Chapter 10

RECAP:

Linda was looking at me curiously " So what were you guys watching that kept you from dinner? Was it good?" she asked with a slight glint in her eye.

I felt my face heat up further.... 'Oh I was just having an amazing make out session with your son' was definitely not the appropriate answer.... So instead I stalled for time stuttering 'Uh, uh yeah, I mean, uh"

When I heard Ari speak behind me " What Ella's trying to say, very articulately"

I turned to find him standing behind me grinning at my parents and his mums confused expressions before he continued, " Is that the TV show was absolutely mind blowing"

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My mum and Linda looked back at us with confusion written on their faces and my dad was smiling in the corner like a nutcase to himself as he shovelled Chinese into his mouth like his life depended on it.

What could I say to that?

I felt the hot haze of blush spread across my cheeks as I walked over to a seat next to my dad as he chuckled silently under his breath " Mind blowing huh?" and continued to eat, shaking his head.

Deep breathe Isobel,

In and out.

He cant have any idea that you just shared possibly the best kiss of your life with your best friend, just a second ago in the living room.

He wouldn't know that all you can think about is how amazing his lips felt on yours.

I looked down at my plate, filled with noodles, chicken chow mien, sweet and sour and teriyaki chicken. I could almost feel the heat of Ari's gaze as he sat opposite me across the table.

Our family is pretty relaxed so we don't really bother with using the dinning room much, mostly we just all ate sitting around the island in the kitchen that is like a marble table.

All I could think about was that Ari just called our kiss mind-blowing.

Mentally I was doing a happy dance in my head.

I can't believe I just kissed Ari.

I just kissed Ari.

I just kissed my best friend who I have known my whole life; who I've seen when he lost both his front baby teeth within a month of each other, who I shared my first cigarette with when I was ten (both of us coughing and weezing), who I'd made snowman in my back garden every winter with since forever, who always makes me homemade birthday cards, who spontaneously brought me the really expensive dress I'd lusted after in a shop window but couldn't afford when I was sixteen (it remains my favourite dress ever to this day), and who fixed up my car with me all last year , not complaining at all about the fact that it meant he spent most of his summer in our garage under my car. All he asked for was that I made sure to keep buying a steady supply of chocolate chip cookies.

I could feel myself holding back a smile as I played with my food.

I just kissed my best friend, the guy who was voted within the top five for hottest 100 men in the world.

I was suddenly jolted back to reality by my mum asking ' Are you going to play with that Chinese or eat it?" as if I was about five years old.

I looked up to find my mum looking annoyed at my plate and I quickly scooped some noodles up with my fork and ate them.

Mid chew I found Ari sitting opposite me, his face was set in a slight smirk that made his cute dimples show and his one eyebrow was raised in amusement.

Urghhh, does he always have to look so perfect?

I felt my stomach knot in butterflies as I raised one eyebrow in response.

Two can play at that game, even if I wont look half as sexy doing it.

Then my dad spoke, " So Ari , how was Australia? Have you got any new movies coming up?"

Ari's eyes didn't leave mine as he spoke, his eyes piercing into mine, filled with mischief. I felt my chest tighten.

I hadn't asked him if he had another movie lined up...

I had just been so happy that he was back finally, and that I would se him again in person. Not on the cover of a magazine or a billboard.

What if he had one coming up really soon?

I had just assumed that he would be back fro a while, seeing as he had worked on stop for so long non-stop. I just thought he would need a rest for a while.

God, how stupid of me.

I keep forgetting that Ari is an A list actor who is constantly being approached to make movies with amazing directors. Not to mention incredibly beautiful actresses.

I mean he doesn't go to school like I do. He works in Hollywood and they don't have planned breaks like school does.

I braced myself for him to tell my dad he had another movie planned really soon filming in Antarctica or something.

Ari kept his eyes on me when he spoke " Oh, Australia was amazing. It was great, and the cast and crew were really funny - they kept setting up practical jokes on set.

But the press tour was pretty gruelling, staying in hotel after hotel and I swear I have like a million frequent flier miles to give away now. I'm currently in talks about doing a few movies, and I've read some really fantastic scripts but nothing's definite." Ari took a sip of his drink before continuing, still watching me as if he was trying to reassure me... "So I guess I'll be doing some interviews for magazines but mainly I'll be sticking around for while- you guys wont be able to get rid me that quickly" he said laughing slightly.

My ribcage felt like a weight had been lifted from it.

Ari would be sticking around.

He wasn't leaving straight away.

" So your agent was just ringing to check you didn't get mobbed by fans on your ay here then?" my dad asked chuckling

"Yeah, I guess so" Ari laughed, " he wasn't telling me anything I didn't know already" he said.

I could feel myself letting out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and I quickly broke eye contact with Ari and began eating.

I could hear my mum and Linda asking him about Australia and he was telling them about the stuff he'd done on set and the places he'd visited.

It wasn't just that I wanted Ari here so we could figure out what the hell was going on with us, although that was something I really wanted to figure out. The thought of Ari being away for so long again so quickly made me feel kind of sick. I mean I'd gotten through the eight months ok I suppose, we text all the time but I missed him like crazy.

To make it even worse I couldn't visit him like Linda did because I had school and my parents didn't want me to fall behind.

Then I was broken out of my thoughts again when I heard the whole table laughing.

I snapped my head up to everyone looking at me laughing.

What had I done?

Please tell me I hadn't whispered anything I'd been thinking out loud or muttered about kissing Ari.

" What?" I asked as they all slowly stopped laughing and in between giggles Linda

Replied " Oh you were just really spaced out sweetie, we were trying to talk to you and you were just staring at your empty plate in your own little bubble"

Ari's laughter had died down too, but his smirk seemed to quiver slightly, like he was trying to suppress laughter " Yeah I've missed Ella's random space out's" he said chuckling slightly as he looked at me across the table.

I joke scowled at Ari, I hated it when they made fun of my daydreaming.

Then his face seemed to get more serious, despite his smile " I actually missed all of you, it's good to be home again. I really started missing sleeping in my bed instead of a hotels" he said, looking at me directly with his bright blue eyes and I felt myself blush with semi- realisation.

Ari had spent most of his last months before he left sleeping over at mine nearly every night and he had regularly joked that my room had become his, he even he kept a draw of clothes at mine. I had gotten so used to him being next to me, when he left I immediately missed his warm presence and had taken to wearing his shirts to bed because they smelt like him.

In fact I was wearing one of his t-shirts now.

But that cant be what Ari meant... right?

I suddenly felt kind of embarrassed that he might of realised that I had put on one of his t-shirts to come downstairs in and realised I slept in them.

I felt myself internally cringe at the thought. He would probably think I was really clingy and weird.

I didn't want him thinking I was obsessed with him like his fans...

I sighed, looking around the table as everyone chatted around me, my mum and Linda loudly interrogating Ari on whether he had gotten completely drunk when in Europe because of the lower legal drinking age.

Then I felt my dad elbow me softly in the ribs and looked to my side to find him smiling at me conspiratorially and I couldn't help but smile back. Then he whispered, " Poor Ari, threw worse then a pair of FBI agents" he said nodding his head towards Linda and mum. I laughed as he continued " so you and Ari catching up ok?" he asked, which I knew was his way of subtly asking if everything was ok between us , considering the whole eight months apart thing.

" Yeah, great. Like he's never been away" I replied looking over to Ari who was running a hand through his sandy hair as he joked off his mum and mines questions.

He was currently swearing that he hadn't once gotten drunk when he was away.

My mind immediately flashed to his intricately swirled tattoo on his back and it's mysterious meaning. I felt myself smile knowingly; catching Ari's eye for a moment before he turned back to being questioned. I knew everything he was saying was bull.

Then my dad spoke up " Ok , you two stop interrogating the poor boy, he's just gotten back and he wants to relax don't you son? And I for one hope he had a great time and had so much fun he cant remember half of it" he said, winking at Ari and then continuing "Ok , look why don't you let Ari and Isobel go hang out"

I smiled at my dad's reprimand of my mum and Linda who was looking like two naughty children caught out breaking the rules. Ari put his hands in the air like he was surrendering and smiled at my dad, and me though I could feel his electric blue eyes settle on mine. His Hollywood smile almost made me loose my breath.

I just wanted to sit there all day and smile at him but I couldn't - partly cause that would be kind of weird. I suddenly thought that there should be rules against people as good looking as Ari- they were just way too distracting for their own good.

So I slid off my chair, thanked my mum for the dinner and started to wander out of the kitchen, through the hallway.

I would never admit it to Ari, but just thinking about his smile I can understand what they mean in that old saying ' one look sends you weak at the knees'.

I could hear my dad telling my mum and Linda to stop questioning him again in the distance as I started to climb the stairs, smiling to myself.

Then I felt someone behind me, wrapping their strong muscular arms around my waist, the warmth of the hard planes of their stomach against my back and the overwhelming scent of sweet lemon sherbet. I looked down at the tanned arms interlinked in front of me.

Then I felt his hot breath play on my neck making my stomach explode with butterflies as he said quietly "so, where were we before we got so rudely interrupted?"

And he planted a soft kiss on the side of my temple.

I couldn't help but smile. "Hmmm, well I'm not sure if I remember...." I murmured teasingly before he suddenly turned me round, swivelling me to face him. I immediately had to stifle a giggle at his face, his eyebrow quirked up quizzically but his smile set in a seductive smirk. Ari immediately laced his arms around my waist, pressing me into him, but not before trailing his fingers softly down my arms, sending tingles across my skin at his touch.

I couldn't help but smile up at him as I laced my arms naturally around his neck, staring back up at his face, his perfect strong jaw line, his straight nose, high cheek bones and his blue eyes I'd known my whole life.

Then Ari leant down, kissing my right cheek and whispering, " Well then Ella bear we just cant have that can we?" I felt my whole body tense as his slight stubble brushed the side of my face, before he moved over to my left check. He kissed me again softly and whispered " I guess I'm just going to have to remind you them aren't I?"

I felt my whole stomach dip as he kissed my left temple ever so softly.

God was he teasing me?

I just wanted him to get to my lips already, but I didn't want to move my hands from his neck to make him.

All I could do was silently nod and then I felt Ari pick me up, gripping my thighs and lifting my legs up so they encircled his waist.

He did it so easily, as if I weighed nothing. He seemed so much stronger now.

I looked at him, briefly in shock before a smile spread over my face; his smiling eyes looked down into mine holding promises I knew he'd keep as he carried me up the stairs and into my bedroom, closing the door behind him with his foot.

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Sorry it has taken me so long to upload! And sorry if I missed any spelling mistakes.

My life has been pretty busy lately,(much to my annoyance) and I know you guys have been patiently waiting for me to get back to uploading so thanks! I promise then next chap will be much better, with more Ari and Ella cuteness.

Smile 024 :D