Best Friends With Benefits

Chapter Forty Three

Gale drove me home soon after, knowing that the longer I spent time with him the harder the goodbye would be.  When he drove away he took my heart with him, a small tear had formed in his eye and I thought myself lucky the time that we did have together. I couldn't stop myself from thinking that Gale, my one ticket to a new start, was gone.

All I did for the rest of the day was sulk in my room hoping that Gale would turn around and knock on the door but sadly that only happens in the movies, the sad sappy movies where they then get married and win the lottery and other unrealistic dreams come true. I ignored endless calls from Aiden, I think he finally got the message when I didn't even let it ring, I just declined it. When I decided that my tantrum was over I wriggled off of my bed and studied my face in the mirror. Big mistake since everything was smudged, I cleared up the mess and sat, debating on my next move. It was 4:15pm so I still had a little while before dinner. Walking to my wardrobe I settled on some running gear, threw in my earphones and was out the door running away the pain. Gale's departure was like a fuel to my legs and they were on overdrive, I ran past my usual turning spot and continued on into a different area that I only recognised when we drove through.

I was powered beyond belief, my legs running faster than I could control, my breathing strained to get more, I closed my eyes for a second just to embrace the escape from reality when my foot twisted and pain shot through my ankle, I yelped as I fell onto the edge of the sidewalk and into the road, I tumbled for a second and then clutched my ankle. Looking up I saw a car fast approaching and rolled over onto the edge and the car whizzed past probably not seeing me on the ground. There was no one around to help me so I sobbed for a moment before using a nearby lamppost to support my weight as I stood. I looked back to where I had been running to notice a small crevice in the sidewalk caused by degradation over time.

I sighed, I had to ring someone, I pulled out my phone from its position on my arm and scrolled through my contacts. My mum was at work and there was no chance my brothers would come and pick me up, so I dialled the only name I knew would be available. I sat on the grass poking and prodding at my now swollen ankle, the pain didn't bug me anymore, it was actually quite distracting from my thoughts of Gale. Ten minutes later Aiden pulled up in his car and to be honest I was awfully happy to see him. He almost jumped out of the driver's seat and jogged over, he was wearing grey sweats and string vest clearly not prepared for my urgent call.

"I have been trying to call you all day and you just kept ignoring me" Was the first words he said to me, then he noticed my swollen ankle and some of the anger from his eyes disappeared, but not all of it.

"Sorry, I just needed time" I mustered and Aiden held out a hand for me to hold onto as I stood and hopped to the car. He was overly concerned as he put me in the car, telling me to 'mind this' and 'be careful of that'. It was sweet but annoying.

"Needed time for what? and what have you done to yourself?" I was surprised that the ankle question came second since that was the current issue.

"Gale has gone" I stared out of the window and paused. "Oh and I sprained it running away the pain" I admitted and I could see Aiden look from the road to me several times.

"Gone where?" Aiden asked and he was taking his eyes off of the road more times then I liked.

"Away" My blunt response caused Aiden to swerve and I grabbed the dashboard as he pulled into a slot on the side of the road. "What the hell?!" I shrieked and Aiden stared at me.

"Did he leave you? What did he do? I can't believe he just left you" Aiden gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

"No, he didn't leave me like that, he has moved to Michigan for a soccer scholarship"

"Oh" Aiden relaxed and started the car again.

"So you can calm down" I said more under my breath then I meant to, clearly this bubbled up Aiden's anger again.

"Sorry Peyton that I care about you, I am sorry that I don't want to see you get hurt" I thought about when he hurt me and how hypocritical that was, I think he thought the same because he defended himself. "I know I hurt you but I learnt from that and I never want to see you that way again" We pulled up outside of his house and I leant over to kiss him on the cheek but Aiden turned, clearly meaning to say something and the kiss landed precisely on his lips. At first I didn't notice and held my lips against his but before I could pull away Aiden's lips had parted and I was kissing him deeper, his fingers woven into my hair and mine positioned onto his cheeks, pulling his closer. Time had frozen and everything melted around me, just the feel of his skin against mine was comforting enough.

Aiden pulled away and I stayed motionless keeping my eyes locked on his.

"Peyton" He looked away and I copied, looking out of my window.

"I was supposed to kiss you on the cheek, you know friend like" I snapped, it sounded like he was blaming me.

"That was not friendly" I could see Aiden smirking to himself.

"You turned!" I defended as I faced him and his smirk caused me to smile back. I didn't even know what it meant when we kissed anymore. I slipped out of the passenger's seat and Aiden surprised me, already there to steady my weight as I hobbled across the road. We got halfway across the street when a stab of pain in my ankle caused me to collapse into Aiden's body. As if I was a small child, in one movement Aiden flicked my legs up from the ground to hold me. My arms wrapped around his neck I couldn't stop myself from staring at his gorgeous face and he carried me to my door. He kept his eyes forward allowing me to study his features and I smiled to myself, thinking how lucky I was to have someone like him care so much about someone like me.

That's when I realised. We were meant to be together, after everything that has happened, we were like magnets still attracting back together. That's also when I realised that I forgave him. I wasn't really mad at Aiden for the cheating scenario, I was at the time but I forgave him long ago, I just needed a reason to avoid him so that I could concentrate on Gale. Gale, he was a bright light in my murky life but now that he was gone Aiden seemed that little bit brighter and I needed him to guide the way. I snapped myself out of the daydream I was having and thought how cringe my thoughts sounded and thanked myself that I didn't say it out loud.

Aiden placed me down outside of my door and I balanced on my one leg, unlocking the door. Aiden rubbed my back and turned to leave, I launched for his wrist, stopping him from moving and he turned back to face me confused.

"Why don't you come in?" I invited and Aiden smiled as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.