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Song for chapter thirty: How to Love by Cash Cash Ft. Sofia Reyes

|Skyler|

I stepped out of the elevator and began making my way to Aden's apartment door. I'd decided to walk there from Aunt Claire's apartment seeing as I needed the exercise even though the weather had gotten cold again. The whole hiking trip for gym class was fun and all, but let's be honest, going to an amusement park and pigging out on hot dogs was not exactly healthy.

Josie had phoned me on the way there, squealing at the fact that Ryan had asked her out on a date in the most romantic way possible.

Ryan had taken her to a dinner at an Italian restaurant, and then at the end, the waitress brought out a cake with the letters written "be my girlfriend?" on top of it. And then she spent the night at his house doing who knew what. Which if I even tried anything like that at all, Aunt Claire would whoop my ass. My mom would have too.

When I told her about how Aden asked me out, she screamed louder than she had for herself. But not without saying how she called it and totally saw it coming. She began planning our wedding right after as I tried to tell her she was getting ahead of herself.

It was already nearing six o'clock in the evening, and Aden had invited me over for dinner and a movie. This time he was ordering pizza rather than cooking which was fine with me since I'd just walked a couple miles to get to his house. It was all about the balance.

I was only dressed in a large oversized hoodie and a pair of leggings since it was a casual date. My knuckles tapped against his door when I got there and he opened it within moments. My eyes subconsciously trailed over his body, clad in a Cypress High t-shirt and a pair of black sweats.

"Hey," he gave me a cheeky grin as he opened the door wider for me and I stepped inside. He bent over, giving me a quick peck on the lips as he shut the door. My eyes widened and I felt my cheeks burn from the gesture. I hadn't ever had an intimate boyfriend before, so in my defence it was all new to me.

"The pizza came like a few minutes ago," he told me as we walked to his living room, where he'd set up the pizza box on the coffee table and a bunch of movies lined up by the couch.

"Oooh thank god I'm starving," I drooled as I sat down on the floor in front of the couch.

Especially from my walk here.

"It was the most embarrassing thing ever, the pizza delivery man knocked and I opened the door and I said 'hey Clumsy' cause I thought it was you," he shook his head, sitting down on the couch.

I chuckled to myself at the image of the confused delivery boy on the other side of the door.

"Now, don't get any ideas. You're not getting lucky tonight," his lips stretched out into a large smirk and my jaw slackened.

I grabbed a pillow closest to me and tossed it at him, hitting him square in the face. He fell back with a grunt. "You wish, you're not getting any of my hooha either."

"We'll see about that sooner or later," he sat back up, setting the pillow aside. He had a playful glint in his eyes, as he picked up the DVDs. I swallowed hard, trying to push my brain away from any inappropriate thoughts as I felt my cheeks begin to heat up wildly. I needed to calm my ovaries down. "Okay, so I got these choices," Aden said, holding out three movies. Avengers: Endgame, Jumanji and Mean Girls.

I raised my eyebrow at the last choice, "You own Mean Girls?"

"Who doesn't," his eyebrows furrowed. "That's the ugliest effing skirt I've ever seen," he squealed in a high pitched voice, imitating Regina George.

"I don't have it, I just stream it on Netflix," I laughed. "But I do think that one takes the cake." I said, pointing to the DVD. Aden nodded, and started the movie. I grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza from the box and handed it to him.

"Real question though, does pineapple belong on pizza?" I said, stuffing my face.

Aden's face brightened. "Hell yeah," he said casually, stuffing another bite of pizza into his mouth.

"No," I gasped at the abomination. "Hell no."

"You're not a pizza eater, if you don't like pineapples on pizza," Aden insisted and I shook my head vigorously again.

"No," I said again, firmly.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes," Aden repeated, approaching me with a sly smirk on his lips.

"No way, and don't look at me like that!" I panicked, my eyes widening.

"Yes way," he cackled as he wrapped his arms around my waist, hoisting me up on my back onto the couch behind us.

"No way," I laughed, but it sounded muffled as Aden crawled on top of me, his face just inches from mine. Subconsciously, I rolled my tongue over my bottom lip. I stared into his eyes, drowning in the pools of honey within his irises.

He bent down, pressing a gentle kiss onto my lips before pulling away again a second later, leaving me wanting more. A warm feeling settled in my stomach. This time, no butterflies, just light tingles in my stomach and my lips from where it connected with his. I found myself smiling, more to myself than to him as I kept my gaze on his.

"Aden..." I started, trailing off and looked at me expectantly. "I... I don't think I've been this happy in a really long time. And that says a lot since you like pineapples on pizza."

And marmalade as I've begun to realize.

He rolled his eyes at the last part.

"I agree — about the happy part, not about the pineapples thing," the smile that spread over his lips matched mine, then it morphed into his signature smirk. "But I mean of course, I'm attractive, good soccer player and an insanely good boyfriend," he said with a cocky tone.

I gave him a flat look before my lips twitched upwards, "Hmm, nope I've had better."

"Who?" his eyes narrowed slightly, his own crooked smile disappearing. I laughed at his sudden change in attitude.

"Aww, are you jealous Aden?" I gave the tip of his nose a light tap, smirking.

"No," he growled.

"I'm sure you weren't," I giggled, grabbing the back of his neck and connecting my lips with his. "I'm only kidding you know." I smiled into his lips.

Aden didn't answer. Instead, he shifted us so that I was on top of him. Both his hands moved to my face as he brushed his lips against mine softly. My eyes fluttered shut as they moved against mine, my arms instinctively wrapping around his neck. His lips sped up and so did my pulse. I could feel the weight of his chest pressed against me, his heart pounded just as fast as mine.

We both let go slowly and carefully, afraid to break such a delicate moment. My eyes fluttered open and I was met with his hazel ones again.

Sighing, I turn my head towards the television that still played the movie that neither of us had paid attention to. I laid my cheek on his chest as his arms wrapped around my waist, snuggling me in closer.

"Have you been sleeping better?" Aden asked me as he ran a finger through my hair.

I nodded seeing as I'd been able to fall asleep with minimal trouble ever since I finally talked through things with Doctor Miranda, and also with Aden. My mind — embarrassingly enough — also drifted to Aden some nights, rather than my mom like before.

Life finally seemed to be normal — as normal as it could be without mom. But I was getting used to it. Some nights I wished I wasn't though, it seemed like if I moved on, she would be forgotten completely. It felt so wrong to live without her.

"Yeah, I've been sleeping better lately," I forced a smiled and we stayed in that position until I'd completely lost track of time.

The movie for the next forty five minutes went over my head, Aden and I halfheartedly laughing at the more iconic moments.

I jumped up when a loud pounding noise sounded from the door. I looked up at Aden, "Are you expecting someone?"

Aden's eyes narrowed slightly as he bit his bottom lip and I knew that the gears were turning in his head. That was the look he always had whenever he was really concentrated during an exam or whenever we did chemistry homework together.

The pounding came again, this time louder, just about shaking the front door and I jumped.

"Skyler, go to my room and shut the door," he told me, he had a firm grip on my arm. "And don't come out."

"What, why? What's wrong?" I asked as we both stood up from the couch.

Aden ran a hand through his hair, eyeing the door. The pounding came again, even louder and harder if that was even possible.

"I can't explain it right now, please just go to my room and shut the door," his eyes begged me.

I nodded slowly, shooting up from the couch as I scurried off to his room. I slammed the door  shut behind me just as Aden approached the front door. I pressed my ears against the bedroom door, straining to hear anything at all.

I heard the door bust open with a loud bang, and footsteps sounded in the living room and kitchen. More than one, it sounded like three or four people.

"Hey kid, hand over your father," I heard one of them say, a man with a gruff voice.

"He's not here," I heard Aden say, his voice unwavering.

"Then how are we gonna get our money?" another demanded with a growl.

"I don't know, but you won't find him here," Aden repeated again.

"Search the house," I heard the first guy command whoever else was with him. My eyes widened, and I glanced around Aden's room. He had been serious when he told me to hide and my gut told me to listen to him.

But what if he needs help?

"You can't fucking do that," Aden's voice was muffled, as if someone had gagged him. Okay, but if I'm with him out there, I can't help him. I have to hide, and then call 911. Without thinking twice, I scrambled across his room and dove into his closet, shutting the door.

It only took a moment for the footsteps to grow louder and louder, and the door to Aden's bedroom swung open, slamming into the back wall with a loud thud. I peered from the keyhole of the doorknob, my hands flying over my mouth to silence my panicked breaths. It was a large, burly man with dark curly hair and a huge beard. He was dressed in a white t- shirt and a pair of jeans, a chain necklace hanging down his neck.

He glanced around the room, even looking under the bed before his eyes landed on the closet I was in. He walked towards it, his loud footsteps echoing in the room and shaking the floor. I clenched my eyes shut and held my breath.

The door swung open and he yanked me out of the closet by my hair. I yelped at the searing pain emanating from my scalp as he tossed me across the room, my stomach slamming into the bedpost on Aden's bed. I gritted my teeth, grunting from the pulsing pain that now burned from both my scalp and abdomen. He grabbed me roughly by the arm and dragged me out of the room.

"Who the fuck is this?" I heard the man say as he tossed me into the kitchen. I stumbled on my feet but Aden caught me from falling over onto my face. My eyes widened at the large bluish bruise that was beginning to form under his eye. In a swift motion, he pushed me behind him, away from the other four men.

"Just the girl, the kid's father nowhere to be seen," the dark curly haired man spoke gruffly.

All of them were large, dressed in causal clothing and perhaps a couple chains around their necks and a few rings on their fingers.

"Is that your girlfriend?" the one with blond hair combed neatly on his head guffawed, and the other three chuckled. He scanned over my body with his eyes, licking his lips revoltingly. I hated that their presence intimidated me so much that I almost hid myself completely behind Aden.

"You wanted my dad and he's not here, you can leave now," Aden's body was tense as he stared at them with hard eyes. His hand around my wrist tightened as he moved in front of me.

The dark haired man who pulled me out of Aden's room looked at the other three men. He was obviously the ring leader. He nodded at the blond one who took out a red gasoline canister from behind him.

Before either of us could even react he tilted the canister, pouring the gasoline all over both Aden and I. A few splatters got onto me, but the runt of it was on Aden since he'd stepped in front of me. I yelped at the putrid smell that resulted from it.

"If he doesn't give us the money, the next time I come back, I'll bring a lighter," the dark haired man pointed at us accusingly. "Come on," he growled to the other three. The blond man grabbed the gas canister and they stalked out of the apartment, shutting the door behind them with a loud bang.

I looked at Aden, my eyes wide.

"What the fuck was that?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hope you liked this chapter! Please do vote, comment and share!!

Any ideas on who those men were??

You're all so close to getting the much deserved explanation from Aden.

~SweetnessInTheSalt

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