My Life In Pieces (Book #1)

Chapter 7

 I breathed a little easier. We reached my house and James dropped me off. I got my hoodie back on and walked inside thinking that this town was starting to actually get interesting. The next few days were spent mostly hanging out with James and Tyler. Sadly, no more shows or practices were in my near future. I could not figure out a way to run into Ari casually either. He was barely on any social media platforms so I couldn't even post a cute pic to try and get his attention. Jordan and Patrick would have laughed at me if they saw how much I was acting like, well, a teenage girl. Finally, I was invited to an end of summer barbecue held at my Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim's. All of the families were invited and I knew that meant an almost guaranteed Ari sighting.

Dad and I headed over and I was surprised to see such a large crowd. There had to be at least forty people in their backyard.

So this is what it looks like when all of the families were in one spot?

My eyes quickly focused on a group of people in the back corner. They consisted of Brenna, Tyler, Elle, her presumable boyfriend (I really needed to confirm his name already), and the literal boy of my dreams, Ari.

Elle was sitting on Ari's lap. He was laughing at some joke Tyler had been telling and it made me melt. He looked so relaxed and in his element. I needed to find an excuse to ditch my dad and go over there. I spotted James talking to Dylan and prayed he would come over like a fairy godmother.

James noticed me giving him the help me eyes, said something to Dylan who then looked first at me, before looking over in Ari's direction and back.

Subtle James.

Dylan shook his head like it was the funniest thing he'd heard all day while James made his way over. He greeted us and then James and I headed towards where we both knew I wanted to go once he rescued me from Dad.

We were still out of earshot of the group though when he said; "You so owe me."

"Deal."

As we approached he called out, "Hey dweebs you all should remember my cousin, Alex. They all looked at me, most happy, Brenna not so much. Alex you remember Elle, and Tyler's other brother Aaron?"

Ah! Finally confirmed that name!
So the Evans sisters were dating Mason Brothers? Yeah that was going to get confusing fast. I quickly tuned back into the introductions before I missed someone. " I know you already know Ari, Brenna, and Ty." They all – minus Brenna – waved. Brenna instead got up and dragged Tyler away.

I looked at James who had that same amused look on his face from the other night. I looked back to the other three. "Hi."

James squeezed my shoulders and said, "Alex is from Texas so feel free to make fun of her Southern Belle accent." He then did a ceremonious bow and left me standing alone.

Jackass.

Elle hopped off of Ari and went to sit on Aaron's instead. "I'll let you sit next to Ari."

That made me blush. I looked at Ari, he just rolled his eyes and nodded to for me to take seat. I sat down sheepishly.

After a moment, I looked at Elle and asked, "Are you in all in the same grade?"

"No I am going into grade ten and Ari and Aaron are going to be a grade eleven."

"I'm going to be a Sophomore too."

"Why do Americans call it that?" She looked genuinely curious.

I shrugged, "We also call it 10th grade."

"Weird."

I felt like an alien open on the table being explored. I locked eyes with Ari again. He smiled and said, "You have nice eyes." It was the first time he had spoken since I sat down. I noticed his camera off to the side.