Chapter 75
“I hope you like Pepperoni.” I smiled as I turned on the oven.
“Anything BUT pineapple is good on pizza.” He chuckled.
I nodded in agreement. “Are you finally ready to admit that you missed out on a great childhood because you never read any of the Harry Potter books or watched the movies?”
“Not yet.” He smirked. “So, what got you so into the series?”
“I think I was like 11 and my aunt took me to run errands with her and while we were out, we stopped at a book store. I was still a kid so I was just browsing around looking at the pretty covers when I saw this big yellow book with a boy on the cover. It was actually the last book, the Deathly Hallows, and after reading the back I just had to have it.”
“When I got home that night, I started reading it and I was hooked from the first page. I actually read the whole book in like three days and it wasn’t until I had finished it that I learned it was part of the series. As time went on, I read the entire series – this time in order.” I smile at the memory.
What a time to be alive that was.
Technology was still on the rise back then and it hadn’t hit its booming period yet. The iPod touch
was actually the latest craze at the time.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the internet and my iPhone as much as the next person. I just think that
things were much simpler 7 years ago. We weren’t in this constant bubble everyone seems to find
themselves in today. Everyone seems to have their noses in their phones, constantly comparing
themselves to what they see online.
And don’t even get me started on the lack of privacy this has caused. I mean, it used to mean something to ask permission before you can take a picture or a video of someone. Nowadays?
Permission doesn’t mean shit.
I was drawn out of my inner thought by Aiden. “Ah, so you were a nerd with her nose in a book back
hen as well?”
‘I’ve had my nose stuck in a book circa 2003.” I smirked at him. To me, books have always been more than just part of my academic life. I started reading books when I was just five as a way to escape my parents‘ yelling. In the year leading up to their divorce, it was like every time they saw
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each other, a screaming match would commence.
As I grew older and I began to understand things more, I moved on to bigger books – chapter books. One of the first series I read was Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan. That kind of set the stage for my obsession with books later on. Now a days, you can find me cuddled up in a blanket reading a romance novel into the early hours of the morning.
If you ask me, my mom should consider herself lucky that the only thing she has to yell at me for is staying up too late reading. There are teenagers out there doing drugs and getting pregnant.
“I should have guessed.” He says folding his arms. Today Aiden had opted for a long–sleeved shirt, depriving me from seeing his muscles flex as he crossed his arms. “So, is it just you and your mom?”
His question took me by surprise, however, he was bound to ask – everybody does eventually. “Yeah,
has been for a while.”
“I’m sorry.” He says shifting uncomfortably. “I shouldn’t have pried.”
The oven took that as a perfect opportunity to beep, indicating it had finished pre–heating and it was
ready for the pizza. “Don’t worry about it.” I gave him a small smile as I took the pizza tray and
shoved it in the oven.
As Aiden and I went back into the living room, Caroline had moved to sit next to Lucas on the
sectional where he was showing her something on his phone. Whatever it was, must have been
pretty funny because she tilted her head back laughing.
It was the first time in a while that I had seen her genuinely happy. I guess I have Lucas to thank for
that.
Because Caroline and Lucas had taken up most of the sectional, it left Aiden and I with no other choice but to share the loveseat. Trying to scooch myself as far away from Aiden as possible so that I wasn’t touching him proved to be not only difficult but impossible. After he plopped himself down next to me, I finally accepted the fact that our knees were bound to touch.
“They seem to be getting along,” Aiden nudged me. “Don’t they?”
Glancing over at Caroline and Lucas, I nodded in agreement.
One pizza, two bowls of popcorn, and endless candy later, we were on the third movie – Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
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Caroline had drifted off towards the end of the second movie, so it was just Lucas, Aiden and I that were paying attention. Lucas kept making remarks about Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy being a cute couple which earned him a pillow thrown by Aiden. Meanwhile, Aiden continued to remain engrossed in the movies throughout the night.
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