Keeping Us Apart

Olde English 800 (9)

*Hudson's POV*

Eventually I go back to my room and sit at my desk, touching the mouse of the computer to wake it up. The next hour or so I spend fooling around on the internet. The knock at my door surprises me but I get up and answer it, raising a brow as Ahren stands in the hallway. He's holding more pizza and looking at me with a wild expression. Oh no. I'm still irritated with him about this morning, but I let him in.

"Let's have a party," he says suddenly.

I really should say no, for numerous reasons. But a large part of me wants to say yes. Pausing for a moment to consider the pros and cons, I fold my arms over my chest lightly and regard Ahren's eager aura. On one hand it could be a great way to meet new people, especially ones not in the band. But on the other hand, this isn't really my place, it's Joel's. Might be Ahren's too but whatever. Anything could happen.

After a lengthy pause I finally nod, a smile curving my lips up. "Okay."

Ahren's grin is a mile wide. "Cool beans, let's work this week, yeah? Then we'll plan the party in our spare time and then have it Friday night."

"Gives us an extra day to clean up the place, too," I add.

"Aye," Ahren agrees. "If you want I can take you to work again tomorrow too."

"When do you want to leave?"

His turn to pause, his dark gaze shifting from mine to the expensive looking watch at his wrist. "It's nine fifteen. I would like to be leaving by nine thirty, so we should get some sleep.

----------------------------------------------------

The next morning, it takes me five minutes to brush the bedhead from my lilac hair, wash my face, brush my teeth, and change. A quick glance in the mirror on my way out, examining my outfit to make sure it's suitable. The Teen Hearts pastel shirt I paired with black skinny jeans and my black out Vans  seems fine and so I grab my phone on the way back out to the living room.

"You're fast," comments Ahren from his spot on the couch, sipping a cup of coffee. He is wearing a silver OLA snapback and matching shirt with plain black jeans and his normal Converse.

I shrug. "Yeah, I guess so."

Ryan walks in the front door and gives us both a lazy wave.

"Aye, g'mornin' mate," greets Ahren.

"Hi Ryan," I say with a smile.

"What's up guys?" Ryan comes and takes a seat on the couch next to Ahren, looking up at us.

"About to head off to work, bud, busy week." Ahren stands up and nods to me, scooping his keys up off the coffee table and putting his cup in the sink before walking over to the front door.

"Where's Joel?" Asks Ryan.

"You don't know?" Ahren raises a brow, to which Ryan shakes his head.

"No mate, thought he'd be at his own house at," Ryan pauses and gives his watch a glance, "nine twenty six in the morning."

"He woke me up this morning to tell me he's going out of town," I pipe up.

"Me too," says Ahren. "Didn't say why or where he's going though." He shrugs but his eyes tell me that it's not as small as he makes it seem to him.

"Said it was for personal reasons, so I guess I can respect that," I say after a moment of silence. We're all obviously worried about him. But Joel really isn't the type of person to hide things without a good reason. The guys all slowly nod and shrug their agreement.

"Alright let's get going," insists Ahren, pulling open the front door. Together we move out into the hall then the elevator, the lobby already warm with the morning sunshine, and out to the car.

"If this weather keeps up then we could probably come up with some neat stuff for the party, maybe water balloons or a slip'n'slide," I say as we begin the journey to work. When Ahren sees how much I had gotten done yesterday he looks really pleased.

"I'm glad I hired you, Hudson. Okay, so now that the orders are all put in and sorted, we can start going through and making them." We spend the next four and a half hours scanning the designs onto the shirts and putting them into boxes. Ahren turns out to be a pretty good teacher at this as well and together we're a good team. By the time I glance longingly across the street towards a taco place, we're already completely caught up, the shirts all boxed up and ready to be shipped.

"I'm hungry too," says Ahren as he adds the box of shirts he's carrying to the stack. I'm not sure how he knew but I just smile and inhale the scent of cooking meat that wafts in through the open windows.

"Let's go get tacos then?" I suggest once I can't take the rumbling of my stomach any longer.

"Thought you'd never ask, let me lock up first," Ahren says, rubbing his hands together then pulling his keys from his pocket. After he secures the building we walk across the street to the taco place and stand in line, waiting for our turn to approach the counter. I let my thoughts drift, thinking about the upcoming party. There's a million different ways for the event to play out and to be honest I'm not sure I'm ready for any of the possible outcomes.

"I'd like the beef fajitas please and a large horchata," Ahren tells the employee taking our orders.

"Beef, bean and cheese burrito with extra sour cream, double cheese, large horchata," I say as the woman looks at me then taps the buttons on the register.

"Will your orders be together or separate?"

I'm about to say separate when Ahren pulls out his wallet and hands her a twenty, saying it's all together. He must notice my look of confusion because he smiles softly, stuffing the wallet back into his pocket.

"Consider it my treat for doing such a kick ass job on the orders," he says with a shrug and another smile. Once the cashier hands him the receipt we grab our drinks and move to wait for the food, Ahren grabbing the plastic tray and settling into a nearby booth. I can feel his knees against mine under the table.

"Thank you," I say finally, giving him a grin.

"No problem, like I said it's to show my appreciation."

We spend the next thirty minutes eating and talking, and to my surprise I discover that A. we have a lot more in common than I originally thought and B. I'm having a hard time being mad at him. But I keep wanting to bring the mysterious woman up, ask him if they'd been together long, or if they even were at all, and why he'd brought her to the house knowing I was there too. All of those are questions I decide I don't need the answers to right now.

After we're both done eating we throw our trash away and make it back to OLA headquarters. We stay working for another couple hours before Ahren suggests we stop for the day, and by now the sun is dipping pretty low behind the buildings, casting everything in a gold glow. He locks the place back up and together we ride back to the house, but when we get there he just idles by the curb instead of parking.

"Aren't you staying here with me?" I ask.

Ahren mumbles that he's sorry but I can tell he's got something else planned by the way he shakes his head, doesn't look me in the eyes. Oh, okay then. I thank him for the ride and shut the door, trying to ignore the way he looked at me as he pulled away.