It was 9 weeks since orientation and the photography club of the house of Lyra was finally going for its very own yearly retreat camp. It was a 2 days and 3 nights camp and all the first years were very thrilled.
It was 6 in the morning and the foyer was already packed with students of the photography club. Astra and Skye were sitting near the vending machine and they chose to get themselves some coffee to kick start their morning.
"Looks like the vending machine is really our thing, huh?" A familiar voice greeted them from the back while Skye was choosing her coffee.
Astra threw a smile at Aiden and high fived him.
"Morning."
Aiden replied her with a "morning" before making his was closer to her.
She was surprised to see Aiden during that first meeting of the photography club. She did not expect to come across him that many time ever since the Main Hall. It was not like she disliked it, she just found it quite interesting that she kept seeing him whenever coffee is in presence.
"Where's your roommate?" Astra asked without turning back to Aiden, as it was now her turn to buy her coffee.
"He has an assignment meeting at his faculty. It's just me today."
Astra and Skye asked Aiden to join them for the camp.
They would be taking the bus for the trip to the campsite. Skye met her old secondary school in the bus and decided to sit with him after she asked if it was okay with Astra.
Astra was mentally crying because she was not an extrovert and she would always be shy around strangers. But she wanted Skye to be able to talk with her old friends too.
Astra nodded and took a seat two rows in front of Skye. To her surprise, Aiden asked if he could sit next to her. She nodded but her brain was still processing what just happened.
Back in secondary school, she would always either sit with her closest friend, or she'd sit alone. Somehow there would always be an extra seat on the bus and that seat would always be empty next to her.
Due to her self esteem issue, Astra did not like it when that happened. It made her feel unwanted, unattractive, uninteresting...
It made her overthink as well. She would be assuming that people were laughing at her everytime this happened, and someone like Aiden actually asked to seat next to her.
Maybe he just doesn't have any other friends on this trip , she thought.
"Aiden, what's up?" A boy in stripes sweater greeted him.
"Hey, Farhan. Nice to see you here. You're in the club too?"
"Yeah, I thought I'd be alone. But I saw Josephine earlier and I'm seeing you now. Let's hang out later. I'm sitting next to her on this trip. Wanna join us?"
"I'm sitting next to my friend here, I'll catch up with you guys later."
Farhan gave Astra a smile and said hi to her before making his way towards the back of the bus.
Aiden threw Astra a smile before telling her that Farhan and Josephine are both from his Cinematography class. Astra nodded in acknowledgement.
Okay, so I was wrong. He has friends on this trip. But why wouldn't he sit with them tho? Once again, Astra was thinking about a lot of things on her own.
A small tap on her elbow shook her off her thoughts.
She turned to the left to see Aiden smiling at her, with an earpiece in his hand.
"Wanna hear some songs?"
She nod and thanked Aiden before taking the earpiece from him.
She could hear a similar song.
"Is this Back to Me by The Rose?"
Aiden turned his body a bit to the right to face Astra.
"Yeah.. I love this song and I just have it in my daily playlist. Don't really resonate with the lyrics tho, I just vibe with the beat and rhythm. "
"And of course, the voice", Astra added.
"That too." Aiden agreed with her.
***********************************
Astra woke up and realized that she had dozed off halfway.
She noticed that she was leaning on the left side, which was the opposite side of the window.
That only meant... She gasped when she realized that she was leaning her head on Aiden's shoulder.
Her head shot up and she almost hit his jaw with her head. His hand was on the right side of her head before she hit her head on the window.
"Are you okay? You almost hit your head on the window." He actually looked really worried at that moment.
"Sorry. I fell asleep and didn't realize I was leaning on you. I must've been so heavy, I am so, so sorry. "
Aiden put his hand on hers and that stopped her from frantically looking around, and now he had her full attention.
"Astra, it's fine. Really. And no, you're not heavy at all. I'm okay. I'll gladly lend you my shoulder if you want to sleep longer."
Astra stared at the man, completely in disbelief. It feels like she's with someone who's so similar to Darian, but this is not him. This is Aiden, who had been so sweet to her ever since their first conversation.
She just could not believe that someone could be that nice to her without having to spend years with her, or having to be her roommate.
"Hey, are you listening. I said I'll lend you my shoulder."
Astra looked at Aiden, thought about it for a while and patted her shoulder.
"It's my turn. Here, you can lean on my shoulder now. You should take a rest too. Come on".
Just like Astra, Aiden was in a bit of disbelief at how Astra acted around him. He did not expect her to offer her shoulder instead.
Aiden smiled and leaned closer to Astra to whisper. "Well, I'll gladly take the offer. Although, it's kinda hard to put my head on your shoulder since your shoulder is a bit lower than I expected."
Astra was taken aback by his action. The close proximity. The small shudder his voice sent down her whole body. It was all too new for her. She found herself staying still and were not able to respond properly.
Aiden patted on his shoulder to let Astra lay her head there. She was hesitant to do so, but Aiden insisted and she had always been unable to say no to others. So Astra slowly rest her head on his shoulder.
"Excuse me, then. I hope my head is not heavy."
Aiden smiled and held her hand in his.
"That's not the issue at all. Your head feels fine, and I'm fine with it too. Please, just rest comfortably. Is that okay for you?"
Once again, his action sent a whole lot of butterflies in her tummy and she was struggling to process everything that was happening.
"Umm...yeah, yeah. Sure, I'll take my time resting if you will too."
"Good to hear that. I will, actually, take my time to rest too."
He rested his head on hers, with her hands still in his.
Astra felt her face burning, her whole body was frozen, but inside was her running around screaming her hearts out.
Is this really happening? Why is he still holding my hand?
There were more thoughts coming into her mind, but none managed to get her to pull her hand out of his.
The more she was contemplating on what to do or say, the more sleepy she gets.
This whole journey is making me dizzy, I hope the driver drives better *sigh
Astra dozed off without her realizing it.
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CZYTASZ
Loving The Wallflower
Dla nastolatków°••🌼Wallflower🌼°°• "A person who does not dance at a party, due to shyness or unpopularity; by extension, anyone who is left on the sidelines while an activity takes place." Labeled as the wallflower, Astra was never at parties, nor did she active...
