Growing Up and Other Tall Tales

Chapter 20

"Let me try something," he says

I lift my head up suspiciously from the paper and squint blearily at him.

"Last time someone said that to me, it involved underwear, sunglasses and too much Nick,"

Aiden sighs and drops the hand he had been holding out expectantly in exasperation. And honestly, I don't really blame him considering how I had been letting him down big time with the grand total of five sums I had accomplished over the past hour.

I sigh and stretch my back hearing my bones painfully moan for bed, sleep, miles away from this paper.

"What?" I yawn and watch him with half lidded eyes as he picked up his ear phones and plugged them into my phone. He holds the keypad for the pin in front of me and I look at him suspiciously.

"Why? Are you hiding a body in here?" he asks, now equally suspicious of me

"My bank account's on it." I lie. "You can hack into it, or something."

"Ah yes. I, the multibillionaire, will launder money from a broke highschooler."

Dick, I think sharply and the faintly register that he had no comment for the hacking part.

"Fine. But don't judge my guilty pleasures." I warn leaning over to type the pin

"Like?"

I purse my lips, wondering why I care what he thinks of me. And in a false act of bravado to prove to myself that I don't care if he finds me uncool, I say. "Disney soundtracks."

Somehow, the way he holds back a smile makes my embarrassment worth it.

"Not Frozen." He looks at me pleadingly

"Not Frozen." I confirm firmly. There are lines I won't cross.

The smile he has been trying to hold back escapes him with a laugh. "Ah but not Mulan, Tangled—"

I kick him under the table. He barely flinches.

"There are people around and I have a reputation." I hiss

He bits down his lip as he scrolls through my playlist.

I watch his reactions carefully.

So why do you care so much?

None of your business, I snap

Dude, I'm your sub-conscious, it's the only business I have.

"Are you done?" Aiden's voice tears me out and I blink, a little dazed, before intelligently mumbling out:

"Huh?"

"Your internal dilemma," he deadpans resting his left cheek on his palm

"Ah," I laugh nervously and a little embarrassed, "Happens,"

"I bet," he says blankly and clicks his tongue before holding out his earphones.

I raise my eyebrows and he rolls his eyes (which is now how 80% of our conversations go, I be used to this by now).

He leans over the table to plug the speakers in my ears, my senses zero in the way his breath warms my skin.

Before I can linger on that for too long, he sits back down and looks down at the laptop he had bought in because clearly, he has more important things to do.

And I don't really blame him.

The next time I look at him is when I feel a gentle weight on my shoulder.

Turning around, I find my face in Aiden's blond locks. His hair smells like the rain. I blink startled and then the situation dawns in me with a soft realization of oh, he's asleep.

I peer over his head, craning my neck to see over his head and find that his eyes are definitely tired and definitely shut. I wonder when he slept last. But who am I to preach about healthy sleep schedules?

Tugging the ear phones out with the music still distinctly audible when I placed them on the coffee table, I shift a little to stretch my back hoping it wouldn't startle him awake. I shift his laptop still painfully bright and unhealthily warm away from him seeing how he had just fallen asleep while he was working. His hands still on the keyboard fall limp onto his lap. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. His head shifts complainingly at the movement.

What a douche.

I violently blow away a strand of his hair that's tickling the nape of my neck and turn back to my paper with a 6 foot something, sweater clad giant snoring on my shoulder when he mumbles something under his breath and shifts up.

Which isn't a good thing.

And I'm pulled in between being embarrassed and laughing because fuck, that tickles.

There are no divine harmonicas and angel choruses that are going to help me focus on fucking trigonometric identities now.

"Aiden," I murmur softly and he doesn't budge. I try to shift him up so that I can rest his head on the back of the couch. But the man doesn't fucking budge. What is in his food? He is a literal brick wall, both inside and out.

We learn something new every day.

In the end, I give up and let him just lie there. He'll get a serious neck pain when he works. Serves him right, selfish bastard.

I look skywards hoping I'd get some serious karma points for this. Since when did karmic points do anyone any bad?

Well kids, I'm glad you asked.