I slept through the entire day after returning from the hospital. We stayed with mom for too long, so long that the nurses kindly asked us to leave. Poor women were trying to do their job and we were in the way. But they understood, and weren't rude when they guided us out of the room.
I missed my bed in my room, all the lights around it from when I thought that decoration was cool. But clearly one person made sure I didn't stay in it the next day as well.
"Get up! Now!" The commanding voice stirs me from my sleep as a hit in my face makes me shoot up from my laying position.
"What the -" I rub on my eyes, ready to scold whoever has woken me up. When my vision becomes less blurry, I blink and the face of my best friend comes in view, her red hair hovering over me.
"Yeah, you better wake up. Your dad said you've slept through yesterday." She scoffs at me, hitting me with the white pillow once again. I take it from her and throw it on the floor, my eyebrows furrowing.
"Jetlag." I say but she rolls her eyes.
"What was it? Twelve hours? God forbid you call your best friend and inform her about your arrival." Alex instantly starts her ranting and I just lean on the headboard of my bed, patiently waiting for her to finish.
"I thought your plane crashed! Crashed! Thank God for Jasper, who instantly replies to texts since that boy is always on his phone. If he didn't tell me you're okay and safe, I would've freaked out!" She exclaims and lets out a breath of exasperation. She plops down on my bed and I stare at her for a second.
"You done?" I raise my eyebrow and she glares at me before nodding.
"You're an ass of a best friend." She says but after a moment jumps to hug me. I just laugh out loud and hug her tightly. I have definitely missed her a lot and I'm honestly not surprised she barged into my house and my room like this.
"Get ready for an Alex and Kat day because I'm hungry, angry and in need for fun." She mumbles through our hug and I chuckle.
"Why are you angry?" I ask. Her head snaps up at me, her eyes narrowing at me.
"You ask me why I'm angry." She says. "I'd like to know how in the world you go to a luxurious house miles away from here and the devil boy manages to cross paths with you."
Shit.
"How annoying was he? Because you know I don't mind punching him. I know you'd do that too, but right now I feel like kicking some ass." My best friend tells me and the thing is, I know she means it. But her reaction only makes me quieter and my only thoughts revolve around the fact that she has zero idea about what really happened. And I honestly don't want to see her rage if she finds out.
"We fought. But I tried to ignore him most of the time. I didn't want my summer to be ruined by him." I say, trying to sound as beilevable as possible.
"I want to know everything."
Haha. Sure.
The Alex and Kat day is something Alex and I would do whenever we would be apart for a longer time. I always enjoy those, simply because Alex herself has the same interests as me. We might be different when it comes to our personalities, her being more impatient, bold and more aggressive. I'm all those things, but she's basically me times ten. But our tastes are the same and so are our admirations. That's why our day begins with the gym and ends with watching Pretty Little Liars in my room. We made sure to have a very productive day, reading books and joking around in the library while finding new ones. I watched Alex as she trained boxing and also tried some new moves. I wouldn't have such a strong punch if it wasn't for my best friend. And lastly we went to visit my mom again. Alex cried and it felt so weird to comfort her, since she usually isn't the one to become sensitive.
"Ugh, shut up, Aria." Alex groans and throws the popcorn in her mouth. "Nobody really likes you."
"She makes everything so cringey." I scrunch my nose at the screen.
"This is the worst episode ever. I can't watch yet another make out session between her and the professor." She throws the popcorn at the screen.
I literally scream when the door of my room bursts open, my bowl of popcorn flying in the air. But then again, who can blame me? Jasper and my dad are supposed to be sleeping over at me aunt's place. Alex stiffens beside me and leans forward so she can see clearly who is at the door. I have no intention of looking. If it's a murderer, I'll let my kick ass best friend kick that thief's ass, whoever they are.
But as soon as Alex freezes in her spot, supported by her palms, I know something is wrong, because her expression is unreadable. Either someone is holding a gun at her or, well, I have no other options. I lean over quickly, but my reaction is much different than my best friend's. I scramble out of the sheets and hurriedly stand on my feet.
"What are you -" I try, voice barely there.
"Mel called me. She's awake?"
"I don't care who called you, why are you in Kat's room?!" My friend launches herself forward and I grab her waist, spinning her around.
"No, no, no, Alex. No fighting." I warn her softly but she doesn't look at me, narrowing her eyes at the boy standing at my door.
"You said I could punch him." She points at him and looks at me.
"Right. Can I speak to Katherine, Hulky?"
I don't even know how Alex still hasn't given him a black eye. I turn my attention to Wes, who is looking at the two of us with a raised eyebrow. He's in a suit, that same suit he is supposed to wear to his sister's wedding and his hands are both secured in his pockets.
"You do know that Hulk gets angrier the more you annoy him. And guess what? You're annoying me." Alex grits thrugh her teeth but Wes only sighs and gives me an exasperated look.
"What?" I ask him, confused by his uninvited appearance to my house.
"What do you mean 'what'? I need to talk to you." He says it as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"Whatever you have to say, say it now and hurry. My patience is running low." Alex mutters, standing beside me like a guardian. Wes rolls his eyes at her, but she just crosses her hands over her chest, tempting him to even try going against her. His head turns to me again and I swear I hear a sharp intake of breath from myself when those blue eyes meet mine. He hesitates for a while, but speaks anyway.
"How is she?" He asks carefully. I press my lips together before deciding to answer.
"She's great. Everything's in order and she's healthy." I answer simply, my voice sounding rushed.
"How are you?"
I can almost sense the confusion radiating from my best friend. I know what's on her mind; why would Wes wonder about me? Those are my thoughts as well, just not in the same means as her. I haven't seen him since he left the house nor have I heard from him. I should've assumed the news of me leaving would get to him fast.
"I'm good." I reply and silently hope he turns away from us and leaves. I even get the slightest bit of hope Alex will kick him out, but her body movement is limited, seeing as her expression is more than confused.
"Katherine." Wes's voice is restrained, but impeccably calm.
I step over to him, taking both him and Alex by surprise when I grab his hand and yank him towards the stairs. He follows, but doesn't say anything. I jog down the stairs and when I reach the door, I open it widely, leaning my entire body on it. Wes stops on the last step and looks at the wall in front of him. I'm stunned by his calm and collected behaviour until he snaps his head to mine and strides over to my side, taking my waist and bringing me closer to him. I place my hands on his chest in order to keep the distance between us.
"One hour." He says quietly in his deep voice, his eyes searching mine as the unwanted tension forms between us. "That's all I need. An hour."
"That wouldn't be smart." I say in almost a whisper, intensely looking back at him. His other hand grips the door and I see his knuckles turn white.
"I clearly don't enjoy smart decisions." He eyes me as a smirk finds its way to his lips. Fuck, those lips.
"No, Wes, stop." I put some pressure on my hands to push him away but he furrows his eyebrows and tightens his hold on my waist.
"No?" He raises an eyebrow. "That's not the answer I wanna hear."
"It's not always about what you want." I mumble, trying to push him away once again. He huffs and uses his other hand to pull me extremely close. If I moved the slightest, our lips would meet and that's something I'm trying to avoid.
"Is it?" He wonders, his hand caressing the skin on my back, sending shivers down my spine. "Is it only what I want?"
"Yeah, you think I want to be in a position where I know I will probably be thrown aside and participate in a little deal where I'll be a good fuck?" I harshly force him to back away from me and he does, but still keeps one of his hands on my waist. I look down at it and grab it with my hand, dropping it beside him.
"No. I don't want that and you know it." I cross my hands over my chest. "You're free to have fun, Wes, just leave me out of it."
"Katherine, come on." He extends his hand to mine but I back away.
"Why are you so persistent? What am I to you that you're so keen on this? Everything was fine before and our fighting was ten times better than all this unnecessary drama. Just put a stop on it and that's it. No more problems." I shrug, trying to prove a point here.
"Better? Our fighting was better? Is that why you kept letting me sleep with you? Or am I just tripping?" He raises an eyebrow and I can see the flicker of anger in his eyes, proving that's he's getting irritated.
"Well now I realise I shouldn't have let you." I say sternly.
"No, you're lying." He steps closer to me. "Otherwise it wouldn't have happened more than once."
"Oh, you are so dead!" The voice of my best friend echoes through my hallway as she trudges down the stairs and I can't help but stiffen at the tone of it.
"And I mean the both of you!" She stomps over to us, standing on the side but in the middle, sending death glares at us.
"You two had sex?!" She literally yells and I flinch at that question. She throws her hands in the air and throws daggers at our eyes. "Are you out of your freaking mind? What were you thinking?!"
"I think it's none of your business." Wes retorts and now I wanna punch him in the face.
"None of my business?!" She looks at him. "You've been sleeping with your enemy, my best friend and you're telling me it's none of my busineess? Don't you know that people are aware of your games with girls? You treat them like shit and you never care, let alone stick for more than a week! Do you seriously think I would want that for her?! She's doesn't deserve what you could do to her and how much you could hurt her!"
"And you." She turns to me with a sharp glare, her vein popping out of her forehead. "I love you like a sister but this is one of your, no, this is your most stupid, foolish and most naive decision you've made. You're opening yourself to a guy who you hate, who will do nothing but bring you down and disrespect you!"
"I would never disrespect her for that!" Wes gets angrier and turns Alex around by grabbing her shoulder.
"You did though." I say, maybe a little too quiet. But I know they both hear it, because they turn their heads to face me and I bite my lip nervously.
"You were the one to say it was a waste of time." I continue, holding my stare off with Wes, who's still fuming. "And let's not forget Seven minutes in heaven. Was she a good fuck, too?"
I swear I see Alex growl and she probably tries to throw a punch but gives up on it, seeing as Wes is by my side in no time, his eyes softening as he brings his face closer to mine, hands cupping my cheeks.
"You don't get it." He says, his eyes flickering to my lips before looking back up at me, probably knowing he shouldn't do that. "You don't understand what you do to me, Katherine. What I did, it wasn't right. My mind was so damn messy I couldn't think straight. I didn't want to feel this way. I didn't want to care for you. But God, I do. So fucking much. I was beating myself up when I left your room. I knew I messed up. I tried to get my mind off of you and focus it on something else, someone else. But it was such a fucking mistake and I regret it. And what I said, it was just me convincing myself the other way. I didn't mean it, not the slightest."
I stare at him speechless, unable to beileve the words coming out of his mouth.
"I do want you. And you only. Because I feel something and it's more than just simple sex. I'm confused but I want to be with you when I sort myself out."
"What?" Now I really do whisper, because I'm utterly lost with everything he just said. He continues looking down at me, but moves closer and places his forehead on my own, closing his eyes as his hands hold me in the most possessive way he's ever shown.
"I need you. With me."