(Aiden’s POV)
I lowered my head, hoping to escape from Deborah’s eyes. She had fixed her eyes on me as soon as Jessamine dashed to her bedroom to get her sacred box. Despite the technology, we refused to communicate through e-mail and social media. Instead, we continued to use snail mail, sending printed pictures and postcards, and calling through the telephone booth. We only exchanged cell phone numbers three years ago when the only telephone booth left in Carterville was torn down and changed into a charging area.
There were only two seats in their living room, a love seat, and a single sofa. As if they owned seats, Jessamine asked me to sit on the single sofa while Deborah was on the loveseat. When she returned, she sat cross-legged on the floor and put the decorated box on the center table.
“I can’t believe you two,” she muttered as she leaned forward to see the letters inside the box. “And where’s yours?” she asked, narrowing her eyes as she accused me of not doing the same thing as my best friend.
I stood up, opened my luggage, and took the one that took up most of the space in my bag. Smiling, I sat beside Jessamine and placed my own version of my sacred box, heavily decorated with Marvel stickers, beside her box.
“Wow!” Deborah chuckled as I opened the lid. “You two are something.” One corner of her mouth lifted as she looked at Jessamine getting one envelope from her box.
“This is your last letter to me,” she smiled but pouted as she showed me my picture with Hannah. “She still your girlfriend?”
“That’s so six months ago. Old news,” I said, shaking my head.
Jessamine rolled her eyes and chuckled. “We’re so alike. This guy here can’t be tamed,” she uttered, introducing my bad side to her housemate. “You’re the one who’s wild and all fun,” she muttered, clucking her tongue as she looked at me. “When are you going to get serious with a girl?” She turned her head to Deborah. “The longest relationship he had was three months. It’s like there was some kind of expiration date to his every relationship.”
“Look who’s talking,” I chuckled, crossing my arms over my chest as I narrowed my eyes at her. “And you? What's the longest relationship you had?”
She wrinkled her nose and sneered at me. “Six months with Mark. The last one,” she stuck her tongue out. “I thought he was the one, but...” she shook her head, returning the picture in the envelope. “He’s just not the one.” She sighed.
“Are you sure you’re just best friends?” Deborah lifted an eyebrow at her.
“Best friends forever,” she grinned, showing the friendship-knotted ring on her left finger.
“Best friends forever,” I repeated, showing the same ring to her, but I used mine as a pendant to my necklace as it didn’t fit my finger anymore.
Deborah smirked but refused to say something. She stood up. “I’m preparing lunch.”
“Lunch is on me,” Jessamine said, stopping her from going to the kitchen. “Aiden loves Chinese food.” She turned to me, blinking her adorable almond eyes. “You still love Chow Mein, right?”
“Yep!” I smiled, raising my hand to brush the hair strand that got loose from her ponytail. “How can you be the same?”
“You just said I grew up, so I’m not that same high school girl, Aiden. I’m different,” she said as she took her phone, taking a picture of our boxes.
“I’m sorry for asking, but why did you decide to return and live here in Carterville?” Deborah had that same suspicious look as she asked me.
Jessamine turned to me, raising her eyebrows while waiting for my answer.
“Did Jessamine tell you about my father, only showing up at my grandmother’s wake?” I asked her. When she nodded, I continued, “Well... he’s someone really difficult to please, always expecting much from me... but you see, I’m Aiden, the untamed son, not taking things seriously, so he kind of kicked me out. Before leaving, I asked him for money and promised him I’d make myself a millionaire out of it in a year.”
Jessamine gazed at me with a serious look. “How much did he give you?”
“Fifty thousand,” I answered, meeting her eyes.
“Aiden, how exactly will you turn fifty thousand into a million?” My best friend murmured worriedly.
“That’s why I’m here to ask for your help,” I smiled at her.
“You have savings?” Deborah interrupted, raising her eyebrows at me.
I shook my head. “No savings... nothing! That’s why he kicked my butt out of his home because I was useless to him.”
Jessamine tilted her head as she thought. “That’s a good start, though,” she said in a hushed tone. “I can lend you money.”
“The deal with my dad is not to get help from anyone for additional finances. I had to work hard if I wanted to add money to my capital,” I waggled my eyebrows. “Oh, I forgot to mention that I’ll be getting my expenses from that money, too.”
Jessamine gasped. “What? He’s worse than my mother,” she scowled. “How will you live?”
Deborah scoffed at her. “He has you.” She raised her eyebrows at me. “I can sense you’ll get a prize if you make a million, Aiden.”
“He’ll double my money,” I smirked.
The ‘ding’ sound of the doorbell made us turn our heads to the main door. Jessamine stood up hurriedly to open it like she was expecting someone was coming. I shifted on my seat to see who it was, but the visitor refused to enter and asked her to go out instead.
“That must be Holly, the owner of this row of apartments here in Maddison,” Deborah said, taking my attention. “Aiden, while Jessamine is outside, let’s be clear with one another, okay?”
I met her eyes and nodded, unsure why she looked at me like she would strangle me or slap my face if I did something terrible to Jessamine.
“You’re here because of your little squabble with your father and not to break Jessamine’s heart,” she muttered in a hushed tone.
“I don’t understand you, Deborah,” I was about to laugh, but when she glowered at me, I pressed my lips tightly.
“She may look tough, but she’s a child inside, Aiden. She’s looking for direction, a straight one, not a twirling path that will only confuse her,” she hissed.
I scoffed, shaking my head. “You think I’m here to woo Jessamine and be in a relationship with her?” I raised my head and met her eyes. “You may know her, but I have known Jessamine since third grade. She’s my only family, Deborah, and I had no plan of losing the only sister I had over the need of my body.”
Deborah pressed her lips and narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. Her eyes flickered on the door before looking at me again.
“At least we’re clear,” she sighed and sat again when the door opened.
When I turned my head in her direction, her mouth was downturned as she walked toward the single sofa. She nibbled on her bottom lip, a habit she had when stressed and worried.
“Argh!” She hissed annoyingly. “Holly’s so unfair,” she growled.
“What happened?” Deborah and I asked in unison.
“She promised to wait for you for the deposit and advance, but just because someone came yesterday and was ready to pay, she gave the apartment to them,” she snarled.
I grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll book a hotel tonight. Don’t stress yourself about it, okay?”
She gasped and then sneered at me, hitting my arm. “How can you think of booking a hotel with your limited resources? Stay here.”
“What?” Deborah’s eyes were wide as she looked at her. “I’m not giving up my room. You know that Xavier stays here on weekends.”
“I can sleep on the... couch!” I sucked in my lips, looking at the loveseat and thinking how I would fit in.
Jessamine shook her head, standing up and grabbing my luggage’s handle. “Deborah, I’m definitely not taking your room, but I’m not letting Aiden sleep here on the loveseat. He can sleep in my room.”
“He will sleep in your room?” Deborah blinked. She opened her mouth again, looking at her, dumbfounded and horrified by her decision. “Do you know what happens to a man and woman sleeping in one room, Jessamine?”
She grinned. “Not my Aiden, Deborah. Besides, he’ll be sleeping on the pull-out bed. Not in my bed. We used to sleep together in the classroom and the tree house, so don’t worry much. Aiden is spelled out as S-A-F-E. The only time he dared to kiss me was that prom night, and he kinda disappointed me.” She chuckled amusedly.
“Oh, God.” I arched my head, fixing my eyes on the ceiling. “Don’t bring that up, please.”
Debora’s reaction was priceless. She opened her mouth again, but this time, she closed it without uttering any words.
Jessamine chuckled and tousled my hair as if I was a young boy. “Don’t worry, Aiden. It’s still our secret, but I am sharing it with Deborah, so she won’t worry much about us staying in one room.”
“You...” Deborah blinked, looking at me. “You...”
“Nothing happened,” Jessamine rolled her eyes as she assured him. “It was...” She furrowed her forehead as if trying to remember the kiss. “It was just a peck on my lips so I would stop crying because my crush liked someone else, and I hoped to have my first kiss with him that night. Instead, I got my heart broken.” She looked at me and smirked. “That’s how I got my first lousy kiss.”
“That bad?” I asked, unsure why my ego was hurt when it had been our joke for almost a decade.
Jessamine guffawed and turned her back on us, taking my luggage as she walked toward her bedroom. I pressed my lips, suppressing a smile, but I failed. If only Jessamine knew it was also my first and how I wanted to deepen the kiss and explore her mouth, but I was afraid she would run away from me.
That night in the tree house, while she snored in my arms, I didn’t sleep, deciding to keep my feelings for her. Jessamine was my first love, but I would rather lose the chance of trying to be in a relationship with my first love than lose my best friend and only family.
(Aiden’s POV)“Your friend, Deborah... She doesn’t seem to like me,” I said, following Jessamine into her bedroom and closing the door.“Don’t!” Her eyes were wide as she chuckled, stopping me from closing it. “You’ll only make her fret more about us. She’s not done with me yet.”“What do you mean she’s not done with you yet?” I lifted an eyebrow as I asked.I watched her smiling while looking around her bedroom, perhaps wondering where to put my luggage. Sighing, I took the handle from her and rolled it near the coffee table. Her bedroom was the main room in the apartment, making it bigger than Deborah’s. She didn’t have much furniture, so her bedroom looked more spacious with just the queen-size pulled-out bed, a full-length mirror wall between the bed and the way toward her bathroom, and a coffee table with two chairs on the far end of the room.The six-drawer dresser on the opposite end of her bed took my attention. I walked toward it and found a few business books and novels on t
(Jessamine’s POV)Swaying my head and humming Jason Chen’s Best Friend song, I walked toward the dining table. I was all smiling, dancing to the imaginary beat of the song as I stepped toward the refrigerator to get water.“I’ve never seen you this happy, Jessamine,” Deborah’s eyes were on the food box. “Do you even know the lyrics of the song?”I grinned, shaking my head. “It’s the song in the taxi this morning, and the melody just keeps popping into my mind.” I shrugged my shoulders.Deborah knew I loved listening to music, but I was never into shredding the words of the song, knowing its meaning. For me, as long as the melody was sweet and agreeable to my ears, I would keep listening to it.“And I don’t know how it ends, girl... But I fell in love with my Best Friend,” Deborah grinned as she sang the lyrics to me, emphasizing the last words to me. “Are you?” She chuckled.I blinked, slowly pulling out the chair. “Dangerous song, then.” I curled my lips, propping my elbows on the t
(Jessamine’s POV)“Stop it, Xavier!” I hissed at Deborah’s boyfriend.He looked funny, eyeing Aiden as if studying a witness on the stand, but my best friend didn’t flinch. He raised his head and caught him staring at him, then half-smiled. Shrugging, he continued to eat his lunch.“He looked familiar, that’s all,” he lied, squinting his eyes and shifting his focus from Aiden to me.“Everyone looked familiar to you,” I muttered and smiled as I took a picture of my Chow Mein. “If Aiden’s tummy gets upset later, it’ll all be your fault,” I joked. My eyes brightened as I posted the picture on my social media page with many hashtag words I could think of.“Honey,” Deborah hissed, nudging her elbow on Xavier’s arm. “I already explained to you why he’s here.”“And why he’ll stay here for a while.” Xavier pursed his lips and looked down to focus on his food. “Smooth move,” he murmured in his usual irksome tone.This time, Aiden raised his head and furrowed his forehead, not liking what Xavie
(Jessamine’s POV)“Did something happen between you and Aiden?” Deborah asked.I understood her worries because I had been quiet since we left for the supermarket. Silence accompanied us even on our way back, and for a chatter like me, I looked like someone had abducted my mouth. I was already parking her sedan in the apartments’ parking space when she asked.“Why?” I pretended to focus on the key and gave it to her.Without answering my question, my housemate got off the car and took the paper bags from the trunk. I looked heavenward, glancing at the cloudy sky and sighing as I thought of Aiden. The clouds looked heavy and promised torrential rain later in the evening. It was a good sign because I could cry tonight, along with the weather, without Aiden noticing me… that is, if my best friend decided to stay for tonight.After our conversation in the bedroom, we rarely looked at each other. The joke about me proposing to anyone made it worse. The last conversation we had was about hi
(Aiden’s POV) The sky probably matched Jessamine’s emotions as it poured rain heavily on the ground. When I visited Mr. Douglas earlier to borrow some plumbing tools, like a weather forecaster, he told me it would rain hard and that I should close the window in Jessamine’s bedroom tonight before sleeping. No wonder she was smitten with him as the older man was funny, witty, sweet, and talked about Jessamine and Deborah with fatherly love in his tone. “God, I’m full!” Deborah chuckled as she finished her second pork burrito. “You’re really something, Aiden.” “I’m glad you like it,” I said, forcing a smile, but I couldn’t help glancing at Jessamine’s empty chair. “You can’t force her to eat,” Deborah smiled, catching my eyes on my best friend’s seat. “Don’t worry, Aiden. If she gets hungry, even at midnight, your best friend will get up and eat.” “Does this usually happen?” I asked worriedly. “I have known Jessamine since third grade, but ten years -” “Nine years, ten months, and s
(Aiden’s POV)It was past midnight when Deborah exited Jessamine’s room. She sighed, looking exhausted, as she walked toward the living room and sat in her usual place on the loveseat. She rose her feet to the sofa and hugged her knees.“What happened in there, Deb?” I darted my eyes at her, telling her I would not return to Jessamine’s bedroom without getting an answer.“It’s nothing. Your best friend was just having a nightmare, Aiden,” she sighed, obviously lying as she craned her neck to the seat’s backrest.“My best friend was screaming, squirming in bed as if she was in pain,” I gritted my teeth, holding my patience at her. “What happened to her?” My eyes were wide, horrified that she got hurt in my decade of absence.Deborah pursed her lips, looking at me while thinking, and then she shook her head and stood up. “You know what, Aiden? It’s not my story to tell. If you want to know what happened, better ask Jessamine.”My heart hammered in my chest, terrified for the first time
(Aiden’s POV)“You are really leaving me,” Jessamine murmured. Her shoulders slumped, and tears welled in her eyes as she found me sitting at the edge of her bed, ready to go.This was my desperate act of forcing her to tell me what had happened to her. I knew it was unfair to her, but I had to know. I wouldn’t take such measures, but it frightened me that Jessamine would never tell me.“I told you not to keep secrets from me, Jess.” I stood up, grabbing the handle of my luggage bag. “I’m your best friend, but -”“It happened two years ago,” she blurted out, her lips trembling, swallowing hard as she closed her eyes. She had not said anything except that, but her chest was rising and falling already.“Two years ago? What happened two years ago?” I almost smiled, thinking my tactic worked.“I… I met… I met this guy, Rick…” She was out of breath as she walked toward me, but she stopped a few steps away from me. “And… Umm…”She inhaled and puffed out the air slowly. She opened her mouth,
(Jessamine’s POV)I blinked, watching Aiden stand up immediately and grab the handle of his luggage again when my bedroom door opened, but I couldn’t say stay. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My heart pounded hard, hurting my chest as I remembered his heavenly kiss.“Oh! So, you decided to leave,” Deborah muttered, glancing at me worriedly.“Umm…” Aiden sighed, looking at me.I crawled on all fours on my bed, reaching for his arm. “Don’t go, Aiden. I promise to behave. I’ll do whatever you say. Just don’t go, please.”I didn’t know why I had to beg him. Maybe what happened between us was my fault. I must have led Aiden into a situation that made him weak and forced him to kiss me… and touch me. A guy could be like that.Right?The memory of him touching me was still burning me up. As our eyes met, there was something in his eyes that, even if uttered, was incomprehensible to me. “Are you…” His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed. “Are you sure?”I nodded many times. When I