Desiring You

Chapter 32

Miley

The pants fell from my hand as I flinched hearing the knock on the door. Before I could yell to wait, he peeped his head in my room after opening the door. The silence was disturbing while I was froze in the middle of picking up the pants from the floor and his eyes were froze on my body.

Coming out of the haze of awkwardness I picked up the pants and covered my legs which only had a pale blue underwear on.

"I am so sorry, I didn't know you were changing. I thought you were thinking about some weird things and I just opened the door. It's okay though, there is nothing I haven't seen" he blurted everything without giving it a thought. Realising the words that came from his mouth he corrected, "I mean... Nothing... I am sorry."

Shutting the door, I finally slipped the pants and made my way to the door. My hand rested on the doorknob but didn't twist it to open it. I was embarrassed to go out but with that I was slightly amused by his reaction. It was comical to see him nervous, if it was some other situation, I would have laughed.

Finally, opening the door I was met with a bone crushing hug with some 'I miss you' and 'I am not leaving you'.

Releasing from the tight hug, Cole looked at me delightfully. Jessica's words came back in my mind and I felt emotional. Emotions full of gratefulness, connection, and attachment. With teary eyes, I told him how much I missed him too.

For an hour, we all decided the best places for the plants and I also noticed Aiden looking at his cactus for minutes. It was more like staring at the cactus or appreciating its cuteness. I knew for sure that Aiden was obsessed with the cactus the moment he laid his eyes on it.

Walking to his side, I looked at his expressions carefully. I concluded that he was thinking something deeply. After he looked up and turned to me, he proved my thoughts true when he grinned.

"Want to hear something amazing?" He said with a hint of proud held in his voice.

He replied when I nodded and said "you and this cactus are very similar. This cactus even grows in the presence of tiny amount of water and bears abundant sunlight but still looks so cute. And you my beautiful, just like this cactus you turned out so beautiful even after a small amount of support." His eyes wandered on my face stopping on my lips and then he spoke again, "I think there's one more thing which is common between you and this cactus. You both are so cute and beautiful but doesn't let me come closer to you."

I was hesitant to say another word. I wanted to speak but nothing came out of my mouth, like words were foreign to my throat.

Intruding the moment Cole stepped between us. I took some steps back to provide more space for all of us.
Cole's eyes moved from me to the cactus and then to Aiden.

"Am I missing something?" He asked, frowning in confusion while Aiden was busy shooting glares at him which he didn't catch.

"No" he grumbled and picked the cactus and disappeared in his room.

"What happened to him?" Cole turned to me and I shrugged my shoulders in confusion.

I walked to pick up the jade plant and placed it on the coffee table. I heard the movement on the couch to find Cole sprawled on it complaining about Aiden making him do all the work.

I took a seat next to Cole, burying a pillow between my hands which Aiden taught me for coping up with my stress and intrusive thoughts. He told me to squeeze the life out of these whenever I found myself stressed. It sometimes worked successfully while sometimes I chickened and avoided him and the thoughts by hiding in my room under the darkness of my blanket.
I also remembered when one day Aiden told me to punch his face whenever I  got angry due to my mood swings on which I laughed on his proposal making him smile too. I never found out whether he was serious or joking. It was most probably a joke but with Aiden I couldn't tell.

I heard Cole's phone buzzing when he laughed at a text he got.
"You should have looked at Zayn's face earlier when he was talking about the finals" Cole laughed again at the memory before continuing, "he isn't hooking up with girls nowadays which is a big deal for him. He is really serious about the finals."

He laughed again at the thought and showed me the text Zayn sent him. Reading the text I laughed which he knew was fake and shoved his phone in his pocket.

"You know Sam and Mia also miss you but they are pretty occupied by the finals. They aren't smart like me, you know. Also one day Mia was yelling like crazy when you didn't pick her call for the seventh time. Or I guess she was on her woman's day" he said finger quoting the woman's day.

My eyes landed at the notebook lying on the table beside the Jade plant I just placed. It was the notebook where Aiden wrote our schedule. I mentally mocked myself for being a trouble for him. The fear buried deep in my heart ignited a little. The fear that was unknown to everyone besides me, the fear of Aiden turning his back on me just like my da-

"Are you listening?" Cole's hand interrupted my trail of thoughts while I nodded in response to him.

My eyes spotted Aiden whose back was leaning on the kitchen counter looking at my every move attentively.

His legs started moving towards me and stopped few steps ahead of me.

"Let's play some video games" he said.

"Even though I have to study but one hour won't turn me into a genius" Cole said raising up and pulling me to stand me on my feet too.

The next hour was spent by me trying to figure out the buttons, while Cole yelling at Aiden for not letting him kill me and Aiden laughing when I clicked the wrong button and instead of shooting my character was squatting.

After Cole left, Aiden and I decided to cook Mac n Cheese for dinner. While cooking Aiden told me about our schedule tomorrow and how he was agitated about the exams.

This time I wasn't lost in my thoughts, I was listening to everything he was saying and nodding. I was even answering the questions he was asking me which caught him off guard but he concealed his expressions with a smile on his face. 

"Miley?" He asked placing the plates on the table and pulling a chair for me to sit on.

I hummed in response and he asked, "will you be able to stay alone in the house for three hours while I will be away attending the exam?"

I nodded silently, chewing my food as an excuse for my silence.

"You can also stay with Jessi-" before he could complete the sentence I refused immediately.

I didn't want to bother her. The reason I left her house was because of her husband. He never liked me living in their house invading their privacy. I knew he always complaint Jessica about and told her to ask me leave but she never did. So, I decided to leave on my own making an excuse that I wanted to live alone.

"I'll manage, it's only three hours" I said taking another bite.

"I'll give you tasks and you'll have to complete those tasks. If you fail to do so, I'll not talk to you" he said imitating like a child.

I smiled and nodded.