We finished eating and Cadien texted me, letting me know he was almost to the house.
Shit, I forgot about him coming over.
I sent him a text, saying I was at Baylor's and to meet me here.
I got up and grabbed mine and Baylor's plates, rinsing them off and setting them in the dishwasher.
Baylor brought Darcie's and Reyn's plate in, rinsing them off before handing them to me to place in the dishwasher.
"Caiden's on his way over," I told Baylor.
He nodded and left to tell his mom as I went upstairs to get the box.
I heard the doorbell ring throughout the house a few minutes later, and I prepared myself for this conversation. I'm too tired for this.
As I made my way downstairs, I heard voices, obviously Baylor's and Cadien's.
"Let me go get Ad-" Baylor started to say.
I interrupted, "I'm already in here. Can we get this done and over with, that way I can sleep?"
Cadien nodded and Bay looked at me, silently asking if he should stay.
I just shrugged and took a seat at the table, sliding the box towards Cadien.
"Have a look," I said. "The letter that I told you about earlier, is in the envelope at the bottom." I crossed my arms and put my head down. Maybe I can try to sleep right here.
I could hear Cadien mumbling to himself about everything that was inside of the box and I silently planned his death.
• • •
"Aden." Cadien said, shaking me.
I grumbled and lifted my head, glaring at him. "What?" I'm still half asleep so it came out as a 'hum' type thing.
"Do you really want to plan it?" He asked, looking between me and the letter.
I nodded my head slowly. All I wanted was to sleep.
"Okay, then you can. I'll call it off and let you do everything."
"Thank you," I mumbled. "Can I go to bed now?"
He chuckled and nodded, calling Bay into the kitchen.
I could hear them talking, but I was too tired to even try to make sense of it.
Soon after, Baylor came over to me and picked me up, taking me upstairs to his room.
He laid me on the bed and said, "Goodnight, Aden. I love you."
I love you.
He loves me?
• • •
I woke up and Baylor was beside me.
I coughed and got out of bed, heading downstairs to get some food.
I walked into the kitchen and stopped, seeing the box on the table. I tilted my head at it in confusion.
Why was this down here?
Oh. That's why. I forgot about the conversation with Caiden yesterday about mom's funeral.
Mom.
I felt my chest compress at the thought of her gone, but I quickly pushed that feeling away. She wouldn't want me to cry over something that couldn't be changed.
I turned around and got into the fridge, pulling out the milk and setting it on the counter.
Shutting the fridge door, I made my way over to the bread and toaster and began making myself toast.
I poured a glass of milk as I waited for the toast to pop up. I put the milk away and grabbed the Nutella, jumping when the toast popped out.
I HATE WHEN IT DOES THAT. HOLY JESUS.
I glared at the toaster as I put Nutella on my toast and angrily took a bite.
"Aden, why are you aggressively eating the toast?" Baylor asked from the entrance way of the kitchen.
"No reason." I mumbled around chewing.
"Uh huh... Okay." He came over to me and took a bite from my toast.
"HEY! THAT'S MINE!" I yelled, pouting at him.
He shrugged and left the kitchen.
I glared at him as he left and continued my breakfast.
• • •
I went upstairs to take a shower. As I walked into Bay's room, I saw him playing video games and I took this as an opportunity to ask him about last night.
"Hey, Baylor," I started. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure. Anything," he said, tossing a smile towards me and pausing his game. I took the steps needed in order to be standing directly in front of him before I asked my question.
"D-did you say 'I love you' last night?"
The smile he had disappeared for a quick second, before panic rose in his eyes. He glanced away from me and stopped meeting my eyes.
I quickly said what was on my mind, "Because if you did, that's perfectly okay. Because... I love you..." I could feel my face burning. I wasn't embarrassed of saying it, that wasn't it. It was the fact that I put myself in that position to be completely rejected from him. It frightened me. A lot. But I couldn't take it back.
I could see relief flood his eyes and his body visibly relaxed. As did mine when I saw him do it. "Yes," he said after a moment of silence. "I did say I love you last night. And the thing is... I meant it. As random and slightly annoying you can be, I couldn't imagine you not next to me every morning. I said it then, and I'll say it now, and I'll say it forever, as long as you need to hear it: I. Love. You."
Tears started to fill my eyes and I threw my body at him, hugging him as tightly as I could. He wanted to wake up next to me? Baylor, the guy who always claimed he was straight, wanted a future? With me?
Never in a million years did I think I would find someone who wanted to spend the rest of their life with me. The thought honestly scared me.
He hugged me back for a while before kissing my temple and saying, "Don't you have your mom's funeral to plan?"
SHIT! "YES! OH MY GOD, THANK YOU BAY. I HONESTLY FORGOT. HOLY JESUS. IT'S IN LIKE FOUR HOURS AND I STILL NEED TO INVITE PEOPLE AND JUST TOO. MUCH. STUFF. DRAGON CANNOT HANDLE THIS STRESS." I pulled away from Baylor and started pacing.
"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. We can do this. You plan where it's going to be held, I'll invite the people. Good?" Baylor came over to me and attempted to calm me down. It sorta worked.
"Okay," I said, nodding. We can do this.
• • •
We can't do this. There's not enough time. I swear there's not enough time. "Baylor, we can't do this. THERE'S NOT ENOUGH TIME TO GET EVERYTHING." I freaked out.
"Aden! I promise, we will get everything. I already invited the people, and you already have a time, so all we need is a place... Which... I think... I found." Baylor was searching the Internet, trying to find a funeral home where we could hold one for mom.
"Here," he said, handing me a paper with a phone number scribbled down on it. "Call and see if they have an opening."
I nodded and took the paper, sitting on his bed and dialing the number.
"Hi?... Yes, I need an area that holds about fifty people... My mom's funeral... Okay... Five o'clock would be nice... Okay... Thank you." I hung up and immediately jumped on Bay.
"THANK YOU!" I yelled accidentally in his ear.
He pulled away and made a face, "Thanks, now I'm deaf. But you're welcome. Now, go get ready, you have about an hour."
I jumped down and ran into the bathroom. I never did take my shower earlier.
I rushed to turn the water on and strip, getting in and quickly washing myself.
I got out and wrapped a towel around myself, heading back into Bay's room.
"Go ahead," I said and he got up, getting his own shower.
I got dressed in nice clothes, since that's what you're supposed to do, I guess.
As I was waiting for Baylor, I called Cadien.
"Yello." I rolled my eyes at his greeting.
"Funeral. One hour. Be there." I said and gave him the address before hanging up.
Probably a bitch move, but I did let him know about it, that way he can't yell at me about not telling him.
"Ready?" Baylor questioned, coming out of the bathroom dressed and done up.
Damn my boyfriend is smokin'.
I nodded and followed him downstairs and out to the car.
"You got everything you need?" Baylor asked to make sure.
I nodded, "Sherri said she sent my mom up here, she should be at the funeral home already."
He nodded and stayed quiet, taking my hand in his.
• • •
"There's like, no room," I whispered to Bay as we walked through the door to the room where my mother was being held.
"At least people showed," he whispered back. I nodded my head at that. People could've stayed home and such, instead of coming to my moms funeral.
"It's almost time, go up there and say something," Baylor said to me.
Fuck.
I slowly made my way to the front and faced everybody, waiting for them to be quiet.
Baylor whistled and they all looked up at me, making me fidget.
"Uh, thank you all for coming. Um, I know my mom would've appreciated it. We're going to be here for a little bit and then you all can go. Uh, she's going to be cremated so there won't be any like, cemetery time." I said. Jeeze, I was all over the place. They all seemed to understand what I was saying, so I guess it worked.
I went back and sat beside Baylor, allowing people to visit my mom and say their condolences to me.
As upset as I was, I knew it couldn't have been avoided. I also knew that she wasn't going to be with me all my life, physically at least.
I may seem heartless about my mom's death, but I'm not. I do cry about it, I just know that it happened and nothing could change that, so I don't cry for too long.
"Hey," Baylor said quietly, knocking me out of my thoughts. "Ready to go? Everybody's left."
I nodded and stood, stretching my body since I was sitting for a while.
I offered Baylor my hand, pulling him up when he took it.
As we started to leave, I stopped Baylor and smiled as he questionably looked down at me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, "Thank you for coming with me today." I said and kissed him.
"You're welcome," he said, smiling when we pulled away.
"I love you." I told him.
He smiled at me.
"I love you."