I tried all day to keep the butterflies in my stomach at bay, but every time I glanced down at my finger, my stomach did a little flip. We all sat down to a big Christmas dinner and everyone talked happily about all of their gifts. Rory went on and on about how pumped he was about seeing Vampire Weekend with Ra Ra Riot on New Year’s Eve.
“Who even said you could go, Rory?” Ari finally asked.
Rory looked like someone had slapped him across the face, “Awe, c’mon you guys gotta let me go.”
“There are two extra tickets, Rory. Who are you going to take, your ma? No offense, Aunt Gianna,” he added.
“Take a look around, Ari. Anyone in this room would want to go. I don’t care who else goes, just please let me be one of them.”
“Fine Rory, you can come with us under one condition -- no more barging in on me in my room. In fact, I want you to stay away completely. Until the concert, if you need to talk to me for any reason, you can text me. If you and Ava are going to run, you wait for her outside. Do you understand?”
Rory put his napkin on his plate and stood up. “Fine, I’ll do it, but if I keep my side of the deal, and believe me I will, I get both tickets and I get to pick the person I want to bring with me.”
“Fine, deal.” Ari said.
Rory had a horribly mischievous smile on his face, “Good it’s settled then.” He turned to face Julia.
“Julia, would you like to go on a date with me on New Year’s Eve? I have two tickets for Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot.”
Apparently, Rory had given up on the “hard-to-get approach” and was going all out! The entire table shifted attention to Julia. You could hear a pin drop. Julia was caught seriously off guard and her cheeks actually turned pink. After a beat, she smiled up at Rory and let out a small “yes.” Rory did a victory dance, grabbed a whole pie and walked out.
Ari put his face in his hands while I shook with laughter along with the rest of the table. Andy slapped Ari on the back, “nothing like taking your cousin and ex-girlfriend out on a four hundred dollar date, huh?”
Ari mumbled something under his breath that sounded like a cuss word and I laughed even harder.
After dinner, Ari and I helped Aggie clean up. She bumped Ari playfully with her hip. “You shouldn’t have done that to poor Rory, kicking him out like that. I like having him around.”
“If I have to hang out with Rory on New Year’s Eve, then the least he can do is leave me alone for a few days. I swear every time I turn around, there he is.”
“Cut him some slack, Ari. You and Ava are his best friends. What do you expect him to do?”
“Yeah, well it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s going to slip up and come waltzing through that door before you know it.”
“If that’s the case, then you can always take your mother and father along with you to the show,” she said with a wink.
With that, Ari rolled his eyes, took me by the hand, and led me to his room.