Love-Love || OLD DRAFT

three - three

I sat in the pub for I don’t know how long. The drink in front of me was left untouched, so was my phone. I wasn’t sure if I was expecting a phone call – I mean, I was desperately expecting a phone call.

Jake Williams; that was the name on the ID I had taken from the dead cop. Cop. The word left a sour taste on my tongue. To think they sent cops to the rendezvous point to collect money from… from me! Was it a trap? But that didn’t make any sense. I was no use to them locked up, unless they had found another Super. But that didn’t sound right either. If they had another Super, they would’ve disposed me off long back. No, my best guess was, it was Garnet who attacked first. She had to. She had an irritable temper and no, no, consideration towards my words whatsoever.

I grabbed the phone from the counter, unlocked it and started at the call log. Nothing. Not even a –

I frowned as my eyes landed on a new contact entry. Aspen.

I couldn’t remember having taken his number, but I must’ve last night. Satan! Was I flirting with him? Was that why he was trying to flirt with me today?

“Call them already.”

I looked up to see the bartender grinning at me.

“Excuse me?” I cleared my throat non-amiably.

He shrugged. “Whoever you’re waiting for to call you. Maybe you should man up and call them instead.”

“Excuse me?”I repeated, raising a brow.

He chuckled. “Chill, I’ve seen many a kids like you. You’ve been sitting here for hours, haven’t touched your drink – you still have to pay for that, by the way – and you’re glaring holes at your phone.” He shrugged and walked away, but over his shoulder he added, “So call them and get it over with.”

Call them? Right! I didn’t even know who ‘they’ were. They had no name, nothing which could lead me to their identity. They were anonymous and they were everywhere. And now, they were antagonized.

My gaze fell to the newly added contact. Sitting there alone with my thoughts and suppressing the bubbling anger was not getting me anywhere.

Hey. It’s Ridge. I typed and pressed send before I could second-guess myself. My heart was racing but strangely I did not feel the uncontrollable desire to set everything on fire.

The phone pinged. My hand shot up immediately and I mentally scolded myself for being such a … such a –

Hi Ridge. I’m so sorry for ditching you earlier today. Something important had come up.
We'll definitely finish our game next time! ;)

I gaped at the screen. Aspen literally said the very thing I had meant to say. Wasn’t I the one who ditched him? Maybe he left when I was in the locker room?

Whatever, I was glad for the convenient little coincidence.

And here I thought I had succeeded in scaring you off, I wrote.

Oh really? Last I checked, scaring me off was the last thing you wanted to do. He wrote back.

I gaped at the screen, resisting the urge to facepalm. Damn it drunk-Ridge!

I had no idea what to say in return so I decided not to say anything. I kept the phone back on the counter. I did not need friends. I did not need friends. I kept repeating that in my head like it was a mantra.

The phone pinged again.

Are you into sculpting, by any chance?

Don’t reply, Ridge. Ignore him.

I’m working on a new project. He sent another message. Would you like to come over, check it out?

I typed and sent a ‘Yes’ before my brain could register what I had done. Once it did, it forced me to smack my head on the counter.

Stop acting like a schoolboy, Gravel!

Aspen replied almost instantly with a smiley emoji and his dorm room number.

You’re not going, my brain said.

I’m definitely going, my legs replied.

It didn’t take me long to reach his room. I stood in front of the door, hand raised to knock but refusing to touch the wooden surface.

What was I doing? There was no way this – whatever this was – could end well. No possible way.

I dropped my hand and took a step back. I was about to turn around and walk away when the door swung open and an overly cheerful Aspen smiled at me. “Hey, Ridge.”

He looked like he was sculpting. He wore a sleeveless t-shirt and his bare hands were covered with clay, some of which was smeared on his face as well. “Hi,” I replied, my throat suddenly feeling incredibly dry. He looked really good covered in earth.

What?!

Aspen grinned. “Come on in,” he said, and then scooted to the side to let me in. “Sorry, everything’s messy.”

I stepped in expecting ‘messy’ but what I saw instead blew my mind away.

The dorm was similar to my rarely-used one, with a common room and a small kitchen and a bedroom to the side. But what took my breath away was that every inch of the walls was covered with paintings and/or paint.

“These are beautiful,” I breathed. The themes of the paintings varied a lot in composition, from sunsets and sunrises to urban scenes to animals to portraits to still lifes.

“Thanks but half of these aren’t even mine,” Aspen said from somewhere behind me.

I was about to ask whose they were when he added, “Tea?”

I whipped around to face him. “What?”

He stood by the counter, pouring black tea into two cups. He gave me a curious smile. “Would you like some tea, Ridge?”

My head was reeling. Did he just offer me tea? Tea? Did that mean I was a guest – someone who was welcome? Did that mean we were friends? Was it a prank? Was I screwed?

“Yes.”