We Were A World Apart

Chapter Eight

Brie:

The Next Morning

The sun was pouring through the window, and Brie cracked open her eyes. Suddenly she shot up and looked around. How had she gotten back to her room? The events of the night slowly trickled in as she tried to put together what had happened. She had gone downstairs to watch a movie but must have fallen asleep. She vaguely remembered someone gently picking her up. She was still half asleep when they placed her in bed and pulled the covers around her.

Aidan had carried her back to bed! Her stomach flip-flopped as she replayed the memory in her mind. Eventually, she pulled herself out of bed and slowly got dressed. There was no way she could face him today. Not with the image of him carrying her to bed on her mind. Why hadn't he just left her there? Did it mean something?

She was about to text Sabrina about it when someone knocked on the door. She opened it slowly to reveal Sofia holding the phone out to her.

"Your mother is on the phone," Sofia whispered and handed the phone to Brie before quickly shutting the door.

"Hello?" she whispered into the receiver and was met with her mother's shrill voice.

"I'm so glad to finally get you on the phone! I just wanted to check in and make sure you are doing okay," her mother said but Brie found that hard to believe.

"I'm okay," she answered slowly, waiting for some sort of catch.

"Fantastic, because I need you to do something for me," her mother said, and Brie rolled her eyes. There it was.

"What do you want me to do?' Brie sighed into the phone.

"I need you to stay away from Aidan," she answered, and Brie's heart dropped to her stomach.

"I'm sorry? I thought you wanted him to like me?" she argued but her mother cut her off.

"That was before I talked to Mr. Bell. He is worried that you two are becoming too close. He was watching you at dinner and you seemed a little friendly," her mother accused.

"We were just dancing, which by the way, was something you wanted me to do," Brie pointed out and her mother sighed loudly on the other side of the phone.

"You don't honestly think he would like someone like you, right?" her mother asked, and Brie swallowed the lump forming in her throat.

"Of course not. I never said he did, and I don't like him anyway," she mumbled and kicked at the floor.

"Mr. Bell would be furious if anything was going on between you two. I can't blame him though. I can't imagine why he would ever want his son to date someone like you," her mother laughed, and before Brie could say anything else the line clicked off.

Of course, she knew Aidan would never see her that way. And she didn't want him to, right? She shook her head and forced the thoughts to dissipate. She could just avoid him until things settled down. As she opened her door to go downstairs, she was met with a pair of ocean-blue eyes.

"Hey, I have a few free hours today and I was wondering if you wanted to start on our English assignment?" Aidan asked and she noticed the tips of his ears had begun to turn pink. It was sort of cute. Wait, no it wasn't, she thought and internally cursed herself. What was she doing? She was supposed to be avoiding him.

But she had completely forgotten about the English project. Mr. Bell had made it clear that Aidan needed to up his English grade though and what better way to do that than a book report? In that case, she was only doing it because Mr. Bell had suggested it.

"That sounds great," she finally decided, and he gave her a small smile before walking into her room and making himself comfortable on the bed.

"What book do you want to read?" he asked as Brie settled herself at the desk and pulled open her laptop. She hadn't gotten that far yet.