Fire For You

6

Authors note:
This is a filler chapter so it's short.
I wanted to focus on their feelings a little bit before addressing the living situation and the kiss.

Enjoy! <3

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"What do you mean?"

"I meant, my parents are out of town for a while. It's the least that I can do. Plus that way you can tutor me too. So, it's a bonus for me." Paxton grinned.

Aleisha thought about it for a second.
The idea seemed absurd.
Completely out of the blue.

If somebody told her that she had a chance of staying with Paxton two months ago, she would have laughed and shrugged it off as the most ridiculous idea she had ever heard.

But now, although Aleisha's life was full of ups and downs, it was getting a tad bit interesting.

The truth was that she was obsessing over Paxton so much that now after Rhea's words, her obsession had disappeared.

Sure she was giddy about the kiss but she also felt alert.

What if he was using her?
I mean, she couldn't really rule out the possibility. Right?

Why else would he kiss her?

That seemed to be the only logical solution.

What should I do? Should I take up his offer and lie to mom about staying at Rhea's or just stay home alone.

Oh, for gods sake Aleisha, you know that you won't stay home all by yourself. You're too scared of ghosts. And monsters and all of that unrealistic stuff.

It was true.
Aleisha hated being alone more than anything in the world.
And with her friends hating on her and all the drama, she wouldn't even have anyone to call or  have come over if she were alone.

"Are you sure it's okay with you?" Aleisha asked Paxton once more for confirmation.

"No problem." Paxton smiled.

"I'll tell you what let's go over to your place and grab your stuff. You've had a long day anyway."

Paxtons sudden niceness was awfully weird to Aleisha. She never expected him to be this concerned about her.

Maybe he's just a nice guy.
Stop overthinking.

Or maybe he just wants to get in your pants.

Oh please, there are tons of beautiful girls who want to get with him.

If he wanted he could get any girl he desired.

Stop thinking so negative, Aleisha.He must have actually felt bad when he blew you off earlier.

Yes,that makes sense. That must definitely be the reason.

****

Paxton didn't understand Aleisha.
Any other girl who would have made out with him would usually be flirting with him or making their way to his house in a heartbeat.

Aleisha was different.

She looked like she didn't care.
This felt really absurd for Paxton.

She just proposed her feelings toward him and was now acting like he didn't exist.

Who does that?

Paxton looked over at Aleisha.
She looked confused. Like she was calculating something.

The same look she had when she was reading something to teach him.

She looked kind of cute.

Wait what?

Okay she wasn't exactly "beautiful " beautiful.
She was different beautiful.

The caring and sweet kind.
The taking care of you when you're sick kind.

The girlfriend type.
Something Paxton was unfamiliar with.

Ever since Paxtons sister was diagnosed with Downs syndrome, he kept a distance from people.

The same people who were laughing with Paxton would laugh at his sister when they came over.
That's when Paxton realised that his friends weren't real friends.

So he built a facade.
Pretended to like them and be like them.
But most importantly, he pretended that he belonged there when he knew that he just didn't.
He didn't like to get attached to anybody anymore.

It wasn't because he didn't have feelings.
It was because he didn't want feelings.

Paxton knew that his feelings for people were too strong and the best method to uninvolve himself in situations was to pretend he didn't have any feelings at all.

Derek was the only one who knew that.

Aleisha was checking something on her phone worried.

Paxton felt the sudden need to comfort her.
Poor girl must be shattered.

Publically humiliated in front of the whole school from her former "bestfriends" seemed too harsh.

It wasn't that he had feelings for her.

It was empathy.

He understood her.

"I'll tell you what let's go over to your place and grab your stuff. You've had a long day anyway."

***

"It's great to have someone love you, but it is profound to be understood."