Surrounded

Chapter 15

The next morning I didn't wake up with Jayden next to me - I woke up with his scent bursting in my nostrils but funnily enough, he was nowhere to be seen. Yawning like I was giving my life away, I motioned myself out of the bed not to mention almost falling down to kiss the carpet good morning. That's not weird at all.

After showering, I put on a pair of jeans, a cropped tweed sweater and black ankle Chelsea boots. As I put my hair back in a low ponytail, I massaged my scalp trying to kill my headache but it didn't make any difference. I managed to do some baby pink lipstick to give my face a little color which I needed because mornings where my ultimate death. I snatched my black leather tote bag and left the room. As I sauntered around, I took my phone out and checked if there were any messages. One was from Tyler and one was from Sapphire. I went down the stairs, slowly holding the railing and opened Tyler's message even though the message was sent a day before:

Hey Arry, how are you? I'm happy I'll be back to school today. Maybe we could go together. Let me know! - Tyler.

Coming down the last step of the stairs, I looked up to see Jayden standing next to my mother in the hallway. Crap, I knew that she wasn't going to be okay with this. What mother would be okay with seeing a guy come down the stairs in the morning?

"Morning sunshine," Jayden said as he took me in for a hug. I noticed that he was still with the same clothes of the night before - of course. I couldn't manage anything for words so I just nodded - mostly because my mother was watching me like a hawk.

"Don't worry I slept on the floor, Arielle. I'm not that kind of guy," he winked at me, and my mother let out a sarcastic chuckle that made him frown. I winked back but said nothing. Maybe deep down I wanted him to sleep next to me, isn't that what many girls dream of? Hot guys' cuddles? Oh yeah.

"I went to check up on her and I saw you on the floor sleeping. I wanted to wake you up but you were sound asleep. Y'all are going to be late for school. Are you sure you're going like that to school, Jayden?" Mom said as she went in the kitchen to grab me a granola bar.

"Yeah ... I don't want to go home just yet."

Mom came back and handed me the granola bar, "You are welcome to stay anytime you'd like. I know that maybe your sister is tough around the house but just give her some time." Jayden smiled and put his arm around my waist. I guess he woke up quite early if he had told her all about what had happened. For some reason, I knew right there and then that Jayden needed all the people he could get for reassurance. He was feeling alone and rather bothered by the timing of these situations, but I guess that is life for you ... full of damn surprises.

I, for once, was tired of these surprises though you cannot do anything to stop or control them; you cannot stop life. You could control it but some things are just better left untouched. I know exactly how it feels when you try to fix something - an issue - and it goes all to waste because life, or destiny or whatever you call it, wins over you. It sucks but sometimes you cannot keep trying over and over again to eventually get slapped in the face because you and, you only are going to get hurt - No one else. It is a bit depressing to think of it but it is reality and, reality is terrifying.

Walking out of the door, I could sense the contentment in my mother's eyes - I could agree with that. A mother worries for her child -if you cannot agree with that logic I do not know what to tell you. So, seeing how my mother had been reacting to my actions at the time, I guess contentment is something to be happy about, at least. When we moved to Paverlawn, she was so concerned into telling me that everything was going to be fine and that it was going to be good for me, that it was like she wasn't just telling me that but she was trying to admit it - and what now? For god's sake, my father was making himself a member of the family again and even though that was only breaking me inside, I still said nothing. How so, Arielle? It's because mom was finally happy and I couldn't ruin that. I guess my mother felt happy about Jayden's presence in my life because it had been a very long time since I had a figure who loved me apart from her. I guess you can say she was grateful and so was I.