Candy Girl

turn in all the shades of pink

coffee breath - Sofia Mills
"now my bedsheets smell like your cologne, and in our worlds we sleep alone."

Chapter Sixteen

Carrisa

Never in my wildest dream did I ever think I would end up crashing Aiden's Ward apartment. I blushed madly. I had never been in a boy's house before. My dating experience as I stated before were non-existent. So this experience was weird... I always felt that someone's house was a depiction of the person's persona. Though, I only knew Aiden through a superficial matter, his house and his personality made perfect sense of the boy who stood in front of me. Aiden, like his home, was confusing. It was rusty on the outside, a little bit inside too, but it was also net and smelled nice. This only made me wonder if Aiden was going through a transformation, just like a caterpillar, if he was hesitating between becoming a moth or a butterfly.

I sat in the ground, next to Serenity, I gently cleaned the puke out of Serenity with a kitchen towel. She had finally manage to fall asleep. I held my breath as I grabbed the bucket full of vomit. I emptied it at the toilet and washed it at the sink.

It hurts too much. The words echoed inside my head, a bittersweet image came into my mind. I shock it off. I felt something brush against my leg. I looked down.

"Oh," I said as I kneeled down. It was Nameless, the kitty we saved. "Hi, Nameless." I said as I tried to reach out at her, but she hissed at me.

"She's not very friendly," Aiden's voice surprised me. I jumped, my head smashed against the doorknob. "Oh shit," he said, I felt his fingers brushing my head. "Are you okay?" I rose as I tried to avoid the contact. I turned in all shades of pink as I realized the closeness between Aiden and I.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine." I repeated as I tried to gain some personal space. A shirked was heard, I groaned in pain as I felt something sharp go against my leg. I lost my footing.

"Nameless, no!" Aiden called out her bad behavior as Nameless ran away. To regain my balance, I unwillingly slammed myself forward into Aiden's chest.

"What are you doing?"

"I-I...It wasn't me," I jumped as further as I could be from him.

"So it was a chest slamming ghost?" He teased.

"No," I said. Was my face getting redder? I felt this hot sensation traveling from my ears through my cheeks and my chest.

"Ah, so you admit it was a flirtatious move? So you are flirting with me?"

"What? No, no, no. Of course not!" I stopped dry. There's a silence. I realized I had over reacted. I glued my eyes to the ground. He laughed. My eyes widen and my eyes redirected themselves towards Aiden. I had never in my life ever heard him laugh. It was always a smirk, a cynical laugh, but never a real one. He lets out a real playful smile as he laughs. His set of dimples come into light. Something inside me, this uneasy feeling, like tickles, go around my stomatch. My breath gets caught in my lungs. What the fudge is happening? "Besides, I wouldn't flirt with someone who has a girlfriend," I defended myself.

My sentenced perked up his attention, a sly smile formed upon his lips. "Are you jealous?"

"Of course not, but it doesn't get a genius to add the digits."

"Oh, so you are good at solving logical problems, that means sitting besides me at physics is just an excuse?"

"You are such..." I searched for the words. He waited for my response impatiently. God, please help me find a good comeback. "You're such a word twister!"

"What a comeback, glad your personal forte is maths." He said as he messed my hair. "You can rest assured, Cindy Lou. She is a childhood friend. I would never get involved with her like that."

"Then what were you doing in a motel?" I asked genuinely confused. This only restart his whole little teasing game.

"We were meeting a friend, he lives in the motel." He spoke so casually it made me doubtful for a second.
"The question is what was your sister doing there?" I glanced back at Serenity, who was still sleeping. "She sure doesn't look like the type who hangouts at motels."

"I don't know," I began to explain. I looked back at him. I felt my eyes tearing up. I glanced back at the floor. "I don't know what to do." I try to fight the images that surfaced in my brain. "I thought if I was syrupy happy, everyone would be..."A knot forms in my throat. "If I rot their teeth down to their core, everyone would finally be...but it's just the same." I stopped. I'm over sharing. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, this is stupid. I'm being stupid."

"You're not," he reassured. I had never heard this tone of his voice, it was soft and comforting. It was sweet.  Yet this didn't keep the tears from coming down my face uncontrollably. He squeezed my shoulder. Before I said anything else, Aiden's phone ring saves me exactly the moment I needed. He took it out of his pocket and backed away as he answered the call. I cleaned up my tears.

"I think we can call it the night," He said as he soon as he opened the door. He walked towards his closet and took out bedsheets. "I'll sleep on the floor. You can have my bed and your sister can have my coach." He walked towards his bed.

"I can take the floor, I don't mind. I can sleep closer to Serenity that way."

"If you say so," he said as he passed me a bunch of quilts and comforters.

"Thank you," I said. I didn't dare to ask what had happened. He seemed back to his old self. I laid in the ground. I glanced back at Serenity. I looked at the time and thought; mom is going to kill us.