Dissipate

“See you.”

We went on our separate ways. As I walked to the apartment, I thought about Aiden. After working with him and getting to know him more, I was convinced we were only friends even though I was beginning to feel more. There hadn’t been another incident since the one in the hallway after I had gotten the job at the paper. After that, we’d never talked about it and I was too much of a coward to ask, if the truth be known. Rejection from Aiden would be hard and I saw the beautiful women who flirted with him. I didn’t hold a candle to them. It sounded self-deprecating, but I was a simple girl.

As the days ticked by, my thoughts of Matthew lessened which made me feel like a terrible friend. I missed him. My heart hurt not knowing what he was doing. Hopefully, he was happy. He had truly been my best friend, but the connection hadn’t been as strong as it was when I was with Aiden which surprised me. The words from mom about Matthew potentially not being the one for me came to mind. I still tried to get my head wrapped around it all.

Walking into my apartment, I sat my bag and the piece of paper with Trent’s number on the counter. No work, no more school and no more having to deal with anyone. This was going to be a perfect weekend.

Fixing a bowl of cereal, I took a seat at the counter and ate. Tasha’s comment today had caused hope to blossom within me. Aiden has a thing for me? Stacy had believed so and apparently now Tasha did too. Countless nights, I had dreamt about our almost kiss, turning into the real thing. I needed to stop.

A knock sounded at the door. “Kenzie, it’s Aiden.”

“Coming.” I had thought I wouldn’t see him again until Monday. This was a pleasant surprise.

I opened the door. Aiden was in my favorite pair of jeans and a green T-shirt with his dark disheveled hair. “Hey. I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

My pleased tone had Aiden’s eyes lighting up. I loved alone time with Aiden. He was one of the only people, besides Brooklyn, that I felt most like myself with.

Walking in, I followed him into the living room. “Tasha gave me the afternoon off. Said she saw you heading home. I figured we could watch a movie together.” He took out a DVD from the back waistband of his pants. “You said you had never seen The Hangover. I’m righting a terrible wrong.”

Getting to spend all afternoon near Aiden was going to be the highlight of my day. A fluttering feeling bloomed in my stomach, but I tried to keep the conversation light. “I think you had about ten movies on the list I had to watch.”

Popping the DVD in the player, Aiden glanced back. “Then, we’ll have to keep repeating this until we watch them all.”

“Sounds like fun to me. I’ll hold you to it.”

Sitting on the couch, Aiden took his normal spot beside me. Lately, this was how we always sat when he came over. Normally, it was me on one end, Brooklyn on the other, and Aiden in the middle. Today, he sat closer to me than normal and the side of my body relished the occasional brush it felt as he moved.

The Hangover had my stomach cramping from laughing so hard at the actions alone. A lot of it, I didn’t get, but it was still funny seeing the antics. Trying to recover after the outtakes at the end, I laid my head back, coming in contact with Aiden’s arm. He had slipped it behind me about midway through and I liked it there. A warmth zinged between the points of contacts. I wanted to move in closer to feel more of Aiden. The thought shocked me with how much Aiden was affecting me. Turning my head, we were eye to eye.

“Thanks for the laughs this afternoon, Aiden. It was the perfect end to the week.”

Bumping his knee to mine, Aiden asked, “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

“I’m probably going to hang here. You know how exciting I am.”

He bumped my knee again nonchalantly. “What would you think about going to the Sigma Chi party tomorrow?”

Brooklyn had been trying to talk me into going to a party for awhile. They seemed intriguing, but from what I could tell numerous people attended them. I had heard stories about some of the happenings that transpired.

The arm that was dripped across my back came to my shoulder. I was ultra-aware of everywhere we were touching. “You know you want to come.”

I wanted to go with Aiden.

“I don’t know, Aiden. I don’t want to cramp your style. I’m not your typical party-goer.”

The door opened and Brooklyn came in. I moved to put a little space between us, but I was on the end of the couch so there wasn’t much space.

“Hey, guys. I’m so glad it’s the weekend. I’ve got to get ready. Mike will be here in an hour. He’s taking me to the movies tonight. What are you two doing tonight?”

Aiden acted like it was normal for us to be intertwined like this and it didn’t seem to faze Brooklyn as she looked on. Giving a crooked grin, Aiden addressed his sister. “I’m trying to talk Kenzie into coming to the party with me tomorrow at the house.”

Brooklyn’s eyes lit up as she took off her lightweight black jacket. “Kenzie, you have to go! We’ll have so much fun.”

Looking between brother and sister, they deployed their pitiful faces that had

to have been rehearsed through the years. “You guys are terrible and don’t fight fair.”

A victory grin spread across Aiden’s face and his blue eyes danced with excitement. “So you’ll come?”