Worthy of Me by Yajna Ramnath

cheeks.
    “I love you too, handsome,” I whispered.

Chapter Eleven
     
    Aiden and I became hermits for a whole weekend. We shut off our phones, locked the doors and stuffed his car in the garage. We spent the entire weekend getting to know each other, from our favourite foods to our most embarrassing moments in highschool. Aiden told me about his ex-girlfriend who used him for his money and connections, it was the reason Allison was so protective of him. I still wasn’t able to tell him about my parents and I think somehow he knew they were a sore topic for me because he never asked about them, ever.
    The Christmas season was upon us and here, people celebrated Thanksgiving. The Kingston family made a big deal about it so there were preparations happening in the mansion. I only visited Aiden’s mom when I knew Allison was at school or when she had a sleepover with a friend. Once I was leaving when she came in, she tried to stare me down but I guess that’s hard to do when the person you’re trying to stare down is looking straight ahead and ignoring your presence. I noticed her trying to catch Aiden’s attention too, but he would just throw his arm around me and walk.
    I felt bad that I was the cause of their spat. Aiden seems to think it would help her learn to watch her mouth. He felt she needed to learn consequences since she always got away with everything. Deep down I knew he missed his sister, and yet I was selfish enough that instead of taking a step back I clung to him with my all.
    I never fought fair I guess.
    Aiden was putting me first and for the first time, I was happy. My calls back home were short. Mom wouldn’t speak for longer than ten minutes mostly because she would remind me that I left her there. I knew she was goading me into saying something, anything, so she could cry and maybe pin it on me. But I powered through, I just answered her questions and avoiding any arguments. Sometimes I would make an excuse about call minutes and other times I would just cut the call and text her saying the phone battery life was exhausted.
    My father didn’t call as usual. He texted now and then, I replied now and then. But as I watched Aiden and Dianna mess around in the bar, I realised I was happy. I was finally getting to live and that was more important than anything else.

***
    I was walking towards the exit after my classes were over. Exams were almost done, and I had just come out of a good paper. I felt good. That was definitely an easy A.
    “Hey, Mia!” Thomas Brody shouted for me.
    Thomas was a strapping man with broad shoulders and an impeccable fashion sense. He was one of my really good friends. We often studied together and I knew aide hated it, but he had mellowed somewhat.
    “Hey, Tom,” I smiled and leaned against the brick building. I thought I could catch up with him a bit before going to Kingston.
    Thomas reached me and bounced on his feet. “Okay, how easy was that paper?”
    I laughed at his reaction. “Too easy, I have this insane feeling that they’re going to call us back and say ‘we have another paper we would like for you to write, this one will definitely be harder’”
    Thomas chuckled with me and reached out to push my hair behind my ears. My smile dropped immediately. “Tom, I already told you…”
    “Yeah,” he whispered. “You have a boyfriend, but I can’t…”
    The rest of his sentence was cut off because his mouth met mine. I froze for about two seconds and then tried to bring my knee up to his balls but the asshole knew I’d do that. He caught my thigh and pressed in closer. His disgusting hard-on pressed against my centre. There was nothing else I could do besides let him kiss me until he was done. That is until I remembered something from a self-defence class I took once. I opened my mouth and granted him access; as soon as his tongue slid in I bit down on it, hard.
    Thomas yelped and jumped away from me, he wasn’t fast enough to react so I finally