I could still smell the rain as I drove Lexi's car up the familiar path. The road has darkened in color and was still glistening from the storm.
There's something peaceful about the weather after a storm like this one, like it's taking a deep breath and calming the hell down. I could see the damp leaves from the passing trees dripping the runoff rain onto the grass below them.
The wind is cooler than before the storm, making me instinctively take a deep breath to take it in and hopefully calm my nerves.
When the path becomes mostly dirt, I know I am almost at my destination, and seeing a red BMW fills me with relief. He's here.
I slowly move Lexi's Nissan to park next to Aidens car as I spot him sitting on the hood and looking out at the view, his face emotionless and hard.
The light is hitting his face perfectly, every curve of his face highlighted and carved out by the light. He looks just as angelic as he always does. No fair.
I put the car in park and open the door, but Aiden doesn't even look in my direction. I don't know if he hasn't noticed me or if he just doesn't care. I take the chance to analyze his deflated body, his arm loosely placed over one propped up knee. He looks... tired.
I take a deep breath and run my clammy hands down the rubber material of my raincoat before slowly making my way over to him. I jump slightly to reach the hood of the car and sit crisscrossed.
I don't say anything at first and just take the silence as a chance to look out at the view I had become obsessed with. The Hollywood sign was encompassed by whitish-gray clouds and I could see the faint rainbow on the horizon.
The best part of the storm is after it's over and a beautiful rainbow takes its place.
I smile at the blurred yet visible color as I remember Abuelita's words. I swear that woman was never wrong.
"Did you kiss him back?"
I flinch when I hear Aiden speak for the first time since I arrived and I snap my head toward him. He is still emotionless but I can see his jaw is tense. My breath hitches when I digest his words and my heart drops slightly... because I'm honestly not sure.
"I–I don't think so."
"You don't think so?" his voice is harsh as he looks at me angrily. Now that I can actually see him, I see everything he is thinking just by looking at his eyes. Anger, annoyance, and pain.
I bite my lower lip hard and shake my head, "No–no, I didn't. I was just... frozen," I mumble the last part, still debating if that's what happened. It's like the entire situation was a blur, a hazy mess of events that led me here.
"Why did he do it?" his voice cracks slightly and I feel my heart clench. I honestly didn't think he would be so bothered by this mistake, but I thought wrong.
"He was confused. He clarified that it was a mistake and it didn't mean anything," I reason with him, hoping he would calm down and not be angry with Luke. But from the look in his eyes, I don't think it worked.
"I just don't get it he knows–," he cuts himself off and takes a deep breath while looking up at the sky above us, "he knows we are... involved," he mumbles the ending of his statement and I can hear the slight distaste in his voice when he says it.
I feel my pulse starts to pick up hearing it and I worry he's regretting ever starting things up with me. I place a hand on his inked arm, hoping to make him feel more reassured about us.
"Grey, it didn't mean anything! You shouldn't worry about it. Let's just forget it ever happened and go back to–"
"I can't do this anymore, Torres."
It felt like someone slapped me in the face. And that bitch hurt.
My hand slowly slips off of him as he drops his head to lean against his knee and his eyes close in frustration.
I was right. He regrets it. I don't know why I'm starting to panic, but I feel like I'm losing everyone I care about. I can't lose him.
"Aiden, what are you saying?" I hear my voice crack and I cringe at how freaking weak I sound. How weak he makes me.
He lifts himself up again and rolls his lips into his mouth. He stays quiet for a few minutes, making me practically crap my pants in fear. Can he just fucking talk already?
I hear him exhale and see him shake his head to break himself out of his thoughts before looking at me, "I can't do this," he stops but I know there is more that he's scared to say. Taking another breath, he speaks up again, "I can't do this if it's not exclusive."
Okay... I did not expect that.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and my brows furrowed in confusion, "W-what?"
I can see him visibly gulp as he puts up a brave face, "I don't want to lose this, but I can't do it if it's not exclusive. It's driving me crazy," I see his composure break slightly by the end of his declaration.
Exclusive. Exclusive was pretty much dating and I still don't want that. It will only lead to more problems and I already have so much on my shoulder, I can't take this on too.
I scoff lightly, "Grey, I don't want to be in a relationship. I don't want the distractions and problems that go alon–"
"Who said anything about a relationship?" He cuts me off with a sharp look that makes me flinch. He seems... angry that I even assumed that he wanted to be with me like that, "I want everything to be exactly the same, but I don't want you to do it with anyone else."
"What about you? Can you just do whatever you want while I'm your freaking plaything on the side?" I feel myself getting heated as I think about him probably jumping from having sex with other girls to me while I'm stuck at his beck and call. No way in hell I'll let that happen.
I mean it's not like I have ever been seeing anyone else but I don't know if he has.
He gives me a hard look before answering, "Of course not. I wouldn't be with anyone else either."
Is it bad that I'm shocked?
I find it hard to believe that the Aiden Grey, known player of all women-kind, to give up having sex with other girls just to get me in bed. Deep down, I know there is more to this. There's more to the reason why 'it's driving him crazy' that we aren't exclusive.
But am I going to ignore that reason and pretend this is a golden opportunity to have this fine specimen all to myself? Hell yeah.
I slowly nod my head, "Fine. We are exclusively having sex with one another," I say in my professional voice as I stick out my hand for him to shake. He shifts his gaze to it and gives me a 'seriously?' look.
I raise my eyebrows to prove how serious I am and he just chuckles lightly before latching his hand with mine. It's really nice to see him smile again. It's only been like an hour, but still. I'm not used to serious Aiden.
I forcefully move our hands up and down while Aiden just laughs at me. I see him give me a mischievous look before yanking my hand forward, making me squeal as I instinctively move to straddle his waist.
I can't help erupting into stupid little girly giggles as I land on him and he moves one hand to my waist and the other pushes loose strands behind my ear like usual.
"So are we good now?" I say through my laughter, hoping that we can all move on from this situation peacefully.
He purses his lips, faking that he's thinking everything over in his head before letting out one of his dazzling smiles that I can never get enough of, "Only if you make out with me right here, right now," he states mischievously.
Now, this is a way better way to spend the day. Kissing this beautiful boy on the hood of his car with the view of the Hollywood sign.
Again.
❀❀❀
"Isn't it beautiful?" I whisper as I stare at the faint yet recognizable narrow strands of color that signify to the entirety of LA that the storm is over and normal life may resume again.
"Yeah," I hear Aiden mumble from above me as he continues to run his fingers through my hair. I've always loved it when he did that. It's so soothing and usually, it helps me fall asleep, but right now I'm really trying not to.
I shift slightly in my position with my head on his stomach as we continue to lay down on his hood. I'm honestly surprised we haven't damaged it yet from the number of times we have treated it like an actual bed.
"My Abuelita would always make sure that after every storm that scared me half to death, I would look for a rainbow to calm myself down," I say quietly with a smile. Aiden is silent above me as I start to laugh at the memories, "When there wasn't one... boy would I throw a tantrum."
I hear Aiden's soft, breathy chuckles above me, "I wouldn't expect anything else of you."
I scoff and lift myself up from his lap, turning slightly to face his amused expression, "Excuse me! What's that supposed to mean?" I feign hurt as I playfully hit his chest. I'm living for this lighthearted banter between us. It's such a nice difference from earlier today and talking to him like this just makes me happy.
"You're dramatic," he states matter-of-factly, trying to hold back a grin as he keeps his eyes locked with mine. My jaw drops at his absurd accusation and his eyes shift to my lips, "You better close that mouth before I get the wrong idea, Torres."
My eyes widen as I quickly snap my mouth shut and hold back a smile. Pervert.
Deciding to ignore his comment, I give him a pointed look and say, "I am not dramatic."
He raises an eyebrow and scoffs, "When the lights turned off today, you screamed fucking bloody murder and said we were all going to die."
Shoot, I forgot about that.
I scrunch my nose in annoyance and lay my head back on his stomach, "Whatever," I mumble angrily. What does he know anyway!?
"Aw, don't be mad at me!" he chuckles as his fingers return to running through my hair.
"Don't be mad at Luke," I blurt out before thinking. He stops laughing and removes his fingers from my hair. Fuck, I ruined the moment with my big mouth.
I just don't want their friendship to take a hit because of one little stupid kiss.
"It's not that simple," I hear the strain on his voice. He's pissed at Luke and I hate it. I lift myself from him once again to look into his sad eyes.
"Yes, it is!" I beg.
He shakes his head, "He kissed you, Torres. Which means he's into you and I can't ign–"
"But you have to! He said it was a mistake and I believe him. Please," I forcefully grab his cheeks, feeling his slight stubble under my palms. I caress his cheekbones and he leans into my touch, taking a deep breath like usual.
"Fine. I'll get over it." Honestly, I'll take that. I smile at that and reward him with a passionate kiss, which he gladly returns. When I back away from him, his eyes are still closed like he's in a daze and I smile. I like having that effect on him.
Opening his breath-taking eyes, he chuckles, "If you keep kissing me like that, I'll do whatever you want," his voice is husky now as his eyes continuously shift between mine and my lips.
I decide that I have to show him who's boss and he can't always get what he wants when he wants it, so I pull back with a teasing look and lay back down on him. I hear him groan in frustration above me and I giggle before a comfortable silence overtakes us.
I felt at peace at this moment. Probably the most peace I've experienced in weeks. It's amazing, like I'm missing the heaviness that has made a home on my chest. I wanna feel like this forever.
"Can I ask you something?" I hear Aiden whisper softly. Oh, God. I really hope it's something dumb like 'what's your favorite pizza topping?' or 'Team Jacob or Team Edward?', something that won't ruin my good mood.
I nod my head instead of answering, but he gets the message. "Did you ever think about switching to the UCLA music program?"
Not something dumb, I guess.
My eyes widen at his questions before my brows furrow in confusion, "Um, What?" I let out a scoff of disbelief. There is no world where I could switch from a Pre-med program to Music. There is no world where I would throw away every promise I have made and disappoint every person I know.
"I just think you're so talented," he starts, stressing the word 'talent' to try to make me understand, "You were born to play music, so why don't you?" his voice gets louder as his statement grows and I feel myself getting bothered.
"Some of us can't afford to just do whatever we want. Some of us have people to take care of and we can't afford to be selfish," I say harshly, somewhat knowing part of my statement was implicitly offending his wealthier-self.
"You mean people like me?"
"Well, if the shoe fits," I throw back at him, lifting myself from the hood and jumping onto the ground with my scratched up rain boots.
"It's not selfish to do what makes you happy, Torres," he raises his voice a couple of octaves and I see him wave his arms for dramatic effect.
I roll my eyes at him and cross my arms against my chest, "You don't get it. I'll be giving up a secure future. I would be giving up the opportunity to take care of my family–"
"You can take care of them with the millions you'll make the second people hear you sing!!"
I scoff at him and shake my head. Don't get me wrong, I love the compliments he gives me on my singing, it's flattering, but there are people who are on a whole other level than me. People who have had singing lessons since they were children. People who have worked for this their whole lives.
There isn't a world where I get that lucky.
"You told me you were ready to start fighting for what you want," he whispers, bringing my thoughts back to our conversation at Abuelita's funeral. He's right.
I did say I wanted to fight, but now I'm thinking clearly.
"I just can't do it," I whisper back as I look at him with sadness. I have battled with this my whole life and I always come back to the same conclusion. Music can stay a hobby, but it can't be my life.
He stays quiet for a second as he looks at me from the hood of his car, "It's what she always wanted for you."
He doesn't even need to say Abuelita for me to already know right away. What sucks is that he's not wrong: She did want that for me. She wanted me to play music. She was really the only one who ever made me believe for longer than a second that I could do this. That I could have a career as a musician, as a singer.
But I know that was just wishful thinking from a hopeful Abuelita and nothing more.
"Can we drop this, please?" I walk closer to him with my arms still crossed, "We were finally having a good time," I whine loudly as I wrap my arms around his neck and his instinctively encompass my waist, pulling me closer to him, "Can we not fight."
He sighs before pushing some hair behind my ear that was close to falling in my eye, dragging his thumb down my cheek and to my chin, "Okay," I sigh in relief before leaning in to get a taste of him, but he backs up, "But promise me you'll think about it?" he pouts his lips and I can't help the giggles from coming out.
This boy just won't give up.
"I promise," I whisper, satisfying him enough to grin at me beautifully, "Now please make out with me?" I give him my own puppy dog face and he chuckles before staring at my lips.
"Don't have to ask me twice, Torres."
Here is chapter THIRTY-SEVEN of "Because Of You"!!!
So... now they are exclusive... this is sounding a lot like a relationship Hmmm...
Why do you think they don't want the label? Why do you think Mari still fears it?
VOTE AND COMMENT reactions, predictions, questions, anything! I love to read them! Also, sadly we are not at the top in romance anymore... *tears* but I hope the day will come when we go back up again!! :)
Also, people have been coming up with ship names and I need to know what y'all think! My favorites include: Torrey (Torres + Grey), Aidriana ( Aiden + Mariana), Lexson (Lexi + Mason).
Thanks to everyone who helped! Let me know which you all like the most!!
Love all of you so much and I'm so grateful you are giving my story a chance! There is still LOTS come to go!!
Be back tomorrow with more, get EXCITED!!
A million thanks,
Leticia ❀