth, and the cold air of nightfall wafted into the house.

"Did you order the food?" she stuttered as she locked the door behind her. For some reason, she thought of Molly when she said that.

He gave her a childlike nod.

Aimee dropped the house keys on the coffee table and smiled awkwardly at Stefan, like she did not know what to do in her own house. Normally – the way she was feeling – she would just watch a sterling treasure or two from her Marvel collection. So, she pretended this was normal.

Stefan watched her sift through her DVDs and read out titles until he agreed to one. To him, it was like the movies released faster than he could count them. What he knew of the Marvel universe came from comic books and old video games, but he might have read somewhere that Spider-Man was always a safe choice, and although Aimee was ready to argue that the movies technically weren't a product of Marvel, she did not. She had all of them anyway, and she was suddenly looking forward to reliving the days when Toby was Peter.

Sometime between picking the movie and sliding it into the Blu-Ray player, Stefan's order arrived. He brought their supper into the living room and a laugh accompanied him, one with confessable puerility and pride. When Aimee had finished setting up the movie, she looked his way, and her jaw slackened.

"There are no words."

"Too soon?" he asked what was not actually a question, and then came that laugh again.

She stood up from where she was in front of the TV and approached the boy with two pizza boxes in his hands.

"Domino's Pizza?" she read the name on the box with an inexplicable smile. "A little too soon, yeah."

"Even if it's your favourite?" Stefan playfully inquired, waving the boxes in front of her nose to reintroduce her to the smell.

Aimee inhaled deeply; of all things unhealthy and good, she loved her Honolulu. With a sly smile and a blush on her cheeks, she grabbed her box and made her way to the sofa.

"Am I forgiven?" he asked, walking after her.

"You are forgiven."

Once the pizza was gone, so was Stefan. He was a dimmed light on Aimee's lap, falling asleep. She had tried keeping him awake by promising that the movie was almost over, but all he had said was that it was a great movie and that he was going to watch it again someday. He had mentioned earlier that he was growing fond of Harry Osborne, and eventually Aimee decided that that was enough for her.

By the end of the movie, Aimee was still stroking the cocoa-coloured hairs on Stefan's head. She couldn't blame him for being tired; she felt like she could sleep for days on end, which was why it brought her much sadness to wake him. But she had to.

"Movie's over," she said gently.

After a couple of miserable mumbles, Stefan lifted his head. A lengthy yawn escaped him as he stretched his limbs, not yet ready to get up from the couch. Aimee was already standing and leaning into some stretches of her own when she felt something jabbing at her through the pocket of her shorts. She wondered what it was, and then the answer sprung up on her.

"Your present," she said, retrieving the box.

The case was see-through in her hands, interlined with a red cloth she had not noticed before, keeping the contents within from her view. She unclasped the lid of the box, Stefan quietly edging his seat. Looped around a dainty silver chain was a ring – a Summers-quality promise ring. It was a necklace and it was a vow.

Aimee gasped in admiration of its immaculacy, and then wrapped it around her neck before another word was uttered.

"Do you –?"

"Yes," she beamed, "I love it!"

Stefan found himself in her arms as she told him it was beautiful. And all he could think was that she was beautiful, too.