Do I hate you? [BXB]

- Twelve -

<Aiden's pov>

A week had now passed, and it was nice to find out that Toby was better. Although, he was still slumping around like death, it was nice to see that some colour had come back to his face. I also made sure to leave him alone. I had a feeling that I scared him too much by following him the previous week. However, he wasn't purposely avoiding me like before.

It was now the evening and all the later classes had finished. I made my way off the field, had a shower, and changed. I was planning on meeting up with James for a night out with some of his track team, so I waited in the common room with a coffee.

"I'll get an iced mocha to go please," Just as I had sat down, I heard a familiar voice come from the counter. I knew it was Toby without even having to check. Just as I had moved my attention to my phone, I heard a scrape and a thud.
"Hey," He had made the first move this time and was sitting next to me.

"That's weird," I was confused and was surprised. We made eye contact, but it looked like he was regretting sitting down the moment he did.

"Sorry, yeah, I probably should have asked if I could sit here before I did. Can I stay?"

"Sure? As long as you don't have a go at me or anything, be my guest." At the end of the day, James could have sat on my left instead. And I wasn't kidding, if he was here to start shit then I would be out of here.

"I did actually want to talk," I swear, if he was testing me, "But I promise you I won't raise my voice and I'm not here to fight."

"Talk? There's nothing left to say..." He sighed aggressively, not liking what I said which was a bit ironic. "Your words, not mine."

"I get it, and I'm sorry I was in a bad mood last week but you caught me at a really bad time-" He stopped himself to look at me, sincerity washed over him and his eyes softened. "I'm sure it was tough for you too and I was inconsiderate of how you were doing to, so I'm sorry."

"Well I never, TJ Elliott is actually apologising for being inconsiderate."

"I can easily take it back Doughlas!"

"Alright, alright," I hold my hands up in surrender. "So, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"I actually wanted to say sorry, again, for the argument we had that night - the night I gave you the letter. I was annoyed and hurt and you're like super stubborn, so because my patience was running out and time wasn't on my - no - his side, I knew I had to give it to you quick. But we started on a bad foot, so I got frustrated and took it out on you. On top of all that, Kit wasn't taking any of my calls, so I was angry..." His pace was gradually increasing, and his red was getting redder. As much as I appreciated his apology, it gave me no comfort to see him get this flustered over something I really didn't care about.

I reach and touch his shoulder and his rambling comes to a stop. He stares wide eyed into his coffee.

"All I care about is that you're alright. I feel bad enough about how we left off last time and that you made yourself ill over Chris in the process; the apology isn't needed really. You feeling better at least?" He's surprised by the question and takes his eyes off the drink to look at me, wide eyed and still red.

"Oh, uh, yeah I'm better thank you."

"Honestly, I also felt guilty about forcing you back home, but you should have seen how bad you were-"

"No, you were right to do that. I didn't need to see myself to know I was sick when I could just feel it. The things you said to me before you left also cleared up a lot for me too, so thank you for that. At the end of the day, I only brought that state onto myself. I can be super stubborn sometimes, which you already know, so I couldn't help but keep beating myself up about things that I have no control over."