Chapter 27: Flowers
I awoke the next morning with the urge to go back to sleep and never wake up again.

The scene from last night kept replaying in my head like a song that I've listened to for the 10th time.

Why did I kiss him? Why did he kiss me?

I had an excuse, what was his? I mean, I kissed him for empathy. That was all. We were both caught up in the moment. We were sad and hopeless, nothing else.

I still wanted to speak to him about it. To discuss what we do next. There's still a whole other month I have to spend with him before going back home and I can't avoid him for that long.

Last night he left so hastily, Daniel following behind him. I didn't know where he was going but the fumes that lit in his blue eyes told me to not inquire.

Other than my drama-filled summer that I specifically said I'd rather avoid, I spent the night in Layla's room. I did yearn to go home but then recalled the room I'll be going home to is Aiden's.

Layla of course asked me why I was freezing wet and why I was foolish enough to swim this late. I'm guessing she didn't see Aiden in wet close last night or else she would've quickly put the pieces together.

"Morning sleepyhead," she announced walking in the room as I rested my head in my hands. I looked up at her to see her wearing a pink skirt and blouse that adequately matched her bright pink heels. She had her blonde hair in a ponytail that was furthermore put into a braid. She wore a pearl necklace and the mascara she applied looked bolder than usual. Her light brown sun-colored eyes popped out as she saw me.

"Wow you look terrible," she whispered in a surprised tone as she tilted her head to stare at me.

Aiden.

"I think I'm sick," I told her, my voice coming out as raspy. I wiped my nose with Gabe's hoodie. He let me borrow it since I had nothing else to wear. I wore a pair of Layla shorts underneath.

"Well that's because you decided to go swimming late at night," she scoffed as she crossed her arms over each other. Her blouse slightly wrinkling.

I looked at her with my tired eyes, "I'll be fine, it's just a minor cold," I told her as I removed the comfortable sheets off of my cold legs and stood up. I slightly fell back onto the bed and groaned annoyed.

"Yeah, just a minor cold," she whispered mocking me. I glared at her and her brown sunny eyes faced away from mine.

"I'll take care of you, just-" she said as she tried her best to not touch me or come near me. She held a disgusted look on her face and threw me a box of tissues that was placed on top of her drawer in the left corner.

She came close to me and started to put the blanket back onto me. I felt in the mood to mess with her so I faked a cough.

"OH MY GOD," she gasped as she quickly backed away and started whining like a 3-year-old, "This is my new blouse," she said as she stomped her heels on the ground and started to pout.

I started to laugh before I sneezed a couple of times.

"GABE!" she yelled in horror as she walked out of the room.

I laid my head back on the bed board and spent my time thinking. Life was an odd thing, it threw these random things at you and expected you to catch them easily. The moment you miss it, the moment it's over.

I spent at least 15 minutes slightly resting and hadn't heard from Layla since she walked out.

I heard the door from downstairs open and the muffle of people chatting. I had the urge to go down and check but I felt too sick to get even get up.

The footsteps on the stairs echoed loudly.

How many people are walking on those damn stairs?

I heard the door open to Layla's bedroom and saw Aiden standing there, Gabe, Daniel, and Layla keeping their far distance behind him.

My heart slightly ached as I looked at him. He looked terrible, he had a blue and purple bruise that surrounded his left eye in a perfect circle. His rosy lips that I tasted last night had a cut on them that looked quite painful. I examined down to his knuckles to see if he had any bruises but his fist was covered in a bandage wrap. His black hair swiftly hung over his face and he looked as if he was about to pass out. I've seen him bruised and beaten before but not like this.

Where did he go last night?

"You guys are being so f*cking dramatic." he groaned as he walked inside the room and sat down on the chair in the corner. He made sure to not even take a glance at me and I was annoyed by that.

Daniel slowly stepped forward and grabbed the doorknob in his hand cautiously, "Look, you both are sick and the smartest thing to do is to not have us get sick. You have to stay in the same room, it's not a big deal," Daniel said as he slowly closed the door.

The same room? If I jumped from Layla's window and ran would I make it? Who am I kidding I don't even have the energy to get out of bed.

The door slowly shut and I heard a lock. I rolled my eyes at their overreaction.

"I'm never sleeping in that room again," I heard Layla murmur as their footsteps echoed and slowly vanished.

I cleared my throat and started to twist the silver ring on my index finger.

I felt like complete sh*t, the banging headache, the runny nose, the dried throat feeling that made me want to reach down my mouth and itch it.

We both sat in silence, our coughs were the only things that came from our mouths.

This is bullish*t. I deserve to know why he was acting like a total b*tch yesterday. And he had the audacity to ignore me. He was the one who left me in the freezing cold water when he dumped me there. HE WAS THE DAMN REASON I WAS SICK.

I groaned as I quickly thought of what I should say, I glanced over at him. He had his head held in his large palm, his black hair in between his fingers. He was slouched forward in the chair and since his figure was too tall his legs leaned more forward.

"Are we seriously not going to talk about it?" I asked while I stared at the door in front of me, suddenly finding interest in its designs.

"There's nothing to talk about," he replied in a low tone.

I shivered at the sound of his voice, why did it do that to me?

"Why'd you kiss me?" I questioned as I turned to face him. His blue eyes were on me and his head was slightly tilted to the side.

"We both kissed each other," he replied as he started to wipe his nose with the sleeve of his sweater.

He was right.

I coughed before responding, "I was just showing empathy," I said and I felt the burn come up my throat as I spoke.

Empathy my ass.

"Well that's great because I was drunk," he responded a little loudly.

I scoffed at his response and broke contact with his beautiful foolish blue eyes.

"Can we just make a deal?" I asked him as I wiped my runny nose.

He waited for me to announce what my plan was, "It's never going to happen again so let's just never speak about it again. We don't tell no one," I explained as he sat up in the chair and coughed.

"Fine with me," he replied in a cool tone as he started tracing the veins on his hand.

"Fine with me too," I announced as I cross my arms and look up into the ceiling, keeping the water that was in my eyes from my migraine from running down my face.

"What happened to your face?" I asked after a while.

I heard him chuckle, "Just a small fight," he said as he looked away a small grin appearing on his face.

I raised a brow as I looked at him oddly, "Just a small fight? Damn you must suck then," I said as I laughed.

His eyes instantly met mine and I quickly closed stopped laughing before letting a sneeze out.

"Who did you fight?" I asked him intrigued.

"Just a random," he replied.

We sat there silently for more hours. We both eventually agreed that it would be best for us to not act weird. He made it obvious he only saw me as a friend and as much as I wanted to say it too something in my throat held it back. Why couldn't I say it?

He acknowledged the fact we only had one month until summer was over and then we'd never have to see each other again. Of course, at school, we will but we have no reason to talk to each other.

After about 8 hours of being trapped in the awkwardly silent room, Layla and the boys walked in.

"So, we've come to agree that you're our friends and instead of locking you like Rapunzel we should be taking care of you," Layla said with a big grin as she batted her lashes.

I smiled back at her and Aiden stared at her as if he wondered who her mother was. I waited for how they would help us feel better.

"So we made you dinner," Gabe blurted out before Daniel got to say it.

Daniel turned to him and gave him a glare, his blonde hair slicked out of his face so Gabe could see his angry eyebrows.

"If you do that one more time-" Daniel started.

"My house, my rules," Gabe said as he turned out of the room and walked downstairs.

"I'll prepare the table," Layla said as she started to walk out after Daniel.

"We're having dinner downstairs?" I asked her from the bed as Aiden stood up.

She turned around quickly, her blonde braid whipping her shoulder, "Yes, I'm sure Aiden can help you up," she said with a grin as she walked out and closed the door.

A small smirk played on Aidens face that he seemed to try to hide.

"What?" I asked him as I wiped my wet eyes.

"You can't walk?" he questioned as he tried to hold back a laugh, his broad chest making it obvious.

"F*ck off," I groaned as I removed the blanket from me. I watched Aiden hastily walk to my side as if he was my caregiver and I was a granny.

He watched me amused. I stood up from the bed and felt my head go slightly light. I tipped over and felt his arms quickly wrap around my body.

I tensed at the touch of his hand even though I could only feel it through Gabe's sweater. I felt him tense too and he quickly removed his arms.

It took me about 3 minutes in the silent awkwardness to get myself steady again and I walked myself down the stairs, Aiden behind me.

I stared at the table that was set, there were 5 seats enough for all of us and the smell of soup filled my nose. I looked at the loaf of bread that was nicely cut and the glasses of tea that were arranged by each bowl. The bowls held a beautiful design of radiant color, aqua.

The sound of the doorbell ringing took me out of my awe and I turned to face Aiden who was awing at the food also.

"Who's that?" I whispered confused as I stepped on my tipped toes so he could hear me.

He shrugged and we both stood there waiting.

Both our reactions were completely different when Mason walked in, he held flowers in his hand and his brown hair was slightly tilted in front of his gorgeous face. He wore a brown leather jacket and held a smile that showed the black brackets of his braces. There was a cut on his lip but I didn't think much of it.

My real wonder was...who were those flowers for?

Did you guys miss the book while I was gone? I'm so sorryyyyy that I've taken a while. So..chapter 27,28, and 29 will be posted all today. I hope that makes up for my apology : ).

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