A Special Kind of Perfect

CHAPTER 5

"Um...hello, I'm Peyton, happy to meet you at last. Alasdair told me I can come to visit, but I can leave if you don't feel comfortable around me. I totally understand, and..." They left the sentence unfinished, getting themselves lost in the other one's stunning, sapphire-blue eyes.

"Hi, I'm Ezra, please excuse my lack of manners, happy to finally meet you in person." He took Peyton's extended hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, enjoying the softness of the skin against his own. Looking at the other one's lips, Ezra wondered how it would feel to kiss them, the thought making him blush.

"Hey, you guys, don't tell me you are still in the doorway, staring at each other! Move your skinny asses in here. You won't believe what's in this package!"

"That one may be a pest sometimes, but in this case, he's right. Again, sorry for being so bad mannered, usually I'm not like that. Please, come inside." Ezra bowed a little, gesturing to the entryway. "Can I help you with anything?"

"What?" Peyton blinked a few times to convince themselves the teen in front of them was real and not a product of their imagination. "Sorry, that was rude. No, thank you. I know the way." Giving Ezra a sweet, shy smile, they headed to the living room, followed by the older kid.

"The two of you took your sweet time. If I wouldn't know better, I'd say you are courting each other. Here, take a look." With shaky hands, Alasdair opened the box, which was filled with medicine books.

"Holy Moly, isn't this the almanac you told me about, the one Leon didn't have enough money to pay for, and when he went back to the library, it was already sold? And you showed that one to me, saying you would love it as Christmas present." Peyton spoke in an enthusiastic voice, their light-green eyes shining with excitement. "Boy, I'm so happy for you." They went to Alasdair, hugging and congratulating him.

While Peyton expressed the sincere, deep affection they had for the redhead, Ezra carefully examined the stack of books, then when the two friends disentangled from the embrace, cleared his throat. "Whoever sent you the books is either very sorry for how they treated you or has deep feelings for you."

Alasdair ignored Ezra's comment and continued to get the books out of the box, one by one, curiosity, excitement and happiness mixing in his eyes. "Guys, look at this!" With shaky hands, he took a rectangular piece of paper from the bottom of the box, reading the words written in cursive letters. "To my little healer. A. That's strange, I don't know anyone whose first name starts with A..."

"There is Paul, his last name is Anderson, but he's definitely not capable of something like this. In the almost four months since you have been together, he hasn't bought you a flower or a candy bar, let alone spending so much money on medicine books. Plus, the guy has the IQ level of a rock." As Peyton spoke, their body went rigid, eyes veiled with sadness.

"Of course, it's him, who else?" Alasdair's voice, although happy, had something forced, unnatural in it. He turned to his best friend, failing to notice the expression on their face. "I've come to know him very well over these past few months. He has a side no one knows about. It's me who screws things over."

"Look, I don't know this Paul guy, but whoever did this is a mature, sensible person, with a level of education much above that of a high school kid, who knows your preferences and has a very good financial situation."

Alasdair grumbled something about Peyton stealing Ezra and the two siding against him, but his little, generous and kind heart danced with joy seeing how well his only friends were getting along. From the moment Ezra told him he was ready to meet new people, Alasdair secretly hoped the older teen and his best friend would become a couple, or at least, very close friends.