Loving The Wallflower

Chapter Eight : Charmed

The bus came to a final stop and everyone slowly got off to get their bags from the compartment below. Aiden looked around and saw Farhan and Josephine making their way to the front.

He waved at them and they waved back before stealing a quick look at Astra who was laying her head on Aiden's shoulder comfortably.

Aiden realized he was still holding her hand all through the journey. He fell asleep not long after her. He didn't realize he had rested his head on hers as well.

Aiden patted Astra on the shoulder to try to wake her up.

"Astra? Hey, wake up. We're here."

Astra slowly opened her eyes and blinked because of the light inside the bus. It was night time already.

She lifted her head away from Aiden's shoulder and looked around. Everybody had to get off and they were the only two left.

She looked to her left to see Aiden's beautiful hazel eyes looking at her, as if he was waiting for her to give him a response.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I totally dozed off. The driver's driving skill was making me dizzy."

"No problem. Shall we get off now?"

Astra nodded, trying to stand up and noticed that Aiden was still holding her hand.

He looked down on their hands and quickly let go of hers.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hold your hand without any consent".

Astra shook her head, assuring him that it was fine and she was okay with it.

They both got off and took their bags before making their way towards the main hall. They parted ways after they reached the hall as the boys and girls were separated into two different sides of the hall.

Astra saw Skye and went to stand next to her.

"Hey." She greeted her roommate.

Skye turned around and put her arm around Astra's shoulder.

"Hi. How's your little snuggling session with Aiden?"

Astra was taken aback by her statement and backed away a bit to show Skye her raised eyebrows.

"It was not intentional. Besides, I wasn't snuggling. I was just....borrowing his shoulder for a short nap."

"Mhmmm...." Skye gave her a questioning look,accompanied with a small grin.

Astra gave up on entertaining the conversation any further and decided to drag Skye along to find their rooms.

Once the students are all settled down, an announcement was made through the speakers.

"Greetings. I hope you all have settled down and taken your own rooms. In an hour, dinner will be ready and all students and teachers are required to gather in the dining hall on the third floor. Thank you and see you all later."

Astra and Skye arrived at the dining hall earlier as there weren't that many students there yet. They took a searlt near the food station so that they could get into the line earlier to get food. Astra thought of that as such a great idea as her stomach was starting to rumble of hunger.

Not too long after that, Aiden and his roommates made their way into the dining hall.

Unconsciously, his eyes were searching for the area, for a certain curly black haired lady. His gaze stopped when he spotted Astra and Skye.

"Hey, let's go sit over there. We'll get to the food faster."

He led his group of friends to the seat and he greeted both Astra and Skye before taking his seat right next to Astra.

"Hey, you're early", he said as he gave both of them a smile.

Astra was reminded of the whole thing that happened in the bus and she was not sure what to say to Aiden. So all she did was smile and nod.

Fortunately for her, Skye took the lead to continue the conversation so Astra managed to stay silent. Aiden was quite confused by Astra's action. He thought they were good. He thought they were getting closer when they were on the bus.

Why does it look like she's avoiding any conversation with me? We're sitting right next to each other but she hasn't looked at me after I sat down.

Aiden tapped on Astra's thigh and she did not have other options but to give him her attention.

He moved closer to whisper to her.

"Hey, did I do something wrong? Why aren't you looking at me at all?"

Astra ended up whispering back to him as well. They didn't want to interrupt Skye's conversation with his group of friends.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I wasn't doing that though? I looked at you."

"You looked at me, once. After that you just ignored me."

Astra hesitated for a while before answering him.

"I wasn't. I'm looking at you even now."

Astra turned her head to face him, to prove to him that she was not ignoring him. And Aiden decided to turn his head to face her at that very same moment.

It felt like everything stopped at that moment for Astra. She was never this close to anyone, not even Darian.

She never realized how Aiden had this small mole on the right side of his eyebrow. She never realized how deep his brown eyes were. They were like ponds of chocolate, just staring at her and pulling her in.

She could not help but also notice the small strands of his natural black hair that was hidden beneath his dyed dark brown hair.

Astra pulled away first out of embarrassment, and Aiden did the same after her.

Neither of them said anything.

"See? I was definitely looking at you. I didn't ignore you, Aiden. I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. " Astra finally managed to say something first.

Aiden turned his head to her, and could not help but smile a bit. He felt a wave of relief hearing her saying that.

"You don't have to apologize. Maybe I overthink. I just don't want to change anything between us. I love us being friends, Astra. It pains me to think if I have hurt you somehow."

Astra was a bit taken aback by what Aiden said. His words were merely words, but they gave her warmth and comfort. For once, someone outside of her childhood gave her the assurance that they love being friends with her. Skye may have felt the same way, but it is Astra's first time hearing those feelings spoken directly towards her.

"Um, I like us being friends too. Thank you for your kind words, Aiden. I'm sorry if I made you think that way too. You have been nothing but a sweetheart towards me."

They both stayed silent while giving each other a reassuring smile. They were silent, but their eyes spoke more than that at that very moment. Somehow, Astra and Aiden did not feel any awkwardness at all. At that moment, they were comfortable with the silence.

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