The story of Ellie and Aiden from His Everything continues in Their Forever.
Accompany the two young people on their journey full of self-discovery, opportunities, true friends, and more challenges they will have to overcome.
They say true love know...
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August
"Your turn." Liam threw me the ball. "Let's see if you can beat my score."
I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the hem of my T-shirt before taking it off and tossing it to the bench. Not having the sea nearby made the August heat in Paris unbearable.
"That's right, show off that gym body, boy!" Jeff whistled.
I laughed. "Look who's talking." Every guy on the basketball court was shirtless, even little Tim, who was now eating an ice-cream in the only spot that had some shade.
When we weren't working and didn't have our French classes, Liam and I took his brother and came here. The gym belonged to Jeff and his cousin, Charlie. The two of them ended up in Paris after backpacking around Europe and liked the city enough to stay. The rest of our group were French, except for Liam and Tim who were half American. On some days, not without Liam's interference, they all refused to speak English, forcing me to use French. Maybe thanks to that I was now quite fluent. It was far from perfect, but I could follow meetings at work, answer some phone calls, and write not too long emails.
My contract became permanent, and both Liam and I were looking forward to knowing whether our company got the project of the business center we'd been working on since May. Victor promised all the employees a bonus if we got it. Liam would use the extra to take Tim and travel somewhere nice on his school break in October. He spent what he had saved on a two months morning to evening summer camp for Tim. Until now, I'd never thought about the expenses having a kid meant. Seeing my friend set aside every euro so that his brother could be taken care of while he worked was a reality check for me.
"Sixty." I threw the ball into the hoop for the last time.
"He kicked your ass, Liam," Tim shouted from the bench.
"Mind your language, little dude, I mean it." Liam pointed his finger at the kid.
"Use butt instead of ass," Charlie shouted out, making Liam shoot him a menacing glare.
"Sorry, buddy." Jeff slapped his shoulder. "You know we're saints when he's around."
The truth was, everyone respected Liam for taking care of Tim, and on many occasions, the guys lent him a hand looking after the boy for a little while so he could run some errands. As different as all of us were, everyone got along well.
"Let's hit the showers." Liam panted. "Tim, come on. You need to wash that sweat off you as well."
Reluctantly, Tim dragged his feet after Liam. I followed them inside.
The gym was in a remodeled warehouse. Jeff and Charlie bought it really cheap years back and invested the savings they had to convert it into a sports center. Later, they built a basketball and tennis court. There weren't so many places like that in the area, and they had lots of customers.
