All Along

chapter 17

"Hi Kate." I greeted her as soon as she opened the door.
"Hey honey. Come on in." She hugged me and closed the door behind me. I walked in the living room and saw Suzy and Amy watching the TV on the couch.
"Hey Kay. How are you?" Amy asked.
"Hey Amy. Hey Suz." I greeted them and Suzy waved at me.
"Come on join us." Amy said patting the seat beside her.
"Sorry I can't. Aaron will kill me."
"Oh. How sweet. Look how much she cares for him already." She teased me and I rolled my eyes. Amy has this stupid obsession with teasing me about Aaron.
She turned to her mother and said, "Mom won't Kay be perfect for your son? They will make a cute and perfect couple." I blushed at the remark and Kate laughed who was soon joined by Suzy.
"Go.. He is... Upstairs." She said in between the laugh.
Today was the last day for preparation. We have been studying together for almost two weeks. Most of the days Aaron would come to my house.
I was still red when I entered Aaron's room. He was sprawled on bed, deep in sleep. He looked so peaceful and calm. I felt a sudden urge to touch his face but I refrained myself from doing so. Amy's words rang in my ears and I smiled at the thought.
"Hey Aaron." I shook his arm lightly. He groaned.
"Aaron wake up." I shook his arm a little harder this time.
"Let me sleep." He said sleepily, his voice sounded sexy. I yanked the blanket off of him and he groaned again.
"What the hell." He was angry and I chuckled.
"Hey sleepyhead. Ready to study?"
He gave me an angry glare and I raised my eyebrows cockily at him.
"Huh. Fine." He sat up, rubbed his eyes, stretched his arms and got up.
"Let me freshen up."
"Okay. Be quick."
"I'm not like you. I'll be out in ten minutes." He teased and I rolled my eyes at him and muttered, "Whatever."
He chuckled and grabbed his jeans and went into the bathroom.
I sat on the bed and looked at the ceiling running my hand carelessly over my tattoo. I got up and walked to the window. I looked across and saw my empty bedroom. I turned my gaze towards the road and saw Amy getting in car with my brother. I knew something was spewing between the two.
I had nothing to do so I asked Aaron if I could use his laptop. He replied in affirmative. I searched www.quotev.com and read the new chapter of I'll be there for you that ThisIsMa23 had updated. I completed reading it and decided to watch a movie. I browsed through folders and saw one titled "Friends." I asked for Aaron's permission and he granted it. I opened it and there were pictures of us all; some taken on Sam's birthday that was last month and some of the beach. There was the picture of me, Aaron and Adelaide that Chaz had clicked. It was beautiful. I smiled seeing us all laughing in the picture. I scrolled down and saw a picture of me that was taken last year at Sam's
house. I was confused and curious why Aaron had it and how he got it since he was not here last year, let alone be at Sam's home. I was so engrossed in the thought that I didn't notice that Aaron had walked into the room.
"Kayla?" He called my name to grab my attention. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him. He was
shirtless and was standing across the window, sunlight directly hitting him. His chest was covered with water droplets, that was glistening in the sunlight, and his hair was dripping with water, sunlight giving it a different shade of brown. I was staring at him with wide eyes and mouth slightly ajar. He said something that I didn't hear.
"Hmm?" I said absent mindedly not removing my eyes from him.
"I said pass me the towel."
"Sorry. What? Oh towel. Where is it?" I said quickly recovering my senses. He chuckled. Without saying anything he walked towards me to grab the
towel that was behind me. In doing so his body came close to mine, almost hovering above me. I reflexively moved my body back a little bit. I looked at him and his eyes met mine. I hadn't noticed how close we were, our faces inches away from each other. He seemed to notice this too by
the change in his expression. We remained like that looking into each other's eyes. I could hear my heart
beating in my ears. It was fluttering like a bird. A drop from his hair fell on my cheek and tripped down to my
chin and his gaze followed the droplet's path. I became aware of his eyes on my face. He lifted his other hand from his side and wiped the droplet from my chin and I looked down at his chest. I shuddered at his touch that was soft and tender. I blushed a deep crimson red. I recovered my senses and quickly turned my face. He recovered too and stood straight immediately. He went to the mirror with towel in his hand. I was still red from the embarrassment. He was embarrassed too because he took more time than necessary to dry his hair. He put on a shirt and walked towards his bookcase.
"So tomorrow is the exam huh?" He asked trying to break the awkward silence in the room and I was glad he did that.
"Yeah." He looked at me and I blushed. My heart started to beat faster and I managed a little smile.
"We should get started." I suggested and he nodded. He took out his math book and sat across me. I didn't look at him and started reading the question. We completed two questions in silence only talking when we needed to ask something.
I suddenly remembered about the photograph and mustered the courage to look at him. He was concentrated
on the question written on his notebook.
"Aaron?"
"Yeah." He lifted his head and looked at me.
"Why do you have a picture of me that was taken a year ago?" He was shocked at first and blushed a little. He fluttered his eyes and then cleared his throat.
"Which... Which picture?" He stuttered.
I turned the laptop and showed him the picture.
"Umm... This one? Umm... I don't know. Sam gave me these photographs. I haven't checked them all yet so may be he copied this one as well." He said looking at the screen.
"Oh."
"You look cute in it though." He said with a smirk, his playfulness returning back, and I blushed. My heart did a little somersault at the compliment. I wondered what was
wrong with me, why my heart was jumping with joy all of a sudden.
"Thanks."
We resumed studying again. Almost after two hours, we took a break and played a game. We studied again for an hour and completed our preparation. We went down to join
others for lunch.
"Done studying?" Suzy asked as she came out of the kitchen with a plate of spaghetti in her hand.
"Yes." Aaron replied.
"Good." Kate said giving me a smile. I returned the smile back.
We all sat on the couch. I was sitting with Suzy.
"Where is Amy?" Aaron asked.
"She said she was going out with a friend." Suzy answered while eating the spaghetti.
I smiled to myself knowing very well who the 'friend' is. I started eating my spaghetti which Kate had bought for me and Aaron, his own plate, from kitchen.
"Oh and Aaron, Jamie was calling. Asked me to tell you to check your phone." Suzy said.
"Okay."
After we ate the lunch Suzy and I watched once upon a time's new episode and Aaron was chatting on his phone.
"Jamie is coming." He said to Suzy.
"When?" She was excited.
"In few days."
"Great. It's going to be fun."
"Totally." Aaron agreed with his sister.
"Who's Jamie?" I asked them.
"Our family friend. Actually Aaron's close friend. They are great friends since childhood." Suzy replied.