For the first time in years, I had to deal with another one of those nights. The sleepless ones. It was a frustratingly restless night and as exhausted as I am watching the sunrise between the skyscrapers, I'm happy I at least got to do some music. It kept me grounded and I had something to do.
It's ironic really. I'm usually a good sleeper; I hit the pillow and I'm out like a light. It's been that way ever since I was a child, my mom would always like to remind me of that. But every once and a while, I'd have a night or two where I just couldn't sleep. As a child, that would usually happen when I was really excited for something. But as I got older, it would only really happen if I was stressed. Like, really stressed.
I gently slide my guitar back into its hidden spot beneath the coffee table and start getting ready for the day. The fact that I'm taking a bit longer to get ready today is simply because I'm tired. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Elias is coming back to pick the suits back up, which in turn means the possibility of Aiden paying a surprise visit to the shop as well.
With my headphones placed on my head, I make my way to college for my morning classes. On my way, I walk past the skyscraper of a building that I can't help but admire every day. It's a pretty building and despite its size it's rather pleasant to the eye and not overbearing with it's accents of brown and garden-like areas surrounding it. It's like a breath of fresh air in this city every time I walk past it.
The music blaring in my ears distracts me from my surroundings again as I make my way past the building, only for my eyes to hone back onto something moments later. Or rather someone... A fancy car stops right in front of me and out walks possibly the most intimidating-looking man I've ever seen in my life. Call me dramatic, but the energy this man holds is bordering on terrifying.
His build is strong yet lean, tall and seemingly unbreakable. My feet have a mind of their own as they stop in their tracks despite the crowd of people walking around the city. My eyes are trained on the guy as he takes his first step out of the car and stands to his full height which is definitely a full head taller than myself. A brown as dark as coffee beans shines to a light golden color as his hair is let into the natural light.
It takes me an embarrassingly few seconds to realize my mouth is wide open and right as I take another step forward to flee the scene, another head pops out of the back of the car. A very familiar looking head. The very attractive stranger turns in his spot to help him out of the car by extending his hand. His being much larger than the other.
For the second time in the span of probably ten seconds my mouth drops again. Once they're both out of the car, I pause in hopes he won't see me, but that seems to have been mistake number one. Turns out standing still in a throng of hustling people makes you stand out way more. Mistake number two would be staring holes into the back of their heads until they turn to stare right back at me.
"Nathan?"
I purse my lips, partly to keep my jaw shut, and attempt a half smile at him. "Hi, Aiden," my feet take a few shaky steps in their direction as they stay to the side to avoid being in the way of others.
"What a coincidence seeing you here!" He leans for a hug and stops short. It takes me a little too long to realize he's waiting for me to react, so I quickly reciprocate the greeting hug that feels a little too tight to be friendly. Maybe I'm reading into it too much. I'm overwhelmed.
"Not really, this is my way to college and work," I finally reply when we pull away. I have to nearly force myself to turn my head to greet the only other person staring straight at me. He's even scarier up close. "Um..." Should I offer to shake his hand? Ignore him completely? Maybe saying a simple 'Hi' like a normal person would be the best thing to do.
A hand raised in front of me stops my thoughts and I look up to connect the hand with the very gorgeous face. I nearly gasp as he speaks, I'm clearly not the best at meeting new people. "Kalen Axford, pleasure to finally meet you..." he pauses and shifts his gaze over to Aiden for a moment. His voice is melodic and it holds a satisfying timbre to it that's oddly satisfying to listen to even on the crowded streets of the city where he has to raise his voice slightly. "Nathan, correct?" Even the way he speaks is fancy. Wait- Did he just say Kalen Axford?
His hand engulfs mine as we shake them, "Yeah, yes, that's my name, um-" Shut up...
The corner of his mouth twitches, but he quickly turns to Aiden and leans down to whisper something in his ear. They do look quite close...
The red-head nods before turning back to me with a wide grin, "are you in a rush?"
I put my hand into my pocket to fish out my phone, but before I could even check the time, Mr. Axford blurts it out for me. "7:45," I blink up at him and try to get a grip.
"Um, kind of, my class starts at 8,"
"Oh darn, Elias will just have to see you later then," I tilt my head over at him and he continues: "He's already upstairs working, I'm sure he would've loved to say hi,"
I nod and slowly come to the realization that he must be closer with Elias than I thought. Actually, what is Aiden doing in Kalen Axford's fancy car anyway this early in the morning? Do I even want to know the answer to that?
"He's coming to pick up the suits later anyway," I finally decide to say, purposely not making eye contact with the giant beside us both.
"We'll all be there to pick them up then," Out of all the things to come out Axford's mouth...
"A-all of you?"
He looks right at me, clearly not avoiding eye contact like I'm trying and clearly failing to do. His are a really pretty green, I've never seen such a dark shade like that in person before. They make his stare even more intimidating though... "Am I not allowed to pick up my own suits?
I quickly shake my head and look back over at Aiden who seems surprisingly amused right about now. How lovely.
"What- No, that's not what I meant, I-"
Aiden's hand cups my shoulder, "relax, he's just messing with you,"
I look over at him, shaking my head to refute his words, but the man in question simply starts typing away on his phone, a small smile, barely visible if I wasn't looking this hard, resting on his face.
Oh...
"Anyways, we'll see you later?" Aiden asks and I simply nod at him, words getting tangled in my throat; leaving me to stand here like an idiot. "See you!" The two of them start walking over to the side of the building, not towards the main entrance like one would expect, and that's when I finally take in a much needed gulp of air.
Did I seriously just meet one of the most influential CEOs in the country with my ex-best friend?
What is my life?
With a heavy sigh, I lock my phone and put it away after the lecture. I don't even know why I even bother trying anymore. It's not like she's going to respond any time soon. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. Still, every time my phone buzzes, that little bit of hope rekindles again, only to fizzle out when her contact name is nowhere to be seen on my notification box.
"Why so glum?"
I close my books and look up at Phoebe with a smile, "nothing, just concentrating, today's lecture kicked my butt,"
She scoffs and leans a hip on the corner of my table, "that's because you don't pay attention,"
I almost roll my eyes, but settle for a mimicking scoff as I get my bag and we make our way out of the hall and towards the doors. "Lunch?" She asks, whipping her black hair over her shoulder.I nod absentmindedly and stare off at the path that leads me to my workplace. My shift doesn't start for another hour, but for some reason I feel like heading over there early. That's new...
She squeals and hooks her arm around mine, "awesome, 'cause there's this place I've been meaning to try for a while with really good pasta-"
"And that was basically my weekend," she sums up her many stories by the time she gulps down her final piece of chicken alfredo," I nod at her with a smile. Okay, lunch wasn't so bad. It was a nice distraction from, well, everything else.
"As much as I would love to sit here and listen to the rest of last week's adventures, I do really have to head to work now,"
She follows me out, but before we go our separate ways, she stops me by standing right in front of me and looks up at me with her dark eyes holding a rather mischievous glint in them. "Will you be seeing Aiden again today?"
I furrow my brows. How did she-
"You seem to be in a hurry today,"
"I really do have a shift starting soon," I shake my head and try to weave my way around her, but she doesn't let me. This time when I look down her playfulness is nowhere to be seen.
"As fun as this all is, don't let yourself get hurt, Nathan,"
"What-"
"You seem... more energetic than usual lately, but I'm guessing things between you Aiden are still iffy," she holds onto the straps of her black backpack. "Just be careful, 'kay?" Just like that, she plasters another smile on her face and runs off after bumping her shoulder with mine along with sending me a playful wink. I hear her footsteps run off behind me and once they're no longer heard, I continue making my way to work with her words bouncing around my head the entire time.
"Right, here you are, Sir;" I hand one of our customers his custom-made shirt. I hear the doorbell ring, but finish taking care of this business first before looking over the guy's shoulder to see who it is.
"Thanks again for this,"
I hum, "be careful with the ketchup stains from now on, okay?" I say this to him every time he comes in, one of these days it'll hopefully get through to him.
He nods at me, "I'm just a messy eater," he grins down at his shirt and haphazardly waves back at me.
"Maybe try eating with a different shirt on!" I yell after him with a shake of my head before finally turning to the new customers. "Hi, how can I-" Oh...
"Nice to see you again too, Nathan," Elias grins up at me from the waiting area. Which is basically just a few chairs set along the window.
Okay... Seeing all three of them together is more than a little... intense. Crap.
Axford is sitting in the middle chair, phone in hand wearing rectangular-shaped glasses this time. Of course he looks really good with glasses on too. Aiden is sitting to the right of him, his eyes already on me. His red hair looks magical with the sun setting behind them. Elias is already walking up to me, wearing another one of his cute and casual outfits that matches the smile on his face.
"I heard you saw them this morning, too bad I couldn't see you," he starts right as he reaches the counter.
I snap out of it as quickly as possible and turn to find their tagged suits. "We only saw each other briefly,"
It doesn't take me too long to find his suits and I quickly double check all of the tags as I hang them up before handing them over the counter. When I hand the first one over, the other two get up to help out. I have three suits this time, how fitting, one for each of them to carry. Maybe. If Axford carries his own suits.
"Here you are," I hand over the final suit to no one in particular, just in case he really doesn't carry his own stuff. You never know with rich people. To my pleasant surprise he rather quickly reaches out to take his suit and I can't help the smile that grows on my face.
"How was your day?" Aiden asks once everything's been sorted.
The question brings me back to the lecture hall. Still waiting on her text. "It was fine,"
Two of them don't show much of a reaction, Aiden on the other hand...
"Tag, you're it!" I yell out to Aiden and he quickly turns to me with a cheerful grin.
"Okay!"
The two of us lose ourselves to a fit of unstoppable laughter as we run round and round the large tree. "No fair, how am I supposed to catch you if I'm getting dizzy!" He stops and I pause right across from him, our heads peeking out the side of the tree as we grin at each other. Sweat running down our faces, but we couldn't care less, this is too much fun!
"You just have to be faster than me!" My legs take off at a sprint again, his giggling right behind me. Right as I turn to look back, I trip over something and fall straight onto my stomach. "Ouch, ouch, ouch..."
"Oh no, are you okay?!"
I sit up before he could reach me and blink away the tears. "Yeah, I'm okay!" My attempt at a smile was pretty good, but I guess not good enough for my best friend. He frowns down at me and reaches his hand out to help me back up.
"Lying is not nice," his frown deepens.
I match his expression at his words. He's right... "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," I hug him right away.
"That's okay, just make sure you don't do it again, you don't have to lie to your best friend," I nod and as soon as we pull away from each other his frown flips right back around. "Tag, you're it!" He sprints off in the opposite direction, laughing loudly as he hides behind the same tree again.
"Hey, no fair!"
Aiden looks straight at me, his smile no longer there. His eyes squint a little, a small hum coming from him. His eyes shift over to the others for a split second before he asks me: "Are you sure?"
I inhale sharply through my nose. "Yeah,"
He slowly nods at me and the lull in the conversation adds to the sudden awkwardness.
The sound of Axford taking a step forward bounces off the walls and he silently grabs the suit out of Aiden's hands. "We'll be in the car," he shares a look with the blond who quickly nods before waving my way and following after the bossman.
The two of us watch them walk out and wait for the door to swing shut behind them. "We should hang out again soon," Aiden eventually continues.
"Should we?" I whisper.
He turns back to me again, "I thought we were okay?"
I nod, playing with the edge of the magazine under the counter. "We are,"
"But?"
"I just-" How honest do I want to be right now? I dip my head, the curls at the end of my hair covering my eyes slightly. "I really don't want to be hurt again,"
Phoebe's words got to me. That and the lack of response from a certain someone lately have me more on edge than I expected. Having Aiden back in my life, as excited as I may be, is not all rainbows and sunshine. There's a risk. A risk that I should be acknowledging. A risk that I'll be repeating history all over again. This whole thing has been a lot. I'm still also trying to figure out the relationship between Aiden and Elias. Now we have a Kalen Axford in the picture as well. It's a lot. More than I thought it would be.
It's one thing to have a 'simple' talk at a quiet café, but a whole other thing to start a friendship all over again.
"I would never." His tone is suddenly hard and serious, causing me to blink up at him as I raise my head. "I'll probably be sorry for the rest of my life for letting our friendship fall out the way it did, but I'll do anything, and I mean anything, to start over again with you, Nathan," his hazel eyes are fixed onto mine. Making eye contact with him has always been easy. Easier than with anyone else. Even now it appears.
"Not intentionally..." I add.
He shakes his head, "please, Nathan, one more chance," he comes up to the counter, extending both hands over the counter, ready for me to hold if I choose to.
One more chance, huh?
My phone buzzes in my back pocket. There it is again. Hope. Hope that this might turn out better this time? Maybe this new chance will be a good thing. Or not. That would really break me.
Is that a risk I'm willing to take?
Another buzz.
My hands twitch at my sides. 'When in doubt, follow your heart.'
Before I know what I'm doing, my arms are extending out to meet him and our hands are interlocked as our eyes stay fixed on each other. "You better not hurt me, Aiden." I finally say, my eyes hardening as his lips relax into a small smile. He nods at me, the hazel in his eyes brightening right back up as the sunlight catches them and a dance of brown and green hues within them leaves me absolutely mesmerized.
"I won't."