Chapter 85

Chapter 85

“He invited Aaron to join us for dinner at his moms’ last night. No.” She shakes her head. “Maybe you guys misunderstood him. You see, we grew up together and it explains everything. Max just has a soft spot for me in his heart because I’m like his little sister and he’s like my little brother. We’re both the only child to our parents so, it explains a lot.”
 
“I’ve met Max twice but I’ve noticed the way he looks at you. Even the way he talks to you is different.”
 
“Again with the looking. Why is everyone so freaking obsessed with the way he looks at me? That literally how Max looks at people.”
 
“So, someone had already told you Max likes you?” Auburn throws her the question, smirking.
 
She hears a knock on the driver’s window which made her to almost spurt her throat out. “Look, guys I have to go. And enough with this conversation.” She ends the call and unlock the door.
 
He sends the paperback at the backseat and looked at her. “Who was that?” He asked.
 
“Uhh… It’s… they uhm… Kayla… Auburn. Video chat…” she doesn’t know why she just did that but it sounds as if she was lying.
 
He sends her a quick distrustful look and started the car. She heaves a sigh and sunk into her seat.
 
The rest of the drive home was a silent one. She never said anything nor did he bother to speak. He’d occasionally look over to her and she’d pretend as if she didn’t notice him staring at her.
 
They didn’t take the turn that’d lead them home. They weren’t going home. “Where are we going?” She had to ask.
 
He doesn’t answer immediately. He concentrates on driving as he put on a sturdy look on his face as if he wasn’t the one holding her hand and smiling at her half an hour ago.
 
“My mom’s place,” he says plainly without looking at her.
 
He doesn’t look at her again until the car halts in the parking lot of Jim’s pent house. They were staring at each other, without speaking a word but the silence was louder than actually saying anything.
 
He looks at her with a worry and somehow disappointed look on his face. He was worried because her life was a muddle and she doesn’t even know how to figure things out. Each day, she gets more confused and complicated.
 
He takes his eyes off her and told her to wait before he stepped out of the car. She heaves a sigh and relaxed back because she was panicking when he told her they were going to his mother’s house. They were the last people she wants to see after they caught her and Aaron kissing. Her stomach flips because the feeling of Aaron’s lips just washed over her lips as his hands rove over her body. It feels as though he was holding her right now, like he was going in for a kiss—their third kiss.
 
She bites down her lip and closed her eyes.
 
She’s not going to fall for Aaron.
 
She’s not going to let him kiss her again.
 
She’s not going to mix business with pleasure.
 
She had made those promises to herself ever since she had known Aaron. She doesn’t plan to fall for him and she won’t. She doesn’t even feel the need to love him. She enjoyed every kiss they’ve did even though they’ve done it twice and it lasted less than two minutes—she doesn’t see herself using him just because she enjoys kissing or she finds him attractive. Aaron is a good guy and she believes he’d find someone that will love him wholeheartedly. But for her, she doesn’t want him.
 
Her phone chimed, jolting her from her reverie. She sighs and picked up the phone off her thighs. It was a call, from Ethan. She stares at the screen as a voice in her head screamed for to pick. She doesn’t want to but her finger routinely answered the call.
 
She placed the phone on her ear. She hadn’t spoken with him in a while because she doesn’t pick his calls. It wasn’t even because she doesn’t want to talk to him. She works till 9 pm and arrive home almost 10 pm. She’d eat dinner and sometimes sleep immediately. Sometimes watch TV with Max until she falls asleep on the couch and wake up the next day in her bed. Max never wakes her up from her sleep—he’d pick her up and take her to her room without waking her. She loves it when he does that. 
 
“Hey…” he inhales a shaky breath and releases it. From the single word he uttered, she knew something was up.
 
“Ethan? Are you alright?” She asked.
 
He doesn’t answer right away. She hears him muffle something then weeps and exhales a shaky breath. He was crying but he doesn’t want her to know that. “When are you… are you coming back?” He asked, stuttering.
 
She doesn’t want to answer the question because even if she was coming back, she doesn’t want him to know. He’s the last person she wants to inform whether she was coming back or not.
 
“I wanna come see you. I’m coming to New York…”
 
“No,” she cuts in. Her heart sinks with a fear she doesn’t know the reason behind it. “Don’t, please. Don’t come here.” She shakes her head as though he was standing before her. “I’m coming back soon, okay? I will tell you when I do,” she said. It’s obviously a lie.
 
“You promise? Promise me, Elise. Promise you’ll come back to me. Promise we’ll be together. Please don’t say no.” He’s crying now and he wants her to know he’s crying. “I’m so in love with you that it hurts you’re not here.”
 
Her heart races in her chest so fast that she felt like it was going to burst through her ribcage. She placed a hand on her chest to restrain the rate of her heartbeat. It didn’t help because now she was gasping for air. She swallowed hard. Why was she even flustering?
 
“Ethan… I’m going to hang up now.”
 
“No. No, Elise… don’t…”
 
She cuts the call and her heartbeat straightaway curbed when she breathes out. It was as if his words and his voice were strangling her to her own grave.
 
She watches as Max walk over to the car and opened it. His was frowning but it instantly softens when their eyes met. She offers him and smile but he could obviously see through her. He noticed the worry and fear in her eyes and her body. He looks down on her phone—she was gripping it as though her life depended on it.
 
She noticed his eyes had darted down and she followed it. She exhales and loosen her grip on the phone.
 
“Shall we?” He mutters, moving his eyes back to her face. She smiled again and nodded. He nods too and started the car.
 

 
Max spread the mat on the floor and arranged the takeaway he bought for them. Elise was standing, looking at all his movements like he asked her to. She wanted to ask why they couldn’t use the table and chairs there but after wards, the mat seems to be better.
 
He motioned her to join him and she did. She sat across him and once again watch him bring out the food he bought from the bags. “I bought you fries and steak,” he said and looked at her. She was smiling under the glowing moon.
 
“You’re the sweetest.” She took one of the fries and tossed it in her mouth. She had her fries and steak while he only had salad. She knew he loves eating light in the night so, she doesn’t bother to ask him why.
 
They were done eating in a couple of minutes and sat there in silence until Max clear his throat. Her heart jump in her throat because she doesn’t know what he’s about to say. His face looks harder than it did couple of minutes ago.
 
“Elise…”
 
Her heart jumps again but she was careful to let it show. She doesn’t want him to know she was uneasy because it would look as though she had something to hide.
 
“Are you and Aaron…” he halts and breathes out. He darts his face down massages the bridge of his nose for couple of seconds before looking up at her again. Distress and uneasiness were written all over her face. Her eyes were gaped out and her mouth was parted.
 
“I just want to know if you guys are seeing each other,” he says forthrightly.
 
Her eyes were on him as she moved them from his right eye to his left. Max was sometimes hard to be read but tonight, his emotions were all over the place.
 
She began shaking her head and she could immediately see the relieve on his face. He smiles a light and nods. His eyes fall again and it was on her hands. She moves the take-out away and shifted closer until he was holding her hands.
 
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. After I do, I don’t want anything to change between us…”
 
Oh God, Aaron and Auburn were right. He’s about to tell her that he loves her. He’s about to tell her he wants to be her mate. He’s about to tell her that he wants to marry her.  He’s about to tell her that he wants her to have his babies.
 
She nods her head. Maybe she’s overthinking everything. His eyes search hers for few seconds then fall to her lips, then back to her eyes again.
 
“I'm so proud of you for doing your best to be okay. I'm so proud of you for waking up every day and trying. I'm so proud of you for being here today because I know some of your yesterdays were really hard. I don't know what you're going through but you are going to get through it. You are going to get through whatever you're going through. I hope you fight for yourself when no one else does and I hope you know you are worthy of your wildest dreams. You are someone worth fighting for. Keep going.”
 
She squeezes both his hands gently, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She doesn’t quite know how to react to what he had just said because he just made her teary. No one had ever told her those kind of words—no one had ever acknowledged how she has been struggling to pass each and every day. She’s typically a walking zombie rather than a werewolf.
 
“Elise…” he calls out when she doesn’t say anything. He’s looking at her and the calmness in his eyes was contagious. Her smile spreads wider.
 
She’s beautiful and her smile made him want to kiss her all the time. He’s going to do that tonight—he’s going to kiss her. Because that’s the only thing he needs to do and maybe he’d get over her if he has an idea of how her lips tastes like. Maybe he’d get addicted to her after this kiss. He doesn’t care which happens. And he most certainly doesn’t care where the kiss takes them to. He just wants to be there for her as long as she wants him to.
 
He's leaning closer and she doesn’t lean back. She’s just sitting still, staring at him and waiting for him to do whatever he has in mind which was kissing her.
 
They were so close; she could feel the heat of his body warming hers. His eyes squint and his mouth smirked—in this smile that made her know he was thinking of something. He brought his fingers up and brushed the side of her face. She closed her eyes as she exhaled, relishing to warmth of his fingers.
 
If she doesn’t back out, she was going to regret it for the rest of her life because not only would she not see him as she does because, she might as well lose him. Everything would be complicating for the both of them. And she would regret pulling back as well because it meant she’d never see him the way he wants her to and she was afraid that their friendship would be ruined by that. Both verdicts were unclear and obfuscating.
 
“Elise?” They heard Aaron’s voice from the entrance of the rooftop before their lips even touched.
 
Elise briskly pulls back and got to her feet. Max didn’t react immediately. He barely even moved. The only thing he did was look up at Aaron and cursed under his breath.
 
Of course, Aaron had to step in and ruined their not-so-perfect moment.