T W E N T Y
~Never make the same mistake twice, unless he's hot.~
a d e l i n
"Care to explain?" The stern albeit sleep laced voice asks.
I close my eyes for a brief second, cursing under my breath and turning my head slowly, adorning what I assume is the deer caught in headlights expression.
Bitting my lip, I nervously stare at my white haired cousin who glances back and forth from the (still) tranquilly sleeping Caleb to my now widely awakened self, his mouth agape.
"What. The. Actual. Fuck. Happened. Here." He whisper yells pointing accusingly at me then at Caleb, furious.
Though I must admit Noah looked rather ridiculous in his blue spongebob pajama bottoms and a yellow loose shirt which says "In my defence I was left unsupervised"
Come to think of it, that statement perfectly manages to describe Noah Hendrix specially right now, with his white hair sticking out in each direction.
I crack a smile and his eyeballs might just roll out of their sockets.
"Adelin Rose Alderige. Young lady, do not tell me you had sex on my favourite couch." He fumes, pulling on his already messed up hair in frustration, only making them stick out more.
This time my eyes widen, mouth opening to snap at him but my face scrunches up with an impending sneeze.
Just then, Caleb chooses that exact moment to end his slumber. Standing up in a sleep dazed hurry, he trips over his own feet, ending up toppling and landing on me with a loud "oof"
I groan, both at the immense weight applied to my back and at the realisation that my right nostril seems to be as runny as the water in Niagara falls while my left nostril rivals the Sahara Desert and my throat throbs every time I swallow.
I'm sick.
Great, this is just the cherry on top.
"Surprisingly that didn't hurt at all." Caleb ponders, his voice raspy, from above me and I feel his chest vibrate as he does so.
Gritting my teeth I grind out "Because you fucking landed on me, Einstein."
Noah who stands infront of both of us flinches at the intensity of my voice, mumbling "Geez louise, tone it down a little Addie. My ears can only handle 35 decibels in the morning." he rubs them as he speaks.
I clench my fists in fury, preparing to unleash it on both the stupid males, one of which is still atop me while the other stands infront of me like the Queen of England on a sunny day.
Alas, the opportunity of verbal lashing gets stolen from me by another sneeze. At least it makes Caleb climb off me in surprise.
I close my eyes in agony because to top the horrendous flu off a headache makes it's grand apperance. List sneeze number three on that tab as well.
"You're sick." Caleb declares, looking down at me witth concern filled drowsy eyes and a small frown. The sight would've been adorable had I not been feeling like a punching bag.
I glare at him, narrowing my eyes "No shit, Sherl-Achoo." Damn these sneezes.
"Is there any chance it's that time of the month, Addie. Because that would explain a lot right now." Noah says nervously, rubbing the back of his neck while beside him Caleb clearly shudders at the statement causing me to roll my eyes.
I push myself off the ground and Caleb, ever the gentleman, quickly bends to assist me.
"No Noah, It's not that time of the month. How would you feel if you woke up feeling like a truck ran you over. Repeatedly." I sniff, crossing my arms in defiance.
"Touchy. Do me a favour couz, add Picka before you sneeze so it becomes-" Before Noah can complete his statement yet again a loud "Achoo" erupts from my mouth.
"...so it becomes Pickachu." he completes, already laughing at his own lame joke, slapping a hand on his thigh.
"How are we related." I grunt in frustration, greedily taking the tissues Caleb offers me.
"I don't think you should go to the Fest." Caleb gently places a cold hand over my forehead, I shiver and not only at the cool temperature "you're in no condition for a trip." his frown deepens.
And only now does my mind remember that we have to leave for the Music Fest in about an hour. That hadn't even occur to me.
I'd been looking forward to this for some time and now I'll have to wait for another year.
I look over to Noah who's pouts adorably and despite my illness and annoyance at him, I smile and then to Caleb who is still looking at me with concern that warms my insides-in the good way.
"I guess I'll be staying back." I shrug, completely ignoring the sad but true fact that I am incapable of taking care of myself in any way shape or form. That's also the only reason why I don't have a pet.
But no way in hell am I asking anyone to bail on the event and beach house on my account.
"Addie, you and I both know that you can't take care of a fake plant-your own life...it'd be a losing bet." my cousin pays no heed to my murderous expression "You forget to eat food, taking routinely medication lies on another level. You're extremely careless."
Noah points out, all of them facts but that dosen't give him the right to be an ass about it.
"Gee thanks Noah. I'm touched by your concen." I monotone, still glaring daggers "I feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing you care so much."
He grins at me and blows a kiss towards me to which I wave my hands all over as if in attempt to blow it away from me.
Now what? no matter how offensive Noah's statements were, they're still true and knowing Noah, he's not leaving without either assigning himself or someone else as my caretaker.
I can't call Laura becuse she's out of town to visit her son.
"I'll stay behind, I can take care of Adelin." Caleb's voice makes my head snap in his direction, my eyes widening as I look back at Noah who seems to actually be considering the offer.
"What, no you don't have to do that. I'll be perfectly fine on my own." I insist, although my heart seems to differ with its erratic beats at the suggestion.
"Dont worry, it isn't an issue. I have to check up on my house from time to time since my mom and her caretaker are staying at some old friends place, so it's perfect actually." Caleb shrugs nonchalantly, making my giddy heart deflate with disappointment all of a sudden.
So that's why he wanted to stay.
"You sure? She is a handful and I do speak from experience." Noah tries to do his best portrayal of a haunted expression, as if the very memory has scarred him.
Once! Only once did he have to look after me and at the time I was on my period so I was being a normal hormonal teenager with endless mood swings and basically ordered Noah to have his nails painted, which he immediately denied.
Long story short, I had to chase him down, discovering that running around the house during your period only helps to increase the cramps.
After seeing the pain he'd inflicted on me, I guilt trapped Noah into letting me coat his nails with Techno Bloom.
The gang had howled in laughter later that day when they came to visit and saw Noah's nails painted a smokingly bright shade of pink.
Ah, good times.
Noah narrows his eyes at me when he sees the satisfactory smirk slip onto my face.
Caleb looks from Noah to me, mumbling "I don't even want to know." walking closer to me, draping an arm casually around me as if he's done this countless times.
A whole damn cage of butterflies sets free in my stomach when his skin comes in contact with mine and I find myself leaning into the touch
Wait, where's my sweater?
He brings his face a little too close for comfort, and I unconsciously lean in further and of course he notices, grinning wickedly before pulling his face away.
The bastard turns to Noah, coolly drawling "Friends sacrifice for eachother. Don't they, Adelin?" again turning to me and bringing his face near.
I clench my jaw at his teasing tone. He knows exactly how irritating it is for me to be called his "Friend" and that infuriates me even more.
He's enjoying this throughly, grinning wolfishly at me, I gulp, facing Noah "Yeah. Friends do just that, Caleb." I mutter, purposely emphasising the word.
With his face lowered towards me, pur eyes are almost aligned and so is the forbidden zone, something my traitorous mind indulges in, ignoring all the warnings going off as my eyes find those pink lips.
His golden flecked eyes seems to do the same as they focus on one thing and one thing alone and just then both of us forget our surroundings and get lost in each others intense gazes, that is until Noah coughs awkwardly making us pull away from each other as if both of us just caught fire.
"Okay.I'm going to wake up everyone and tell them to get ready and inform them about the new changes." Noah declares, spinning on his heels without a reply.
I plop down onto the couch, the very one Caleb and I were tangled up on a few minutes ago and as soon as I take a seat yet another sneeze makes its way out of my mouth.
Caleb startles at the sudden sound, his hands raised in a defensive stance "Fucking hell." I close my eyes, rubbing my nose in irritation at this stupid flu.
All I want to do is cuddle up in a blanket and sleep.
"For fucks sake, cover your mouth before sneezing so loudly, woman." Caleb curses, I open my eyes to stare at him clutching the left side of his chest, a horrified expression on his face.
I roll my eyes, annoyed that he most probably now knows that I like him as well, no doubt he'll try to rub it all in my face.
Sighing tiredly, I hoist myself up with all the strength I can muster up in attempts to head to my room but since Caleb's developed a new habit, he dosen't let that happen.
He pulls me back against him, I try not to get lost in the brown eyes but it gets harder every passing second. Caleb obviously sensing my discomfort, smirks at me.
"Admit it Starlight, you have the same feelings for me as I have for you. You like me just as much as I like you. You want to be with me just as much as I want to be with you." He whispers, confidence oozing from each and every word that comes out of his mouth.
My heart starts to beat rapidly, I avert my gaze from him, not having the guts to tell him what he just said ran true. Has been true for quite some time.
"Admettez-le, mon coeur. (Admit it, my heart)" Caleb beckons, authority lining his voice yet sincerity softening it and it's that which makes my eyes meet his.
Brown eyes search mine in silent encouragement. Searching for the answer he already had.
And maybe it's because of the passion that lines them that makes my heart clench painfully or maybe it's the way he holds me that urges me to tell him all about my past.
About the racing, about the gang and about Aaron.
I open my mouth, determined come clean, right here, right in this very spot but my body paralyses with terror in Caleb's arms, throat not being able to form any words as from behind me Danny's authoritative voice says-no more like commands
"Adelin, We need to talk."
☼ 𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍'𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀 ☼
Hi Fam!
I smell drama!
What do you think Danny wants to talk to Adelin about?
Thank you for always brightening my day with all your sweet comments.
Hope you guys liked the chapter!
Until next time!
Xoxo
💙