Unintentionally Falling

chapter twenty-three

Iris

That night where Aaron told me why he likes me so much as a person surprised me. Maybe it was because people usually only like me for two reasons. How I look or who I'm friends with. When he mentioned that I make him feel alive, I froze.

When was the last time a guy ever mentioned something about me other than my body? A fucking long time. That small thing he told me was something I know I'd remember even years from now.

It was one of those sentences that no matter how much time passes you'll always think of it, cherish it, remind yourself of it. It was one of those kinds of talks. No matter what happens between you and them, you'll hold it close yourself, relishing in the way it made you feel still makes you feel.

And that scares me.

The attachment to someone, or in this case someone's words. I don't want that. I can't have that.

Being tied to someone, thinking about what they say for a long time, wondering about what they're doing, laughing at the little things they do, having the desire to know things about them, getting upset when they disappoint you.

Or leave you.

That's all too fucking much for me.

Those are the thoughts I'm thinking early in the morning while I stare up at the ceiling in awe. Aaron's arms are wrapped around my waist, holding me close to him. His head is nuzzling into my neck as he sleeps. I like the way his fingers cling onto me. I can feel his chest raise up and slowly fall back down. His presence is warm and comforting. Unlike my thoughts.

He smells so good, clean like detergent and cologne. The cologne is that kind of expensive shit that smells like heaven. I watch how his eyelashes slightly flutter while he sleeps. I study the perfectly straight slope of his nope and the fullness of his lips. Fucking hell, he's too gorgeous for his own good.

How the fuck did my outburst because of Sienna lead me into Aaron's bed?

Her words still ring in my head about Evelyn. I hate that she said I'm like her, I don't want to be anything like my mother. I hate her, I hate that I was even grouped together with her. That fucking pisses me off.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Aaron's head slightly stirred, nuzzling closer into my neck. His breath fans into the side of my neck, causing me to calm my previous fast-paced thoughts.

I'm fine right now, I'm not attached. Nor do I have a romantic relationship. Aaron's a close friend of mine, close friends sometimes grow apart but I hope we don't.

Aaron

My eyes flutter open at the response of Iris slightly moving her arm to scratch her back. My eyes slightly fall open and when they do the first thing I see is a neck, a very pretty one at that.

The sweet scent of fruity shampoo, coconuts and strawberries mixed into one hits me, the scent I'm close to basically memorizing. My eyes were trying to readjust slowly, but at the realization, they snapped open quicker than Usain Bolt running a hundred-meter dash.

I got up quicker than ever realizing that my arms were attached to Iris. I slept with her in my bed. My hands go up into the air like I've just been caught doing something illegal. A warmness hits my cheeks, while I observe her laying there with an amused smile on her face.

"Geez, Aaron. If you hate me that much just tell me." She chuckles, rubbing her eyes. I don't know if I just woke her up from my antics, or if she was awake before. All I knew was that I was up and arms with her.