Eight Weeks (Unfrozen Four Book 2)

“there’s a future in my life I can’t foresee”—Ready to Run by One Direction

Aaron told me to dress nice because he is taking me out. Unsure of where he will take me, especially on Christmas Eve with only churches being open and, if you’re lucky, a way too fancy restaurant way outside of my little village here, I decide to go a little classier than I usually would.

Instead of a black dress with my purple bow, Aaron made me go with all white. A cute short dress, showing some cleavage. It’s tight and has a little cut-out triangle going from right underneath the middle of my breasts. Perhaps I should have chosen to wear sneakers as it’s still snowing outside, but they wouldn’t have fit to the outfit, so I will have to suffer.

And, of course, my favorite piece of jewelry. The necklace. The Lego necklace. At least there is one thing in purple on me today.

As I finish the last touch-ups on my face, Aaron comes walking into my bedroom. He stops in his tracks when his eyes find me, scanning my body from head to toe. “That’s what you’re wearing?”

I nod. “Got a problem with that?”

Aaron steps closer, closing the door behind him. “I do, actually.” He walks up behind me, turning my head to face the mirror together with him. One hand of his strokes up my hips before they settle to hold me by my waist. “You’re too stunning. I might get a stroke looking at you.”

He leans down, placing a kiss to my shoulder. Tilting my head to grant him a little more access to my neck, I suck in a breath when he actually leaves kisses there.

“Aaron…” If he continues to kiss me like that, this will end with us on my bed again, and as far as I know, we don’t have enough time for that.

“Just…” He turns me around, lifting my face to his. “One.” The space between our lips disappears, and before I know, Aaron has his pressed to mine. My heartbeat quickens, even more so when Aaron pulls my hips closer into his own body.

Never in my life have I thought I would ever stand here, kissing the guy of my dreams. I never want him to stop doing that, ever. I never want to stop feeling his hands on my body. I never want to stop feeling like he’s part of the oxygen I am breathing.

When we pull away from our kiss, Aaron hands me a piece of folded paper. I honestly expect him to just hand me an empty paper or read words my mind will wish I have never read. God knows what his mouth says when he’s in a certain mood.

Before I even get to read what it says, I have one more question I need answered. “Do you think this dress is too revealing?”

I’m not sure what he has planned for tonight, but I’d rather not enter anywhere fancy with tons of old mediocre white men staring at my boobs the entire time. Or get off on the slit that goes up my leg. Who even knows what these people consider as getting-off material?

“Who cares?” He reaches a hand up to my face, tugging a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m tall and know how to fight. Someone looks at you a little too long, I intimidate them. Someone touches you, I punch them.”

Aaron’s hot breath rolls over my skin, tickling with electricity on the surface.

“Wear whatever you want, Icicle. I’ll look out for you.” No doubt he would.

Finally, I look down at the paper in my hands, and what I read instead of the nasty nothings I had in mind, only makes me want to cry happy tears.

“You’re the most beautiful, most incredible and most annoying girl in the whole world.”

“Most annoying?” I look up at him, raising my eyebrows.

Aaron shrugs a little unbothered, though he keeps a smile on his face. “Yeah, you’re a restless sleeper, you know? You tend to kick me during the night.”

Now, he may suffer the consequences for his words by feeling my hands slap against his chest repetitively.

It doesn’t last very long because Aaron’s quick to stop me, pressing both my hands against his chest rather than have me slap him. My palms rests right over his heart, feeling it beat a little faster than what’s normal.

He hasn’t been running around, that much I know for sure. “Nervous?”

“No, but you’re looking at me and that seems to be enough to make my heart want to leave my body.”

Mine, too, Aaron. Mine, too.

“Now, come on, let’s go before they’re making up stories as to why we’re late.” He grabs my hand in his, pulling me after him as we leave my room. “Might get cold for the time we’re walking over there.”

“Where?”

“The barn, Icicle. It’s Christmas Eve. You think I found somewhere fancy to go for us?”

“Honestly? Yes.” No, really. For some reasons I figured if someone were to make the impossible possible, it would be him. “You made me overdress, didn’t you?”

Aaron chuckles like it’s a yes, but he shakes his head. “Well, it’s your birthday and you’re supposed to stand out, love.”

I hate him. No, really, I do.

At least he was decent enough to wear a suit, a white one, mind you, and not let me suffer all by myself.

By the time we reach the barn, I actually do feel like an icicle for once. My legs are as cold as one, so are my arms despite me having put on a thin jacket. And don’t even get me started on my feet. Walking in a meter high snow in heels? Worst possible decision I have ever made.

Fortunately for me, Aaron carried me after about two steps I took because he feared my toes falling off if he let me walk. I’m sure they would have.

Our barn isn’t in our backyard but probably a good five-minute walk away from the house. So, yes, I might have gotten to it with blue toes. At least the inside of the barn is heated.

As he lets me down, Aaron quickly pulls on the back of my dress, covering up my ass again as my dress must’ve ridden up when he put me down. “Scared someone might see my ass?”

He slaps a hand to my ass, making me yelp. “Not scared, but I’d rather only me see it. Plus, your ex-boyfriend is in there and I have to hold myself back from punching him plenty as it is. Couldn’t promise not to freak out when he stares at your ass as well.”

Why does Leon have to be here? Like, I know he’s Julia’s boyfriend and he’s been here last year as well, but it’s annoying nonetheless. It’s my birthday, and I believe I should be the one to decide whether I want my ex at my party or not.

The answer to that would be that I do not want him here. At least Aaron is with me this year, so even if everyone forgets it’s still my birthday and not my-sister-received-a-great-present day, there will be at least one person that wouldn’t forget about me.

Aaron intertwines our hands, then looks at me one more time before he opens the door to the barn and walks us inside.

My eyes almost fall out of my head when I look at the hung-up fairy lights. Not just any fairy lights… they’re floating lantern fairy lights, hanging all around the barn and especially over the huge table in the middle of it.

The next thing I take in are the flowers. So fucking many of them, it’s impossible to count them. And like I’m not already close to bawling my eyes out, the bouquets are a mix of light purple lilacs, purple hydrangeas, and wisterias. A few are lined up on the floor to make up an aisle to walk toward the table, an aisle like you’d get on your wedding day, only this one seems a little less professionally placed. But I am in love with the look of it anyway.

And then I spot my birthday cake in the middle of the table, gasping when it’s a white two-tier cake with purple flowers all over the cake.

“Aaron,” I manage to force out, my voice strained from the force of tears I try to suppress.

“I couldn’t give you a wedding yet, but I could make your birthday almost as magical.”

This is crazy. He is crazy.

It gets even crazier though. Aaron managed to make every single person in this room wear light purple clothes. Even my goddamn sister and ex-boyfriend. And to make it even crazier… Lily and Colin are here.

How the fuck did he do all this? How did Aaron manage to pull all of this off without me noticing? He never left my side, he had absolutely no time to plan any of this… except for yesterday. But surely all this isn’t a one-day kind of work.

“You made my wedding dreams come true.” I hiccup lightly as I can feel a tear roll down my cheek. “For my birthday.” Still can’t believe it. All this seems a little… surreal. With every second that passes, I wonder when I will open my eyes and wake up from my dream, because this, there is no way this is real.

“You like it?” He turns me around to look at him, bringing his index finger underneath my chin to lift my face.

I shake my head. “I love it, thank you.” Bringing both of my hands to his jawline, I pull Aaron down to me, pressing my lips to his without caring about my family and friends… and Leon watching us.

Aaron’s lays his hands on my waist, pulling me into his body, like he does every single time when we kiss. I never thought getting pulled into someone’s body was going to make my head spin, but it sure as hell does with him.

“Sofia!” a little boy yells from the enormous table, followed by a giggle.

I pull away from Aaron, looking at Nick with a huge smile. Nick is the son of one of our neighbors, five years old and always up to spend his time here in the barn. He also happens to be Jane’s younger brother, so naturally, he uses every chance he gets to come here.

“Mommy said Santa won’t come until you open your birthday presents,” he says, running toward me. Once he reaches Aaron and me, Nick holds on to my hand, trying his best to pull me after him. “Please can you open your birthday presents so Santa can come?”

Aaron looks at me a little confused, and only then do I remember that he didn’t understand a single word of what Nick has said. It doesn’t matter anyway, wasn’t his conversation.

So I kneel down to Nick, still holding his hand. “Did you get me a present for my birthday?” He nods proudly. “Can I open it first?”

“JA!” He jumps up and down all excitedly, making me chuckle. And just like that, he runs off towards the table filled with surprisingly a hell lot of presents.

I get back up but instead of looking at Aaron, what I’ve wanted to do, my eyes find Julia’s. She looks mad, as though she’s moments away from bursting into flames because today isn’t about her. And when Leon whispers something into her ear, her frown only deepens.

That’s new.

Leon gets up from his chair, asking for everyone’s attention. That fucker. He’s really going to propose to Julia on my birthday, isn’t he?

Nope, he isn’t. Because the next thing I know, Aaron reaches for my hand, intertwines them once more, and leads me down the flower aisle to get to the table. “Thank you all for sacrificing your Christmas Eve to be here tonight.”

I look at Lily, finding her forcing a serious expression. Colin has an arm swung around her shoulders, doing the exact same face as her. Something’s up. I’m not quite sure yet what it is, but I suppose I will find out sooner or later. I just hope Aaron hasn’t lost his mind completely and planned to top Leon’s proposal by pulling one himself.

Attempting to ease my anxiety about it, I just have to ask. “You do not plan on proposing to me, are you?” It’s quiet enough for only Aaron to hear.

He laughs. “Not tonight, Icicle. That’s my plan for New Year’s Eve.”

Again, Leon tries to get everyone’s attention. He starts to speak about having some kind of big thing planned but then he gets interrupted again. This time by Colin, not Aaron.

“So, how’s this whole thing work here? I’ve never celebrated a birthday on Christmas Eve.”

Leon rolls his eyes.

My mother basically gives Colin a rundown of a traditional German Christmas Eve, only that we’re not going to church tonight and instead of just eating dinner, we’ll have a birthday party as well. All while Aaron leads me over to our seats. I sit down, he doesn’t.

Nick comes back from the present table, standing next to me as he hands me his present. I take it, only for him to quickly run back to his seat, watching me open it.

I open it, being more-or-less surprised when the paper-thin present contains a drawn paper. I thank Nick wholeheartedly, though I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with the drawing. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

The next fifteen minutes, Aaron hands me present after present. They’re all beautifully wrapped, with only a few exceptions. I’ve gotten quite the variety of products, some more useful, some less so. Everything’s within the range of drawings to clothes and jewelry, facemasks and bath bombs, there is everything. And yes, even books.

But now that there is only one present left and Aaron is smirking at me, I’m honestly a little scared to open it. When he hands it to me, I thank him.

“From me,” he says as if I hadn’t figured that one out already.

“Nix, I bet you already paid for all of this, and even if you didn’t, making this”—I gesture around the barn—“possible is the best gift I’ve ever gotten.”

“Shut up and open your present, Icicle.”

And so I do. Slowly, because there might very well be a very flat pressed spider inside of this present. A little too hard for it, but it’s possible, alright?

However, as soon as the present is opened, my jaw drops when I find a CD in there, with Aaron’s handwriting on it.

I look up at him, still shocked by the words I’ve just read, yet also intrigued to find out what songs he thought of putting on this CD.

“What’s so shocking?” Julia asks, being a nosy nelly as always.

Aaron leans down, his mouth close to my ear when he whispers, “Read it out loud.”

I shake my head instantly. “There’s a five-year-old at the table.”

But of course that isn’t an obstacle for him. He asks Jane to cover her brother’s ears, so I could read it out loud.

Now that I no longer have an excuse apart from my parents literally being two meters away from me, three at most, I take a deep breath, telling myself that I got this.

“Icicle, read it out loud.”

“I hate you,” I grit out, mentally having murdered him at least five times by now.

“You say that now, but we both know that’s not true.”

It is right now.

You got this, Sofia. They’re just five silly words.

“Songs I—” I make one huge mistake, looking at my father. He closes his eyes, already knowing what this says. But his annoyance only gives me more courage. “Songs I’ll fuck you to.”

“YES! WHORING!” My brother yells, making everyone laugh after the shock of their life. Well, Lily and Colin were already about to burst out into laughter, so now they can finally let it out. “I LOVE THAT GUY!”

Aaron leans my head back in my neck, bringing his face over mine. Saying, “It’s a promise, love”, before bringing his lips down to mine to seal his promise with a kiss.