The seconds-hand of the clock ticked away as Aria sat looking fixedly at it from her bed. She was beginning to break out in a sweat as she tried to concentrate on the noises coming from the floor below. She could hear her mother looking around for her best shoes as her father rummaged through the drawers for the car keys. Aria felt herself grow more anxious when she remembered how her father had reacted to the whole party incident. He had not acknowledged her and had had a hurt expression on his face, every time their eyes met, throughout the day. His silence had become unbearable for Aria to the point where she had burst out into tears.

Out of both her parents, Aria was closer to her father since he always pampered and supported her over Ryan. In other words, she was daddy’s little girl. There had been one other time when Rupert Morgan had been this upset with Aria; back when Aria was in elementary school. She and Amy had been kids and they had cut off the ponytail of a girl, who had called them poo, as revenge. Rupert had been extremely embarrassed as the other girl had been the daughter of one of his colleagues and had not spoken to Aria for days. Fearing the same this time, Aria had ended up bawling her eyes out at the dinner table and begging for forgiveness from her father. And although, Rupert had been unable to bear his daughter’s distress and had started speaking to her again, it had been with more reserve than usual.

Aria’s heart stopped when she heard the phone chime. She read the message with shaky hands and sighed in relief when she saw the recipient.

‘Li: Did it work?’

Aria quickly typed out an affirmative and thanked Liana once again for being such a great friend.

‘Li: Yeah! Yeah! I know. I am just that amazing! ;) So you plannin’ on telling me why you want them to leave the house this desperately?’

‘I will. But later! I promise!’

‘Okay. But I hope you know what you’re doing!’

Aria frowned at her best friend’s warning and wondered not just for the first time whether Liana was some sort of a psychic. It wasn’t as though Aria was planning on doing something wrong. She was just trying to avoid getting her parents to meet Harry. She knew for a fact that things would not turn out for the best if they were at the house when Harry came over. And that is exactly why Aria had asked Liana if her mother could invite her parents over for dinner tonight. Having been brought up by a single mother, Liana was much closer to her parent than Aria was to hers. It hadn’t been much trouble to convince Miranda Summers, being the understanding lady that she was, to call Beatrice up for the invitation.

Aria felt her phone chime once again and read the message that she received.

‘Louis: Just say something, Ari?’

Aria threw her phone to her side resentfully. Louis had sent her about three text messages since the morning but Aria had chosen to ignore them all. She wasn’t angry at Louis for not kissing her the night before but because he had left her standing there like a complete fool. Just the thought of how she had almost given into the kiss mortified Aria. Louis was her friend and there she had been puckering her lips at him like a wanton serial kisser.

She heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and she quickly dashed towards her study table and opened the nearest book. Aria pretended to be engrossed by the information in the chapter, when she heard the door opening. She looked up to see her mother standing there wearing a white floral dress.

“We’re going to the Summers’ place for dinner. I’m sure Liana already told you.”

Aria merely nodded her head in acknowledgement.

“We’ll be home soon. I’m counting on you to be at your best behavior while we’re gone. Is that understood?”

Aria nodded her head once more before looking down in guilt for disappointing her parents like she did.

“Dinner’s in the fridge. Heat it up before you eat.”
She heard her mother close the door and walk back down. Aria didn’t move from her position until she heard the front door close, followed by the car doors opening and closing, and eventually, the ignition of the car starting. She quickly peeked through her window to see her parents driving off.

Aria rushed to grab her phone and called Harry. He had texted her earlier that he would be at her house by 6.30 while she had fruitlessly tried to convince him not to come. So, Aria only had ten minutes to change out of her pajamas and into something more adequate. But she needed to know how far Harry was before she changed. He answered the phone by the third ring and Aria felt like she had been hit by a car when she heard his deep, husky voice. Why did he always have that impact on her?

“Hello?”

“Uh yeah. I was just wondering how far you were to my place?”

“I’m already here.”

“Wait! What?”

Aria rushed to the window, her heart beating out of her ribcage, and looked outside but couldn’t see Harry’s car anywhere near her house.

“Very funny! I don’t see your car anywhere.”

“I didn’t bring my car. I walked.”

“Well, I can’t see you either. Where are you?”

“At you front door.”

Aria felt as though someone punched her in the stomach. There was no way Aria could let Mrs. Rosalie see Harry. She dropped her phone and ran downstairs as fast as she could. Upon reaching the platform, she jolted open the front door and pulled the tall figure, standing in the doorway, in by his jacket before closing the door. Harry stumbled into her hallway as Aria stood rigid against the front door, panting.

“What in the world’s name was that?” Harry asked, regaining his composure.

“My n- neighbor! I didn’t want her to see you.” Aria finished between breaths.

“Your neighbor?” Harry asked confused, putting his hands back into his pocket.

“It’s a long story.”

“You do realize that you could’ve pulled in any random stranger. Right? You didn’t even see whether it was me under the hoodie. I could’ve been a kidnapper you know. Or worse a serial killer.” Harry chastised, a scowl appearing on his face.

“What is it with everyone and kidnapping? I mean who in the world would kidnap me?” Aria asked in frustration.

Harry just stared back at Aria with the scowl in place. His eyes started travelling down from her face to her pajamas and the scowl slowly disappeared. It was clear that she had been not been able to change out of them and for some reason he liked that fact. For a change, it was good to see a girl not feeding her vanity at every opportunity she got.

Aria noticed Harry’s line of gaze and turned the shade of a beet root once she realized that she had completely forgotten about her clothes. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to distract Harry by speaking up.

“So, umm- You wanted to talk to me about s- something.” Aria reminded Harry and he nodded his head before speaking.

“You want to talk here?” Harry asked looking around. Aria flushed at her lack of civility and started heading towards the living room.

“I’m sorry. Follow me. Would you like something to drink?” She asked as she made her way to the windows of the living room and pulled the curtains shut so that Mrs.Rosalie couldn’t peek in.

“Umm- no! Wouldn’t it be better if we went to your room?” Harry asked pointing back to the hallway.

“Uh- my room’s a mess.” Aria lied, as the thought of Harry being in her bedroom intimidated her. Plus, she didn’t want Harry to see how small it was. He’d probably hit his head from how low the ceiling was anyway.

Harry nodded his head and took a seat on the couch. Aria stood opposite him, arms still crossed, her movements a bit on edge now that they were face to face. She wondered what was so important that he had to come all the way to her house instead of waiting.

Harry stared at the ground as if lost in thought. Aria waited for him to speak up but after a good five minutes of Harry sitting there motionless, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

“Harry, a- about last night. I don’t know what’s going on or what you’re trying to prove but you can’t go around kissing m- “

“I have a proposition for you.” Harry spoke, cutting Aria off, and raising his head. The intensity in his eyes was back and it was darker than she had ever seen them.

“Pardon? A what?”

“A proposition, Aria. You may want to take a seat cause what you’re about to hear may come as a shock to you.” Harry drawled, as he looked up with hooded eyes and a small humorless smirk appeared on his beautiful face.

Notes

Aria's Pajamas

Harry's Outfit

A/N: Hi, lovelies! Just a quick update! Having to upload this from my phone since I'm in class. Be back once it's over to fix the notes of last two chapters. 173 votes! asdfghjwertyuixcvbnm! thank yooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! Also, check our fanfic sharing story Tête-à-Tête to know which fanfics we are reading! ;)

S/N: We broke the chapter into two parts since it's really long and we didn't want you to wait. The next chapter will be up within 24 hours. So tell us what you think the proposition will be? ;) Love you!!!!!!!