Episode 5

Hey guys! so i'm still a bit busy these days but i got a day off from school, so might as well do an update!, so here it is!

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EPISODE FIVE

A week passed and things between Arden and I were normal, we hang out at school and have random conversations like always and yes, every time we talk, the thought of telling her what I feel always crosses my mind but there’s like this invisible force that always prevents me from telling her that, so until now, I haven’t told her yet. We also don’t hang out after school much either because she always leaves early, my guess is she’s going to go to that bookstore again. I could go with her but I think I’ll just be pissed and jealous and sad and did I mention jealous??

It was 6:00 in the evening and I was at my apartment, just watching TV and wandering what Arden is doing, I really want to spend more time with her but I’m sure she’s at the bookstore right now so I’ll just watch TV here…

And after 10 minutes, I grabbed my flashlight, went out and rode my bicycle. I can’t take her off of my mind; maybe I’ll go to my Eden and just do some thinking. I have to pass by the bookstore to get there so like it or not I will see them

I was passing by and saw him closing the store. I stopped when I saw Arden, she was standing by him, I see her lips move but Chris just looks at her and nods then Arden saw me and waved, she turned to him and said something then she approached me

“Hi!” she greeted

I smirked and waved a little

“What are you doing here?” she asked

“Just passing by” I replied “Are you going home now?”

“Yeah why?”

“Can you come with me for a bit? I want to show you something”

“Okay”

“Hop on” I said motioning her to sit on bicycle

So she gently sat and wrapped her arms around my waist which made me instantly smile

“Let’s go” she said

And off we went

“Where are we going Nicky?” she asked halfway through the ride

I smirked “Wait and see”

After a while, I stopped at an empty lot with lots of trees surrounding it

“We’re here” I said and rode off of my bicycle

Arden did the same then she turned to me “where is here exactly?”

“Follow me” then I turned on my flash light and started walking while pushing my bicycle towards the bushes at our left, Arden followed

After passing the bushes, a narrow pathway was revealed. I went through it, Arden still following me. We then reached the small lake that was hidden within, the moon lighting up the whole place

Arden looked around, amazement clearly showing on her expression, “Wow” she said “what is this place, it’s beautiful”

I smiled “this is my Secret Eden” I said then I sat under the nearest tree, a few feet away from the lake “kinda silly that I call it that right? but hey I’m weird like that so deal with it”

Arden giggled then sat next to me

“I don’t think it’s silly, I actually find it cool that you have a place you could call paradise” she smiled then turned to me “How did you find this place?”

“Well, when I was 8, my parents got divorced and I felt like the one thing I believe in fell apart so one day I decided to run away from home and somehow I ended up finding this wonderful place” I replied “when I first saw this place, The pain and sadness I was feeling instantly vanished and I found myself smiling again so every time I have something to think about I just go here and my mind clears instantly” I smiled “plus the view here is awesome especially when the fireflies appear”

“There are fireflies here?” Arden asked excitedly

I nodded and looked up

Arden did the same and was instantly amaze, the fireflies were hovering at the leaves of the tree, It actually made the tree look like it was covered with Christmas lights

Many of fireflies started flying around us, I caught one and held it in my hand then I showed it to Arden

“Make a wish” I said to her

Arden closed her eyes and whispered when she opened her eyes, I opened my palm and let the firefly hover away

I then notice Arden looking at me and smiling

“What is it?” I asked

“Nothing” she answered “I’m just happy that I got to meet an awesome friend like you” she then moved closer and hugged me

I became teary-eyed, friend , and felt my heart break, I didn’t spoke instead I lightly hugged her, when we parted, I faked a smile and quickly turned away

After that, I brought her home and that’s how my night ended with her, heart break….

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>X<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

It’s Saturday, Jamie and I decided to hang-out at the mall and grab a smoothie

“So, did you tell her yet?” Jamie asked, taking a sip of her mango smoothie

I shook my head and sipped my chocolate shake “I was going to but something unexpected happened”

“Unexpected? Like?”

I sighed “she told me she likes someone else and not just “like” it’s more of a ”like-like””

Jamie stared at me “seriously?”

“Doesn’t look she like someone right?” I tried making a joke out of it but it just really brings me down

“Yeah I actually thought she had a secret girly girl crush on you” Jamie said before popping a cookie in her mouth “she turned down Lance, so it’s definitely not him, do you know the guy?”

“Gossip really travels fast” I smirked a little “yeah, his name is Chris Parker, he owns the bookstore on my street, He probably likes her too…”

“Hey, don’t worry too much about it, Arden’s gonna leave in 2 months anyway, they won’t have a chance to get together!” she joked

I looked at her with a that’s-not-funny pissed off expression

Jamie noticed it and quickly apologized then she seriously asked “are you still going to tell her?”

“I honestly don’t know” I answered “maybe in the future I will but not right now”

“I understand” Jamie raised her glass “cheers”

I smirked and raised my glass “cheers”

The weekends went by fast. It’s Monday again and I decided not to go to school, I really don’t feel like being happy and cheerful today, why you ask? Arden called last night, around 11-ish pm and I know you’re thinking “shouldn’t you be happy, she called right?” Well I was at first but our random conversation lead up to her talking about what’s his name and she sounds really happy and there I say it, really smitten, great

She even mentioned baking him a house or something, I’m not really listening at this point ‘coz I’m too busy trying to sound happy and supportive but in reality it really hurts knowing that I’m not the one that’s making her happy. After that wonderful phone call, I went outside and rode my bicycle around the neighborhood, I just needed to clear my thoughts, I went back to my apartment at around 1 am.

So now it’s 11 am and I’m still lying in my bed, my body feels heavy, my head is throbbing and I think I have a fever

I slowly stood and went to the kitchen then took an Advil and drank a glass of water, I didn’t take any fever medicine ‘coz I’m still not sure if I really do have a fever or I’m just imagining it so I just took a shower to wake myself up, wrong move by the way, ‘coz when I went out of the bathroom, It was really cold and I could feel my eyes tearing up, looks like I really do have a fever.

Just to make sure, I took my temperature after I got dressed and well its 38.3 °C. Yep, definitely fever

I took Tylenol then grabbed some pillows and a thick blanket, opened the TV and laid on the sofa after a while my phone started vibrating on the table, I sat up, looked at it and saw Jamie calling. I reluctantly answered it

“Why are you not in school today?” Jamie immediately asked

“I’m sick Jamie” I groaned

“Love sickness?”

“No idiot!” I said and sighed “look, I’m really not feeling well, call it whatever you want, just leave me be for a few days, I’ll just call you when I’m myself again ok, ok thanks for calling bye” but before Jamie could answer, I already hang-up the phone

I laid back on the sofa, but before I could find a relaxing position, my phone started vibrating again, this time I just reached out and rejected the call, then I turned off my phone. After a while I fell asleep, when I woke up it was already 7 pm, my fever went down a bit, but I’m still feeling cold.  I opened some instant noodles and had that for dinner then back to sleep.

Almost the same thing happened the next day, wake up, go back to sleep, wake up again, watch TV, quick warm bath, change into my pajamas, eat lunch, sleep, eat dinner at 5 pm, sleep at 7 pm and I actually forgot to take my medicine so my fever lowered only a bit. Now you may notice that I sleep a lot, that’s because I do, especially when I’m sick, I really don’t like the feeling of being sick so I try to sleep it off.

The next day, I slowly woke up, I’m sure it’s late ‘coz the sun is shining brightly through the windows. I sat slowly then a small towel fell from my head, where did this come from? I looked up and saw Arden fast asleep on a chair, what is she doing here? I looked around and saw a bag pack on the floor next to her, on the table was her and my cell phone, a glass of water and some medicine.

I slowly stood and I felt light actually, like I haven’t been sick. I then silently walked to the kitchen to get some breakfast. I was busy walking around the kitchen that I didn’t notice Arden coming in

“What are you doing?” Arden asked

I looked at her, cereal at hand “preparing breakfast” I answered

“I can see that but you shouldn’t walk around so fast”

“I’m feeling fine Arden, don’t worry”

Arden then approached me and placed her hand on my forehead and it felt a spark went through me ‘coz I’m like wide awake now, I stared at her and blushed

“You’re fever went down but you’re still warm” she said then took the cereal from my hand “You go back there and rest, I’ll take care of breakfast” she smiled

I just nodded, went back and sat at the sofa, after a few minutes, Arden walked in with 2 bowls of cereal, she handed me one and sat next to me

“Thanks” I said

She smiled and started eating

I glanced at her then I started eating, we were silent until

“You know, I was really worried about you” Arden suddenly spoke

I stopped eating “You are?”

She nodded “at first I thought you were mad at me because when I was calling you, you rejected it”

I rejected it? The phone call after Jamie’s, that was her?

“Then the next day you still didn’t show, so I started worrying that something might have happened” she continued “but then Jamie approached me and asked if you called or texted me, that’s when she mentioned that you’re not feeling well so I decided to visit you yesterday afternoon”

I looked at her expression and saw that she’s genuinely worried but there is one thing I still didn’t know, how did she get in? I’m sure I had the door locked

“Um, Arden, can I ask you something?” I said

Arden nodded

“How did you get in? I’m pretty sure I locked the door”

Arden looked at me “I was actually waiting for you to ask that” she laughed “you door was locked so I went back to school and looked for Jamie, I was kinda hoping she has a spare key of your house, and good thing she did ‘coz you were burning up! I decided to stay here for the night and look after you”

You gave me another reason to love you and yet another reason for me to feel hurt, unrequited love sucks, I sighed and turned to her “Thank you for taking care of me“

She turned to me and smiled sweetly “You’re welcome”

And like she said, she looked after me the whole afternoon. I asked her about her classes today, turns out her classes today were cancelled so she has a free day, lucky her, I hope I didn’t miss any quizzes.