In this chapterrrrr I tried doing present perfect continuous, past perfect and present perfect (what the actual sigma are those appellations) ANYWAYS I remind, lovely readers, I still learn English so let's treat this chapter as a study. If you notice mistakes (you will I promise) tell me ð
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It's been two weeks since they came back from the field trip.
And it was the longest two weeks of Ashlyn's life.
Empty.
It looked like everything came back to normal, but it didn't. Aiden became more distant, to the point she felt like something was gone. Of course, they still has talked, argued and joked. But he has avoided her in the same time. The change was so subtle that their friends haven't even realized something was different. But it was enough for Ashlyn to notice.
First of all, Aiden has started to avoid touching her. He nudged her sometimes jokingly, but stopped trying too touch her randomly as he used to. He hasn't been playing with her braids. Hasn't been putting his arm on her shoulder, asking why is she so sad to annoy her. Hasn't been slipping closer to make their arms brush as they stood near each other.
Since two damn weeks.
Second of all, he avoided her eyes. He didn't stare, what made her feel surprisingly unsafe. His gaze usually just had been on her, like he had been guarding. And she was always aware of that, it never bothered her. It became a part of his presence - if he was next to her, he was looking at her.
And third of all - he had stopped flirting with her.
And it was something that bothered her the most. She didn't know why this. She just couldn't stop thinking about it every time he was doing something else than she expected. He didn't tease her. And she never really realized he had been doing all those things so often until they have been missing.
But the most painful thing...
Was how visible it was how much effort he put into it. He tried to hide it, but she knew him too well not to notice even the smallest change.
And she asked herself again and again: why?
Why does he do it?
Why is he so uncomfortable with me? Because he definitely is.
Then... does he know I like him? Is it what makes him embarrassed?
She missed him, as much as she didn't want to admit it. She missed him to the point she's been humbling herself, trying to initiate physical contact between them. She kept trying to ignore the tension hanging between them like a stretched string.
It was one unfortunate kiss.
But it opened something.
Opened a dangerous, unknown way.
Exposed something raw, something that should have been buried so deep that no one would find it.
They exposed it, almost by an accident.
Almost.
And this "almost" was something that tipped the balance. Like the last card in the card tower. The card that could have complete the tower or ruin it. The card which was supposed to be the right one, but turned out to be crooked and destroyed the whole tower.
A very risky gamble.
But Ashlyn made a decision, deep down, without even fully realizing how risky it was.
She had to talk to Aiden.
To keep their friendship.
Or ruin it.
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...Author loves dramatic endings.