Limelight

Chapter Fifteen

~~Hidden~~

"So according to the news, it's a blown transformer and electricity's down in all of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and parts of Queens," Aaliyah recited pulling herself up from upside down and turning to sit cross-legged on the sofa scrolling down the news feed on her phone, "And because of the storm they're insisting that we stay inside until they've replaced the transformer and the electricity is back up."

          Xavier sighed, setting his laptop down on the coffee table and standing up to stretch his body before sitting back down, his legs stretched out. Somehow even in a grey tech fleece hoodie and matching sweatpants, he still managed to look disturbingly attractive. "They're saying it could take six to eight hours before then."

          "But it's already eight, I'm already over an hour late to meet with Jacks, and the Waters' haven't heard back from me. My phone's about to die too," Aaliyah argued looking to the clock above. Then looking back to meet Xavier's gaze, half shadowed by the orange candlelight, as though she expected him to come up with a solution to all her problems. He shrugged giving her a look that said, "what can I do?"

          "Just tell them that you're here for the next couple hours, it's not like they'll worry. They love me," He said with a shrug, and though Aaliyah felt the need to argue he wasn't wrong. Malcolm sung his praises every chance he got, Jenny adored him and Blair said he was the favorite cousin. The only person who Aaliyah thought didn't like Xavier was Willa, but she had the itching feeling that Willa didn't like anyone who wasn't just like her, "But since electricity doesn't seem to be coming back up until after midnight, you're probably going to be spending the night."

          The thought of spending the night in Xavier's apartment in the middle of a city-wide blackout and a storm, with no real distraction from Xavier was repulsive to Aaliyah. They had already been together for the last few hours working on the song and she was already a snippy comment away from losing it, and now the power went out just an hour ago, they fought over where to light the candles they borrowed from a neighbor because Xavier didn't feel the need to own any, and now she was hearing that she was going to have to spend the night here. She didn't even think she might live through the night, or that Xavier will.

          She tried for a wry smile and waved her arms mockingly, "Whoopee!"

          She supposed that she should probably text Blair or Malcolm about her situation, but she didn't feel like she wanted to text Blair, who messaged her a few hours ago that she wasn't going to be able to pick her up. She didn't explain, but she could have easily guessed that it was Maddox-related. Something about her going over to his apartment and Aaliyah being sworn to secrecy didn't feel right to her. If she was just delivering stuff for her dad, why couldn't she tell anyone? She supposed that the only person Aaliyah would tell was Jacks and Aaliyah already knew how he felt about Maddox, and if Jacks heard that Blair was going to see him, he would lose it. But still, it didn't sound like a good idea, Aaliyah wondered what they could even be doing together. Then she realized and felt the need to throw up.

          Instead, she decided to send a quick message to Malcolm before pulling up Jacks' chat feed replying to his last message: Stuck at Xavier's :(.

          Moments later Jacks replied with a series of laughing emojis and then a follow-up: Don't kill him, prison visits aren't my thing.

          Aaliyah sniffed, a smile pulling along her lips, and then lifted her head to Xavier when he made a noise. His face was grim. "I'm not all that excited to spend the next few hours with your annoying ass either, princess," He snapped out in a cold voice.