CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"vivi?" that familiar voice broke whatever trance I had been in.
"c..charlie? where'd you come from?" I adjusted myself and cleared my throat as she approached me and xerxes.
"oh, I went to see seagrave…what are you two doing together? Don't tell me I missed you two getting in each others faces, did i?" Charlie pouted as she pulled the chair that was on my left and sat down.
"Haha…y...Yeah, you definitely missed that..."I let out an impulsive snort and she narrowed her eyes at me.
Technically xerxes and I did more than just getting into each other's faces, but she didn't need to know that, not now at least. Unlike me who looked a tad bit blanched at the thought of Charlie almost walking in on us making out, xerxes on the other hand looked like his normal cranky self, as if he hadn't just stolen my breath a few moments ago.
"you've been acting strange vivi…" Charlie remarked. Is she serious right now?
"Me!? I'm not the one who's been sneaking around lately…" I gave her a pointed look and she tensed up a bit before laughing out to ease the tension. "is everything alright with you?" I asked her with obvious concern in my voice. It was unlike Charlie to keep things from me and frankly it was concerning, but I've never been the type to pry into a person's personal affairs.
"Off course! Why wouldn't it be…?" her eyes darted about, looking at everything else but at me.
"cha-…where are you going to?" xerxes who might have gotten bored, got up to leave, pulling my attention with him. He looked down at me and huffed
"roof…" and with that he left the kitchen, leaving Charlie and I alone.
"what was that all about?" she muttered under her breath and I just shrugged.
"now, back to what I was saying…"
"seriously ivy, I'm not hiding anything, I promise…" she waved her arms about.
After a few more minutes of her trying to convince me that she wasn't hiding anything, I dropped the matter, for now anyways. We talked some more about other things, apparently I haven't been the only one getting some action lately. Charlie revealed how Keiko had asked her out the day I got admitted into the clinic, but she hadn't given him an answer yet.
"you should totally go for it…" I said excitedly and she shook her head, declining the idea.
"It wouldn't work out…"
"You won't know if you don't try…" I gave her a warm smile and she smirked.
*beep*beep*beep*
The beeping sounds coming from her phone interrupted our conversation, which she apologized for before excusing herself.
"*sigh* and she's gone again…" since I didn't technically have anything to do now, I decided to go find chuckles, hopefully he hadn't left yet.
Making my way up to the roof, I opened the door to find xerxes leaning on the ledge.
"what took you so long?" he turned around with a bored look on his face as if he had been waiting forever. There was a teasing smirk on my face as I walked forward.
"so you were waiting for me?" my chest puffed up with pride and he glared at me before coming to meet me halfway. We both stood at the center of the rooftop with neither of us backing down.
"what if I said I was…" xerxes cocked his head to the side, the smile on my face only grew wider.
"I didn't mean to keep you waiting…" I apologized to him and he took a huge step forward, closing the distance between us and wrapping his arms around me. He pulled me closer to him.
"you know I'll always wait for you…" his words were quite and slow. My heart skipped a beat and all the blood in my neck rushed to my cheeks.
"why do you always say cheesy things?" I buried my face in his chest and he laughed.
"because it's amusing to watch you wither way and try to hide like a bunny…" he couldn't see it, but right now there was a scowl on my face. What was he trying to say anyways?
Xerxes let go of me, but not completely. His hand continued to rest on my shoulder while the other one fished for something deep in his pocket.
"close your eyes…" he instructed me, but being the stubborn person I was, I narrowed my eyes down so much that they looked like slits now.
"Why? What are you hiding?" I questioned him and he glared at me.
"Just do it you idiot…I have something for you, don't ruin the moment with your lameness" he scolded and I rolled my eyes before closing them.
"fine…it better not be something dumb…"
"the only dumb thing here is your face…" he flicked my forehead hard, making me flinch at the action. My eyes flew open without even waiting for him to tell me to open them.
"OW-what was that f-…" before I could get the chance to spit out whatever it was I was about to say, xerxes held up two plastic cards with ropes attached to them in my face.
"happy early birthday idiot…" he had a small smile on his face as the tags dangled in front of me. Upon closer inspection I realised it was two vip passes to the concert I've been dying to go to.
"is this for real?" words could not explain the excitement that was bubbling up within me right now.
"off course…"
"but, how did you get this?…" I grabbed the passes to see that they were the real deal. It must have cost him a fortune to get these. He just shrugged his shoulders then said.
"I had some spare change from my allowance so I decided to get them…and see, it falls a day after your birthday…we can go together" he pointed at the date which said 'may 30th'
"thank you…" my expression softened as I wrapped my arms round him and he did same. But then, this would explain a lot on why Charlie had been sneaking around lately. It had totally escaped my memory, I would be officially turning eighteen this weekend.
"however, I am concerned about how you used your allowance to get me concert tickets…" I couldn't hide the obvious frown on my face as I looked him in the eye, he stared back at me then smiled.
"ivy, the concert tickets would barely make a dent in my allowance…"
"what do you mean by that…just one of these tickets, correction, vip passes would cost at best three months of my allowance, talk less of two…" it's not as if I hadn't asked my mum about the tickets already. She didn't just say no, the woman ignored my pleadings.
"I might lack when it comes to getting loving affections from my mother, but when it comes to money, it's asif she's paying me off to not have to deal with me. So yeah, I can afford two of these…" the smile on his face didn't fall as he told me this. I felt my heart ache just listening and I apologized, I don't know why I did it, but I just did.
"I'm sorry…"
"don't be…now tell me…"
"tell you what?"
"are you just a crazy person or just plain dumb?"
"what?-_-;" what is he going on about now. I think to myself with a dry look on my face. He on the other hand crossed pointed towards the edge of the building.
"when you jumped last night, what exactly where you thinking?"
Ooh, so he was angry about me jumping off the building last night.
"that? I wasn't actually thinking when I jumped off…I just did…" I shrugged my shoulders as though jumping off a rooftop was no big deal. Xerxes had an incredulous look on his face.
"what?"
"what! You could have been seriously injured if I hadn't jumped after you…" he flicked my forehead, again!
"ow! Stop that! I've jumped off a lot of roofs before, this one wouldn't have been any different…" I laid my claims, but that wasn't enough for him.
"the last time I checked, you don't have the ability of flight, do you?" he questioned me. Xerxes looked like a mother hen right now, scolding me like this.
" I don't, but like I said, I've done this a lot. I would have suspended myself a few feet off the ground with my telekinesis…" I pouted as I looked the other way, crossing my arms. I heard him sigh.
"You're not just an idiot, but a reckless one"