Chapter 25 #2
After using the toilet, I walked out of the stall and washed my hands. I stared at myself in the mirror. My face was bright red from blushing. I tried to wash it off, but, obviously, it didn’t work. Not only did I try to wash off the blush, but I also scrubbed off the kiss and rinsed my mouth.
Disgusting. I was disgusting.
It will never happen again.
But how was I supposed to go back to Hero and Ayden looking like this—like a tomato?
“Nine minutes and twenty-six seconds,” Ayden said as I returned. “That’s how long you took.”
Hero examined my face. “What happened?”
“I forgot to lock the stall door, and someone accidentally came in,” I lied. “That was so embarrassing.”
“Again?” Hero asked.
Okay, yes, that has happened to me before.
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” Ayden laughed. “Wasn’t that—”
“Let’s not make me relive that, please,” I cut him off.
Ayden tried to stifle his laugh. “Sounds like you already did.”
I narrowed my eyes, pursing my lips. “Do you want to go to that clothing store or not?”
Ayden quickly nodded and led the way.
* * *
“Try this on,” I said, giving Ayden an outfit Hero and I had picked out.
“Peps, these are too big!” he called out from the fitting rooms.
I giggled. “Let us see!”
Ayden defeatedly walked out of the fitting rooms, his sleeves dangling inches past his fingertips, and his pants falling down—he had to hold them up.
Hero bursted out laughing.
“Oh, you guys totally did that on purpose.” Ayden playfully rolled his eyes.
“Here’s your size.” Hero handed him the same outfit but in a different size, still laughing.
Ayden snatched it, shuffling back to the fitting rooms. “It better be,” he muttered.
After a minute, Ayden walked back out. The brown, knitted, buttoned-up shirt’s sleeves were at his wrist, and his white, baggy cargo pants were not hanging low anymore.
“I like it.” Ayden stuck his hands in his pockets.
“Whoa, that looks really good on you,” I commented.
“Not going to lie, it does.” Hero shrugged.
“Your turn, man.” Ayden grinned, giving Hero the outfit that he and I had picked out. Hero walked swiftly to the fitting rooms.
In a black collared shirt with a white sweater vest over it, and black, baggy jeans, Hero walked out of the fitting rooms.
I stared in awe.
“You… you look so handsome in that,” I stammered. I turned to Ayden. “What do you think?”
Ayden continued staring at Hero. I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Hello? Earth to Ayden.”
He snapped out of it. “Huh? Oh yeah, you look cool, I guess.” He shuffled his feet, shrugging.
“Do you like it?” I asked, turning my attention back to Hero.
“It’s comfy,” Hero replied, “and you called me handsome, so yeah I like it.”
A smile appeared on my face. I picked up the outfit that Hero and Ayden had laying out for me and headed to the fitting rooms.
Okay, let’s see what they picked out for me… A laced, brown, striped henley top, and baggy jeans. Cute. I usually wore overalls, so I adored baggy jeans.
After putting it on, I stared at myself in the mirror. I felt so pretty. I hadn’t had new clothes in a while, so everything I owned had been worn out. Marina offered to take me shopping sometime though, so I was looking forward to that.
I walked out of the room, heading over to them. Hero’s lips parted, his eyes shimmering with love. Like I was the only thing in the world to him. Like nothing else mattered.
Ayden smiled, then peered over at Hero and dropped his smile. He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to me. “You look beautiful, Peps.”
Hero slowly approached me. Him wearing that outfit made my heart flutter more than usual. “You always do,” he exhaled, then looked over at a rack. “Just one more thing.” He took a brown baret off the hook.
As he placed the baret on my head and adjusted it, I stared into his eyes. His pupils were dilated from love and, although I couldn’t see it, I knew mine were too.
“Perfect,” he whispered, then gazed down at me, making eye contact. He swallowed, immediately getting flustered at how close we were.
I could feel his warm breath hitting my face before he looked down at my lips and pressed his lips against mine. It felt real. Warm.
Benji’s kiss was…fantasy. It felt strange. But maybe it just felt strange because it was a cheating kiss, after all.
Oh God, I cheated.
If Hero ever found out, what would he do? Kill Benji?
Kill me?
“Alright lovebirds, I’ll go ahead and pay now if that’s okay,” Ayden said, pointing to the checkout counter.
“Speaking of money…” Hero nudged me.
Blake.
“Now?” I asked, dreading the moment I had to ask.
“There won’t be a better time,” he whispered.
“What is it?” Ayden asked curiously.
I squinted. “Well… you know how Blake is my legal guardian?”
“Uhm, yeah?” he said, not sure where this was going.
“In order for him to sign my permission slip, he said I had to find a way to pay him a thousand dollars within two weeks,” I explained.
He deadpanned. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.” I scratched my head. “I’m dead serious.”
He chuckled, almost manically. “He’s so pathetic.”
I had never seen Ayden act like that. It was kind of…scary.
“So, I was just wondering—”
“—if I could pay for it?” he finished the sentence, tilting his head. “God, why do I have to do everything? Everyone asks so much of me, and I can’t even do the simple task so, I mean, can I even do this?”
He was spiraling into madness.
“What simple task?” I asked. “Ayden, what happened? Please, tell us.”
“Is it related to what you said in the taxi?” Hero asked, stepping closer.
“Stay back,” Ayden warned, putting out a hand in front of him. He started hysterically laughing. “I’m useless.”
He kept laughing. Until it turned into sobbing. He then dropped to the floor.
“Stop, we’ll get kicked out if you keep this up,” Hero raised his voice, but his tone remained flat. “You want these clothes, don’t you? Let’s pay first and have your meltdown elsewhere.”
Ayden sniffled. “Take my card from my pocket.”
I searched his pocket for his card. I pulled it out, got another set of the same clothes that we had on, then went over to the checkout counter.
“My friends are wearing these outfits currently if that’s okay?” I asked the cashier, who then pulled out a translator and made me repeat what I said.
The cashier then read it and spoke French into the translator, then showed me. Pay and leave with your loud friends. She scanned the items and placed them in the back.
I returned back to Hero and Ayden, putting the card back in Ayden’s pocket. “Let’s go.”
Ayden got up, stumbling out of the store. He bumped into Xavier and the two of them fell to the ground.
I scanned the area, hoping to see Violet, but I only saw Imani. The two of them quickly got off the ground, brushing dirt off their pants.
“Where’s Violet?” I asked. “Isn’t she in your group?”
Hero glared at me as if ‘Violet’ was a forbidden word.
“We’re heading to the Eiffel Tower now,” Imani said, “and she decided to go on ahead.”
“Why’d you guys stay back?”
“We heard Ayden,” Xavier answered, staring at Ayden. “Violet didn’t want to come because she figured that—”
That Hero was with him.
Imani shoved Xavier to stop him from finishing his sentence, but it didn’t matter—Hero’s clenched jaw indicated that he understood.
Hero cleared his throat. “Well, Ayden’s fine so you can go now.”
“What happened?” Xavier asked, but it was directed at Ayden.
“I just had a meltdown, that’s all.” Ayden bit his nails.
“Does it have to do with…the thing?”
“Oh, c’mon!” Hero said, exasperated. “You told him but not us? Not even Pepper?”
Ayden scoffed, grabbing Xavier by his sleeve and stormed off. Imani looked at the two of us before running after them.