Chapter 16: Payback

Aiden had been acting quite… cold… lately. He always seemed to be in a bad mood and a few times Ryder caught him staring at her with a rather strange look in his eyes, as if he was holding a grudge… as if he was waiting something from Ryder. But Ryder had no idea what he wanted. Why couldn't he just simply tell her what's the matter? She really couldn't recall how she might have upset him.

These looks he was giving her only made Ryder uncomfortable and rush to hide her face behind Jasmine to escape that line of sight that seems to be glaring daggers at her. This went on for quite a while. Aiden would always approach to talk to Ryder, but after a few minutes his eyes filled with annoyance and he would make some excuse and leave. Ryder was seeing a side of Aiden that she had never seen before and that side only confused her more. What was his problem?

While they were sitting on the cafeteria, Remy and Jasmine side by side and Ryder in front of them, the latter after almost two weeks of pondering over all possibilities yet still came up with nothing, decided to just seek for help in resolving this problem. "Jaz… Do you think Aiden has been acting a bit weird lately?”

Jasmine who was about to stuff her mouth with a burger, stopped moving, the burger halfway inside her mouth. Her eyes shifted to Remy who just gave her a quick glance and continued to eat his lunch. The meaning behind that glance: Your daughter, you deal with it. Understanding this, Jasmine put down the burger with a sigh, mentally preparing herself as if she was going to have a conversation with an idiot and she had to be extra patient. Yet in the end she couldn't help herself.

"You just now noticed this?” Her voice raised, echoing through the cafeteria that for some reason decided to fall in silence right in that moment. If it was someone else, they would be embarrassed to death, but this was Jasmine. Forget getting embarrassed, she acted as if everyone in the cafeteria were empty air. Everyone except Remy.

Ryder felt rather wronged with this question. She isn't that stupid. Aiden has been acting oddly for two weeks now. How could she not notice? She isn't that blind to other humans' behavior.

"Of course not." Ryder humph-ed and leaned against the chair, her arms crossed over her chest. " I just don't know the reason why." Usually, it wouldn't bother her that much if someone behaved like this towards her, however Aiden had already said that they were friends and as his friend… shouldn't she worry about such situation?

On the other side, Jasmine didn't want to talk about Aiden at all. If the guy knew better, he would cherish her daughter and not disappear after she gets sick, not talk to her for days after she comes back to school and when he finally makes up his mind to talk to her, he does this. And he even has the nerve to call himself Ryder's boyfriend. Humph! Pathetic.

"Why are you even bothering with him?” Jasmine who had promised herself to don't interfere into Ryder's matters of heart, wanting her to make the decisions herself without anyone's influence, couldn't help herself anymore.

Remy who had been silent up till now felt he also should say something. "Midnight is better."

Upon hearing this one sentence, two girls reacted differently. Jasmine grinned widely and nodded her head furiously, eyes brimming with pride for her little Rem Rem that for once didn't side with Ryder but with her. And then there was Ryder. She just blushed. Remy seemed to have made a habit of shutting Ryder up by always bringing up Midnight.

Bro, what are you trying to do by bringing Midnight up? How is he any of your business? Ha? HA?

"Didn't he take care of you when you had a fever and also helped you with your Literature essay? And he made you that present." Jasmine, who had become a Midnight fan after seeing that tiny painting Midnight made for Ryder, had to put some good words for the guy.

Listening to these, Ryder kept blushing, biting her lip and shifting on her chair as if she was mere seconds away from jumping on Jasmine to make her shut up. Why are they comparing Midnight with him? Aiden is just a friend. Midnight is… Midnight… "He did, but…”

"Then why are wasting your time with Aiden?” Jasmine raised her voice again.

At this moment, Aiden who just set foot on the cafeteria, heard this and froze. Mike and Greg both looked at him at the same time, waiting for him to snap, but ended up disappointed. This is Aiden. That dude won't lose face in front of others no matter what. However inside, the snapping did happen.

I KNEW IT. THAT FUCKING CHIHUAHUA WAS BEHIND ALL THIS. HOW DARE SHE TALK BULLSHIT ABOUT ME BEHIND MY BACK!

During these two weeks, Aiden had been in a somewhat depressed mood. He stopped chasing after Ryder and this girlfriend of his didn't miss him at all, not even coming to him once. He was had hoped that if he distanced himself a bit, Ryder would come to her senses and be the good girlfriend she is supposed to be. But this girl stepped on all his expectations, crashing them under her foot like a villain. But hearing Jasmine badmouthing him and practically telling Ryder to break up with him… Aiden felt both happy and angry. Angry for obvious reasons and happy because… this meant it wasn't her fault acting this way. It was Jasmine's, right? She was making Ryder ignore him, right? Didn't this mean that there was still hope for Ryder to redeem herself as his girlfriend? All Aiden has to do is to snatch her away from that friend of hers.

With a serious face, but determined look in his eyes, Aiden walked to Ryder and ignoring the Freak and the Chihuahua as if they were empty air, he didn't even spare them a glance. "Do you want to eat lunch with me?”

Jasmine couldn't take the audacity of this guy and face-palmed herself so hard the noise echoed through the cafeteria and her forehead turned red immediately. Remy stared at the red forehead for a moment and frowned.

Aiden still ignored Jasmine with his heart boiling with hatred.

Wicked witch of the West! Corrupting my girlfriend and brainwashing her.

Ryder who was blushing from the previous conversation that had as the main topic Midnight, upon seeing Aiden finally being friendly again, even though a bit aggressively, looked at him in confusion, the blushing fading away immediately. With the blush gone, Aiden, for some reason was annoyed. This idiot was getting annoyed because of a fucking blush. There was definitely something wrong with his head but he was totally unaware of it.

“I…” Ryder looked at Jasmine and her red forehead and chewed on her lips. This angered Aiden more. On one hand she felt like she owed Aiden, because after all he was her friend, right? On the other hand, she was hesitating because of Jasmine's words. In the end guilt won. Being looked at the way Aiden had been looking at her for two weeks as if she had committed some unforgivable sin, even though she didn't know the reason why, Ryder felt guilty. Now that Aiden was willing to talk to her, she wanted to at least clarify things.

And so, Ryder nodded and stood up. Giving Jasmine an apologetic look, she followed after Aiden who was brimming with happiness, yelling 'VICTORY IS MINE! TAKE THAT YOU GIRLFRIEND CORRUPTER!’ in his heart. Jasmine rolled her eyes at the idiot and gave a small nod to Ryder. "Do what you want." She smiled at her and finally proceeded to eating her burger.

Just as Ryder and Aiden left, out of nowhere, Remy poked Jasmine's red forehead lightly, the small frown still on his face. Jasmine froze and stared at him with widened eyes, her mouth freezing mid chewing. "Do you love your mother so much?” She grinned at him.

The face of this "son" turned so red it made strawberries jealous. Eyes falling on his lunch in front of him, Remy talked with a harsh tone. "You're not my mother." Don't turn this into incest.

Aiden was determined to have some couple time, so he dragged Ryder to the stairs by the running track. As they sat, who knows from where the awkwardness came from and fell on their heads like a hammer. It had been two weeks… too long without having a decent conversation… of course it would be awkward. Yet Ryder steeled her heart and took the initiative to talk first.

"Are you angry with me? Did I do something wrong?”

Listening to her speaking so shyly, the heart of Aiden was pleased. He wanted to list this dumb girlfriend of his all the wrong things she did and tell her to don't listen to the bullshit Jasmine tells her, scold her a bit, give some advices… but instead he just changed the topic and acted as if these past two weeks didn't happen at all. He was doing her a favor.

Ryder who was getting done the favor: “…”

"There's a match this Friday. Will you come to cheer for me?”

Ch… Che… cheer? You mean like…. Yelling and waving flags or something? Does this dude hate me?

Ryder was horrified by such request. She's Ryder for fuck's sake. Just asking her to come watch a basketball match is too much. He wants her to cheer? Cheer? Ryder…. Ryder Quinn… cheering? Is he delusional?

"You promised." Aiden rushed to say seeing that the expression Ryder was making wasn't the right one.

Ryder cursed her past self. What the hell was wrong with her? But she did promise to come watch Aiden play once. There was no way out of this, so Ryder tried to compromise. "Can I just watch? I… I can't cheer…”

A teasing smirk curved Aiden’s lip. "Why? Are you that shy?”

Bro… what shy? That is fucking embarrassing, okay? I can't go out and yell wooed azalai weeded. I can’t, okay?

"I'm not used to do such things."

Aiden smiled. His hand confidently grabbed hers, interlocking their fingers, totally ignoring the fact that Ryder's hand shook and struggled to break free.

He's being too friendly. Way too friendly….

"Then just come and watch me play." He said and blinded Ryder with his dazzling smile that made her heart tremble. Or so he thought. With the hand held like that, Ryder didn't care even if he was Apollo himself. All this was only making her uncomfortable. However, she couldn't tell this to Aiden. And she couldn't even show it on her face for Ryder feared that it would sadden him so she silently endured.

***

That night, like every other night, Midnight came to her room. Since she got sick, their meeting location changed from the garden to Ryder's room. It was getting colder with every passing day and it wasn't convenient to stay outside in that cold in such late hours. How could Ryder even explain herself to her parents? So, the two of them came to an agreement. If Ryder wasn't out in the garden, Midnight would immediately come to her room, which has been the case so far.

The lights in the room were off, except for the desk lamp that casted a dim white light in the corner of the room. Sitting on her bed, Ryder had opened her laptop. As Midnight jumped inside, closing the window behind him, she stole a quick glance, cheeks reddening slightly before she looked at the laptop screen again. Midnight sat by her side, kicking his sneakers off and covering himself in her blanket shivering.

"Burr…. It's so cold outside."

Ryder smiled. She tossed the laptop away and grabbed both of Midnight's freezing hands to warm them up. "You're freezing." She brought the hands closer to her mouth and blew warm breath on them. The fingertips touched her soft lips, making Midnight feel as if he was stuffed with butterflies, wings fluttering in his heart and stomach.

"MH. I'm freezing. Quick, hug me." He smiled at her. Before Ryder could react, his hands were pulled off her grasp and two strong arms wrapped around her. The cold tip of Midnight's nose touched her neck, sending shivers down her spine, yet still she felt hot all over.

"Are you warm now?” Cheeks turned bright red and her voice trembled as she spoke.

Aside from the tip of the nose, two lips slightly touched the soft skin of her neck as Midnight spoke. "Nope. Still cold. Wait a bit more." Then those lips curved into a smile against her skin, making her heart go crazy.

Shit shit shit shit shit! I'm going to die of heart failure or something!

After a while, Midnight finally showed mercy to Ryder's heart and let her go. Yet the heart was still beating fast, the heartbeats echoing in her head, making her hands tremble a bit. To hide the state she was in, Ryder grabbed the laptop again and avoided seeing Midnight.

"What are you doing?” Midnight asked. His head leaned against her shoulder, eyes focused on the laptop screen, feeling pretty pleased with himself.

Since the first time he had entered this room and Ryder hugged him, he couldn't help himself anymore. He would always try to steal hugs or get closer to her. Finding out that Ryder apparently liked to touch his hands a lot, the right hand more specifically, he couldn't be happier about it, allowing her to grab his hand and do as she wish with it.

"You know the writer of "Who Killed Midnight"?”

"Yeah…” How could he forget? She named him after that asshole there. "What about him?”

"He's writing a new book and I'm seeing when it will get published."

"Why?”

"So, I can buy the book, duh."

"Why?”

"Because I love his books."

“Why?”

After the third "why" Ryder's patience ran out. "Can you stop asking why? Haven't you also read his books?”

Midnight smiled slightly and shrugged. "I have… but I don't like them. They're not that good."

Le gasp.

How dare you! For the first time Ryder felt the need to shake this guy's brains out. She felt offended as if Midnight had insulted her own child, she had raised so painstakingly. This feeling was followed by great disappointment and the bitter feeling of betrayal.

"I'm hurting." Ryder said with a pout. Leaned against her, she felt Midnight flinching and panicking.

"Are you sick again? I should have brought some medicine. Where does it hurt?” The questions flew out of his mouth rapidly as he straightened his back and touched her forehead.

"My heart hurts." Ryder again said pitifully.

Two seconds ago, Midnight was panicking, being worried sick thinking that Ryder had caught a cold once more. He couldn't bear seeing her shivering and coughing her lungs out, hearing her hoarse voice and groans of pain. But hearing her say her heart hurt…he felt as if he was drowning. Midnight knew better than anyone else what heartache felt like… He couldn't bear seeing Ryder catch a cold, how could he bear seeing her feeling the same pain like him?

"Did…” Suddenly he felt his mouth go dry, making his voice stuck in his throat. "Did someone hurt you?”

"MH." Ryder nodded.

"Who?”

"You."

"Who-what?”

"You're insulting something I love. I feel very disappointed."

It took at least two full minutes of staring and processing what he heard for Midnight to understand that Ryder was just being dramatic and he went through all this turmoil for nothing. Now he was the one hurting. Relived and annoyed he went all mad-pirate mode, growling argh and shoving Ryder's shoulder. He grabbed her hand and bit on her knuckles.

"Ah." Ryder jumped as the wet warmth of Midnight's mouth touched her hand. Blushing furiously, she pulled her hand free and shoved him back. "Why did you bite me?”

"Payback for losing ten years of my lifespan in two minutes." Midnight said very seriously and leaned back against her, his head resting on her shoulder.

“I thought we both liked that writer."

"Do you like the writer or his books?”

"Both."

Midnight frowned, wanting to bite that hand again. "Have you met him before?”

"No."

"Then how can you say you like him?”

"I…” Ryder started, ready to defend herself, but ran out of arguments. She wanted to say she liked the author because he wrote such beautiful books that made her cry and laugh, because he wrote words that filled her heart with warm feelings… but that means she likes his writing…. The person himself can be a total asshole for all she knows… in the end Midnight had a point, but she didn't want to admit defeat. "Give me your hand." She ordered Midnight with a harsh tone.

Midnight “…”

"Why?”

"Payback for making me feel like a fool." She said with a humph and didn't wait for Midnight to act and immediately grabbed his hand. As she brought it closer to her mouth, her heart was almost leaping out of her chest. In the end she couldn't bite him.

Slowly, blushing with shame, she put down Midnight's hand and looked the other way.

Midnight who for some reason was way too excited to get bitten “…”

"I thought you wanted payback." He teased her.

"I… I changed my mind."

"Coward."

"I…” Her face was so hot it felt no different from when she had a fever. How did things turn this way?

"Chicken."

“…”

"Scared-cat."

Not wanting to bear the teasing anymore, Ryder closed her eyes, grabbed Midnight's hand again and bit into it so hard, Midnight let out a small scream. "What the fuck, I didn't bite you this hard."

"You asked for it."

“…” He did, actually, ask for it.

Midnight didn't say anything… Ryder was too busy blushing and trying to calm her heart to say anything. Slowly the room which a minute ago was filled with two's whisperings, now fell in dead silence and awkward air. It was almost suffocating.

Midnight cleared his throat, his eyes roaming around the room, trying to find something to talk about. "You don't like going out, right?”

With Midnight starting the conversation, Ryder felt relived and hummed a soft response. "Most of the times. Why are you asking?”

“A friend of mine showed me some place and I thought you would like it…. I wanted to take you there…” Now it was Midnight the one who was blushing.

"What about your face?”

"I can take care of it."

"How?”

Midnight thought about it for a moment then grinned. "I can wear a mask."

A soft chuckle came from Ryder as she chewed on her lip, pondering over it. If it was for her, she would never leave her home, but right now… she was curious what place Midnight wanted to take her… she was… surprisingly… excited. "Won't that be embarrassing?”

"I don't care."

Hiding a smile by biting her lip, Ryder turned her head the other way. "When then?”

Midnight didn't expect her to agree so easily. He actually thought she wouldn't want go anywhere and he would eventually have to drop this topic, but Ryder actually agreed? This took him by surprise, his heart full of a warm feeling, sweet like honey. "This Friday night?”

The smile on Ryder fell as she remembered that the basketball match, she promised Aiden to go to was also this Friday. However, she had forgotten to ask him what time it was. Usually, the school held this match around eight in the evening until ten…

"There's a basketball match that night." Ryder frowned. "I promised my friend to go."

However now that he got Ryder to agree coming with him, Midnight wasn't ready to give up in front of such trivial matters. "We can meet after the match. I can come pick you up from there. We can meet at the running track and leave from there."

This actually sounded pretty good. The frown on Ryder turned upside down and she was once again feeling excited. Then a thought occurred to her.

"Wait a minute…”

The way he talked… the running track barely had one or two lights. That place was pretty dark in the afternoon and the school turned off those two pitiful lights around eight o'clock. This made the running track the perfect place for Midnight to meet Ryder and still keep his precious identity a secret. But the only way to know this, was if Midnight was from her school. "So, you ARE from my school."

Midnight “…” When did I say that?