Maybe she was Cayden’s mother?
I hadn’t really put two and two together on that. If Aiden had a child, there also had to be a mother in the picture somewhere. Where was she? I could only assume the child was with her, but I couldn’t ask him about that. If I did, he’d know what I’d been doing.
“I’m going to clean up,” Aiden announced suddenly. He picked up our dishes and took them to the sink.
“Do you want some help?” I asked.
“No, that’s okay—it’s not much. Do you want to watch a movie or something?”
“That would be good.”
“There are a bunch of them in one of the boxes on the couch,” he said. “Pick one.”
I opened up the first box and found a collection of Blu-ray disks. Action and horror movies seemed to be Aiden’s preference, and I was good with that. He had Fifth Element, one of my favorites. I hadn’t watched it for a long time, so I pulled it from the box and sat it on top of the Blu-ray player. I thought about going ahead and loading it so it would be ready, but something about messing with a man’s electronics felt taboo to me.
Aiden started the movie, gathered a couple of pillows from the bedroom, and we sat in front of the couch with the pillows propped behind us. Aiden tossed his arm on the seat cushions of the couch, right behind my shoulders. We had both seen Fifth Element enough times to be able to recite our favorite parts, and halfway through it, we were laughing hysterically.
“Bada boom!” Aiden called out as he tossed one of the pillows at me.
I giggled and threw it back.
“Boom!” I yelled out. “Big boom!”
“Multipass!” he cried as he threw it back, hitting me right in the face.
I toppled over, laughing and grabbing for the pillow. The next thing I knew, Aiden was scrambling over my legs, trying to reach the pillow first. I grabbed on and held tight, not wanting to relinquish my only weapon.
We struggled, but I was no match for him. All of a sudden, he was on top of me, and I was pinned to the floor by his body. He grabbed the pillow and dropped it on my head a couple of times before pulling it back and looking down at me as we both caught our breath.
For a moment, there was nothing else in the room—no rain pattering on the roof, no movie sounds in the background, not even any air in the room around us. It was just Aiden’s body pressed on top of mine and the beating of our hearts.
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and he moistened his lips with his tongue. I couldn’t breathe—partially because he was lying on my diaphragm but mostly in anticipation. I’d been here for days, and nothing had happened aside from unintentional morning wood.
I looked up, just waiting. Aiden kept his eyes on mine but didn’t move. I felt my thighs tense and wondered if he could feel it, too. My heart was beating so fast, he had to be able to hear it, but he stayed still—his gaze dancing from my eyes to my lips.
He smiled that big, boyish grin that lit up his greenish-brown eyes.
“Bada big boom,” he said before rolling off of me.
I sat up, flushed and flustered. I wasn’t sure what had just happened.
Aiden fixed the pillows at the base of the couch and leaned back against them. I scooted over next to him, and we watched the rest of the movie in near silence. I glanced at him a few times, but he kept his eyes on the television.
He didn’t even put his arm back around me.
What went wrong? I was sure he was about to kiss me, but something stopped him. Had I done something to tick him off? Did I have stew-breath? Had he somehow figured out that I’d gone poking my nose where it didn’t belong?
The movie ended. Aiden suggested watching another one, and I agreed with whatever he picked out without really hearing the title right before excusing myself to the bathroom. I nearly raced down the hall, shut and locked the door behind me, and stared at my reflection.
And with that, I started to fall apart.
TEN
“This is not going well,” I whispered to myself.
I couldn’t help wondering if Aiden had just decided he wasn’t interested in me and was now just being polite as he waited for the week to end so he could send me home. I was keeping him from work—whatever the hell that was—and probably cramping his style with my goodie-two-shoes ways. I’d enjoyed our activities together but was still far from being the adventurous person Aiden obviously was.
I had never really even smoked weed—only tried to inhale once—let alone done any other illicit drugs. On the other hand, he was probably selling to all the college students in the tri-county area.