I Choose You

19. The Moment of Truth (Edited)

When I did get there, I wasn't surprised to see the door shut, but it was yet another obstacle I had to face to get to the person that I wanted so badly to see. The person I wanted so badly to be back in my life. The person I wanted so badly to see smiling again.

Charlie nudged my leg, motioning towards the door with his nose.

I looked down at him. "It's not that simple." I whispered.

He made another whinnying noise as if he knew what I was saying. Just knock on the door.

I shut my eyes, letting out a breath, and saying a silent prayer that Aiden would answer, even if he didn't want to speak to me. I just wanted to see him, even if he didn't want to see me.

I raised my hand reluctantly and knocked on the door, waiting, waiting for an answer. I was almost breathless as I stood there, time ticking by so slowly all eternity could have passed by. Waiting for an answer was torture, and so I started to fidget, biting my lips and picking at my nails, before the door opened wide.

And I felt my heart drop a thousand floors.

"Emery?"

Upon hearing that voice, I can't even begin to describe the flood of relief that coursed throughout my body. He was here, and although I'm still not sure how he's going to react to everything, it felt so amazing to hear his voice again. And so, when I turned around to look at him, I think for the first time in my life, I really looked at him.

I felt my mouth go dry as I took in his appearance. He wore a pair of dark wash jeans that hung low on his hips, his hair was visibly wet and messily spiked in all directions—no doubt from trying to towel dry it—and he was shirtless.

He was shirtless.

Oh.

Droplets of water were glistening on his skin as my eyes involuntarily wandered to his chest, lingering for a bit too long on his perfectly sculpted six pack and fully defined v-lines. Not to mention there seemed to be steam rising off his back, causing my stomach to twist into knots.

I could feel heat creeping up to my cheeks as I stood there.

How on earth had I never noticed how unbelievably attractive this boy is?!

I finally gathered the courage to stop looking at his chest and instead looked into his eyes. "H-h-hi," I whispered.

I wasn't sure what he was going to say back to me, but as we stood there, staring at each other, I could feel the tension growing with each passing second. Aiden was staring at me with an unreadable expression, and for a moment I felt like he was finally going to show some sort of emotion towards me besides a stoic expression, but whatever emotion he was going to show he decided against, no doubt, shoving the feelings deep within himself.

I saw his jaw tick. "What are you doing here?"

Gone was the usual gentle and playful tone he used around me. It was like the same boy that I had met in those first few months of school had returned. It was like the Aiden I knew had been replaced with a stoic, expressionless one. All the happiness and joy had been sucked out of him, leaving me with only a silhouette of the person I once knew.

"I—I just want to talk," I whispered, searching his face for something, anything.

"What is there to talk about."

As he said the words he brushed past me, opening the door to his room and revealing it to me once again, but it didn't look the same as it once had. Clothes were strewn all over the floor, books and papers were scattered all around, his chaise lounge was covered with school papers and tests reading B and B+, and his general biology book was opened to a random page with highlights and sticky notes reading I have no clue what this means. Many of the frames on his walls were now crooked, and some of his trophies seemed to have fallen off their shelves.