Chapter 18
The doorbell rang. I rushed downstairs—past Hero who put his headphones on—and opened the door to see Ayden holding a rose.
“A gift for my beautiful girlfriend.” Ayden smiled, handing me the rose.
I hesitantly took the rose, not feeling like I deserved it. I felt like a cheater.
“Alright, let’s get to packing,” he said, stepping into the house. “Where’s your room?”
I grabbed his hand and led the way upstairs. As we passed Hero’s room, I could hear music coming from his headphones. That’s loud, I thought. Did Ayden coming over bother him that much?
Was he jealous?
No, he wasn’t like that.
Entering my bedroom, I gestured my hands around. “Ta-da!”
Ayden arched an eyebrow, then laughed. “I seriously can’t believe we’re going to Paris.”
“Me neither,” I replied.
* * *
Packing didn’t take long. At all.
“Was this an excuse to hang out with me, Peps?” he asked, grinning and leaning closer. We were both sitting across from each other on the floor, the suitcase between us.
“Maybe,” I said. “But who can blame me?”
As I zipped up my suitcase, Marina knocked on the open door.
“Am I interrupting anything?” she asked.
We shook our heads.
“Dinner’s ready, dear,” she told me. Shifting her gaze to Ayden, she asked, “Would you like to join us?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to be a burden.” He awkwardly chuckled.
Marina waved away his silly statement. “Nonsense. You wouldn’t be a burden, and we have plenty of food.”
Wouldn’t he, though? I thought to myself. He would be a burden to Hero. Ayden knew that too, yet he didn’t seem to completely shut the idea down. Did he perhaps—deep down—want to be friends with Hero? Or was he just trying to flaunt the fact that he was the one who got to pack with me?
Ayden turned to look at me for approval.
“It’s up to you,” I told him.
Ayden looked at Marina with a smile. “I’d love to stay for dinner, thank you.”
Marina gave a gentle smile. “Great!” She glanced at both of us once more before going back downstairs.
I stood up, and so did Ayden. He held my hand as we walked downstairs. With each step, the scent of the food grew stronger. Marina had cooked spaghetti and meatballs—Hero’s favorite.
The dining table was rectangular and could sit up to six people—two on each side of the long side, and one on each side of the short side.
Hero was sitting on one of the chairs of the long side, scrolling on his phone.
He hadn’t looked up, expecting Ayden to leave.
But as soon as Ayden sat diagonal from him at the table, Hero almost dropped his phone.
As I sat down in the chair in front of him, next to Ayden, he gave me a quick glance, narrowing his eyes.
He then turned to look at his mother, who was carrying a large bowl of spaghetti and meatballs over to the table. “You told him he could stay?” he asked incredulously.
Marina placed the bowl in the center of the table and served each of us a plateful, ignoring Hero’s comment. “No phones at the table,” she instructed, sitting down. “You know the rules.”
Hero grunted, putting his phone in his pocket. Anyone could see that Hero really loved his mother. Their bond was unbreakable. He may seem cold-hearted, but he had a soft spot for his mother.
As I started to eat, I noticed Hero was the only one that hadn’t touched his food. He just stared at it.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” I asked with a mouthful.
He arched an eyebrow, amused. He then looked down again. “I’m not hungry.”
“But you love spaghetti and meatballs,” Marina said, concerned. “What’s wrong?”
Hero death-glared Ayden.
Marina sighed. “He’s only staying for dinner, dear,” she whispered to him.
He slowly nodded and started to eat. Throughout dinner, Marina tried to make conversation with all of us but eventually gave up because Hero would disagree with everything Ayden had to say, and it made things extremely uncomfortable.
After dinner, Marina brought the dishes to the kitchen and told us to stay seated for dessert.
“Why the hell is he still here, Pepper?” Hero hissed.
“Marina said—”
“I know, but you accepted?”
“It wasn’t my place to accept,” I said. “It was Ayden’s.”
Hero scoffed. “Of course he’d accept. He loves to make me miserable.”
Ayden laughed. “Don’t be dramatic.”
Marina came back to the table with pumpkin pie. We all stayed silent while eating a slice. During the last bites, thunder began to roar. The sky got especially dark and gloomy, rain starting to pour shortly after.
“I can’t bike home in this weather,” Ayden muttered.
“You’re welcome to stay until the rain calms down,” Marina said.
“Oh, thank you, ma’am,” he said with a grateful smile.
“Just great,” Hero muttered, storming upstairs.
* * *
The rain never calmed down that night. In fact, it only got worse.
It wouldn’t be safe for Ayden’s parents to drive in that weather to pick him up, so he ended up having to spend the night on the sofa.
I couldn’t fall asleep until late into the night.
I kept thinking about Hero, and how upset he was. I hated seeing him like that.
I only got two hours of sleep. I woke up to Hero and Ayden arguing in the hallway upstairs at 6:30 a.m.
“What are you guys arguing about this early in the morning?” I groaned, opening the door.
Hero and Ayden stopped arguing as they turned to look at me.
“Nice bed hair,” Hero commented, his lips curling up into a small smirk.
I combed my fingers through my hair, untangling it.
“We didn’t mean to wake you up,” Ayden said.
“He was hogging the bathroom.” Hero pointed to Ayden.
“There’s a bathroom downstairs if you really needed it,” Ayden argued.
“You were downstairs,” Hero countered. “You should’ve used the downstairs one.”
“Yeah, that’s a fair point,” I chimed in. “Why’d you come upstairs to use this bathroom?”
“W-well, because…” Ayden stammered. He spun around and walked back downstairs without any further explanation.
That was strange.
Did he purposely do that to pick a fight with Hero? Why would he do that?
“He’s so annoying,” Hero muttered, going into the bathroom and shutting the door.
I rubbed my eyes and yawned. There was no way I could go to school feeling this drowsy, so I decided to take a walk outside.
I changed into a new set of clothes and went downstairs.
Ayden was nowhere in sight. I stepped outside of the house, and surely enough, his bike was gone. He had already left. Without a goodbye.
The rain had left puddles of water on the road.
The leaves were still dripping. It was almost autumn, so it was getting a bit chilly outside.
I walked a few blocks around the neighborhood.
It was extremely peaceful and quiet at this hour.
There were barely any cars on the road and birds were singing a pretty tune.
After the walk, I felt refreshed and more awake.