Part Five.
The terrible two.
The loud pounding music echoed all around but even Ariana Grande singing at the top of her very impressive lungs couldn't drown out the screams coming from the last stall of the girls bathroom on the first floor.
"Jesus! Stop screaming will you?!" Aspen hissed, her voice laced with mild anger. Her ears were ringing from Rhys' loud screams. Who knew the guy has such good lungs? He should have been an opera singer
"I can't!" he cried, trying to twist his wounded hand out of Aspen's grasp but she held on tight "It hurts too much"
"Hush up, you baby! I'm just sanitizing your wounds, keep quiet or people will think I'm murdering you in here or something"
"You're basically doing that. Murder by antiseptic wipes!" he cried, his voice rising dramatically.
Aspen rolled her eyes and continued dabbing at his bleeding knuckles, her grip on his twisting arm tight. She ignored his loud squeaks and pained moans and finished cleaning his wounds, and with deft movements wrapped up his hand with a bandage she swiped from the nurses' office.
She sat back on her toilet tank seat and blew out a sigh "Give me your other hand"
"No!" Rhys exclaimed, pouting like a five year old
"Rhysand Alesso Argent" Aspen chided a little mom-like "Give me your other hand"
He shook his head, his brunette hair flopping around his face "Nuh-uh"
A series of loud screams issued, loud enough to alert Soren who stood leaning against the wall, outside the bathroom.
To him it sounded like someone was being killed in there
He rushed in and rapped on the last stall door "What's going on there? Aspen are you good? I heard screaming"
A few seconds passed and her clear voice rang back to him through the door "Its okay Soren, its was Rhys' overreacting again"
Next he heard Rhys' teary voice say "She's trying to kill me, help me" but a thud which sounded like a slap upside the head quickly shut him up
Soren shook his head, let out a quiet chuckle and went back outside.
Inside the stall, Rhys stood, obediently silent yet teary eyed as Aspen cleaned up his wounds and wrapped them up
Finally she released him and blew out a huge sigh "There, don't you feel better now?"
She ignored the stink eye Rhys gave her and withdrew a pack of cigarettes from her pockets with a lighter. With practiced movements, she extracted one and lit up, drawing a calming cloud of smoke into her lungs before passing it over to Rhys
"I think a long talk is due between us" she said, exhaling a white plume of smoke upwards
"Yeah" Rhys answered deftly, before taking a long drag of the cigarette before passing it back to Aspen
Silence fell over the two as they passed the cigarette back and forth between them. The next time she spoke, the cigarette had all but burnt down to the filter
"I'm sorry for all those hurtful things I said, I knew it hurt you and I still said them." Aspen paused and glanced at Rhys who stared at her dully "I'm a terrible person and I know that, I won't hold it against you if you don't want to be friends with me anymore, I guess you're much better off without me" she paused and pined him with teary, soulful jade eyes "I just want us to be on good terms and have a fresh start, even if you don't want to be friends anymore"
Silence fell again as Aspen finished her monologue, watching with bated breath as Rhys stared back at her with no apparent expression.
Finally a small grin found its way onto his face and he chuckled out "That's the shittest apology I've ever heard"
Aspen blinked "Huh?"
"That was a weak ass apology, not what I was expecting at all, I was expecting tears, snot, sniveling, begging" he gave a dramatic sigh and shrug, flicked the cigarette bud into the toilet bowl "I guess one shouldn't have expectations"
She let out a sneer "What's that supposed to mean dummy?"
"IT MEANS I FORGIVE YOU DUMMY!" He exclaimed, leaning forward and grabbing her cheeks, pinching them roughly "For someone so smart, you sure are a big dumbass"
Aspen struggled to get his hands off her cheeks but failed, ultimately deciding to grab his own cheeks and start yanking them up and down
"OW!" Rhys yelled out, rubbing his face "Still so violent"
"I learnt it from you" she retorted, rubbing at her own face.
The two burst into laughs before enveloping themselves into a huge hug.
"I missed you so much Prude" Rhys said, his voice slightly muffled by the hug
"I missed you too Slut" Aspen replied , hugging him tightly. Her heart felt full at this moment. She finally had her best friend back, everything seemed right with the world
Well, almost everything.
"So, ten years huh? We have a lot of catching up to do don't we?" Rhys uttered as he withdrew his pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket and lit up
Aspen motioned for his bud and took a drag, they always did this, shared cigarettes, candy, lip balm… It was one of their 'things'
"Yeah I guess, but I have to ask you a burning question first"
Rhys plucked the winking bud from her lips "Shoot"
"You and Hames? How the fuck did that happen?"
He chuckled and exhaled a plume of smoke "I could ask you the same thing about Soren out there"
"What?!" her eyes widened "You're delirious, what the hell are you saying?"
"Jesus! Still as blind as ever" Rhys pinched the bridge of his nose "Don't tell me you haven't noticed the way he has been looking at you since the whole fiasco outside , he's been basically giving you 'cow fuck me' eyes"
Aspen stuttered out a laugh and jumped off the toilet tank, pushing the stall door open and stepping outside, scaring the ladies stood at the sinks fixing their makeup. Rhys followed her out, flashing a sly smile at the ladies who let out a collective squeak and hurried outside.
"You're drunk right? You have to be drunk if you think Soren was giving me looks" she whirled back to him when she got to the mirror "Its Soren Ishida we're talking about"
"I know its Soren goddamn Ishida we're talking about bitch, and I know what I saw" Rhys rolled his eyes and snatched the cigarette from her "I'm the super observant one remember?"
It was Aspen's turn to roll her eyes "Yeah but not this time buck, you're being ridiculous"
"He obvious likes you Pen, and I think you're attracted to him too"
She turned back to the mirror, inspecting herself thoroughly in the reflection "Of course I find him attractive, have you seen how hot he is now?"
"I have eyes too bitch" he sucked in a low breath "Fuck, did you see those biceps?"
"You should have seen him shirtless" Aspen whistled lowly "Never getting that delicious scene out of my head"
Rhys pouted "Lucky! I want to see him shirtless too"
"Aren't you married?" she asked tucking the cigarette between her lips and trying to fix her hair at the same time
"Yeah" he drew out, knocking her hands away from her hair, taking over the task himself "Doesn't mean I can't admire perfection when I see it"
Aspen grimaced as Rhys drew the hair tie from her locks and dragged his fingers through her hair slowly, drawing it back and tying it off into a refreshed ponytail.
"How did you and Hames happen in the first place?" she asked again after he was done with her hair
Rhys just shrugged and grasped Aspen's hand that held onto the cigarette before drawing it up to his lips "Another story for another time" he exhaled a stream of smoke before inhaling again "it did involve a lot of tequila, a bouncy castle and a baseball signed by Babe Ruth"
"Sounds like quite a story"
He grinned at her through the mirror, pressing a kiss to her palm before plucking the bud from her fingers and grounding it out on the porcelain of the sink "You have no idea"
Aspen and Rhys walked out of the bathroom, hand in hand and giggling under their breath. Immediately they exited, Aspen's eyes met Soren's who leaned against the wall opposite the bathroom door, his phone to his ear.
She whispered something to Rhys before bouncing over to Soren, managing to catch the end of his conversation
She thought she heard him speak in Japanese to whoever was on the other line but she couldn't be sure as he hung up as soon as she arrived
"Hey" she let out sheepishly
He replied with a soft smile "Hey yourself"
"That was quite a show huh?"
He chuckled lowly "That's an understatement right?"
It was her turn to laugh, although it was a little nervous "You could say that" she paused and scratched at her neck "Now you must think I'm a raving lunatic"
"Absolutely not" he adamantly disagreed "I would have done the same in that situation"
She let out another nervous laugh, tucking her arms behind her "Well, with that behind us, if you seriously don't find me mad, do you want to go grab another drink with me? Rhys said he wants to go clubbing" she paused and let her gaze fall "You don't have to come along if you want to"
Soren considered it for a brief moment before replying "Sure why not? Sounds like fun and besides we haven't finished our game yet"
She let out a wild smile "Yeah, of course"
"Mind if we make a short stop first?" he asked
Aspen cocked her head curiously "What for?"
He pointed at her bare feet "To get you new shoes"
Cue another awkward nape scratch "Yea I totally forgot about that" then she whirled and yelled at Rhys who stood someway away smiling coyly "You owe me a pair of Gucci heels Slut!"
His response was flipping her off.
Soren let out another chuckle and made to lead the way but Aspen's hand on his arm stopped him "Wait a second"
He peered down at her curiously.
Then she did something that made his heart skip a beat in his chest, she leaned up on her tip toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek
It didn't linger, it didn't even last more than a second but even when she had drawn away, he could still feel her lips pressing against his skin.
It was as if electricity raced through his skin, fizzing his nerves and making his heart rate beat out of control
All from a small peck
Finally his tongue untwisted enough for him to utter "What was that for?"
She just smiled brightly "For helping me out, I appreciate it"
Together, the three trooped outside and into the parking lot, unknowing of the eyes that trailed after them, eyes that watched as Aspen and Rhys walk hand in hand with each other, grinning and smiling like the old friends they were
So they'd made up huh? That's unfortunate
The eyes watched as Aspen reached out and took Soren's hand in hers too, their fingers intertwining as she smiled brightly up at him, her eyes gleaming like gem stones
There must be something between them for her to smile so warmly at him , for her to have that look on her face, that look….
Something must be going on between them
Something that isn't supposed to be…
Something that should be stopped in its tracks.
A call has to be made
Meanwhile, The happy trio were in a bind.
Whose car were they gonna take for their club joyride?
Was it Rhys' Aston Martin DB11 he fondly calls his 'Precious'?
Or Aspen's 'Pride and Joy' her Audi A4?
Hence the argument:
"Come on Penny, it doesn't matter what car we take, it just matters that it has to be my car and it has to be me driving" Rhys declared quite triumphantly, his eyes gleaming in the low light and his head tilted back giving him the image of a spoiled prince.
"You driving? I would rather set my Vulva on fire than get in a car with you behind the wheel again" Aspen shot back, her voice loud enough to eyes to their location. Some ways back, Soren bit back a laugh watching the proceedings with a little smile
"What? Why?"
"If memory serves me correctly, you drive like a raging lunatic, must be your dad's race car driving blood in you"
"Hey! don't bring my dad into this, you know he's the one who taught me how to drive in the first place" Rhys paused and ran a hand through his hair "And besides you're not any better, didn't you crash my bike into that tree when we were in 9th grade?"
Aspen held up a maroon painted finger "Firstly, it was a fucking bike, not a car and that was like 14 years ago, let it go" she held up another finger "Secondly, I drive way better than you"
Rhys let out a long suffering sigh "Didn't we have this same argument like years ago, its like deja vu all over again" then he paused and waved his arms around wildly "Forget about the driving, lets take the cars into question. My 'Precious' is much better than that hunk of metal of yours"
Aspen was appalled, her arm swung wildly behind her, to brush the hood of her shiny red 'Pride and Joy' as she staggered dramatically, a fake grimace on her face "Hunk of metal?" she asked softly.
she pinched the bridge of her nose for a few seconds, leaning heavily on her car before shooting up, straight at Rhys
"That is blasphemy!" she yelled "Apologize right now! How can you call my 'Pride and Joy' that? don't you know you just shattered her self esteem?"
She whirled back to her car and stroked the hood lovingly, muttering under her breath "He didn't mean it baby, he's just delirious"
Rhys made a show of rolling his eyes as he muttered too "So dramatic"
Soren was suddenly fighting the urge to shout across the space at Rhys 'But you're just as dramatic'
"My 'Precious' Rhys started but stopped to reach behind him and stroke the hood of his silvery low swung car with a fond smile on his face "Is much better than yours, I mean its a car once driven by The James Bond, has your car been driven by anyone famous?"
"James Bond is a fictional character, shithead" Aspen fired back
"Doesn't matter, what matters is that we're taking my car, end of discussion"
Seeing as a huge fight was about to break out, Soren decided to step in
"How about we take mine instead?" he offered in a soft soothing voice.
The two enraged friends whirled to him
Rhys was the first one to speak, a sarcastic tinge to his voice "Sure, why don't we just pile onto your motorcycle?"
Aspen lashed out and punched him on his arm "Stop it asshole"
But Soren wasn't annoyed, instead he unearthed his phone and put it to his ear "Kuruma o motte iku"
Aspen and Rhys exchanged looks which turned to looks of astonishment when a car revved into the lot and stopped infront of them
They could only stare as a tall, intimidating looking bald man emerged from the car and walked past them to Soren and after exchanging a few unheard words with him, stood off to the side, hands clasped behind him as he stared on, Soren motioned to the statue of a man stood beside him "This is Ren, my associate"
But the pair paid no heed.
"Holy shit!" the two breathed in unison as their eyes ran over the amazing, shiny and mindblowingly expensive low slung car parked right infront of them
"So are we going?" Soren chimed up as he walked up behind them
"You win dude" Rhys let out lamely, his eyes still glued to the car
"Yeah totally" Aspen added
Soren let out a light chuckle "Your car keys so Ren can take your cars home"
The two handed over their keys and after a small scuffle of who gets to ride shotgun, they piled into the car
Once settled, Soren slipped in the driver's seat and in one fluid motion reached over Aspen to clip on her seatbelt, their torsos brushing lightly.
Aspen's heart twisted as she watched Soren clip on her seat belt, his cologne and heat invading her personal space. He was so close that she could see how the hue of his lips weren't pink but infact a light red, tantalizing and sweet like a strawberry. Lightly she wondered how a kiss from him would feel and taste like
Internally she shook her head at herself, how could she be thinking of such when she just broke up with her boyfriend mere hours before?
She swallowed discreetly, what was he even doing clipping on her seat belt for her? That was such a boyfriend move
He wasn't her boyfriend so why was he doing such?
And why does it make her heart race like that?
"There" he said as he sat back, smiling softly "All done"
Aspen could only offer a weak smile back as she tried hard to steady her heart rate, she was pretty sure her face was the same color as a tomato
A glance at the overhead mirror showed her that Rhys also witnessed their moment and was now making suggestive eyebrows at her.
She flashed him a frown and sucked in a breath. What was that?