CHAPTER - 21
LOVE IS... UNEXPECTED
"The best kind of love is with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time."
Obviously, I had postponed the meeting that was supposed to happen at twelve to the next day. The girl, Patricia, was not happy with the change as she told me that she was a very busy lawyer and she couldn't handle unprofessionalism. Immediately, I pictured her as Jessica Pearson of Suits.
This made me conclude that this meeting, too, was going to be a waste of time. If she couldn't handle unprofessionalism, then how in the world was she going to handle Ashton, who was in every sense the exact opposite of 'professionalism'? I, honestly, failed to understand the basis of candidate list compiled by Priscilla. Didn't she know her own son?
'I'm not her son.'
Ashton's words echoed in my head, making me wonder about the chances of it being true. I recalled my meeting with Priscilla on the first day of this project. The way she had talked about Ashton didn't support his statement at all. In fact, I had never seen her talk about or look at Dylan with as much affection. But then why weren't they in talking terms? What had happened? What went so wrong that made the relationship of mother and son so bitter?
I rubbed my hand over my face and looked up at the clock to see that it was half hour past seven in the evening. But there was still no sign of him as my eyes went towards the door. I cursed myself for waiting till this long for him. I was reaching new heights of stupidity. I didn't even know whether he was going to come back or not. He had very conveniently switched off his phone the moment he stepped out of this apartment in complete rage. Even Dylan was unsure about his own brother.
I had repeatedly told myself that waiting for him was of no use and it was not going to help. But a small part of me; the small part that had managed to come to terms with my silly crush on Ashton, which proved to be a much stronger part than its contemporary, made me wait, made me a fool by consoling that this wait was going to be worth it.
With a sigh, I turned off the television, which was on just for the sake of being turned on. A yawn escaped my lips, which aroused the need to stretch my body. Pulling the rubber band out of my bun, I ruffled my hair to provide a little relief to hair roots. Almost immediately, I was sprawled on his couch, welcoming sleep with open arms and closed eyes.
Loud banging noises made me jerk up from my deep sleep. I looked around and it took me a good one minute and continuous loud knocks to realize that I was still at Ashton's place, where I had fallen asleep. That realization brought with it another realization that most probably the person on the other side of the door was Ashton himself. My eyes widened and snapped towards the wall clock. The clock was literally staring right back at me with a taunt that it was almost eleven at night. I had let sleep take complete control over my senses. My head whipped towards the door when I vaguely heard some cuss words being thrown at whoever was inside the apartment. Well, in this case it was me who was inside the apartment.
And the cuss words verified my suspicions. Yes, it was definitely Ashton!
A sigh in relief escaped my lips followed by a smile that he was finally back. I jumped my way towards the door and opened it for him.
"You sh*t faced, motherf-" He stopped in between saying some precious words the moment his eyes fell on me. His eyes widened to the size of saucers and his mouth fell wide open in shock of seeing me in his apartment so late at night. His widened eyes made me notice his eyes that looked dilated. His wide open mouth was enough to make me smell the alcohol that he must have taken before coming back here. He looked drunk just like it was expected out of him. But, thankfully, he wasn't swaying and wasn't even taking any support to stand up right. He truly could handle alcohol well.
But there was no way that I could handle this crush in a nice way because just the sight of him, no matter how messed up it was, was enough to make my heart pound at double its normal pace. And this pathetic state of my heart, made my mind do something really commendable.
Narrowing my eyes slightly, I told him, "I should put a board here saying 'Drunk bears are not allowed inside'." And with that, I shut the door at his face.
Payback is definitely a female dog!
Grinning like an idiot, I realized that this was really fun and suddenly, I stopped blaming Ashton for doing this again and again at my face. However, the little part of me that had a little crush on Ashton, was cursing me for my misbehavior. Okay, replace both 'little' in the previous sentence with huge. Yes, a huge part of me had a huge crush on a huge jerk who just happened to be a huge arrogant pervert.
To my utter surprise, he didn't start cursing at me for this little act of mine and replied with silence instead. Setting aside my unreasonable feelings for him, I opened the door grinning like a Cheshire cat.
His features turned to a confused frown as he started looking around the lobby. "This is my place," he muttered to himself, sounding confused.
My eyebrows furrowed at his statement. 'How drunk is he?' I thought to myself.
As if he could read my mind, he mumbled again, "I didn't drink that much that I should be seeing things... or people. This is unexpected. This is unusual." He punctuated his sentence by rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. Seeing a confused Ashton for the first time was a joy and hence, I couldn't stop the amused chuckle that left my lips. That chuckle was cut short when Ashton poked my cheek with his finger. He withdrew it back with wide eyes and a surprised look overtook his features. "You're still here" he mumbled.
Taken aback at the words he said and the way he had said them, I smiled and poked his cheek just like he had poked mine. Withdrawing it, I mumbled back feeling happy for some reason, "You're back."
He kept staring at me for a few more seconds or maybe minutes. I was too busy staring back at my crush till he cracked a little smile at me. That smile was successful in making my heart skip a bit and stare at him some more. Again he was the one who brought me back to reality by poking my cheek.
"Stop doing that." I swatted his hand away.
"Then stop staring and let me come inside...," he replied back with a slight smirk and continued, "...you."
His delayed continuation of a highly perverted statement made me turn completely red in embarrassment... or was I blushing? "Ashton, you're such a huge pervert." I scowled despite of my reddening cheeks.
"Liana, this is such old news." He mocked me with a slight smirk on his face.
Shaking my head at him, I turned around to face the living room so he couldn't see my face; my smiling face. I smiled because I was happy to see him like this again, I was happy to see his smirk, listen his pervert remarks and happy to see that he was back to his normal self despite of everything that had happened early this day between Dylan and him. Once I had controlled my out of control smile, I faced him again and found him staring back at me. His gaze as always unnerved me and to end that nervous moment, I asked him, "Do you want to have dinner?"
He raised his eyebrows at me and with a chuckle asked, "You cooked dinner?"
I replied with a shrug, "Didn't have anything better to do the whole day." And without waiting for his reply, I went inside the kitchen to heat the chicken I had made.
Ashton went inside his room, to freshen up most probably while I was still in the kitchen and came back five minutes later. I served food in two plates and we started eating in a very comfortable silence. There was silence in the air but my mind was a platter filled with numerous questions.
Where were you since morning?
Why did you get pissed off at Dylan?
Is Priscilla really not your mother? Is that why you are so cold towards her?
What went so wrong that you prefer being aloof from your family?
Why don't you believe in love?
Did you have a bitter experience in love just like me?
Have you started believing in love?
Do you like me?
"I like your cooking." Ashton's voice made me jerk up from my wavering thoughts. He was looking at me with his scrutinizing gaze.
My cheeks turned red at my last thoughts and I mumbled, "Thanks..." I mentally added, 'for liking at least something about me.'
He chuckled slightly and muttered with a shake of his head, "Idiot."
A grimace made its way on my face and I continued eating while he got up once he had finished his dinner. Wasn't it common courtesy to stay seated till the other person at the table finishes the dinner as well? But then again, Ashton was not 'common' and the word 'courtesy' didn't exist in his dictionary.
"You're staying the night," he declared nonchalantly, keeping his dishes to wash in the sink.
I choked on my bite and after a sprint of coughs, drank water to calm myself. "Excuse me?" I frowned, doubting my hearing skills.
He turned around and narrowed his eyes at me. "I said you're staying the night here and don't make me repeat myself again." He warned.
Pressing my lips together in a thin line I mentally evaluated the pros and cons of staying at my dangerous crush's place for a night.
Pros - it was really late and going back to my place at this time was not exactly safe. I was sleepy, really sleepy. Waiting for about eleven-twelve hours had taken a toll on me and I could literally hear Ashton's bed calling my name in desperation. The infatuation was not one sided at least in this aspect. And the most important one was staying the night with Ashton especially after the kiss; the kiss whose memories and feeling was still alive in my heart, head, and body.
Cons - staying the night with Ashton especially after the kiss; the kiss about which he seemed to have forgotten very conveniently.
It was weird how the same thing was a pro and a con for completely different reasons. "No. It's okay. I'll leave after the dinner," I told him, avoiding eye contact with him and focusing on the last few bites of chicken on my plate.
"Do you want me to lock you inside the apartment this time?"
"Huh?" My head snapped up in his direction and my eyes clashed with his challenging ones. "Okay," I mumbled weakly and immediately a few more questions flooded in my over-worked mind.
'Which side of bed do you prefer to sleep in? Right, left or center with me cuddled up with you?'
"I have an extra blanket. I'll bring it for you. Sleep on the couch," he ordered as he walked out of the kitchen, making my heart drop in utterly shameful disappointment.
I grimaced at how pathetic I was being and my shoulders slumped down. He came out of his room with a blanket and a pillow in his hand and that just made my heart drop a little more. It was true that I was not going to sleep in one bed with him. 'Who is the pervert now?' My mind snorted at me and I, very conveniently ignored it. But ignoring that voice, again brought up many questions in my head.
Why did he lie to me last evening? Why did he say that he was at his place about to sleep, when in the next five minutes he was in the same cafe as me? I was hundred percent sure that I was not hallucinating. I knew it was him with 'Christian Grey' and that girl, which reminded me of one more important question. 'Who in the world was that girl?'
Ashton snapped his fingers in front of my eyes bringing me back to reality. I looked up abruptly and found him looking at me with a slight frown on his face. "Are you okay?" he asked.
I realized that this was probably the most concern he had ever shown towards me or anybody else in last few days. Such a simple question from him meant so much and that made my heart do little flip flops. "Never been better," I answered without paying much heed to my answer. Obviously I had been much better and the confused messed up state that I was in was no where considered even slightly better. But for some reason my answer seemed justified and true.
"Good." He nodded and turned around to stepping towards his room.
"Ashton!" I called after him.
He turned around to face me with a questioning look on his face. "Yeah?"
All the questions that had been running in my head since the day before were on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to ask him so many questions about what exactly happened this morning between Dylan and him. I was dying to know the truth behind his sour relationship with Priscilla. But all I could do was ask the one question that actually mattered the most.
"Are you okay?"
I watched as he stared back at me for a few moments and his lips curved in the most breathtaking and genuine smile, and his cold grey eyes softened as they stayed fixed on me, which made me stare at him in complete awe for a few seconds until he answered my question, "Never been better."
Leaving my rapidly pounding heart that was ready to jump out of my bones and land in his hands, he turned around and entered him room.
*********
Day - 9
Initially, it took a lot in me to calm my rapidly pounding heart and thereby, sleep on the comfortable couch. Sleeping with my latest crush in the room right next to mine wasn't an easy task, especially considering the level of curiosity in my head. There were two things that I wanted to do till sleep overtook my senses; first was barging in his room and putting an end to my curiosity; the second was barging in his room and throwing myself on him, literally. Sadly enough, both the options involved me barging inside his bedroom. The predictable sleeplessness had been turned into a heavenly sleep because of the warmth of the couch and Ashton's manly smell on it.
I was, officially, a completely gone case!
As the cab I had taken from my apartment the next morning reached Patricia Banks' office, I couldn't help but recall everything that had happened since Seth's wedding to last night. Everything seemed like a mess; a scattered mess that only Ashton could resolve. I was a clueless person who was full of questions and messed up, unreasonable feelings, while Ashton was... Google. Only he had the answers to all my questions. And what's worse was the fact that I was living without any internet connection, and hence, Google could not answer me at all.
As soon as I got up this morning, I straightened my clothes in which I had slept all night, washed my face, wrote a little note for him that said, 'Thank you. See you at twelve at the address mentioned on the flip side.' with a smiley face, and left his apartment. I didn't know about Ashton but I had to get ready for our appointment with Patricia, the lawyer. It was almost twelve and I seriously doubted Ashton's presence in her office for this meeting.
The cab stopped indicating that I had finally reached my destination, and I paid the due amount to the warmly smiling driver. Glancing at my watch, I noticed that it was five minutes past twelve and judging by my experience of talking to Patricia the last day, I was sure that she would be pissed off at my late arrival. I didn't even want to imagine her reaction at not seeing Ashton with me. Trying his phone had been futile since the last one hour.
"Um... Patricia Banks?" I asked the receptionist of her office.
"Are you Liana Moore?" the tanned skin girl asked back with a smile. I nodded in reply and she told me, "Please follow me. She's expecting you." Stiffly, I followed her towards her cabin. Who in their right minds keep prospective wedding meetings in the office? It was not a business meeting!
I mumbled a thank you when the cute girl showed me the door of Patricia's office and I entered it. I immediately spotted her upon entering the room. She didn't look any different from her pictures that Priscilla had sent me - straight raven hair, light brown skin tone, dark brown eyes, hour glass figure, and undeniably gorgeous. She radiated a strong aura that shouted of her strong personality.
"You must be Liana." She smiled at me a warm, formal smile and I smiled back.
"Nice to meet you, Patricia." I walked towards her table to sit on the chair opposite her's. "I'm sorry but Ash-"
I was cut off from explaining about Ashton's absence by his presence as my eyes fell on the person sitting right opposite her when he turned around on his chair and shot his annoyingly sexy smirk in my direction. "You're five minutes late," he informed me in his smug tone. I blinked my eyes several times to put an end to the illusion that I was most probably seeing, but that illusion didn't fade away. In fact, the illusion's smirk kept on increasing.
"Oh it's okay, Ashton." Patricia's voice made me snap my head towards her. She smiled and offered me a seat.
"Thanks," I mumbled with a smile and sat beside Ashton who had decided to casually in a black tee shirt and blue faded jeans. Patricia was the complete opposite in her blue business suit. "Bad traffic." I chuckled awkwardly, blaming my lack of punctuality on the traffic.
"Obviously," he mumbled sarcastically, making me look pointedly at him.
"Don't worry. It's perfectly fine." Patricia shot another warm smile towards me and I realized how bad my judgment just proved to be.
"So Patricia, what's your favorite restaurant?" Ashton asked out of the blue, making me look at him with raised eyebrows, but his attention was towards her.
She, too, seemed slightly taken aback at the random question, but still answered, "Per Se. Why did you ask?" She ended her question with a giggle under Ashton's gaze, and I stopped the urge to roll my eyes at her.
"I should know where to find you if you decide to not see me again," he replied smoothly and I could literally see her going 'aww' at his cheesy reply which just made me throw up. The reason of my sudden urge had nothing to do with the cheesiness of his smooth reply.
In the next half hour, I was a spectator with a cup of coffee in my hand and a forced smile on my face, while Ashton completely ignored me and charmed her pants off in a way I had not seen him do till now. Ideally, I should have left them there to have their alone time, but I didn't. I decided to be unreasonable for once. This was the first time in nine days that I saw him even minutely interested in a candidate and this ticked me off, irritatingly so. I was not doing a good job of being a matchmaker or a cupid. Cupids were not supposed to feel disheartened upon seeing two people flirt with each other. I was a terrible cupid!
The worst moment for my heart and the best moment for my mind was when Ashton took her phone number at the end and promised to call her. She was a putty in his hands and all I could think about was the fact that Ashton Parker was a true charmer if he wanted to be one; a non-gentlemanly charmer.
"You liked her?" I asked the moment we stepped out of her office.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw him smirk. "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't."
I glared at him for his smart-butt reply. "You have to tell me. I am your cupid."
He laughed at my meek attempt of knowing his true feelings about Patricia and opened the driver's seat of his car to get inside. With a defeated sigh, I, too, sat down in the passenger seat. "I have something for you," he said after about five minutes as we headed for our next meeting.
A grimace made its way on my face when I realized that he really wasn't going to answer me this time. "What?"
He scratched his bearded chin as I watched his Adam's apple bob up and down. "Turn around. It's on the backseat," he replied, not even glancing in my direction.
With a confused frown on my face, I turned around and saw a bag kept there. I bent backwards to pick it up. "What is it?" I asked, placing the slightly heavy bag on my lap. He just shrugged in reply, still not taking his eyes off the road.
Shaking my head at him, I unzipped the bag. My eyes widened when I spotted my laptop kept in it. "Oh my God!" I gasped and looked at him. Light laughter erupted from my lips as I saw that the screen had been changed. I switched it on instantly and was pleasantly surprised to see all my data still intact and secure. "Thank you so much, Aston," I said, wholeheartedly. In all the mess that I was in, I had not got the time to even make a call to the Customer Support Service. Even though it was not something huge, it mattered a lot to me especially coming from Ashton, who claimed to not care about anything.
He looked painfully uncomfortable in the situation as he avoided looking in my direction and this just made me happier for some reason. Having Ashton speechless was a rare moment and I tried to lighten it by saying, "Aww, Ashton. I always knew you were a real softy inside that hard exterior of yo-"
"Cut that crap!" he ordered, making me laugh.
Throughout the rest of the drive, I had a smile on my face despite of the annoying meeting with Patricia. It was a case of my heart versus my mind. And the worst part was that I didn't know who I wanted to win.
*********************
A/N
Written this one in a rush, please excuse me if it's crappy! :\
VOTE COMMENT FOLLOW! :)