It was already 10 pm when we finished entertaining our last customer. Wes and five other classmates of ours offered to clean up so the rest of us headed back to our club room.
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Standing there outside the dimly lighted hallway was Aiden.
"Hey," he said, smiling.
"Hey." I smiled, returning the gesture.
Clem and Macy went inside giggling, when they came out, Clem handed me my things and closed the door.
"Don't do things I won't do," she teased and they walked away laughing to themselves.
"I'm sorry about my friends. They just like to tease me once in a while."
"I don't mind. They're actually cool," he replied.
"I didn't mean to assume but did you wait for me here?" I asked shyly.
"Yup. You assumed correctly. I did wait for yo—"
I interrupted him, feeling quite guilty, "You should have texted me to meet you here. I would have come sooner."
He shook his head, still smiling, "You're with your friends. I saw you having fun and I can't afford to ruin that."
What a sweet and thoughtful guy!
"Oh, by the way, I have something for you. Remember when I told you I have a surprise?" he picked up his bag that's on the floor and started rummaging it.
"Wait. That song on the stage isn't your surprise?"
He stopped looking inside his bag and looked at me, "No...Yes."
I looked at him with narrow eyes, seeing the big question mark above my head, he continued, "This is also my surprise."
He pulled something from his bag and handed it to me. A frame?
"And this." he extended his hand, holding a sunflower. When did he get this? I didn't see him holding one earlier.
"Thanks for the flower. It's beautiful." I said while getting it from him, "but why are you giving me a ... frame?"
He laughed, getting the frame from my hand. He flipped it to show his real present. It was a portrait of me except the clothes I'm wearing looks like what I'm wearing now, my Aphrodite costume.
"Did you make this today?" my eyes now wide open, "because that's totally impossible!"
I grabbed the portrait back, inspecting it. The eyes of this Aria Daina are brown, the same as the one that I have and it's staring back at me. He got all my facial features accurately but my favorite part is my glasses, which I think made me look a little bit ahem cute. I can't believe it's exactly the same, my eyeglasses are customized and have designs I specifically asked to be made so it's a wonder seeing it on this artwork.
The way he drew it is like I'm overlooking on my glasses as it falls near the tip of my nose. My lips are slightly curved to the left, it almost looks like I'm smirking but if you look at it again, this girl in the frame is just confident of the way she looks, reminding me of myself earlier in front of the bathroom mirror.
"I did that right after I gave you my suggestion of doing Aphrodite. I was actually shocked to see you earlier because this..." he gestured at me, starting from my head and ending with my feet, "is what I envisioned while doing this portrait."
"It's so beautiful. Thank you so much." I murmured, looking up at him through my lashes.
"You're way more beautiful than the art I have created." he took a step towards me, closing the distance between us.
"You in flesh cannot be compared into any paintings, any drawings or into any song," he leaned closer, our faces only inches apart. "Because your beauty is exceptional, second to none."
He looked at me straight in the eyes, full of desire and admiration and his lips slightly parted.
He caressed my cheeks and I felt a burning sensation rising in my throat. He lifted my face towards him and before I knew it, our lips met. I closed my eyes, savoring the sweet, gentle kiss. My left hand found its way to his neck, pulling him closer to deepen the slow kiss. He parted my lips with his tongue when I suddenly heard voices coming our way.
I immediately pulled away and looked somewhere else that was not his eyes. The voices got louder and clearer, making me recognize their owners.
"Aria, is that you?" Wes asked.
I turned to look at him and said hi. He looked at Aiden with narrow eyes then at me, examining me from head to toe. I instinctively reached for my hair, trying to fix it but I stopped midway when I realized I was still holding the portrait on my right hand, it was my left hand that was unoccupied.
"Why are you still here? We met Clementine and Macy, they're on their way home."
"I was just umm... you know, talking. But now that you're here, I should probably go."
I turned my back on him and came face to face with the guy I just kissed who is waiting there patiently, a soft smile forming on his lips.
"Goodnight," I uttered and smiled awkwardly. I didn't wait for his response. I picked up the sunflower that I seemed to drop when I pulled him earlier. Then I bolted out the building, speed walking.
