C9 the chase pt 2

2018, December 4th

Zoey opened her eyes as an umbrella suddenly came into view above her head. Then, seeing who was holding it, she groaned.

"Dude, seriously, just go away," she sighed. "Not marrying you, not marrying anyone. I haven't even spent a minute alone with the person I actually came to see."

Zoey was tired, and the words were coming out of her mouth more freely than usual.

"And who might that be? Should I be jealous?"

Aaron smirked. He liked looking at her. Despite the many concerns he had, looking at her made him feel light somehow, made him feel like the version of himself that most people thought he was.

Zoey got up and started walking again.

"I have a life, you know? I'm starting my PhD soon. I have a mom. I have-"

Here she fell short.

What else did she have? This thought had just started making her feel depressed, and she was on her way back down again when she felt something being pressed into her hand. It was the handle of the umbrella. When next she knew, she was being held up in the air.

"Hey! Put me down," she complained, kicking and screaming.

He looked into her face and smiled again. It might not be so terrible to look at this face forever. The thought came with guilt. He banished the latter immediately.

"Hold the umbrella upright. You're going to burn that beautiful skin of yours."

Aaron tightened his grip on her under her knees and she drew a deep breath.

"I'm not so bad to spend time with, am I?"

Zoey didn't answer. She did, however, stop kicking and screaming. The walk had been long, and it was hot and even though he was the furthest thing from safe, she could not imagine taking another step herself.

She looked up at him then and it was the wrong thing to do. He laughed at the innocence of her shock. It seemed she had finally realized he was carrying her. His hands were on her thigh and around her waist as he held her. It was the hand under her knees, on her thigh that seemed to be making her uncomfortable.

His hand moved for a moment upwards, but he thought better of it, hearing Bart's words echo in his head. It had to be different with her. He didn't want to scare her away. Aaron put Zoey down on a nearby bench under an old tree. He disappeared for a moment and she watched him buy two ice-creams from a guy on a bicycle. The man must've recognized him, because he was all smiles and refused to take the prince's money. She watched Aaron slip a few notes into the man's pocket as he distracted him with light banter.

Zoey gave him a look of exasperation as he pulled the all but forgotten hoodie up over his head. He dropped next to her and handed her the ice-cream, still in its wrapper.

"If this is a proposal, the answer is still no," she said, but she took it.

He watched her sit crossed legged on the bench as she started on her ice-cream. Again, he smiled. What was it about this girl that instantly made his heart light?

"Well, not a proposal of marriage, but I suppose a proposal of sorts."

Aaron had never bought something from a guy on a bicycle before in his life. As he was having a bit of a time figuring out how exactly you unwrap the cone, Zoey took his ice-cream and replaced it with hers. She then set to work, ripping the wrapping off of his cone. It was very unladylike and bold of her. He liked it.

"Well, what is this proposal, then?" she asked, licking the new ice-cream eagerly.

He looked at the cone in his hand and, seeing that she had no intention of giving his back to him, started eating.

"Go out with me."

Zoey swallowed a big chunk of ice-cream and jumped up and continued jumping up and down.

"What is it? Are you okay?" he asked, holding onto her wrists as he stared into her face.

"Again with the touching," she mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

Again, she jumped, this one higher than the previous ones.

"So cold! Brain freeze!"

"That's what you get for shuffling it all down like that," he laughed, pulling her towards him.

Zoey had not been asked out since the 9th grade. After running away from a Valentine’s Day serenade, she got the nickname The Nun. It was said that that must have been her intent, if she was running away from the most popular boy in school. Ever since then, even though men found her devastatingly gorgeous and even flirted with her on occasion, she seemed to have ‘don't ask me out’ written on her forehead.

"Pretty sure this is at least a third date thing," she said in a small voice.

Aaron pulled away, letting his hands linger on her arms as he rubbed them up and down.

"Depends on who the date is with," he said sexily, looking into her round eyes, knowing that at least at that moment, he had her.

But the moment ended just as quickly as it came.

"No," she said flatly. "But thanks for the ice-cream."

"Damn, she walks fast."

Aaron grabbed the umbrella and ran after her.

"At least let me drive you back to the Arden mansion. Everyone is sure to be worried, and you can't exactly walk back to Rosa."

This hurt her pride more than she wanted to admit. Of course, she knew she couldn’t walk home. Rosa was a good 16-hour drive away, never mind walking. But then she hadn't been thinking when she left the estate.

It turned out that they had somehow come back the way they came. She blamed him. He made her too flustered to think straight. Zoey saw Aaron's car and Jesse waiting in front of it in the distance.

"Tell you what, Your Highness. If you carry me back to the estate, I will go out with you."

Why was she saying this? She didn't actually think he would do it, but what if he did? She should take it back. She certainly didn't want to give him more reason to bother her.

Aaron looked back at the car and Jesse waiting reliably in front of it.

Zoey gave a snort.

"Shall we take the car then, Your Highness?"

"One sec."

With a determined look on his face, Aaron jogged over to Jesse and they struck up a conversation. She could see that Jesse was protesting heavily now and wondered what was happening. On Aaron's jog back, she watched Jesse shake his head, get into the car and drive off.

Zoey's face went pale.

"Where is he going?"

He had her panicked.

"We won't be needing a car if I'm going to carry you home, now will we?"

Zoey remembered his arms around her and her heart rate went through the roof. She felt his hand inching up her skirt and remembered how that slight movement had made her go limp in his arms.

And then she saw it and she couldn't help but laugh. He was squatting with his knees bent and his back to her.

"You must be joking."

She was still laughing.

He got up, turned around, reached out, and started twirling one of her golden locks around his finger.

"Would you prefer I carry you like before, princess?"

His face was the personification of seduction.

Zoey gulped.

"Just turn around already."