Sickening Desire

7. Sick

(Aspen)

(A few hours later)

I'm currently sobbing in Brandon's arms in my bed while rambling. School finished an hour ago and I've been holding back tears the entire fucking day. "Shhh, Aspen calm down it's okay. Just tell me what happened." He asks softly. I take a deep breath in attempt to collect myself and pull away from his embrace enough to meet his concerned eyes.

"This boy in one of my classes today mentioned my hair, and he asked me who I dyed it for. And I saw his face in my mind. It was like I could hear his laugh again but then I remembered I was alone and I just... I felt like I was going to die." I press the back of my hand up to my mouth to muffle a cry but it doesn't work, "I miss him so much Bran." I start sobbing uncontrollably once again and Brandon's eyes flood with understanding as he pulls me back into his arms.

His hand is rubbing my back in attempt to comfort me, "I know Aspen. I know how much you miss him." He whispers into my hair.

(1 week later)

I walk into my physics class and disappointment fills my body when I see Theo already sitting in his seat. He's been off sick for the last two days so I was hoping I'd get lucky again. I walk over and sit down in my seat next to him just as he starts to cough violently. Gross. He looks almost green and the dark circles under his eyes tell me he hasn't slept. Why would he even come in if he's still sick? Dumbass.

I roll my eyes which seems to get his attention, "I'm sorry is me dying over here bothering you your highness?" "No but can you die quieter and faster. Your distracting me from learning" I reply with a straight face. He goes to say something else but he gags and covers his mouth then swallows what I can only assume to be puke. At least he's shutting the hell up now.

We're only fifteen minutes into the class when Theo turn to me with wide eyes "I think I'm gonna throw up." His voice is laced with so much worry that I hold back a laugh and keep a straight face, "congrats."

He basically jumps up out of his seat and runs out the door. I presume he's heading for the bathroom. I go to continue writing my notes but my professor clears her throat until my gaze snaps up to meet hers, "please miss Cullen go and make sure mr Hughes is alright." she says sternly and impatiently. Wanting to get back to her teaching. "But-" "Now." She snaps, cutting of my protests. Bitch. I keep my mouth shut to stop me getting in to trouble and walk out of the classroom. I carry on walking down the empty halls until I'm standing outside the boys bathroom. I lean against the wall where I can hear gagging and the vile sounds of puke. Ew fucking ew.

Nasty.

I remain where I am until Theo finally comes out and stands in front of me with a confused look on his face. "Why are you here?"
"Take a guess smartass I'm not here because I'm worried about you." I say unimpressed.
He rolls his eyes and I walk with him back to our classroom but before we walk through the door o hear him mumble something but I don't make it out. "What?" I ask when I turn my head to look at him. "I said I'm sorry for last week. About your hair." "Yeah whatever." I say while walking back into the room with him right behind me. We walk to our seats and reclaim them with our asses.

Sadly I don't even pay attention to the rest of what the professor says because I'm zoning out and marvelling over the fact that the Theo Hughes actually apologised to me. Like, with actual words. Crazy day.

(A few hours later)

"Bran you here?" I shout as soon as I walk through the apartment. I hear a faint "yeah" from his bedroom and when I walk over to the fridge to look for something to eat I see Brandon in jeans and a dress shirt. He smells amazing. I make an "oooo" sound when he walks past me which makes his cheeks slightly tint red and smile at me gratefully.

"Where you going?" I ask him. "Meeting miles remember." He replies with a 'duh' tone. Oh yeah I forgot that he told me that this morning. Shit come on Aspen get it together. I nod and go back to the task I was just doing, finding some sucking food because I'm starving. "Are you okay?" He asks me with a sceptical tone. I peer up at him, sadly moving my gaze away from the fridge to see his slightly concerned eyes. "Yeah why wouldn't I be?" I reply with my brows pulled in together. He shrugs, "I don't know. You seem off lately."

I sigh and smile at him, happy for his care for me. "I'm fine it's just the nightmares lately have been getting a lot and this stupid boy in my class keeps appearing everywhere and it's pissing me off." I ramble. "What boy?" He asks. "Theo. Theo Hughes." I reply. He nods slowly as he remembers who he is and makes an "ohhh" sound. I shut the fridge with an exhausted huff. "We don't have any food." I tell him as he's walking towards the front door, ready to see professor Carson- I mean Miles. "Oh yeah we gotta go shopping we don't have shit." I faintly hear him.

"I'll just go do some now, I need food I can't wait any longer." I say to him. "Okay bye love you!" He says before walking out the door excitedly. "Bye!" I shout even though he most likely can't even hear me anymore. I huff once more and grab some money from our shared stash. We use the stash for anything to do the the apartment or food or anything we need to to be honest. It's a great method. I put my phone in my back pocket and lock the apartment door behind me. I walk across campus and see the little store just to the right of the school and decide to just go in there.

Mistake. The place is packed with students who've just finished their classes and the majority of the popular pricks from the hangout spot including Theo. He looks slightly better now than he did a few hours ago in class. Still ugly though. Him and his group are all starring at the beer.

I walk past them and silently pray that none of them see me. I'm wearing a black cami bodysuit with baggy, green camouflage trousers and my blue hair is in a messy bun at the nape of my neck with a few loose strands framing my face. Sadly my prayer is not heard because as I'm walking past the group I hear my name being called by Kyle. Kill me now. I turn around and face the whole group whose attention is now fully on me. Fuck my life.

"Yeah?" I ask unimpressed and bored of this conversation already. "I never saw you at my party the other night." He says. "Well I was there so look harder next time." I answer him, I turn around and walk into the next isle. I grabbed a basket when I was walking in so I start placing the things I need in.

Im on the last isle now and I go to pay when I see Chase standing by himself looking at things in the same isle as me. I walk over to him, "Hey Chase" he looks up at me and smiles but it's a weak smile, "yeah hey." My brows pull in, "You mad at me?" I predicted he'd be pissed at me when I never called him. Im pretty sure the note with his phone number on is still screwed up in my jacket pocket at home. Before he can confirm or deny how he feels I quickly add, "I should've told you that I'm not looking for anything serious, I don't want a relationship or anything like that. Sorry if I made you feel some time of way." "Don't worry about it." He says with a smile but it drops when he looks at something behind be and walks away with a tight, clenched jaw.

"Ouch smurfette, I could hear his little heart break from here."

Theo.