The Ways You Make Me feel

Chapter 20

             Ariana

            As soon as I saw who was outside my door, I internally cursed and rushed to open it. The big blue eyes gazed back wistfully at me.

            "Ariana," he whispered, his eyes lighting up upon seeing me. "I am so happy to see you!"

            I racked my brain to remember which one of them he was. There was only two guys at the hospital and I recognized that much of him. It was just difficult remembering faces with names at this point.

"C-chase?" I questioned, going through a momentary brain fog.

            He nodded his head, smiling a huge smile. My heart oddly sank. There were conflicted emotions racing through me. Instead of being happy to see him, I was wishing with everything in me that he would just get back on the plane or whatever he took to come here. It sounded harsh, but this was already a very confusing time for me. And seeing him seemed to make something internally worse within me. It sounded like I didn't care, but I still needed time to figure everything out. I could not give this guy what he probably still longed for. My mother had filled me in a little.

            "W-what are you doing here?" I tried to keep my voice level, not wanting to be rude.

            "You haven't been answering my calls." Chase's eyes turned to determination. "I had to come and see for myself how you are really doing."

            I took a deep breath and resisted the urge to lash out at him. I did not need people coming to 'check up' on me. I had no choice but to invite him inside to get all this straightened out and Chase hopefully back on his way. I told him to get comfortable on the living room couch, still trying to be hospitable to the unexpected guest. I was in the kitchen grabbing some water for him and myself when there was another buzz at the door. This time, I knew it had to be my mother who must have left her key, and I once again buzzed her up without a word. I was too distracted by my guest.

            When there was another knock on the door, my heart began to race in my chest. I suddenly just had a very uneasy feeling. I rushed over to the door to look out the peephole, nearly tripping over one of the kitchen bar stools to get there. I once again slowly stood on my tiptoes to look, and the sight before me sent a small scream through my lips. I ripped my door open, and at the exact moment, Chase came from around the corner to see what I had yelled about. Only to see me with my mouth hanging open in disbelief with my 2nd unwanted house guest.

           "What they hell are you doing here?" Chase snapped, stalking over to where we both stood. "You have a lot of nerve coming here!"

            "I could ask you the same question." Jasen glared at Chase. "Why would you even attempt to be here right now?"

             "Because I love Ariana!" Chase snapped. "It's my duty to come and check on her wellbeing!"

             My heart picked up beat in my chest again. My mouth also nearly fell open once more. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. Did Chase just say he loved me? That was not what I wanted to hear at this time. I could feel myself becoming irritable. I had more studying to do, and my mother was going to be home soon, and I wanted both of them out of my apartment.

            "So you've told me," Jasen said, gritting his own teeth.

             "That's something you may not know as much as you think about!" Chase sneered.

            The way Chase was treating Jasen caused a mix of emotions in me to flare up. I felt irrational anger wash over me. I stepped between the two guys, who were now almost nose to nose together and pushed them apart. I placed my hands on my hips and glared at the both of them.

             "Look!" I snapped, taking a deep breath to at least calm down enough to speak rationally. "You both invited yourself here unannounced! You are not going to cause unneeded stress in my home! "

             Both guys quickly stepped back from each other and turned to look at me apologetically. I sighed heavily and made my way back to the kitchen to get a drink for Jasen now as well, my 2nd additional house guest.

            As I filled another glass with water, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were two very cute guys sitting in my living room that I could not remember, and both from my childhood, but with no memory of either of them on my part. And one of them was in love with me. I couldn't lie and deny that there were emotions for both guys in my heart at this time, but my mind could make sense of none of them. I shook my head and walked away from the kitchen sink and into the living room.

             After handing Jasen his water, I made my way to the armchair across from both of them. Both of them were staring at me, seemingly waiting for me to speak. I could feel my cheeks becoming slightly red. I had never liked being the center of anyone's attention. I cleared my throat and ranked my brain, trying to figure out what I wanted to say to them.

            "Why are you both even here?" I tried so keep my tone neutral and not give away any of my i  internal frustration. I really wanted to just be left alone.

            "As I was saying earlier," Chase began, with a glare at Jasen and a smile at me. "I wanted to come and check and see if you were okay for myself."

            "I would have liked to talk to you, Ariana," Jasen mumbled quietly, looking down at his shoes.

             Taking a really good look at Jasen, I could see he looked miserable. For some reason this tugged at my heartstrings, which made me more upset. I didn't want to care. And my heart was making this increasingly difficult. And Chase was looking at me with such a concern it touched my heart. I was beginning to feel very claustrophobic.

             Before I could say anything else, the door to the apartment slammed opened again, and this time it was my mother. She had bags in her hands that I realized must have been takeout.

            "Ariana," she started, walking into the kitchen without a glance in the living room. "I picked us up dinner for tonight!"

            My mother was a good cook. And she loved to do it. So she had basically taken over the menu, and I very much let her. I could cook, but it was not my favorite thing to do.

            After setting the bags down on the counter, my mother finally looked up and her eyes widened immediately. Her mouth fell open slightly. She blinked a couple times, signifying she probably couldn't believe her eyes either.

            "Why Chase, Jasen," my mother stated in a clear state of shock. "Whatever are you guys doing here?"

             Both guys looked up at my mother and smiled sheepishly.

             "I'm here to see Ariana," they both answered at the same time.

             That was the official last straw. I had to get out of this room because I was starting to feel smothered. Without a word, I stood up from the couch and quickly went into my room. I slammed the door close behind me, and went to sit on the huge windowsill that doubled as large storage chest. I always sat on it from time to time. It gave me a perfect view of the sky. This night, the sky was full of beautiful stars.

            I felt my lip begin to tremble and I slowly began to just cry quietly. . .

Thank you for reading my beautiful readers! I love you guys! Peace love and light to you<3