Chapter 19: Ryder, Aiden’s Girlfriend

For someone who didn't particularly like crowded places nor sports, Ryder was bored out of her mind to the point she had put on her headphones listening to music while searching online how to make a Mad Hatter hat. She had truly tried to focus on the game but after a while it was getting quite boring.

Of course, that wasn't the case for Jasmine. That Momma bear had quite some lungs. She seemed to be enjoying the game a lot. Given the fact that she had decided from the beginning that she would be with the team from the other school just because of spite, she had seized this opportunity to indirectly bully Aiden. Jasmine couldn't just start cheering for the other team with everyone from her school there. After all, even though she wasn't famous or whatever, she had quite the reputation and a lot of people knew her. So, she could only yell at Aiden all sort of things.

"Pass the ball! Pass the ball! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO PLAY?”

Aiden who is the captain of the team “…”

"What the heck are you doing? Run faster!

Aiden who just scored a three pointer “…”

"Who put you in the team, that guy must have been blind!”

Aiden “…”

The coach “…”

The game hadn't even started yet when Jasmine started to yell at Aiden "Why are you playing so bad? We will lose because of you."

Aiden was truly losing his shit. His face that would never betray him was red with blush and all the running from the game was too tiring for him to try and control his annoyance and hatred, yet it wasn't enough to tune out all of Jasmine's shouting. Overwhelmed by the hatred and annoyance, not being able to bear Jasmine's constant verbal bullying that was making him lose face in front of two schools, Aiden ended up not performing that well in that game. If all this wasn't enough, that dumb girlfriend of his that he was trying so hard to impress, wasn't even sparing him a glance and she had even PUT HER HEADPHONES ON STARING AT HER PHONE!

Aiden was feeling as if going through a trial, his patience getting tested to the extreme. On the other side the three men that came to watch him play didn't know how to react in this situation. Actually, Jeremy who strongly disliked Aiden for a couple of years now because of the harsh and unfair way he treated his clearly mentally sick brother, was quite enjoying Jasmine bullying him.

Meanwhile the clearly mentally sick brother “…”

As for Mathew… he stared at Jasmine with a frown. Aiden was his son and he loved him dearly, but this son of his lately had also become extremely annoying and arrogant, going so far as to being embarrassed by his own family. Who wouldn't feel hurt when noticed that the person they love is embarrassed from you?

After his wife's death, Mathew didn't know how to handle all the pain and grief. He tried to forget himself in his job and even started to ignore his two sons, not bearing to face them for he would be reminded of his beloved that was no longer by his side. This went on for two years and the relationship between him and his sons had worsened to such extend that they even treated one another as strangers, insulting and not sparing even hurtful words. This was especially the case with the older son.

However, Jake's condition worsened lately and no matter how much Mathew and his sons had ignored and insulted one another, in the end the moment he noticed his oldest son mental health became extremely unstable, he changed behavior immediately. It still was awkward between the two, but by now the relationship between him and Jake had improved a lot. That wasn't the case with Aiden.

He had gotten used to his father not paying attention to whatever he did and even though in the beginning Aiden hated Mathew for it, soon he found it quite… freeing. No matter what he did, what problems he caused, Mathew wouldn't say anything, wouldn't even glance at him. Yet ever since Jake's condition worsened… Aiden had to once again acknowledge his father's presence and even face punishment when he did something wrong like the case of the living room's curtains getting burned.

Mathew knew that the relationship with Aiden needed time and patience to go back to the way it had been, yet his son not only didn't even want to take such initiative but he even felt embarrassed to be seen with his family. Even so Mathew didn't want to give up. This time he truly wanted to just come and watch his son play. Truth be told he did think of embarrassing him a bit out of spite but quickly gave up from such thoughts. Yet this young lady that was like a tiny ball of energy who hadn't stopped yelling for quite a while now… Mathew truly didn't know how to feel towards Jasmine.

On the other hand, in the crowd, a pair of eyes secretly observed Ryder with a hint of smile in his lips. All the people and noises… everything disappeared as he observed the girl who was staring at her phone. It seems that two people have come to the game, but none of them where there to watch it.

"She hasn't changed much." Midnight's friend told him. "And her friend is still the same."

Midnight could only smile and nod. "She almost killed me the last time I met her."

"I remember… you looked quite traumatized that night." His friend laughed as he remembered Midnight's appearance of that particular night. He looked as if he had been in war, both physically and emotionally. His whole face was quite red… but it didn't have anything to do with Jasmine's bullying.

"You are aware that the game is this way, right?” Another other guy said. "Stop staring at the poor girl. You look like a creep."

Midnight frowned. "I don't get to see her face that much lately. Her room is too dark."

"Why don't you just stop being an asshole and tell her who you are?” The first guy asked, sounding quite annoyed. This friend of his was an idiot that loved to complicate things. Just grab the girl and tell her who you are and then tell her you like her. Why was he being such an ass about it?

Midnight didn't say anything. Instead, he ignored both of the guys and kept his gaze locked on his Ry's face as the soft smile on his lips melted his eyes into two pools of liquid, deep and with endless feelings. Yet, why did that smile have a hint of sadness mixed in it?

Jasmine hadn't stopped barking at Aiden the whole game. She yelled at him when he ran, when he scored… or when he was about to score, making him almost ruin every chance he had. Seeing that Aiden wasn't performing that well, some of the people near Jasmine completely failed to understand that Jasmine was the reason behind this bad performance and even joined her. Now at least twenty or thirty people were yelling at Aiden. All the other boys from team weren't blind to what was happening and couldn't even be mad at Aiden for playing badly. To be honest they were quite impressed how he hadn't started crying already. Throughout the whole game all of them gave Aiden pitiful looks, making Aiden's blood boil even more with anger.

CAN YOU FUCKING STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?

Even the coach who was unwillingly dragged into this mess somewhere in between Jasmine's yelling, felt quite pathetic. Aiden didn't seem like he was about to cry but he might. He might cry. Not only did Jasmine's yelling was making his best player perform badly but he couldn't even do anything about it. Jasmine's father had been his senior and the coach was truly scared of him for Jasmine's father was even more fierce than Jasmine. To don't mention how scary her brothers were when they were still in high school. Who would dare tell Jasmine to shut the fuck up? So, the coach could only quietly sob in his heart, bite his lip and pity Aiden.

You too coach? YOU TOO?

When even the coach was looking at him with those eyes, Aiden almost flipped right there and then. He had to stop himself from throwing the basketball to the coach' head and then shove it to Jasmine's mouth. If he knew he had to deal with this devil who had crawled out of hell, Aiden wouldn't even bother with Ryder at all. He had been too overconfident. How could Aiden bear such bullying from Jasmine for so long? I HAVEN'T EVEN DONE ANYTHING WRONG!

While all this was happening, Ryder had happily listed a couple of projects to do and had started checking the forums for the new book from her favorite writer. However, as she kept staring at her phone, her thoughts were slowly drifting away until she wasn't paying attention even to the phone. Midnight had taken over her brain again.

By the time the game ended, Jasmine was quite disappointed. Her school won. She didn't yell her throat sore to see Aiden scoring a three pointer in the last minute. However, she was the only one feeling this way. As Aiden scored one last time right before the game ended, the gym erupted into cheers thrilled from their victory.

Aiden looked as if he was about to collapse on spot. He was panting hard, his legs felt like noodles but his anger had boiled for too long to the point it made him look like he was going to commit murder. No body dared approach him to celebrate the victory. So immersed in anger, Aiden wasn't in mood to celebrate at all. Instead, he wanted revenge.

Thinking this way, he wiped his forehead with his forearm and rushed to Ryder whose eyes left the phone screen only now that the game was over. She was looking at him with a smile on her face, understanding from the crowd that they had won, while Jasmine was glaring at Aiden for winning.

With the intention of killing two birds with one stone, Aiden walked to Ryder with powerful steps, intending to kiss her right there in front of everyone, in front of Jasmine to let her know that no matter how much she bullied him, he still had won in the end because Ryder was his girlfriend.

"Conga-…” Ryder was smiling at Aiden but when she saw that the look in his eyes wasn't quite right, the word stuck in her throat and something in her heart was telling her to flee. Her eyes widened as she saw Aiden approach her and grab her face between his hands, his lips closing the distance between them. In those moment only three words crossed her mind as she panicked to the point of almost fainting: WHAT. THE. FUCK!

The lips almost touched her, when Ryder had to use all her strength to push Aiden away. She looked so wronged, not understanding what was going on. Why would Aiden try to kiss me? What makes him think he can kiss me without asking how I feel first? What the fuck is he trying to do? Why does he want to kiss me in front of everyone?

Her face turned red from anger and embarrassment as she glared at Aiden with a fire in her eyes that raged with anger, a look Aiden had never seen before. It was a side of Ryder that made his body freeze and it even gave birth to fear in his heart. It was a side of Ryder that had been hidden for years and hadn't shown for quite a while. But in those moments, Aiden was still too angry, his anger being fed by all that had happened right up to this point. His eyebrows furrowed; his lips turned into a scowl as they parted to let the words painted with rage out. But just as he was about to yell at Ryder, Jasmine who almost lost her shit when she saw Aiden attempting to kiss Ryder, shoved him so hard that if it wasn't for the people around who for better or for worse where there to enjoy the show, Aiden would have fallen off the stairs. Truth be told she wanted to punch him. She wanted to break his nose, but Jasmine could only bite down her own urges, for if she punched him, she would be sent to the principal's office and get suspended. After all there were a lot of teachers in the gym, as well as the principal himself.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jasmine roared before Ryder could get the chance to shout that sentence herself.

Aiden steadied himself and would jump on Jasmine and throw a few punches if it wasn't for the fact that he knew for sure that he would lose… therefore making more of a fool of himself. He had been sacred of this chihuahua, but only now that she shoved him away, did Aiden understand that Jasmine had been quite gentle with him so far. The girl only gave him a push, but he clearly felt all the strength in it and the fear that awoke from Ryder's fierce look, only amplified.

"She’s, my girlfriend! Can't I kiss my girlfriend?” Aiden roared in response. He was waiting for Jasmine to bark at him again, yet what happened next only turned his red with anger face pale and lose all color.

Jasmine snorted in disgust. And even worse… Ryder was looking at him like there was something wrong with his head.

Ryder couldn't understand when she had become Aiden's girlfriend. But any friendly feeling she harbored in her heart towards him turned ugly with anger. Maybe there was a misunderstanding… but that didn't justify the fact that this guy had tried to kiss her in front of everyone clearly because of spite. That look in his eyes as he had walked towards her wasn't right. It didn't hold any excitement of the victory nor pure feelings.

Yet before Ryder could say anything, Jeremy shoved people out of his way and grabbed Aiden's shoulder. He didn't look happy at all. In fact, it looked as if he really wanted to punch Aiden in the face. Apparently today wasn't a lucky day for Aiden. Everyone wanted to ruin his face. The grip on his shoulder was tight and expressing clearly how much Jeremy's fists were itching to land a punch or two. Yet he didn't do anything. Instead, he spoke through greeted teeth. "Come."

Aiden shrugged Jeremy's hand off his shoulder and shot him a glare as if it was his fault that Ryder had rejected him in front of everyone. God knows how much he wanted to yell at her, but something in his heart stopped him. Why did he feel as if he had no right to do such thing? But since he couldn't vent his anger to Ryder, he directed it to Jeremy. "Fuck off."

"Jake isn't feeling well."

"And why should I care?”

That's when Jeremy who had been talking through greeted teeth, surpassing his anger, finally couldn't help himself anymore and landed one powerful punch on Aiden's chin. It would be the nose, but he was afraid that Mathew would scold him for it.

"Because he's your brother." Jeremy answered and grabbed Aiden by his collar, dragging him away before he could make more of a fool of himself.

As Aiden and Jeremy walked away, Ryder turned to Jasmine. There was no need for anything to be said. This hermit wanted Jasmine's help to understand the situation. No matter how many misunderstandings could be between her and Aiden, could they be so bad that Aiden thought she was his girlfriend? How could such thing even be misunderstood? He never even asked her to be his girlfriend. Did he just decide about this on his own?

Jasmine grabbed Ryder's hand and pulled her out of the gym, away from everyone's eyes in order to explain. As they left, a pair of eyes that had witnessed everything, followed them. His body that felt as if it was knocked out of breath. His heart aching, filled with despair, fear and anger.