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After I had showered and gotten ready, I went downstairs to see if Grace needed any help preparing breakfast. But when I got to the kitchen I heard Aiden's voice and it made me halt in my step.

"Don't give me that look, Alice. I know what you want to ask, so just ask it already." He muttered. I peeked through the archway leading into the kitchen and saw that he was perched on one of the swivel chairs at the breakfast island, and Alice was across him cutting up some Mango.

"I'm not even looking at you. And if you know what I want to ask then why don't you give me my answer." Alice smiled, as she placed the Mango onto a plate and reached for an Apple.

He sighed, and even though I can't see his face from this angle, I could just tell he was rolling his eyes; "Fine. We talked last night."
"Seems to me that you did a lot more than just talking," She raised her eyebrow and pointed to his neck with the knife in her hand. I could feel my cheeks heating up at the reminder of what we did last night. Aiden's hand flew up to his neck before clearing his throat. It was cute seeing him embarrassed.

"Well, whatever. Anyways, we got everything off our chests and we're finally back together. But we're not telling people back home that." He explained, putting a spoonful of what looks like scrambled eggs into his mouth. Alice hummed in reply, smiling to herself.

"You look happy." Is all that she said, before turning around to the sink and washing up the chopping board and knife. Aiden kept quiet, but watched as she did so.

Does he look happier? He looks the same to me.

"I am." He finally spoke, "I haven't felt this happy in a long time. I feel like everything is finally going back to the way it was. They way it was always supposed to be."

"That girl loves you, Mr. McGregor, and if she can get you to take a day off on a weekday, then don't let her get away from you again."
Aiden chuckled; "Who said I took the day off for her?"

"Oh please. You're not on your death bed, and neither is anyone else that you care about. What other reason would you give yourself a holiday for on a Monday?" Grace asked, turning to look back at him with a raised eyebrow. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. She got him there.

I decided to put Aiden out of his misery and walk into the kitchen with a smile on my face. "Morning Alice," I chirped, causing Aiden's face to snap in my direction. He grinned at me as I placed a quick kiss on his cheek, before sitting on the chair next to him. Alice looked like she was going to swell in glee as she stood there and watched our little interaction.

"Good Morning to you too, Avery." She handed me the plate with all the fruits that she had cut up and I thanked her, before picking up a Tangerine slice and putting it into my mouth. "Did you sleep well?"
I choked on my Tangerine. I was not expecting her to be so sly about it to me.

"I uh," I looked towards Aiden who was hiding his smirk behind a slice of toast, before turning back to her teasing smile. "No actually. Hardly did any sleeping, really."

Now it was Aiden's turn to choke as Alice burst out into a fit of laughter. I joined in once I saw Aiden's cheeks flush pink, grumbling under his breath; something to do with him preferring to go to the office.

"Yeah, you've definitely found a keeper here, Mr. McGregor." Alice said as her laughter subsided. Aiden looked at me and teasingly shot me a disgusted look, which I returned easily. He chuckled under his breath before placing his arm around the back of my chair and brought his mug of coffee up to his lips with his other hand.

"Well, I'm just going to let you two lovebirds enjoy your breakfast. If you need me, I'll be in the laundry room." She winked, before walking through a door at the far end of the kitchen and shutting it behind her.

As soon as she was out of sight, Aiden swivelled me to face him and pressed his lips against mine, making me completely forget about my breakfast. I kissed him back just as eagerly, seeming to not be able to get enough of this man. Granted, I did have five years to make up for.

I pulled away and pressed my forehead against his as I gave him a cheeky smile, "So you took the day off for me, huh?"

He rolled his eyes, "I knew you were eavesdropping."
"What? No I wasn't." I gasped, pulling away in astonishment. I thought I was being stealthy. He shot me a look and I rolled my eyes, "Fine. Whatever. You didn't have to take the day off, Aiden."
"I wanted to. I have Five Years worth of catching up to do with you and I'll take every minute I can get. Plus there wasn't much to do today since I went yesterday."

This man is too cute. I pulled him back in for another kiss, shaking my head at him. "Who goes to work on a Sunday in the first place."

"I don't usually, but I had somethings to sort out yesterday that couldn't wait." He explained, as I turned back to my breakfast. He reached over for a slice of Apple and I slid the plate closer to him so he could help himself.

"Well, thank you. From what I hear, you've become a Workaholic."

"I wouldn't say I'm a Workaholic. I guess I just used it as a distraction, and if I'm being honest, I used the office as an excuse to get some time away from Brooke."

I raised my eyebrow at this before smirking; "I don't blame you for that. But, now I'll be extra suspicious every time you "get held back at the office""

He laughed at this, flicking my nose gently. "If anything, I'll be rushing back now that I'll be coming home to you."

I blushed, biting my lip to stop the giddy grin that was threatening to take over my face.

"So what are we going to do on your day off?" I asked, turning back to my breakfast. I looked towards the massive window overlooking the NY skyline and frowned. It looked like it was about to start raining any minute now.

Aidan must have thought the same because he just shrugged and said "I guess we'll just have to have a day in it seems, should we watch a movie?"
I nodded eagerly, popping the last slice of Apple in my mouth before reaching for both his and my dishes.

"Oh no, let me do the dishes. You go and choose a movie for us to watch," He demanded, shoving me away from the sink. I rolled my eyes at him, before kissing his cheek in gratitude.

I hated choosing the movie, and so did Aidan. Simply because neither of us could ever decide what we want to watch but we always knew what we didn't want to watch. So it would take us half an hour of us just rejecting every movie option before one of us would finally give in and just settle for anything.

I walked into Aiden's TV room and flopped onto the massive grey couch that he had in there, instantly sinking into the lush cushions. It's like everything in this penthouse was designed for maximum comfort and would not settle for anything less.

When I clicked onto Netflix and scrolled through the choices, I perked up when I saw the movie White Chicks. I haven't watched that movie in ages and I knew it was a movie that Aiden enjoyed watching, so I clicked on it and waited for him to join me.

He came in a few minutes later and sank into the spot next to me, immediately tugging on my arm so I was half lying on him. He pressed a quick kiss to my forehead before turning to the screen and chuckling. "Damn, I haven't watched this movie since we were in Uni." He reached for a blanket and wrapped it over the both of us as I snuggled closer to him, basking in the warmth his body was giving me.

"Really? I think I've watched it once or twice after that. It always put me in a good mood." I said, clicking play.

After the movie ended, I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror as I washed my hands, noticing that my skin had a lot more colour to it and the Gucci bags I had under my eyes had more or less faded away. I looked happy. And it made me think back to what Grace said about Aiden looking happier now, was it the small details like this that made someone's appearance appear more content? I never anticipated that my emotions could alter how I look to someone else. I guess Photoshop came in handy for things like this because I would have probably looked like a mess my first year in L.A. without it.

When I walked out of the bathroom, I heard an unfamiliar male voice coming from downstairs before the deep, baritone sound of Aiden's laughter. Intrigued, I walked down the stairs to see who had come, seeing as I wasn't expecting guests. As I reached the last step I heard a loud gasp and turned to look in the direction of the elevator.

"Aiden...there's a Model in your apartment." A handsome blond man, about Aiden's height, exclaimed, looking at me with wide eyes. I had to bite back a laugh at the shock on his face as I came to stand next to my boyfriend. "No way. You're Avery Maxwell."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," I smiled, offering my hand out for him to shake. He took it, still looking at me like I was an unknown species that he was hallucinating.

Aiden cleared his throat and the man's eyes immediately snapped to look at him, "Babe this is my Lawyer, Jeremiah Moore. Jeremiah this is my girlfriend, Avery Maxwell. Although it seems you already know who she is." His eyes narrowed into a glare but I could see the teasing glint behind it.
Jeremiah's face broke out into a wide grin before turning into a mocking scowl. "I am a lot more than your Lawyer, Aids. I'm his best friend." He smiled proudly causing me to laugh.

"Really? I thought I was your best friend, Aids." I gave Aiden a cheeky smile, catching onto the nickname. He groaned, running his hand down his face.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" He scowled at the brunette who simply smirked back with a shrug of his shoulder.

"Its your nickname, bro. You don't get an opinion on it."
"It makes me look like I have an STD." He deadpanned, unamused.

I wrinkled my nose up in mock disgust, "You better not."
"I wouldn't be too sure if I were you Avery. Who knows what kind of diseases that bitch, Brooke was carrying."

I burst out laughing at the unexpected jab at Aiden's ex-fiancé. "You don't like Brooke?"

"Uh uh. You two are not bonding over your mutual hatred over my ex."
"Are you defending her?" I turned to Aiden with narrowed eyes, daring him to say yes.

His eyes widened as he reached for my shoulders, "No! What? I'm not defending her. I just don't want to talk about her."

I shot him another glare before turning back to his friend, who was watching us in amusement. "We'll bond over Brooke another time, it seems."

He grinned at me and nodded; "My wife would enjoy that a lot, actually. She never could stand her. Speaking of, she's going to literally freak out when she finds out you're dating her." He pointed the last statement at Aiden, who shook his head and smiled, wrapping his arm around my waist and tugging me closer. "You guys should come with us to dinner tonight. Aria would love to meet you."
I looked up at Aiden, hesitantly. I didn't know how comfortable he is with this, but one look at his face had me feeling like an idiot for even doubting anything. He looked at me, eagerly but still giving me the choice to say no and I knew he was more than comfortable with me meeting this side of his life.

"We would love to join you, if it's not too much of a bother? I know how hard it is to get reservations at restaurants here in New York." I told him, squeezing Aiden's hip to show him that I was okay with this as well.

"Don't be silly, we haven't even made the reservation yet so you're definitely not a bother. Just don't tell Aria that because I was supposed to have booked a table already. She'll kill me if we don't get a table because she's been driving me mad about this new Chinese restaurant that opened recently," Jeremiah admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and wincing. Aiden and I both laughed at this and I turned to look at him at the same time he looked down at me, the glint in his eyes telling me he's thinking about the same thing that I am.

"You'd better book that table ASAP bro, once I forgot to make a reservation to this Thai restaurant and Avery gave me shit for it for a whole week after."
"Hey! It was not a whole week." I argued, "It was like once after, and that's because I had told you so many times that I could call and book the table but you INSISTED you would do it. AND it was our anniversary. So you deserved all the shit talking you claim you got."
"Wait anniversary?" Jeremiah asked, interrupting Aiden who was just about to defend himself, "You're the Gardenia girl?"
"The Gardenia girl?" I asked in amusement, "Yeah I guess that's me."
"For the record, he's the one that came up with that name." Aiden excused.

"Sorry, but he was refusing to tell us your real name and Aria and I had to find another way to refer to you." Jeremiah explained, rolling his eyes at his best friend, "So you two got back together huh? This must be an interesting story seeing as from what I heard, the break-up wasn't very pretty."
"Oh you have no idea. My life is actually a chick-flick, bro. It's crazy." Aiden scoffed.

"You love chick-flicks," I countered back, raising my eyebrow at him. His cheeks flushed and he pinched my hip, causing a shock of electricity to jolt down my spine.

"Alright! Thanks for bringing over these contracts. I'll read through them and give them back to you tomorrow." Aiden quickly changed the topic to avoid his friend teasing him about this new revelation that I accidentally-on-purpose let out. "Send me the address and time that you get the booking for, will you? I don't think I've heard of any new Chinese restaurants."
"Yeah I will. Fingers crossed I get us a table or I'm so royally screwed." He nodded, reaching for Aidan so they can do they're weird bro handshake-hug, before smiling at me, "It was nice to finally meet you, Avery. See you tonight." He pulled me into a friendly side hug, which took me by surprise, but I found myself comfortable enough with him to wrap my arm around him back.

"See you!" I smiled, as he stepped into the elevator and the doors shut closed.

"So," I said, turning to look at my boyfriend and reaching my arms up and around his neck, "Gardenia girl and AIDs, huh?"

He groaned, "I hate him." He mumbled into my shoulder causing me to giggle at the contact of his soft lips on the ticklish spot at the base of my neck.

"He seems really nice." I hummed, thinking about how easily it was to laugh and joke with him. Normally it took me awhile to become comfortable with new people, but Jeremiah had this comforting, friendly vibe and I knew I would get a long great with him.
"Wait until you meet Aria. You'll love her. She's a bit like Myla and Blair but a lot more...uhm, outspoken, I would say? They're both pretty blunt, but Aria is a very no-bullshit, I'll-bite-your-head-off-if you-mess-with-me kind of person."
I laughed at this, because that does sound very similar to both my sister and best friend. "Is that why she didn't get along with Brooke then?" I asked, curiously. I knew Brooke was a complete bitch to me, but that was only because she hated me. She seemed pretty alright to other people, which is why she was always popular in school.

"Yeah, Alia didn't like her attitude and Brooke didn't like that I was friends with Alia, even though she was dating Jeremiah." Aidan shrugged and I nodded in understanding. If Brooke was jealous of Aria, then I can only imagine how bad her attitude must have been. She didn't like anyone that stood in the way of her and her beloved Aidan. I smirked at this thought, loving the fact that despite everything she still couldn't come in between Aidan and I.

"What are you smiling at?" Aidan asked, teasingly. I grinned and shook my head. "Don't think I've forgotten about how you ratted me out like that to Jeremiah. Just because I enjoy watching a movie with you doesn't mean I want everyone to know,"
"Aw baby. Did I hurt your masculinity?" I teased, poking his nose with the tip of my pointer finger. He let out a low growl from the back of his throat before throwing me over his shoulder. I shrieked out in laughter as the entire apartment flipped upside down and my hair wacked me in the face. "Aidan put me down!"
"You don't get to tease me like that without being punished for it," He shot over his shoulder, and my breath hitched at his words and the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Oooh a punishment, huh?" I smirked, my stomach fluttering in excitement and anticipation. "What kind of punishment?"
He pushed open the door of his bedroom and tossed me onto the bed so I was sprawled out in front of him. His eyes visibly darkened as he crawled on top of me, the mischief being replaced by lust and desire. "You'll see." He mumbled before capturing my waiting lips with his.

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