My X Bestfriend: The White Lie

Chapter 17: Inexplicable Feeling

Aiden's Perspective

 "Don't you have anything healthy to eat? All I see here are junk." I cringed my head away from the fridge and just grabbed a bottle of water. I unscrew the cap and drain some of the bottle's contents in one gulp.

"Ahh. That's good joe!" I mumbled to myself staring at the almost empty bottle.

The silence of the night, with only the sound of thunderclaps and rain pounding on the walls and windows, was prickly eerie. Ryann was giving me the silent treatment since we got inside.

She took the left side and I took the right side of the house after an awkward moment of her stumbling a little by the hallway, and me catching her by the shoulders. It wasn't supposed to be so unsmoothly done, but the way she looked at me with pure surprise made me feel a wee bit uneasy. It's like she never thought of me to be the helping-others kind of person.

I was now dawdling inside the kitchen, looking for something to eat. But their cupboards were empty. I think they haven't been doing shopping.

I glanced at the grandfather clock by their dining table. It's already two in the morning, but the rain hasn't stopped yet.

I peered through the small gap of the window curtains at the very same moment a lightning lit up the dark endless skies for a second.

One.. Two.. Three.. Four..

A roar of thunder followed. I smiled at it with a nostalgic sensation in the pit of my stomach.

When I was five, my mom taught me about the light being faster than soundwaves. I believed her as I believed everything she told me. From monsters that eats children who wouldn't wash up before going to bed, up to doing my homework and she'll be home earlier every evenings and we will have dinner on the long table, instead of having supper in our rooms by ourselves. But it never happened. Back at the time, I snuggled in her arms as rain pours hard on our roof, and wind passes by rattling our window.

Someone clears a throat from behind me and I got snapped out of my thoughts. I almost forgot that Ryann and I are together in the same roof.

"Uhm.. I'm going to.. to bed. Will you be fine by the couch?" She asks uncomfortably. Her eyes were darting everywhere but not to me.

"Aw! Does little RJ want a bedtime story? Or do you expect me to tuck you in too?" I mocked. And her eyes narrowed to me just like that. She looked halfway to exploding like a red balloon with too much Helium as blood rushes to her face.

She closed her eyes, still frowning, and let a couple of breaths in and out. It was as if she's meditating her annoyance away while I wait for buddha to appear out of nowhere.

"Loosen up RJ! If you're angry, let it all out! Locking all your feelings inside a box won't help. Or you're just afraid like you were when we were eight!" I teased. I know I'm being mischievous towards her, but I just can't stop myself. With that, her eyes flew open. She gave me death glares like knives were being thrown at me, which I just ignored.

But then her eyes looked glassy. Like tears have pooled inside, reflecting the light coming from the chandelier above their dining table.

Did I went overboard?

"Afraid? Afraid?! Of who?!" Her shriek and shaky voice pretty much answered my question. Then she snorted, "Cynthia and her clad of cheerleaders? Oh, not to mention, Monique, the jocks, the soccer players, and that daft Chad Johnson! You remember him, right?" She laughed a bitter one. It sounded so nasty coming from her. What happened to the girl she used to be?