“You look like shit,” Aspen said, looking up from his work. He was lying on his stomach, on the grass, with a sketch pad open in front of him, his fingers black with charcoal.
“Won’t argue with that,” I said. I slowly sat down next to him, gulping down the pain so as to not wince. The wound was healing faster than it would for a normal person, but it was only a day old so it still hurt like a bitch. I lied down on the grass next to him without an invitation and stared up at the sky.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Aspen asked softly.
I shook my head.
I heard a rustle of papers and I turned my head to see Aspen carefully fold his notebook and sketch sheets and keep them aside. He then rolled to his side to face me. "What’s up?” he said.
I turned my gaze back to the sky. It was a beautiful shade of blue, bare of clouds. “What are you doing, Aspen? What are you doing here with me? Why do you hang out with me? I mean, literally, everyone is your friend, but you still want me to help you with sculpting and … and crazy art surveys.” I turned to Aspen to find him suppressing a smile as he looked at me. “I’m this weird friendless guy from geology department,” I exclaimed. “Like… why?”
The smile he was trying to contain burst out on his lips and he flashed his teeth at me. “Because you like Mumford and Sons.”
“What?” I said, then realized he was eyeing the t-shirt I was wearing, which dun dun dun… Super Storm had let me borrow last night.
Last night - which was the weirdest night in my life! He did not knock me out as promised but walked me out to his front gate. Before leaving, when I had reminded him how it didn’t change anything between us, he narrowed his eyes at me and said threateningly, “We’ll see.”
I sighed at Aspen’s remark. “It’s not mine. It’s a friend’s,” I said.
Aspen chuckled. “I thought you did not have friends.”
“He’s not really my – it’s complicated.”
He raised a brow mischievously and said, “Should I feel threatened by this friend?”
There it was again – the flirting. I couldn’t possibly fathom why someone all sunshine and rainbows like him would flirt with Ridge!
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he cried, then sat up abruptly. I watched as he went through his bag and took out a Tupperware container. “My mother was in town, and she made cake. I wanted to bring you some.” He cheerfully held it out towards me. “She put in a few sandwiches too, for my newest friend.”
My jaw was on the ground as I sat up and took the container from his hands.
“Do you even like cake? And sandwiches? I don’t know… I hope you do. I mean, it’s fine if you don’t; I’m not saying you have to –”
“Shut up,” I whispered, opening the lunch box and pulling out a sandwich. As I took a bite of that heavenly goodness, I wondered what was wrong with everyone’s mothers that they were suddenly cooking food for a mass murderer. “I love it,” I told Aspen only to watch him give me a blinding smile.
We sat in silence for a some time, me devouring the delicious food his mom made, while he sat trying to rid the charcoal stains from his hands by wiping them on his cargo pants.
“I don’t have a thousand friends, Ridge,” he said at length, taking me by surprise. I looked at him but he sat with his eyes fixed at his hands trying to use his pants as a napkin. “I mean yes, I know a lot of people, and you can say they like me but…” He shrugged. “I mean, I like people – a lot. I like interacting with them, learning about their lives, their unique stories but… people are complicated, you know. They’re messy and temporary and, I don’t know. Relationships require work, and time – a lot of time – and I can’t do that, I guess. I’m always busy with… stuff.”
I nodded. I did not get all of it, but I did get it. “Yeah. And what’s the use anyway? You spend time and energy getting close to someone, but at the end of the day, they just… leave.”
I concluded to find Aspen starting at me. “Yeah,” he whispered. The slight breeze ruffled his hair and the sunlight made it shine like gold. I doubted even Storm could make his hair look this good, and I knew Aspen wasn’t even trying (Storm did though – that guy was all flair and dramatics, I swear).
“I really like your hair,” my mouth said on its own, without asking my brain for permission.
Aspen grinned and I swear he had the kind of smile that could melt glaciers, and make me forget I was a criminal. “So you said, the first time we met.”
I smiled despite myself. “The encounter I don’t remember.” I nodded. “I still feel bad about it –”
“Don’t. You were quite the charmer that night,” Aspen said with a smirk, then lied back on the grass, facing the sky.
I sat frozen to my place, a half-eaten sandwich in hand, staring at him.
He looked straight at me and he raised his brows mischievously like he knew something I didn’t. “Are you going to sit there staring at me, or are you gonna finish that amazing sandwich and join me in skygazing?”
A/n
Spoiler alert - you don't wanna miss the next chapter(s). :')