Page 38 of The Sky Between Us

But I was lying to myself. Once I got a taste of how it felt to tune off the world and only see and hear Aiden, I fell completely under his spell. I was doomed from the moment I sat into his car and slipped into his hoodie. His smell lingered on me long after he drove me back to my dorm and I shamelessly slept in his hoodie like a stupid teenager. I really didn’t care what anyone thought, not even Sarah. Everything else became irrelevant, just faded in the background like white noise. Nothing else mattered, just him.

The following morning, I woke up with a newfound excitement buzzing through my body. For the first time, in a long time, I was looking forward to the day ahead of me.

Walking into the Starbucks didn’t fill me up with hatred and dread, and instead, I saw the opportunity in it. The pay wasn’t the worst and at least it gave me some customer experience. I never thought working in a coffee shop would be for me as I always wanted to be a lawyer, but sometimes life likes to throw in a curve on the way and guide us on a different path.

I picked up the apron from the staff entrance, and toying with my black jean jacket, I was assessing the temperature in the coffee shop. The mornings were always chilly, until the sun hit the front where all the windows were. This morning I opted for a white summer dress with cute puffy sleeves and threw a black jean jacket over it to break it up a bit. The dress was super girly, but I wanted to look pretty. Stupid as it was after only one date and despite our silent agreement, I didn’t think he was being labeled my boyfriend and I didn’t even want him as a boyfriend, or did I? It was all too confusing; I decided to banish my brain and live on borrowed time until this whole thing blew up in my face.

“Good morning, baby girl. You look beautiful,” Aiden greeted me sitting on the counter, in his usual dark blue jeans, white shirt and a huge, sweet grin that melted my heart.

A similar smile stretched on my lips and I immediately stepped between his legs to squeeze him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I studied the happiness glimmering on his face. No creases, no deep frowns, just clear sparkly blue eyes and his wickedly handsome grin. Yet, his arms didn’t hug me back.

“This is for you,” he muttered, pulling something out from behind his back and he pushed a bouquet of blue flowers between us.

Tears pooled in the corner of my eyes as I recognized the Forget me not flowers that I used to love. It has been ages since I’ve received flowers and the fact that he remembered it from last night made my heart even fonder of him.

“You remembered,” I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek and I wrapped my hand around the bouquet, covering his. “This is beautiful, thank you.”

“Now every time you look at them, you will remember me,” he offered me a soft smile and with his free hand he circled my waist pulling me closer. “Pretty flowers for a pretty girl.”

I felt myself blush and I buried my face in his neck, inhaling his scent. “You are really good at… this.”

“I’m good at everything,” his cocky remark came, making me chuckle. “You already forgot that?”

“Of course not, Mr. Ego,” I mocked him with a grin before grabbing his chin and turning his head towards me. I captured his lips with mine. It was always him who initiated our kisses and I wanted to show him I could do it too. Our lips crashed and our mouths moved in perfect sync. Fireworks played behind my closed eyelids, when our tongues touched and danced together. The sensation was incredible, the way my body reacted to the kiss was intoxicating. My fingers dug into the back of his neck, pulling him even closer as his mouth devoured mine. I wasn’t ready for this kiss to end. His hands slid down from my waist until the hem of my dress. With tentative hands he smoothed his palm along the side of my thighs and ran his hand in one slow, dragging motion to leave it resting on my butt. My breath hitched, and he swallowed a moan escaping me. Desire burned up my body as if I was stuck in hell itself, when in reality, this felt like heaven.

Aiden groaned into my mouth as he squeezed my butt tight before breaking the kiss. A cry left me the same time his lips did and he smiled at me.

“If this is your way of thanking me for the flowers, I will bring you them every day,” he joked as he wrapped a finger around the loose strain of my braid.

“Very funny,” I mocked him with narrow eyes.

Aiden bent down and placed a small, sweet kiss on my temple, before pushing the flowers to my chest. “Put them in water, babe.”

“Stop with the pet names,” I groaned despite the fact that it made my heart do a happy dance every time he used one. From his mouth it didn’t sound offensive at all. It was actually sweet.

“Go, we have a rush hour coming up,” he smacked my butt with a grin and I exhaled loudly. “Remember I’m your boss, Hazel?”

“You are not,” I laughed shouldering past him. “Just because you worked here longer doesn’t make you a boss.”

“Maybe it makes me God,” he winked and I rolled my eyes.

“I like sweet Aiden better than egoistic Aiden. When you turn into this egocentric ass, I feel like there’s three of us in this relationship.”

“Four if you count Bitchy Hazel who I don’t like,” he retorted immediately. My reply was yet another eye-roll. “You leave the Ice Queen at home and I’ll make sure my ego stays in the car too, deal?”

“Okay, boss,” I sighed with a smile, as I pushed my nose into the bouquet of flowers inhaling their remarkable scent. “Whatever you say goes.”

“That’s how I like it,” he laughed before tackling me from behind and kissing my neck, making my pulse quicken. He pushed his nose into the space between my neck and shoulder and a giggle escaped me. “And this is how I like you. Giggling, happy and mine.”

My heart beat in a sped-up rhythm and my eyes watered once again. This guy was a walking dream.

Too damn good to be true.

But my guards were long gone and I wasn’t falling anymore. I fell. Completely, and undeniably in love, with Aiden Hitchings.

The week passed in a blink and we ended up spending every waking moment together besides classes, games and practice. Despite us being together, I wasn’t going to cheer him on during games and he never asked me to do that. But we did other things: we ordered food and ate it in his room, watched movies on his laptop, walked by the beach and he even offered to play with Sky. As wrong as it was, I didn’t want to involve Sky more than he was already involved. It was enough for me to adjust to these new dynamics and to the new me.

Aiden broke down my walls and I was slowly getting back my spark. The Dance Team also helped, having a group of friends who were there for me even if they were not real friends was nice. I grabbed coffee with them or had a bite and it was a big change compared to the past four years. But I didn’t mind getting out of my shell.

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