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●ARIA POV●

The rest of the week went by smoothly with Trip . We got the gym up and running by the end of the day and I was able to schedule a personal trainer to whip him into shape . That personal trainer being my trainer, I'll miss him for the time being but Trip needs this more than me . Although, he did offer to lend me his gym if I was missing having sessions with Tony.

Trip and I were in constant contact as I told him he can text or call me if he needed anything . Something I failed to realize was that by taking him away from the city , I took him away from everybody . Including his friends. But it's better off that way because those 'friends' were just moochers. So I offered to be his friend.

He really isn't a bad guy at all , he truly was someone that had been lonely and definitely been ignored by his own family. Yet he tries to be around them . Trip is pretty hilarious too , we found ourselves either talking or texting into the evening and even falling asleep one of the nights .

I think he has a real chance of cleaning up his act, we just need to keep working at it . As for the rest of the family, I will tell them what they need to do once the weekly report from the therapist comes in . It won't tell me what they discussed but some suggestions for the his recovery .

And by recovery , I mean recovery from life . From what he's done and been through. My heart really did feel for him.

On thursday , Alex asked me if I were free this weekend . That he really did want to make up for what happened last week . I contemplated if this was a good idea . I'm not sure if getting deeper into this was going to backfire but we did agree in the beginning that we wouldn't fall in love with each other.

"So.... did you say yes ?" Sonja asked me .

"I probably will . I mean he really wanted to take me somewhere this weekend," I say to her.

"And you want to go... don't deny it. You can keep telling me that you're not ready for a relationship but you never said anything about a little fun. Besides a little romance never really hurt anyone," she says.

But how wrong that sentiment is . Of course romance can hurt because when the game is over , it's over and someone ALWAYS gets hurt. Usually , that someone is me . This is why I'm going to stay guarded when I see Alex this weekend .

"Fine, but nothing is going to happen. Just two friends getting to know each other better . We still have the wedding coming up and his position at the company . After that we'll come up with an excuse and make a clean break," I say to her what I normally repeat to myself .

"Whatever you say. Hey, when you're done with Alex, do you mind if I take a crack at him?" She says with a devious grin.

For some reason that question didn't sit right with me . It shouldn't bother me but it did so I told her , "you don't want sloppy seconds."

Before I can even take back the words , Sonja started laughing like she caught me in a compromising position , "I knew it! You were planning on having some side action, weren't you?"

I walk away from her because she'll tease me more if I try to talk my way out of it . She follows me but I close the door on her to which she begins to bang on my door, "you know I'm right . It's okay to admit it babe. He's a hot one and a totally upgrade from the last guy you were with."

"Ughhh, yes he's hot but is this all you can think about? He's a good person too , you know ."

"Ooooohhh you LIKE HIM like really LIKE HIM!!" Now she's taking this to a whole other level .

"We're friends!!" I yell through the door.

"For now . You know how this fake relationship will turn out . You guys will fall in love and BAM real relationship !" I can hear her jumping up and down .

"We are JUST FRIENDS . There will be no sort of falling in love in this scenario," I reiterated to her.

"Uh huh"

Once I texted Alex back he responded fairly quickly . He said that he'd pick me up saturday morning and to pack an overnight bag . He wouldn't answer and of my questions but he asked me to just trust him . I didn't push it any further .

I had to go into the office Friday to do all my follow up paperwork and to report my observations and progress with Trip . The whole entire thing took me through lunch and straight to the end of the day . My stomach growled at me at 5 o'clock when I finally called it a day.

I made the decision to stop by my favorite restaurant, I didn't care that I would be eating alone because I was starving . As I approached the entrance I could taste the steak that I was planning on ordering .

Luck would have it that there was a wait . A lengthy wait at that but I was already here . When they told me that it would be about 45 minutes I groaned. Every second was making me hangrier and hangrier.

"Aria?" A deep voice rumbled from behind me .

"Warren!" That came out as a yelp .

"Are you here by yourself?" He looks around .

"Yeah, but the wait is almost an hour unless you have reservations," I pout .

Warren gives me a devastatingly heart melting smile, "I guess today is your day . I have a reservation. "

My face brightens up but then I realized that he might've been meeting someone , "Are you sure? Your date won't mind?"

He shakes his head , "It's just me. I usually come here alone on Fridays . I know it sounds lame but their steak is so good , it's worth sitting solo here."

"You don't mind the company?" I ask him .

"When it's you , Aria, I'm more than happy to share all the time in the world," he says causing me to blush .

He walks up to the hostess desk and tells them he has a reservation under Wells . He also 'forgot' to let them know he was bringing a guest along , to which the woman behind the desk threw me the dirtiest glare .

Warren was not blind to it and asked if she had a problem with him adding his date to his reservation . Again , a hard blush washed over me at him saying that I was a date. Of course I wasn't, he was just doing me a favor but still .

When we were called over to be seated at our table , Warren led me forward while placing his large hand at the small of my back . The gesture sent me into a dizzy spell being this close to him .

"So , not to sound like a cliche but, do you come here often?" Warren looks at me while scanning the menu.

Smirking at the question, "is this how you pick up all your dates?" Not realizing I had insinuated that this was a date .

"Date huh?" He grins .

"I didn't mean- um , uh ," I stutter .

"Relax, I was just teasing ."

"Okay . And to answer your question , this is my favorite place to eat when I'm craving steak," I say .

"I can appreciate that, I mean, that's why I come here," he tells me .

Our server comes over to take our order, "Good evening Mr. Wells," she says with a smile . Then she looks over to me and her eyes become brighter , "Aria- I mean Miss Lawson, it's so nice to see you again . And joining Mr. Wells."

"Hey Iris, it's good to see you too, Warren and I are old family friends," I explain to her .

"Oh that's so nice. How is Eric?" She asks, trying to get some information on my cousin .

"He's great, should be coming back into town in a few weeks, we'll come by for dinner," her eyes sparkled with happiness . I'm sure Eric would be excited to see her too . They had a summer fling and then he had to go back to school, finish at university.

Iris took our orders and left, leaving Warren to look at me with questioning eyes.

"Okay, ask me." I say to him.

"Who's Eric?"

"My cousin . I brought him here a few times last summer because it's my favorite restaurant and Iris knows me as a regular. They started flirting and before I knew it they spent all summer together . Helped me out because I scored free meals," I grinned.

He chuckles, "I like that."

"Like what?"

"That you still get excited over free meals, it means you understand the value of it," he says.

"Of course . I know to people like us, money usually isn't a big deal . But because I worked so hard to get to where I am, everything earned is just that much sweeter."

He just smiles at me . And that smile is infectious because I find myself smiling back . The rest of the evening was refreshing . There wasn't any "planning" or "scheming". It felt good to have a connection with someone minus all the other things that have been hanging over my head.

When we were done he offered to pay for the meal and I only agreed as long as he let's me pay for the next one . He didn't mind.

"Did you drive here?" He asks me.

I nod, "I'm right there," I point to my car on street .

"Here, I'll walk you, I know it's like 20 feet away but nevertheless , I want to make sure you get in safely," he says to me.

"Such a gentleman," I tease him.

"Hey listen, I loved running into you here but would it be okay to maybe exchange numbers?" He asks me nervously .

I had to remind myself that he thinks I'm dating his brother so I pretend to ponder , "as long as you don't abuse it . I don't want Alex getting the wrong idea," I say to him.

His face falls just a little bit at the mention of his brother but perked back up, "Just two old friends catching up . I really enjoyed tonight."

Warmth envelops me at the thought of Warren and I chatting and hanging out more . I didn't even know this was something I wanted until we saw each other again, "I'd like that . Thank you for tonight War."

We exchanged numbers before I took off . As I left I watched him in my rearview staring at my car as I sped away. I hope this doesn't complicate things. I'll have to tell Alex about this , I know they had it out last week and I don't want to be the cause of any other fights .