My Boyfriend's Best Friend

Chapter Twenty One

Aidan

I dragged myself down the stairs, wincing as the harsh beams of sunshine blasted my eyesight into smithereens. My head pounded and my body protested every time I moved. I felt like I had just ran a marathon at full pace. The wall jumped out at me and I ran into it, head first. I groaned and held my head as I finally stumbled into the kitchen. I was never drinking again. My hands slapped at the cupboards above the counter until I found the one I was looking for. I grabbed out the Panadol and moved to the fridge for some water. After grabbing a fresh bottle, I turned around and saw him walking into the room, the picture of sobriety. Aston appeared to be in a particularly good mood, whistling to himself and tossing a water bottle in his hand. He paused when he saw me, the bottle falling to the ground. We both stared at it, watching the water slosh around from one end to the other before finally stilling.

"Are you going to pick that up?" The words flew from my mouth, surprising both Aston and I. His brown eyes snapped to mine and I waited for the mechanics of his brain to blow. After all, that's what Aston did. Instead, he simply bent down and grabbed the bottle, severing our contact. He moved away from me to the bench and I took the time to pop two of the tablets from their casing. Leaning back against the fridge, I was about to put them in my mouth when I saw Aston grabbing tablets of his own from a small container on the bench. He caught me watching and quickly put the tablet in his mouth. I did the same with my Panadol, and in creepy synchronisation, we both brought our bottles of water to our lips and swallowed the tablets, keeping our eyes locked at all times.  

We were currently the definition of awkward and I had no idea how change that. I had vivid memories of hugging Aston last night and him helping Connor carry me up the stairs. They say people reveal their true selves when drunk, and while I don't believe that's true, I do know that their deepest desires often have a way of coming out. Every boy dreamed of having a brother and I had one. Only our relationship was in complete tatters.

I had almost worked up the courage to say something when Dave walked in.

"Hey, Aidan," my stepdad chirped, ever the morning person. "How's it going..." his voice trailed off as he noticed Aston in the room as well. "Oh. Morning, Aston." His words hung in the air, adding to the awkward tension already present. After a stiff pause, my brother nodded at him, his eyes leaving mine.

"Morning." And with those words, Aston left the kitchen. For a moment, Dave and I stared after him but Aston appeared to have taken the awkward atmosphere with him.

"Sleep well?" Dave asked, moving past me to the coffee machine.

I gave Dave a noncommittal shrug. "Alright I guess."

Dave nodded then looked at the clock on the wall. "Aren't you coaching your U11's game today?"

"Shit!" I said, seeing the time. I was supposed to be there in twenty minutes. "Thanks, Dave!" I called, sprinting out of the room and running upstairs, my head pounding every step of the way. I quickly threw on my black soccer pants and a dark blue polo, making sure I grabbed my phone as I left the room. I saw that I had five missed calls from Rylie and one from Connor plus a couple from a few other friends but I had no time to get back to any of them. Thankfully, I had put my bag in my car yesterday so all I had to do was race to the fields and hopefully I'd make it on time.

I arrived about a minute before kick-off. The father of one of the kids, Joey's I think, had the group in a huddle and was assigning positions. I threw him a thank you look when Timmy pointed me out to him, and he gave me a friendly smile. I plopped my stuff on the ground next to some soccer mums; many of which called out a friendly – or in the case of Mrs Casey – a sultry, "Hello, Aidan."